My head felt like someone was playing a game of pinball in there. I don’t think I’d ever had a worse hangover. But what could I expect after how much I drank last night? I knew it wasn’t possible to drown away my sorrows, but I damn well tried after I stomped out of the house last night. In all the time we’d been together, I’d never been so mad at Stephanie or so serious about ending things between us. Usually, she could just bat her beautiful eyelashes at me and we’d be making up. But this time I wasn’t having it. She had told me one too many lies, and it hurt me to the core that she had changed her mind about me adopting Maleka. She seemed to be more concerned about her daughter’s father than she was about me. It was enough to make even the most secure man nervous. So where I was usually the one to make peace in our house, this time I set out to hurt Stephanie the way she’d hurt me. I told her I was going out to find me some ass, but really I was just planning on going to the NCO club on base to get drunk. Now I was the one hurting as I lay in bed, my head pounding. I was afraid to open my eyes, ’cause I knew the light would only make the pain worse.
“Steph?” I mumbled desperately from under the covers. I was rubbing my temples to relieve the pain. “Can you please get me some aspirin? My head is killing me.”
She didn’t answer, so I shook her. I knew she was up, because I’d just heard her hit the snooze button on the alarm a few seconds before. She probably wasn’t speaking to me because of the way I cursed her out last night. I’d said a lot of things I probably shouldn’t have, but at the time I didn’t give a shit. I meant every word. And I still meant a lot of it, especially the part about packing my shit and moving back onto the base this morning. I was just praying that she wasn’t gonna have an attitude when I asked for the ring.
“Stephanie? Did you hear me? I need some aspirin.” I was about to shake her again until she spoke.
“Yeah, I heard you. But my name ain’t Stephanie.”
“What? Oh, shit!” My response wasn’t exactly Shakespeare, but they were the only words that came to mind when I realized that something was seriously wrong. I slowly pried my eyes open, praying I was just having a bad dream. But once I adjusted to the light, I saw my ex-girlfriend, Sergeant Brittany Collins, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking like a Victoria’s Secret supermodel.
“Brittany, what the hell are you doing in my guest room?”
“Your guest room? You better look around, ‘cause I pay the rent here.” She rolled her eyes and I surveyed the room, decked out in pastels and ultrafeminine furniture. She was right. I wasn’t in my guest room or even my house, and that meant I was in trouble. Big trouble, ’cause I wasn’t any better than Stephanie and her cheating ass.
“Oh, God.” I sat up gingerly and rubbed my eyes. “What time is it?”
She pointed to the clock on the nightstand. “Quarter to eight.”
“In the morning?” My head was pounding so loud I could barely hear my own voice.
“No. The sun shines through my window all night,” she answered sarcastically. “Of course it’s morning. Are you still drunk?”
“No, I’m not still drunk. Just got one hell of a hangover,” I groaned. “I gotta get outta here. I gotta get home. I can’t believe I did this. Stephanie’s gonna kill me.” I didn’t even wanna think about what might have happened between Brittany and me. No matter how angry I was at Stephanie, my conscience wouldn’t let me get out of this situation without heaps of guilt. She was the cheater, not me. At least I didn’t think I was until now, with Brittany’s half-naked ass sitting on the edge of my bed. Now I wasn’t quite sure if I did or not. Especially since the last thing I remembered was her sitting down next to me at the bar and offering to buy me a drink. “How the hell did I get here, anyway?”
“Damn, I must be losing my touch if you don’t even remember.” She slid the strap of her lingerie back onto her shoulder. I was glad, ’cause the last thing I needed was a view of her exposed breast to get me into even more trouble.
“To be honest,” I admitted, “the only thing I remember is sitting in the NCO club drinking a tequila sunrise.”
“That’s it? You don’t remember begging me for some last night?” She looked insulted.
“I’m sorry, Brittany, but I don’t remember any of that.” I covered my face in shame. “God, I’ve really gotta stop drinking tequila.”
“No, you really gotta stop making promises you can’t keep.” There was anger in her eyes.
“I do?” I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, Lord. What’d I promise?”
“A hell of a lot more than I got. If I remember correctly, you said something about sending me to the stars and the moon if I let you come home with me.” She smirked at me. “Sweetheart, I didn’t come close to the moon, and the only stars I saw were outside my window.”
“For real? I was that bad?” Male ego is a fragile thing. Once Brittany insulted my performance, I was more concerned about her criticism than I was about getting home to Stephanie. And like any self-respecting man, I had an excuse ready. “Well, it was probably because I was drunk. If I was sober, I would’ve handled my business. You can believe that.” I winked at her, tempted to offer proof right then until she laughed out loud.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are.” She shook her head. “Do you really think we had sex last night?”
“Why else would I be in your bed?” I was feeling stupider by the second. One second I was worried that I had slept with Brittany, now I was worried that maybe I hadn’t.
“To sleep.” She stopped laughing and stared at me. “We didn’t do anything. I was just joking, Travis. Can’t you see you’re still fully dressed?” I noticed my rumpled clothes for the first time and sighed thankfully.
“How the hell did I get here, anyway?”
“I took your keys after your sixth tequila sunrise. I didn’t know where you lived, so I drove you and your truck over here.”
“For real?”
“Yeah. I slept on the couch last night. I just walked in here to turn off the alarm clock.”
“But you were in the bed. I was shaking you, wasn’t I?” This was too confusing for my hungover state.
“No. You were shaking my pillows, Travis.” She laughed as I noticed just how many damn pillows were on her bed. I musta really been hurting if I thought one of those was her, but she did say I’d had six tequilas last night. And who knows how many I had before she got there.
“Thank God,” I sighed pitifully now that my ego was in check, and I realized it was a good thing that nothing had happened. “I don’t think I could deal with it right now if I had.”
“Please, even if I wanted to get with you last night, I couldn’t. All you did was talk about your fiancée and how you wanted to go home but she was cheating on you. I don’t know what she’s got between her legs, but I sure as hell wish she’d share her secret, ’cause your ass is whipped.”
“Yeah, I know,” I agreed. “That’s part of my problem. I’m totally whipped.”
“Hey, that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she smiled. “Stephanie’s a lucky girl. She just has to wake up and figure it out.”
“I don’t know, Brittany. I’m starting to think she’s never gonna figure it out.”
“Yeah, you told me that last night.”
“What didn’t I tell you?”
“I got the Reader’s Digest version of your whole four-year relationship. From your first date to her ex showing up Christmas Day to-”
I cut her off. “Damn, I really gotta stop drinking. Shit makes me talk too much.”
“It sure does.” She smiled. “Look, I’m about to make breakfast. You not no Muslim or anything, are you? ’Cause I don’t cook breakfast unless it’s got pork.”
“No, I eat pork. But I’m gonna pass. I need to get home and straighten a few things out before I head to the base.”
“Well, if you need somewhere to stay, you can stay here for a few days. But from now on, you get the couch.”
“You know, Brittany, you’re all right. Thanks.” I gave her a sad smile. “Who knows? The way things are going, I might need to take you up on that offer.”
“My door’s always open.”
“Travis,” a weak voice called from the living room when I got home a little after nine. I wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation I was sure was about to go down. Still, I went into the living room to deal with our problem like a man. Stephanie was sitting on the love seat, looking nothing like what I expected. I had expected her to be ready for a war of words. Instead, she looked like she’d already been defeated. Her hair was wrapped in an old scarf and she was wearing baggy sweats. But her face was the most surprising. Trails of black mascara started at her puffy eyes and streaked all the way down her cheeks. She looked like she’d been crying all night.
“Travis, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I know I shouldn’t have lied to you. Please don’t leave me.”
“Don’t worry.” I stepped closer to her. “I ain’t going nowhere. This is my house. But shit’s about to change around here. Do you understand me, Stephanie? Shit’s about to change or you can get the fuck out.” She jumped up and wrapped her arms around me as soon as I was within reach.
“I know. I understand. You didn’t mess with no woman last night, did you?” During the ride home I’d convinced myself that I should tell Stephanie the truth about getting drunk and winding up at Brittany’s. Hell, it was completely innocent. But now that I was looking at her tear-stained face, I didn’t think it was such a good idea.
“I had a few offers, but no, I didn’t mess with any-”
Before I could finish my sentence, her lips came down on mine and we were kissing like it was our first date.
“I want you, baby. I want you right now,” she purred like a sex kitten.
She let go of me and pulled her sweatshirt right off. Two seconds later she was standing in front of me naked as the day she was born. She grabbed my hand slowly and backed up until she was sitting in the love seat with her legs open.
“It’s all yours, baby. Any way you want it.”
But I wasn’t as enthusiastic as she was. I took a step back.
“What is it? What’s the matter?”
“I can’t live this way, Steph. I can’t be paranoid all the time. Worried about where you are or who you’re with. As much as I love you, it’s not worth it to me. So you do whatever you have to do to get your boy Malek straight. ’Cause you got one more chance and only one chance. You screw it up and we’re through. And you can try me if you want to.”
“I’m not gonna screw up, baby. Now, come here so I can show you how much I love you.”
“Where are the kids?” I whispered as I unbuttoned my shirt.
“I already took them to day care. We’ve got till five o’clock this afternoon.” I smiled at her answer as I unbuckled my pants.
“Well then, back that ass on up.”