Pia shook her head. “Mocha! Girl!”
“Really, Mocha?!” Scarlett said, sounding genuinely upset.
Everyone chastised her except Dasani, who was laughing really hard.
Chuckling, I picked lint off the pillow that was now in my lap. All eyes were on me, waiting for an answer, despite them telling Mocha off.
“Yes. I’m… I’m a adicta a la cocaína…” I corrected myself before they even asked. “Oo, sorry. Cocaine addict.”
That was the first time I’d admitted that out loud, and I felt lighter—lighter than I’d ever felt before.
“Damn, you so pretty. I would have never thought that about you. Shit, you even make being on powda sound sexy. Co-ky-eee-nahhh!” Mocha dragged out.
“Yeah, you may feel sexy while doing the drug, but it’s nothing sexy about it. I never looked at myself as an addict. It was just… Um, something to do to take my mind off my reality.”
I took a breath. If I were going to tell them about my addiction, I might as well have told them where it stemmed from. “My father promised me to marry an evil man. An evil man who comes from an evil family. They are no good for my country. Drugs became an escape. I was on drugs before I was promised to Felipe. It got worse? I think that’s the word I’m looking for. Sometimes English and Española blur.”
Mocha grabbed a pillow and propped her chest on it. “That dude from the club? The fine one?”
I nodded. “As attractive as he may be, he is a very bad man. Still… I was willing to go with him. I never wanted to bring him to your doorstep. To Shio’s doorstep.” I swallowed.
“I was willing to go back home and face the consequences. I’m sorry, Jisei, for taking residence in your home.”
“Girl, please! Mi casa es su casa!”
I grinned. “Very good, Español.”
“Yeah, well don’t get to trying to speak it to me because that’s all I remember from taking it in college. But I don’t know if youknow this or not, but not long ago… Not even a year ago, my husband was battling an addiction. Why do you think Shio had this room set up? It was for Ezio.”
Jisei tossed her silky tresses behind her shoulder and pulled on her halter top before continuing. “He stayed in this room until he was clean. It worked too. It worked, and now look at us. Happy ever after. A cute lil’ baby and everything.”
“My fat man so handsome!” Mocha cooed.
“I… I don’t know if that will be my ending. But I did not know Ezio battled addiction.”
“He did. He still does. He still craves a pill here and there, but he refrains. A bitch gotta thug it out when it’s that time of the month because I don’t even keep Tylenol in the house. At least not the pill version.” Jisei shuddered and then shook her head.
“You won’t have to worry about him, Solana—your fiancé. You also don’t have to worry ’bout nothing coming to our doorsteps. My husband ain’t gone let shit infiltrate what we’ve built. They so evil but them niggas have gone underground. They shook.”
Dasani shot the rest of the women a look, and that told me that there was more she could say, but she wouldn’t. At least she wouldn’t in my presence.
I sighed and changed the subject. “I have my days where I feel as though the drug will make me feel better, but I am happy the craving is no longer there. It’s a mental battle. A very hard one, but I am taking it day by day.”
“So… How long you gone be in this basement? I mean, it’s cute and cozy and all, but shit, we got malls to hit, couches to stand on, and mob niggas’ pockets to run!” Mocha wagged her tongue and bucked her hips.
“I… I don’t know. Italian and I just figured until I get over the craving.”
“So that’s the plan? Or what is the plan?”
“I guess so. But I do not know what my future holds. I do have dual citizenship. If I decide to stay, I will get a job so that I can support myself. I do not know if I want to be back in México.”
I was still upset with my father. There were so many lies that I didn’t know if I could ever trust him again. He had played chess with my life, and it could have ended badly. The Rinaldi Mob could have been just as dangerous as the Rodríguezes, but I knew no matter what he had said, he didn’t care anymore because he needed money. It also made me think that Maura turning off my credit card wasn’t about punishment, but more likely because he couldn’t afford it anymore.
“Girl! You don’t have to get no fucking job!” Dasani looked at me as if I wasloca(crazy).
“Dasani, Shio and I… We never…”
“Y’all never fucked?” Pia asked.
