“Ha! You stupid.” Pia cackled.
Mocha shrugged. “I’m for real, Pia.”
I pondered before I shook my head. “It feels… normal? Yes… normal. You can’t miss… what you haven’t had, I guess.”
The swipe of Shio’s tongue on my bud and him sucking me into his mouth flashed across my mind, causing a shockwave in my underwear. I swallowed down my desire, not wanting to share the intimacy we shared with the girls.
Dasani rubbed her forehead. “See, I’m too damn drunk for this shit.”
“I most definitely had one too many.” Scarlett plopped back on the bed, chest facing the ceiling.
Mocha kissed her teeth with a grin. “A whole-ass virgin. No wonder Shio put yo’ ass in here. He ain’t studying no damn cocaine. He wants to lock you away. You a diamond, boo. Nah, fuck that! You a unicorn. My daddy would be so proud if I was a virgin at this big ole age.”
“Nah, because LJ wouldn’t be here. Don’t try to wish my nephew into nonexistence.” Jisei chastised.
“Okay…” Pia rolled more on her side and rubbed her protruding belly. “Do you want to wait until marriage is the question. Not what your daddy wants but whatyouwant? You’re way in another country. You ain’t gotta do shit he says. And I know right now you battling addiction, one thatyou willovercome, so leave that out of your response and thinking process.”
I panted softly. My mind was languid and without hope. Shio had come over, and he’d made me feel good—really good. But he was back to not responding to my texts. He had not made any effort to show the intimacy he’d shown me when he came here.
My head shot up in the direction of where the camera was. A towel hung from it, and the burn in my chest returned. How dare he? How dare he watch me and never respond to my messages? That was a violation of my privacy, and I was pissed at myself for not feeling as violated and turned off as I should’ve.
“I don’t want to wait until marriage.”
“But I would,” Scarlett stated. “You’ve waited all this time. What’s the rush, Solana? Me… I sold my virginity.”
I looked up into Scarlett’s pretty face and then grabbed her hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“No, don’t be. It’s done. But I sold mine, so if I could go back, I would have waited and given it to my husband on our wedding night. But then, my baby wouldn’t be here. And that very thought makes me feel guilty.” She squeezed my hands. “What I’m saying is, all of our endgames lead to, or are leading to, marriage one way or another. We know for a fact that you will not be going back to Mexico. That’s done. We like you too much and?—”
“You know too damn much.” Dasani finished with a straight face that had me stiffening.
“Yes, that’s true,” Scarlett softened Dasani’s words, but I knew what Dasani meant. “It’s nothing wrong with giving it to your forever person. For me, sex is a beautiful thing. Women process sex differently. But sex with my husband is just…different. Matteo has a way about himself that… I don’t know how to explain it except the nigga can fuck. Like he canfuck,and in the same breath, he can make love so good that it brings me to tears. If I didn’t have him, I wouldn’t want to have sex at all.”
Pia nodded. “I enjoyed sex with the other men I slept with, but Nel is definitely the best I’ve ever had.”
“Yeah, same with Ezio. You’d think he was still on the percs the way he be having my ass folded like a pretzel every other day.”
Mocha clapped her hands. “That’s how I got my fast-ass pregnant, so you know Lorenzo is definitelythat niggain and outside of the bedroom.”
“See! The man you marry is definitely going to make all the other guys irrelevant.” Scarlett smiled, and I swear she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever known—inside and out.
“Bitch, please!” Dasani stole my attention. “Demise a beast and all, but I done had some good-ass runner-ups! I was running through them ballers that brought their asses in the emergency room. Them niggas was stuffing my pussy and my pockets. Ion know what these bitches talking ’bout, but for some people, hoe is life. I met my husband being on some hoe shit.” Dasani shrugged.
“Emergencia room?”
“Yeah, I used to be a nurse before I got locked up, girl.”
There was so much I didn’t know about these women, and each time they opened their mouths, I was more intrigued.
I shrugged, not willing to ask Dasani to elaborate. “I think what worries me the most is… Um, not knowing what is next for me. When I was at Shio’s home, I had just started to get comfortable when I was kicked out. Now, I am comfortable here and can’t help but feel like the same thing will happen. I don’t know what my next plan is.”
“Well, this is my muthafuckin’ house. Can’t a soul put you out. When you’re comfortable, you can come out of this basement and take over my primary bedroom. I still have clothes and stuff up there with the tags on them, and though you’re thicker than me, you can do something with a lot of them clothes, I’m sure.
“As Dasani said, you’re here to stay. I can’t tell you if you and Shio are endgame… I really wish I could. But what I will say is, you don’t have to worry about not one of those Mexicans coming for you. We gone make sure you good. We got moneyand connections just like our husbands, and for the bitches we love, we don’t mind tricking!”
“Yeap! Just like our tricking-ass husbands.” Dasani pointed at Jisei.
“Oh my God! He is my brother! Long-lost brother, at that. So he can’t buy me shit, Dasani?”
