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.”She sighed, and asked again, “What kind of person are you?”Sitting up in my bed, rubbing her comatose man’s back, I scrounged for the words to defend myself.She continued, “Why do you want my man?” She sniffed again.“I love him.”Finally, I said, “I love him, too.”I looked down at him praying he would wake up and help me.“Why can’t you find your own man to love?”As I heard the desperation on the other end of a woman afraid to get back in the game, how could I explain to her that there were no good men to love out here? I hung my head as she scorned me.“Why do you want my man? He says that he loves you, but he doesn’t even know you.It’s easy to love the woman that’s not taking care of you.The same problems he tells you we have, you’re going to have them eventually.You will be the same bitch”—she accentuated the word as if she were calling me one—“that he tells you I am.”My entire body was paralyzed.Her words made me want to tell him to forget we ever got involved, but my heart said we were meant to be.She was just a woman scorned.I begged her, “Akua, I’m so sorry.It wasn’t supposed to be this way.I didn’t know.”As I attempted to explain the inexcusable, Scooter’s head popped up.Holding the phone loosely from my ear, my startled eyes told him Akua was on the phone.Pain rippled through his face.I stuttered, “I swear.I am so.”She interrupted me.“I hope the two of you go to hell.But before you do, I pray that he hurts you ten times worse than he has hurt me.Have a great freaking day, bitch!”She hung up the phone, and I dropped mine in my lap.The busy signal came through the receiver.I inhaled, before I spoke.I propped my head on my hand and looked at Scooter.“I can’t do this.”“The hard part is over.”“Not when your girlfriend is calling my house.”He struggled onto his elbows.“Tay, you’re my girlfriend.”“Scooter, I’ve never dealt with anything like this.I.”He rested his head in my lap.“Neither have I.We’ll just have to figure it out as we go along.But I know this is what I want.”Why wait until you’re twenty-eight to have the other woman calling your house? I shook my head, disgusted with my situation, angry with the poor selection of men, and pissed with the nonchalant man beside me.I kept replaying her words.Doubt plagued me, because I hadn’t considered the negative things I was inheriting.“Are you sure you want to go through with this?”He huffed.“Yes Taylor.She thinks I’m leaving for superficial reasons.I’m leaving because.” He took a deep breath.“You know why I’m leaving.We’re going ahead with the schedule.”He was convinced.Was I to stop the plan now? I closed my eyes and sucked up some confidence.30SCOOTERTaylor ordered take-out from IHOP.I eagerly accepted the responsibility of picking it up.Suppressing my eagerness to talk to Akua was suffocating me.What made her call? Never in a million years would I believe she’d abandon her pride like that for me.I stepped outside of Taylor’s front door and immediately inhaled a cigarette before paging Akua.The frigid fall temperatures would not smother the bonfire blazing inside of me.I smoked two more cigarettes on the ride to and from IHOP.Still, Akua had not called.Sitting outside of Taylor’s house, I prayed she’d call.I stared at my phone, as the food sat in my passenger seat.Please, Akua.Call me back.Finally, the phone rang.I took a deep breath and prepared for battle.I looked.Taylor.“Hey, what’s up?”“It’s fine if you want to stay out there and talk to your little girlfriend, but bring me my food please.”“I’m on my way in now.”Before I got out of the car, I put my phone on silent.After a three-hundred-mile drive, damn if I’d let Taylor be angry with me too.She opened the door and stuck her arm out.“Girl, stop playing.I’m coming in.”She smirked.“It’s cool.I understand.”No female is that cool, and damn if I was falling into her trap.I stepped in the house and hugged her, leaving my compassion for Akua outside.I stuffed my phone in my jacket and hung it up in the closet.Taylor’s long legs and boy shorts gave me amnesia.In the kitchen, I wrapped my arms around her.She didn’t reciprocate the gesture.Her arms hung to the side.She huffed.“Let me warm up the food.”“C’mon baby.Give me a hug.”She pushed me away.I grabbed her forearms.“Tay.Don’t act like that.You know this is what I want.”I released my grip and sat at the table while she warmed the food.“Do you really think I’d go through all of this if I wasn’t sure this is what I wanted?”She shrugged her shoulders.“I don’t know Scooter.”I dropped my head.“Tay, please don’t act like this now.”After putting the time on the microwave, she turned to me with her hand on her hip.“Why?”I shook my head.“You can’t tell me you thought this was going to be drama-free.”As the revelation seeped into her, I watched her limbs relax.“You’re right, Scooter.I think I’m primarily disappointed in myself.I would have never been a part of this a year ago.”I stood up and hugged her.She leaned her head on my shoulder.I said, “Baby, this is different.This isn’t your average situation.”I tilted my forehead into hers.“We belong together.”“I know.That’s the only reason I’m here.”I backed her up into the counter.My weight leaned into her.I pushed.We grinded, and I hoped to squash her insecurities.She mumbled, “We need to eat.”“We need to make love first.”She shook her head.I lifted her wife beater and pulled her shorts down.She stopped resisting.I raised her up on the counter.Her legs wrapped around my waist.As I pulled down my sweatpants, I looked into her eyes.“I’m where I want to be.” I kissed her.“Okay?”“Scooter, I’m just scared,” she whined.I slid into her and picked her up from the counter.In between slow strokes, I said, “Don’t be scared, I won’t hurt you.”She buried her head in my shoulders and winced.I retracted slightly.“Am I hurting you?”She moaned, “No, it feels like.”I put my mouth over her mouth.Propped up on me, she twirled her hips aggressively.I stroked harder.Feeling the arch in her back curl in, out, and side to side rendered me helpless.I backed into the chair.She stopped moving when we sat down.We panted and inhaled each other.She cooed, “Don’t hurt me.”“I won’t.”I pushed her hips into me.After a few seconds, she returned to her seductive swerve.I kissed her breast.When all the nerves left one head en route to the other, I gasped, “Tay, I love you.”I lifted her up again and drove it in until we conked out.Akua was the furthest thing from both of our minds as we served each other breakfast.31DEVINThe day after the closing, I stood in Danker Furniture and selected a living room display.“Give me all of it.”The young sales lady flirted.“I guess there’s no Mrs.to dispute your selection.”“Nah, not at all.”“Really, you’re quite handsome to be a free agent.”I nodded.“Thank you.” Pointing to a bedroom display, I added, “Yeah, give me that too.”She laughed again.“I guess you know what you like.”“Pretty much.”Her gestures were inviting.I suppressed the desire to flirt.I knew I wanted nothing more from this girl than sex.I already had my roster of sex partners in the area.Devin, keep it simple.A part of me believed that the more women I had, the less I’d feel the need for true intimacy.Quantity can’t replace quality.While my nature and I tussled, she rested her elbows on a dining room chair.“You can select different upholstery for your chairs
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