“Will do.”
“Excuse me y’all while I take care of this slight media blitz.” Hailey picked up the blinking line and gave the reporter her comments about the hacker. It took longer than she thought it would. When she hung up the phone, Brenda was no longer in the room. Garrett sat across from her staring at her with his piercing ebony eyes. The look he gave her seemed to pierce through her soul.
Her cell phone chirping broke their stare. She saw that it was Trevon and hit the ignore button. “Don’t you have a maniac fan to catch?”
“Brenda’s on the job. I wanted to talk to you.”
Her phone chirped again. She turned off the ringer. She picked up a tissue and wiped her hands. Her palms were sweaty. He was making her nervous.
“I talked to Tre.”
“Good. I haven’t.” Her eyes darted away.
“If you want Tre, I understand.”
For a brief moment, she saw pain in Garrett’s eyes. It tugged at her heart. She was confused. Why did she care how he felt. “I…we…we’re not together,” she stuttered.
“A little birdie told me he was breaking off his engagement sometime today, so apparently your little plan to make him jealous must have worked.”
“I may not want him back.”
Garrett stood up. “Keep telling yourself that. From the outside looking in, you still want him. I wish you two the best.”
He walked out without waiting for Hailey to respond. Hailey wanted to run after him and tell him he was wrong; but he was right. She was getting what she wanted. But were her wants changing?
~ 19 ~
Hailey needed a pick me up, so she went to Mo’s dressing area to have her makeup and hair redone. “Hook me up please.”
“You look like you lost your best friend,” Mo said.
“Let’s just say I might have lost an old friend.” Hailey plopped down in the swivel chair.
Mo took out his make-up kit. “Let’s do some bright colors. Maybe that’ll help cheer you up.” He removed the old make-up from her face. She closed her eyes and gave Mo an update on the situation with Trevon.
“I’m finally getting what I want, but I’m not happy about it.”
“Then do something about it.”
“That’s just it. I’ve been telling myself I want him for so long. Now that I’m about to get him one hundred percent, I’m not so sure.”
“Now correct me if I’m wrong,” Mo said, as he turned the chair around for her to see her reflection in the mirror as he applied more make-up.
“You know I will.”
“You give sound advice to people everyday and help countless number of women; so why aren’t you taking some of your own advice?”
“But…”she stuttered.
“The do what I say, not what I do mentality.” Mo shook his head.
“I’m going to go with my heart and if it works out fine. If it doesn’t, that’ll be fine too.”
“You come to Mo for the real deal…if you ask me, you know I’m giving it to you no holds barred.”
“Give it to me straight.”
“Your man. Correction, I mean your booty call is engaged, but now he’s talking about breaking that engagement to be with you. Am I right so far?”
“Correct.”
“Look at you,” Mo said. He held his hand on her chin and pointed her head towards the mirror. “Open your eyes and look.”
She did as she was told. He continued on saying, “The woman I’m seeing on the outside is a confident woman who knows she deserves to be loved. She wouldn’t take mess off nobody—male or female. When I dig deeper, I see a woman who doesn’t think she deserves the whole man, so she’s willing to accept a piece of a man.”
Hailey frowned. “Excuse me.”
“Yes, I said it. You settle now; you’ll continue to settle.”
Hailey crossed her arms, but couldn’t get comfortable. She sighed. “Mo. I think it’s time that I go.”
“Don’t get mad at me.”
“I’m not mad. Just pissed to find myself in this situation.”
Mo twirled his brush in his hands. “Do something about it. Don’t be a victim. Be a doer.”
She walked up to Mo and gave him two air kisses near the cheek. “Thank you.”
***
Garrett surfed the channels on the television until he landed on the sports channel. He tried his best to keep busy to keep his mind off Hailey and Trevon’s reunion . He should have been happy for his friend, but he wasn’t. He threw the empty can of beer on the floor and opened up another one. He normally didn’t drink unless it was in a social setting, but he needed something to relax his mind.