Slipping Away

Chapter 45

March 6th, 1996

Mariah froze. Michael had just asked her if she planned on taking their relationship further and no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't shake the lingering fear that something would go wrong.

He rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. "You don't have to give me an answer right now. Whenever you're comfortable."

"No, no I want to know what you mean." She said.

His eyes widened. "Nothing physical. I just want to know if I can call you my girl...again."

She giggled. "Well, I guess that's okay. If I can call you my man again."

"Of course." He grinned. "I guess that's it then. We're back together. Can you promise me something?"

"Anything." She said.

"Can this be the last time we break up? I don't think I can take this again."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "This is the last time. I don't think there's a man alive better for me than you."

It was true. She felt at peace in his arms, he brought out the best in her most of the time. Of course he wasn't perfect, but neither was she. It didn't change the fact that they belonged together.

As he wrapped his arms around her, she knew she didn't need to look any farther than Michael. All she needed to do was get her divorce from Tommy finalized, then wait until Michael's own divorce was settled in court. 

March 8th, 1996

Michael cell phone started ringing and he carefully reached over Mariah to grab the phone before it woke her up.

"Hello?"

It was Bill. "Michael, you might want to turn on the TV, Lisa's giving an interview with Howard Stern."

He groaned, when he had married Lisa she had been reluctant to giving any type of interview, but so he knew it couldn't be anything good.

"Thanks, Bill. I'll check it out." He said and turned the TV on.

"Today we have Lisa Marie Presley, Michael Jackson soon-to-be ex-wife."

Lisa smiled tightly. "Thank you for having me."

"So Lisa, what was it like being married to Jacko?" Stern asked.

She sighed. "Well, it was crazy to say the least."

"I can imagine. He's a pretty weird guy." He replied.

Lisa shrugged. "Well why do you think I didn't want him around my kids?"

The audience let out a few shocked gasps.

"I have to ask you though, what do you think about him stepping out with Mariah Carey? I know she filed for divorce  a little bit before you did. Did she have anything to do with the divorce?"

She shook her head. "Not at all, I was planning to get a divorce back in July, but I didn't know how to approach him about it. I know she's getting a divorce because her husband was beating her. She was staying with Janet so I guess they reconnected that way."

Howard gave a dramatic sigh of relief. "Oh good. So Mariah isn't a whore."

"Well she still might be a whore. She's just not a homewrecker." Lisa laughed.

"Well we have to go to commercial, Lisa Marie Presley everyone."

Michael angrily turned off the TV before noticing that Mariah was sitting up. "You might want to finish watching that."