“See! That could have been us, ZeyZey, but you made me do that weak-ass dare.”
“Boy, in your fucking dreams. I’ll never ever.”
Italian pulled his pants up and smirked. “I know.”
I watched Mahzeyah roll her eyes for the fifth time today before she turned to Glee, asking her if she was okay again.
“Aite, Pearla. You up,” Bella said with the biggest smirk I’d seen today.
P picked up the dice, and for a minute, I forgot he and I were assigned to each other. All of a sudden, I wasn’t into the game anymore. The air in my lungs evaporated as P drilled a hole through me with his eyes. His hair brushed his shoulders as he shook the dice in his hands. He had a look as if he were a lion stalking his prey.
Please, let it not be a dare. Please. Please.
He was cute—no, scratch that—he was fine, but I didn’t know him. Italian had given Gal a warning not to do anything weird, but he hadn’t given P the same rules when it came to me. I could easily take the shot, but I was already buzzing. My sister and mama didn’t really trip about anything I did, but I didn’t want to go to either of their houses smelling like liquor. I could spend the night here, but as soon as my brother caught wind, he’d be here wreaking havoc on everyone.
Matteo had never even raised his voice at me, but he was stern. I hadn’t given him a reason to either, but being sloppy drunk would more than likely bring it out of him. Demise had even pulled up on me a few times. As a cousin, he was cool as ever. He wasn’t as intimidating when he was playing Don. I had too many people who could randomly pop up on me, and their seeing me intoxicated wasn’t what I wanted.I’d gone from only having my sister, mama, and nephew to now having a whole family with overprotective men. Did they spoil me rotten? Yes, but I didn’t want to take advantage of their trust. Another shot wasn’t going to happen. Plus, a small part of me was intrigued and wanted to comply. I was eager to feel something yet scared to feel something.
“Don’t we gotta check onthatdownstairs?” I turned to Italian.
“Nope. It’s already handled.” He jutted his chin to P. “Roll the dice, Pearla.”
P opened his hand where the dice sat about two inches apart. Swallowing, I leaned over and grabbed them. There were no sparks, no butterflies, no thudding heart as my fingers grazed his palm. The attraction was there, but that was about it. Breaking our eye contact, I shook the cubes in my hand and prayed that whatever it was, it wasn’t bizarre enough for me to take another shot. Letting the dice go, they slammed against the liquor bottle and then the walls of the tray before coming to a stop.
Nine.
My breath solidified in my chest as Italian called out the obvious. I’d rolled a dare. There was nothing stopping him from asking me to go to the back like Blayke had done with Ro. I was so tired of sitting in hurt and pain that I probably wouldn’t take a shot if he had. I needed to feel.
To feel wanted.
To feel accepted.
To feel lusted after.
Grind had pulled me up on a cloud top where I felt so good that nothing could convince me that the cloud could evaporate at any moment. Because I was not prepared and didn’t open my eyes to what he’d been preaching to me all along, I fell. The cloud had completely disappeared on my ass.
I had these rich men who cared about me. They cared about me and wanted nothing from me other than to love me and spoil me, but it had been hard for me to bask in it because I was heartbroken. I couldn’t be excited about my family because I was sick. I was literally sick to my fucking stomach. I was hurt to my core. It was hard to eat, hard to sleep, and hard to fucking breathe knowing that the boy I loved had played me like a fiddle, and instead of letting nature take its course, I was holding on to him.
And for what?
“I accept.”
P glared at me, intrigued.
“Friend, he didn’t say what the dare was just yet.” Mahzeyah touched my arm as if she thought I’d zoned out again.
“I don’t care… I’m not drinking no more liquor. So… I accept whatever the dare is.”
P rubbed his hand down his hairy chin. “You sure ’bout that?”
“Positive,” I assured with a slight head nod.
“Awl, shit!” Italian pulled a blunt from behind his ear and sparked it. “This gone be good.”
Widening his stance, P crossed his chest with one arm, resting the elbow of his other arm on it as he cuffed his chin. He looked immaculate doing the subtle move. There was something sexy about it.
“Pull down on yo’ nigga right now and tell him it’s a wrap. Tell him you’re with me now.”
“Ohhhhh weeeeee!” Bella fanned herself while tucking her lips into her mouth.
