AllFreeNovel
Share Us
1
JUAREZ, MEXICO.
JUST ACROSS THE BORDER FROM EL PASO, TEXAS.
YOLANDA
The stash house door flies open, flooding us with painfully bright light, those harsh white LED bulbs that dangle from wires above our heads. Cries of young women fill the air as we cover our eyes because we’ve been living in darkness for what feels like forever but is just a few days.
Wincing away the pain, I take my dirty fingers away from my face, force my eyelids open. I’m shocked at how many of us are in here. A week ago, when they dragged us kicking and screaming into this squalid stash house down a filthy Juarez street, it was just myself and Marybeth. They’d already shot Marybeth’s boyfriend twice in the head and left his body to the rats outside that taverna where we’d been drinking margaritas like the clueless Americanos we turned out to be.
“Come on, Yolanda, don’t be lame,” Marybeth had slurred just a few hours before our lives took a very dark downward turn, when we were still in El Paso, still under some illusion that the world was a safe place filled with sunshine and rainbows.
And tequila.
Marybeth had grinned at me while sucking on a lime after what must have been our fourth tequila shot. “You’ve leaving Texas tomorrow. You can’t come all the way to El Paso without doing a Mexico run. Juarez has a rocking nightlife. It’s totally wild down there. Come on. Drink up. You’re already a shot behind us. Open your throat and just pour it down. Like when you’re sucking a guy’s cock and you can feel him about to come and you open your throat so you don’t have to taste it.”
I’d frowned at the shot-glass shimmering there on the sticky bar, then smiled up at my sparkly-eyed former college roommate. Same old Marybeth. So funny and cool. So confident and comfortable with her sexuality.
Wish I’d picked up more of her habits, I’d thought as I raised the shot-glass to my lips. Marybeth had always been a party-girl, and I’d gamely gone along with it that first year. But I’d quickly learned that hangovers didn’t mix well with early morning classes and a scholarship with minimum GPA requirements. We didn’t room together after Freshman Year, but Marybeth and I stayed friends all the way through graduation.
Which was three years ago now, I’d thought as I caved in to Marybeth’s infectious enthusiasm and somehow managed to open my throat and pour the harsh alcohol down like it was either medicine or poison.
“Speaking of cocks,” Marybeth had said far too loudly as her boyfriend left us to go take a piss. “How’s the love life these days? Chicago’s a big city. Way more dicks to choose from than in college, that’s for sure.”
I’d smiled through my lime-puckered lips. “Considering we went to a women’s college, that’s not saying much. There were maybe five dicks total on campus.”
“And I sucked all of them,” Marybeth declared proudly, raising her empty shot-glass and gesturing to the bartender. “Three professors, one of the volleyball coaches, and that weird janitor who always tried to look up our skirts under the bleachers.” She closed one eye and thought a moment. “Actually, I only gave the janitor a hand-job.” She grinned impishly at my half-shocked half-amused expression. “What, you knew that, right?”
I’d shaken my head with wide-eyed surprise, not sure what to say.
“Are you judging me?” Marybeth had narrowed her eyes at me as she raised her freshly refilled shot-glass. “Because if you are . . .”
“Of course not,” I’d said hurriedly, forcing down another shot to prove that I was cool enough to keep up with Marybeth. “In fact I’ve always envied you, Marybeth. You’re gorgeous and witty and confident. I always thought you were the coolest person in college.” I’d shrugged, glanced down at myself self-consciously, feeling a bit too exposed in my yellow sundress with thin shoulder straps. My body was clearly not cast with the same mold the Creator used on Marybeth. She has a perfect hourglass. Narrow waist, great ass, perky boobs. I, on the other hand, have small breasts matched with a disproportionately large butt that’s big enough the barstool might disappear into me. “We’re just different, that’s all.”
Marybeth had given me a quick hug. “Aw, honey. You’re so pretty. Any guy would be lucky to get a piece of that divine ass.” She’d smiled mischievously. “Which reminds me—you still haven’t answered my question. Is there a guy? You never dated in college, but there weren’t many options. But now in Chicago you must—”
“No,” I’d said abruptly before going quiet. I’d wanted to say more, but there wasn’t much more to say, so I’d shrugged and shaken my head and repeated the only answer I ever had to that annoyingly common question now that I’m twenty-four and still on my own, still single, still unattached.
Still untouched.
“Wait, are you still a . . .” Marybeth had glanced around us, then leaned close, like me being a virgin is way more scandalous than her proud declaration of conquering every cock at the Sweet Mercy College for Women. “I mean, no judgement, of course, but . . .”
“But of course you’re judging me anyway.” I’d flashed an awkward smile, feeling the blush burn on my round cheeks. “Look, it’s not like I planned it this way, like I’m saving myself for marriage or something like that. It just kinda happened. Or not happened, I guess. I’m just not a very sexual person.”
Marybeth had closed one eye like drunk people do when they’re trying not to see double. “Not even when you’re drunk?”
I’d screwed my face up at the sight of the bartender refilling our shot glasses. “Especially not when I’m drunk. I get sick really easily. In fact, if I take one more shot, things are going to get very messy.”
Marybeth had swiped at the air. “Messy is good. Come on. Drink up. Next stop, Mexico. We can discuss the sanctity of your vagina over margaritas. My boyfriend knows a great taverna in Juarez. It was featured in that show about the Narcos, the Mexican cartels.”
A chill of warning had snaked up my back. “Um, if Narco druglords frequent the place, shouldn’t we stay away?”
“Nah, it’s cool.” Marybeth had hiccupped, then slid her perfect butt off the barstool, stretched her lithe body in a way that made every male head turn in her direction like it was a magnetic reaction. “It’s became overrun with tourists after getting famous from the TV show. It’s safer than an Applebee’s in Chicago.”
I was going to point out that three people were shot at a Chicago Applebee’s last week, but Marybeth was already strutting through the bar, her hunky Texan boyfriend by her side, his arm around her slender waist not so much to keep her upright but to signal to the other men that this hottie was taken.
I’d strutted my own butt through the bar in pursuit, though it felt more like a waddle following in Marybeth’s graceful wake. When I stepped out into the steamy Texas night, the air hit me in the face like a sauna, a gust of hot wind almost pushing me back into the bar, like maybe it was fate warning me not to cross the border, destiny whispering that I should stay here in the lights instead of venturing into the darkness.
