Torn (17 page)

"I feel you. Just calm down, everything's going to be alright. Just let me go put on some clothes."

"Okay."

While West got dressed, Mo admired his nicely decorated home. For a single man, he had taste. His living room was painted a deep chocolate brown and all of the furniture was made out of bamboo wood. A few minutes later he returned, fully dressed.

"Have you tried callin' his phone again?"

"Yeah, before I left, but he didn't answer."

"Oh, well try callin' him from my phone."

"You know what? I ain't even think of that. Thanks, West."

"No problem, shorty."

Quan groggily answered the phone on the third ring.

"What's the deal, nigga?"

"Nah, this ain't yo' nigga, this yo' bitch."

"Mo?" Quan shot up, making sure he was looking at his phone right.

"So you can pick up the phone when you think it's West, but when I call you don't answer?"

"Man, what are you talkin' about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talkin' about!"

"Hold up! What the fuck you doing over there anyway?" he asked, confused.

"I was lookin' for you--"

"You was lookin' for me?" he barked, cutting her off.

"What the fuck you lookin' for me for? I got a phone! My shit ain't broke! You don't go over no other man's house lookin' for me! You lost your fuckin' mind?!"

"Boo ... don't be so loud ... you gon' wake up the baby up," Sherry whispered in the background.

"A'ight, my fault." Quan calmed down.

"Oh
hell
naw! Hold the fuck up! I know I didn't just hear some chick's voice in the background?! Is that Sherry?" Mo snapped, blacking out.

"Man, please, like I said, you supposed to be my wife and you actin' like a goddamn jump-off checkin' for me over some nigga's house! As a matter of fact,
get off that nigga phone
!"

"Excuse me?"

"Yo, you are wearing me out with this bullshit, Mo. You heard what the fuck I said. Just hang up the phone and call me in five minutes, a'ight."

Doing as she was told, Mo hung right up in his ear and thought to herself,
I wish I would call that nigga.

"So what he say?" West questioned as soon as she hung up.

"Basically nothing."

"Yo, let me ask you something?"

"What?"

"Why you keep going through all them changes wit that man?" He got in her face.

"Why you ask that?"

"'Cause you know just as good as I do that Quan don't appreciate what he got at home."

"And let me guess, you do?"

West looked directly into her eyes and said, "You already know."

127

On the other side of town, Sherry sat up in her four post canopy bed and watched as Quan got dressed. She loved to see him come but it hurt like hell to see him go. It was like every time he left, he took a piece of her soul with him. An undeniable ache filled her lower stomach. Flashbacks of him kissing her lips and caressing her thighs danced in her mind. Sherry would give anything if he would just stay.
Please don't leave
is what her soul was screaming out. Sherry had been playing her position as the other woman perfectly for the last three years.

The only time she ever slipped was when she had confronted Mo at her girl's shop.

Sherry never showed her ass like that again. Quan not only slapped fire out of her mouth when he found out, but he also threatened to leave her alone for good. After that, Sherry copped the attitude that whatever Quan disliked about Mo, she would do the opposite. She stopped nagging him about when he was gonna come through. She stopped complaining.

She always covered up and whatever he asked of her, she did.

Sexually, she made sure to satisfy his every need, and his stomach stayed full whenever he came around. But being the other woman was starting to get old. Sherry was tired of waiting on Quan to leave Mo's scrawny behind. She was tired of trying to make him love her the way she loved him. She didn't want to hear about his problems with Mo anymore. She was tired of sharing his time and affection with her. Sherry wanted Quan all to herself.

She wanted a man that was gonna love and support her just like the next woman did. She wanted a man that she could call all her own. The girl was so deep in love with him she couldn't see straight. Sherry's life had been utterly miserable since Quan had cut off their relationship.

When he came by to see their son, though, she played it cool. She would never let him know that she was hurting. All that crying and sobbing stuff wasn't her style. She would leave that for Mo to do, because she knew as soon as Mo made him mad, Quan would come running back to her.

And Sherry was absolutely right. It was almost two o'clock in the morning when she heard him coming in the house. He didn't even say hi when he walked into the bedroom. Quan simply took off his clothes and got into bed. Sherry tried to ignore his presence, but when Quan pulled her by the arm and made her look at him, she couldn't ignore him anymore.

"What you call yo'self, being mad at me or something?" he questioned, trying to make her laugh.

"No."

"I can't get a 'hi Q. I miss you, baby,' or nothing."

"Hi Q. I miss you, baby. You happy now?"

"Look ma ... I'm sorry for shutting you out like that. I did you wrong by keepin' you at arm's length, but it ain't gon' be like that no more."

"Oh it's not?"

"Nope."

"Hmm, well we'll see how long that last. You must be mad at Mo."

"Look, I ain't come over here to hear that shit. I came to see you, but if you gon' be gettin' smart and shit, I can leave," Quan threatened, getting up.

"Calm down," Sherry replied, desperately wanting him to stay. "I'm just tryin' to figure you out. I need to know where things stand between us."

"Yo, I'm for real, dude. I ain't come over here to hear your complaints, too. I could've stayed at home for that shit."

"I'm sorry."

"Well act like it then," Quan demanded as he kissed her lips passionately.

Sherry showed him just how sorry she was. She showed him three times in a row that night. They didn't fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning. Like all the other times he came by to see her, morning meant it was time for him to go. She wanted to ask him when he would be back, but Sherry couldn't play herself like that. She had to continue to play the role of the perfect, obedient mistress.

"I'm holla at you later, a'ight?" Quan said, giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"Okay."

"You know I love you, right?"

"Yes."

"Do me a favor."

"Anything," she whispered, while slowly dying inside.

"Kiss my son for me when he wake up." Mo sat quietly on the couch, curled up like a newborn baby, listening to Ella Fitzgerald sing about waking up to heartache. She was waiting for Quan to return home. For the past hour, she had been doing so with bated breath. Mo couldn't wait to let his ass have it. The girl was so upset she couldn't even think straight.

Her eyes were filled with tears and Mo wanted nothing more than to cry and allow the anxiety-ridden feelings she had bottled up inside to run down her cheeks, but what would that accomplish? None of this shit was new. It wasn't like this was the first time Quan hadn't come home, but the fact that he would do something so selfish while she was pregnant with his child was what fucked her up the most.

Mo really thought that they were past all the petty bullshit, but the way Quan was acting proved her wrong. Hurt and angered by his actions, she glanced out of the living room window in pure agony and despair. Raindrops the size of Lemonheads pelted the window, clouding her vision, but Mo could still see out well enough. Each time a car passed by and it wasn't Quan, she became more and more enraged. All she wanted to know was why he was acting so silly. What had she done that was so cruel and fucked up to make him treat her this way?

With a zombie-like look on her face, Mo gazed out the window and watched as Quan pulled into their spiral-shaped driveway. On the outside looking in, it seemed as if he didn't have a care in the world. He was still dressed in the same clothes he'd been wearing the day before, but nonetheless he was still sexy as hell.

Prepared to defend himself and his actions, Quan bopped into the living room ready for war, but once he caught a glimpse into Mo's Egyptian-shaped eyes, his feelings immediately changed and he began to feel like shit. Even though she had a look on her face that could kill, Mo still had that pregnancy glow about her that lit up the entire room. Quan knew he shouldn't have dipped out on her like that, but he had to get away.

Too much stuff was going through his head and Mo wasn't making the situation any better by saying stupid shit. All he wanted was for her to understand how he felt and for her to meet him halfway, but to see her so upset over some bullshit he said tore him up inside. Quan had no idea that he would feel so bad. For the short amount of time he was away with Sherry, he had completely forgotten about Mo and all of the problems he'd left behind.

Mo wasn't even supposed to be under any stress, and here he was being the one stressing her out. Quan knew one day that all the lies he'd told were gonna come back to haunt him, but he had hoped and prayed that that day wouldn't come too soon, because if Mo ever found out about half the dirt he'd done, she'd be gone for sure.

"What you sittin' up there lookin' all mad for?" he joked as he tried to place a kiss on her cheek, but instead Mo played him and turned her face.

"Don't play wit me," she shot in disgust.

"Why you ain't call my phone like I told you to?"

"Why would I call your phone?"

"What you mean why would you call my phone? You was blowin' that muthafucka up last night."

"Exactly, and you didn't bother to answer that muthafucka, did you?" she shot back sarcastically.

"Hmm, you got me. I'ma let you have that one."

"Where were you, Q?" Mo asked, folding her arms underneath her breasts.

"Since when you start callin' me Q?"

"I started callin' you Q when you stopped actin' like my man."

"Oh, so you ain't gon' marry me now?" he asked, getting up in her face, trying to make her laugh again.

"Get out my face! I'm not playin' wit you, Quan! Where were you?!" She pushed him away.

"Over my pot'nahs house," he lied.

"Which one?"

"Man, I ain't about to go through all of that. I just told you where I was at."

"So you wasn't over Sherry's house?" she quipped, getting up into his face. Mo wanted to believe him but the excuses he was giving her sounded too much like lies.

"You real hard-headed."

"Nah, answer the question."

"Yo, you's a fuckin' trip, and you wonder why I stay gone," he chuckled, running his hands down his face.

"Will you answer the question?!"

"What the fuck I just tell you!" "Alright, don't answer the question. So I guess I was right.

I guess you were with that bitch."

"See, there you go! That's why I hate fuckin' talkin' to you!

You always gotta be sarcastic and shit!"

"I wouldn't have to be sarcastic if yo' ass would just tell me the truth! As a matter of fact, let me smell yo' dick!"

"What?! Yo, you done lost yo' muthafuckin mind! I
swear
man ... I'm
tired
of this shit! Every time I walk up in this muthafucka it's something new! Here!" he snapped, whipping out his dick. "You wanna smell my dick, smell it!"

"If I could trust yo' ass maybe I wouldn't have to do this!"

"What it smell like?" Quan laughed as she placed his six inch dick up to her nose. Instantly it became hard. "It smell good, don't it?"

"Nigga, fuck you!" Mo spat, feeling the thick veins in his dick pulsating. Taking another whiff of it, she tried her best to smell the scent of another woman's pussy, but couldn't. Quan was clean.

"Damn," she hissed, letting go of it.

"See, I told yo' dumb ass."

"Whateva. I know yo' ass is lying!" She rolled her eyes and sat back on the couch.

"A'ight, Mo, believe what you wanna believe."

"Do you want me to leave? Is that it? 'Cause you know I will!"

"Mo, this me ... yo' ass ain't going nowhere."

"How you know?"

"'Cause I'm tellin' you you ain't."

"I hate yo' arrogant ass, I swear I do!" Mo balled up her fist and screamed, frustrated. "Why don't you just tell the truth and be a man about yours!" she screamed, getting angrier by the second.

"Maybe I would tell you the truth if yo' ass could handle the truth!" Quan replied, coldly zipping his pants back up.