“Next time it rings, I’ll answer it. Okay?”
“All right,” she sighed. Her entire demeanor seemed to change. “Why don’t we just turn the ringer off or somethin’? It’s probably just somebody playin’ games.”
“Well, let’s see if they play games with me,” I told her, opening my arms for her to climb aboard. “Come ’ere. You still wanna finish what we started, or what?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m not in the mood anymore.”
“Huh?” I was confused by her sudden change of tone, but I wasn’t gonna argue. She’d given me enough sex to keep me quiet for a week, so if she wanted to call it a night, she was entitled. Besides, it was getting late and I had PT in the morning. I leaned over and kissed her, looking forward to some good sleep. That’s when the phone rang again.
Stephanie jumped up and tried to reach over me, but I grabbed the phone off my night table, keeping it out of her reach.
“Just let it ring, Travis. Turn the ringer off so we can get some sleep.” She sounded like she was begging. She was desperate to keep me away from whoever was on the other end of that phone line. So desperate, in fact, that she actually attacked me and tried to wrestle the phone out of my hand.
“What the hell are you doing?” I tried to pull the phone back.
“Gimme the phone, Travis. Just give me the phone,” she growled as she pulled on it with both hands.
“Have you lost your mind? What the hell is wrong with you?” I yelled.
But she continued to wrestle with me until we both fell off the bed. Unfortunately for her, she hit the ground first, and my two hundred and fifty pounds fell on top of her. That’s when I pulled the phone free from her hands. But of course by that time, the ringing had stopped. I stood up and glared at her.
“What the hell is wrong with you? And why don’t you want me to answer the phone? Who the fuck keeps calling my house, Stephanie?”
Now I wanted some answers. But even if she wanted to give them, she didn’t get a chance before the phone rang again. This time I turned my back and hit the talk button before she had a chance to pounce on me.
“Hello?”
“Yo, this Travis?” I recognized Malek’s voice right away. He had that same smug street cockiness he had in front of the house on Christmas Day. Just the sound of his voice made my blood pressure rise, so you can imagine what was going through my mind. Why the hell was this fool on my phone at this time of night, and how the hell did he get my unlisted phone number in the first place? I glanced at Stephanie, who was still on the floor trying to avoid eye contact, and the answer was obvious. She gave him the number.
“Yeah, this is Travis. What you want, Malek?”
“So she told you it was me callin’, huh?” He let out a little laugh.
“She’s my woman. She tells me everything,” I lied.
“Is that so?” Malek snickered. “Well, did she tell you that she gave me gonorrhea?”
“No, why don’t you tell me about it?”
“Nah, I’ll let her tell you that. Can I speak to her?” I turned and glared at Stephanie. She was now sitting on the edge of the bed, huffing and puffing from our tussle, with a worried look on her face.
“Yeah, you can speak to her, but don’t you ever call my house at this time of night again. You hear me?” My words were tough, but my insides felt like they were turning to Jell-O. Both he and Stephanie had disrespected me for the last time.
“Uh-huh. I hear you, boss,” he mumbled. “By the way, how’d you like those lambskin condoms I gave her? They’re great, aren’t they? Sorry I only sent you two, but I had to use one, if you know what I mean.” I was so shocked by his comment, I couldn’t even reply. I just shoved the phone in Stephanie’s face.
“Malek wants to speak to you.”
She pulled her hands back and shook her head. “I don’t wanna talk to him.”
“Take the damn phone! And tell this man to stop calling my house!” I yelled angrily. She finally took the phone from me. I thought about standing over her and listening to her end of the conversation. But then I realized I might not be able to control myself if I heard anything I didn’t like. I didn’t want to put my hands on Stephanie, so I knew it was best if I just backed off for a minute. I walked over to my son’s crib. Just watching him sleep so peacefully helped me to calm myself. I stroked his hair, then bent over and kissed him.
“I love you, son,” I whispered as I looked across the room at Stephanie. She was talking very low, so I really couldn’t hear much of what was being said. From her body language, it didn’t look like she had any kind words to say to Malek. Still, however angry she looked now, I couldn’t forget Malek’s comment about the condoms. Just the fact that he knew she had them made me wonder. And what else did he know? Stephanie had a hell of a lot of explaining to do.
I grabbed my pants and shirt off the back of a chair and shut myself in the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face, trying to get my emotions in check. By the time I walked out of the bathroom, Stephanie was off the phone, waiting for me.
“Travis, we need to talk about Malek.”
“Talk about what? There ain’t nothin’ to say that ain’t already been said. I told you before, I’m not putting up with this shit with you and Malek. I’m a good man who’s been good to you. I don’t deserve this shit, Stephanie.” I tried to walk past her, but she grabbed my arm.
“Don’t do this, Travis. This is exactly what he wants you to do.”
“Well, whose fault is that, Steph? If you had stayed home with me instead of going to the funeral, we wouldn’t have this fuckin problem. Would we?” I walked over to the bed and sat down to put on my shoes.
“I had to go to the funeral, Travis. Nana was like a mother to me.”
“But you didn’t have to go alone, Stephanie. You were so worried about Malek’s feelings, you never thought about mine.”
I picked up the box of condoms and stared at the box.
“Now, explain this to me. How the hell did Malek know what kind of condoms you brought home? And how come there were only two in the box?” Her eyes got huge and she stared at me, unable to choke out an answer.
“Travis, I asked him if he had any condoms because I knew we were out. We had smoked some weed and I wanted to come home and make love to you, boo.”
There wasn’t a damn thing funny, but I had to laugh to keep from crying.
“Tell me something, Steph. If I told you my ex-girlfriend gave me some condoms so I could come home and fuck you, would you believe me? Would you?”
She didn’t speak, so I answered for her. “Hell, no! You’d say I was fucking her. Just like you fucked him, Stephanie. You know it and I know it.”
“Travis, I swear I didn’t do anything with him. This is all just one big misunderstanding. Baby, you gotta believe me.”
“Everything’s a misunderstanding to you, Stephanie. Oh, and what’s this shit about you giving him gonorrhea?”
“I didn’t give it to him! He gave lit…” She shut up before she got herself into more trouble. “He’s lying, Travis. If I had gonorrhea I would have given it to you.”
“You know what? I don’t care anymore. I’m sick of the lies, and I’m sick of you and your baby’s daddy.” I stood up. “As far as I’m concerned, the wedding is off. I want my ring back.” I paused, but she made no move to give me the ring or beg me to change my mind. She just sat there and stared, her body trembling. “Do you hear me? I want my ring back.”
I really didn’t know how Brittany was gonna react when she saw me standing at her door at four o’clock in the morning, suitcase in hand. But a few months ago she had given me an open invitation to sleep on her couch if the need ever arose, and it definitely had. So here I was, at her doorstep in the middle of the night.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Travis, Brittany. I’m sorry to come by so late, bu-”