“Nothing is going to happen to me. I’m in good hands, trust me,” she said laughing.
“I’m not laughing Brook. If you don’t tell me what’s up I’m not covering for you no more,” I said seriously.
“We’ll talk later, I promise,” she said hanging up.
“Girl, Brooklyn is finally coming out of that shell, huh?” Nadia said.
“Yeah, she’s trying to, but she needs to take her time. She’s moving too fast to say she’s never had a boyfriend before,” I replied.
“She’ll be alright as long as she doesn’t run into a dog like I did,” Nadia said frowning.
My poor friend was so bitter about her and Dominic’s failed relationship. She had a man, but she was holding on to the past. She would never admit it, but if given the chance, she would be back with that nigga in a heartbeat. He was her first love and that’s just something a girl never forgets.
“Girl, forget Dominic. A man like him will never be satisfied.”
“It’s not that. Dominic has a heart of gold. It was that bitch Kennedi that came in between us. She did the same thing to him that Tiffany did to Bryce. They offered them help when they needed it and worked their way into their lives. I was the one to break things off with Dominic only because she wouldn’t go away. She’s acting all prissy now, but that girl took me through hell. I just wonder if I would have fought a little harder if Dominic and I would still be together. Sometimes I think I gave up too fast,” Nadia ranted.
“You didn’t give up too fast. He cheated and you left his ass,” I said.
“When we found out that I was pregnant he left her alone. Dominic really wants kids so he wanted to do right by me. He called her right in front of me and told her it was over. She was damn near stalking him after that. She started coming to his job and calling all hours of the night. I was so stressed out, I miscarried. I just couldn’t forgive him after that. I blamed him for bringing her into the picture in the first place,” Nadia said as tears rolled down her face.
“Do you still love Dominic?” I asked although the answer was evident.
“Yeah, and I probably always will,” she replied sadly.
I felt bad for my girl, but I didn’t know what to say to make her feel better. I’d never really been in love before so I couldn’t offer her any advice. I had a few male friends I chilled with from time to time, but it was nothing serious. Kyle and I had been kicking it off and on for a while, but he was a male whore. He would fuck anything with a pulse so I could never get serious with him.
“Don’t worry about it. At least you have Mark,” I said referring to her new man.
“I had Mark,” she replied. “That didn’t work out either.”
I love my girl, but I had to hurry up and get rid of her ass. She was depressing me with all of this bad news. Nadia was the type that wanted to be married with kids. The problem was she never met men who shared those feelings. As soon as she started talking about having a family they were out the door.
“It’s alright honey. Your prince charming is going to come eventually. In the meantime, we need to go have some drinks and forget about all of our problems,” I said snapping my fingers.
“That sounds good to me,” she said with a smile.
I couldn’t promise her that all of her problems would go away overnight, but after a few drinks she damn sure would forget about them for a while.
CHAPTER 11
BROOKLYN
“Damn it Dominic, look at this,” I complained while looking in the mirror. I had a huge red mark on my neck that was going to be hard to cover.
“My bad ma, I couldn’t help it. You smell good. What kind of perfume is that?”
“Don’t try to change the subject,” I said hitting him in his chest.
“I’m not. I just like the way you smell. What do you have on?”
“It’s called Daisy by Marc Jacobs,” I replied.
We were at his brother David’s house in a quiet subdivision in Metairie, Louisiana. I had Candace to lie for me once again so I could spend some time with Dominic. Since we had our first outing over a month ago, Dominic and I have been spending a lot of time together. We went to the movies and out to eat or we would just chill at his brother’s house like we were doing right now. David has a nice four bedroom home with a huge pool that he lived in all by himself. We had gotten close over the past month that I’ve been kicking it with Dominic. I even came over and cooked for them a few times. They thought I was lying about my culinary skills so I had to show and prove. When I finished cooking and baking, they were fighting to see who would get to keep the leftovers. Of course, David was the winner since Dominic couldn’t take it to the house that he shared with Kennedi. I’d seen her few more times at Bryce’s house, but she wasn’t as nice as she used to be and I had a feeling I knew why. Dominic told me she questioned him about me the night of Jaden’s gathering. He thought it was water under the bridge, but she kept bringing my name up and he didn’t know why. She couldn’t have figured anything out because he never switched up his routine. He was still going in at the same time and they still spent a lot of time together. Sometimes he would cancel plans with me just so he could do whatever she wanted to do. I didn’t mind because she was his fiancée. Dominic and I were just friends, but I was starting to like him a lot. He claimed to be feeling me too, but that was about as far as it could go. Besides kissing and hugging, nothing serious ever happened between us, although I wouldn’t have minded if it had. I was so tired of everybody always talking about sex and I was still a virgin.
“What else do you like?” Dominic asked breaking me out of my trance.
“What do you mean?” I asked confused.
“I mean like clothes, shoes, purses. What do you like?” He asked again.
“Nigga you gon’ be here all night asking a female a stupid ass question like that,” David said as he walked into the living room.
“Shut up,” Dominic told him.
Besides my brothers, Dominic and David were the closest siblings I’d ever seen. It seemed like they did everything together as long as Kennedi wasn’t involved. David told me why he didn’t like her and I was a little surprised. I hadn’t known Dominic that long, but he didn’t seem like he would do something like he did to Nadia. Now David was another story. I lost count of how many women came to his house since I’ve been coming over. It was always the same routine. They would walk in and speak before he led them upstairs to his freak room. That was what he called one of his spare bedrooms where he entertained his company. According to him, they would never be allowed anywhere near his personal bedroom.
“Where are you going?” I asked David.
“Nowhere, I got somebody coming over,” he replied.
“We were about to go,” Dominic stated as he pulled me up from the sofa.
“Alright sister-in-law, don’t be a stranger,” he said giving me a one arm hug.
“I won’t and you need to stop with the sister-in-law stuff,” I said hugging him back.
Dominic and I walked out the door at the same time that David’s company arrived. It was hot as hell outside and this heifer walked up wearing a long black trench coat with some heels. Dominic and I looked at each other and fell out laughing. We never really have winters in New Orleans. so it wasn’t even cold enough for that.
“Looks like we’re leaving at the right time,” I whispered to him.
“Yep, I don’t need to see or hear nothing that goes on in there,” he replied.
It was still early so Dominic and I decided to get some ice cream and sit in the park. The sun was just going down and we sat in the car and watched. I didn’t like to pry, but sometimes it seemed like he wasn’t in a hurry to go home. I’d heard he and Kennedi argue a few times, but I never knew why.
“So why can’t David call you his sister-in-law?” Dominic asked me out of the blue.
“Are you serious right now?” I asked in return.
“I’m very serious.”
&n
bsp; “You do have a fiancé or did you forget?”
“No, I didn’t forget, but you’re my girl too,” he replied seriously.
“No, I’m your friend and that’s all. I’m not trying to fool myself into thinking that it’s anything more than that,” I said.
“You kiss all your male friends?” He asked.
“Kevin is my only male friend and yes, we’ve kissed several times,” I replied honestly.
“Don’t play with me Brooklyn,” he said frowning at me.
I didn’t answer because I really wasn’t playing. Kevin and I had done far more than kiss, but I chose not to get into all of that with Dominic.
“So what are you and Kennedi having?” I asked changing the subject.
“I don’t know yet. She’s only three months so it’s too soon to tell.”
“So what do you want? Boy or girl?”
“Every man wants their first to be a boy,” he replied liked that was common knowledge.
We sat in silence for a while as Dominic held my hand tightly in his. I hated to admit how much I was feeling him, especially knowing that he would be a married man soon. He was the closest I’d ever come to having a boyfriend and I didn’t want to see it end. I knew that my time with him was going to come to an end just as soon as Kennedi had their baby. He was already talking about cutting back on his work hours to spend more time at home when the time came.
“What’s on your mind?” He asked after a while.
“Nothing, just enjoying the scenery,” I replied.
I didn’t want to tell him what was really on mind because I didn’t want to come off as desperate. We’d only been kicking it for a month so it was probably too soon anyway.
“Well, I’m enjoying my company more than the scenery,” he replied looking at me.
When he leaned over and kissed me, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feel of his lips on mine. Our tongues wrestled as he slipped his hand underneath my dress. I gasped in shock at his newfound boldness. Dominic and I kissed a lot, but he never seemed to want to take it further than that. I was kind of excited to think that maybe today would be the day that I finally lost my virginity. It didn’t matter if I could never have him to myself. I just really wanted him to be my first. Hell, I was ready to settle for Kevin being my first just as long as the job got done.
“Damn you’re tight,” Dominic breathed as he slipped one of his fingers inside of me.
I guess I was tight since a finger was the biggest thing to ever enter me. I was in another world as I grinded into his hand. When he removed his hand and slipped off my underwear, I just knew that it was about to go down. I noticed him trying to undo his pants so I decided to help him out. When he pulled out his stiffness, it took everything in me not to run away. There was no way possible that all of that could fit inside of me. He was bound to rip me apart in the process if he tried. Still, even fear didn’t stop me from wanting to go through with it.
“I want you to get on top,” Dominic said as picked me up and sat me on his lap.
“What! Are you crazy?” I said looking at him with wide eyes.
He stopped kissing my neck and looked at me just as crazy.
“What, you don’t know how to ride a dick?” He asked sarcastically.
“I can do anything you want if you show me how. I just don’t think I should get on top for my first time.”
“Your first time, you’re a virgin?” He yelled in disbelief.
“Yeah, I thought you knew,” I replied embarrassed.
“Damn, no I didn’t know that,” he said sounding disappointed. “We can’t do this ma.”
I got pissed as soon as the words left his mouth. I got off of his lap and snatched my underwear back and put them on. Not only was I embarrassed, I was destined to leave this earth as a virgin. Dominic fixed his clothes and looked over at me.
“I’m not trying to have your first time be in a car and you shouldn’t either,” he said.
I nodded my head in understanding because he was absolutely right. I was in such a hurry to lose my virginity that I was about to degrade myself in the process.
It was dark when we left the park so Dominic dropped me off in front of Candace’s house. We made sure that all was well before we kissed and said our goodbyes.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Dominic said before he pulled off.
Co-Co and Candace’s cars were in the driveway, but I was happy they weren’t in the living room when I opened the door. I walked down the hall to one of the spare bedrooms that I slept in and dropped down onto the bed. Before I got a chance to really get comfortable, Co-Co burst through the door followed by Candace.
“Alright bitch, what’s his name?” Co-Co said sitting down on the bed.
I had to keep myself from laughing at the outfit he had on. Aside from the long pink duster, his hair was tied up and his face was covered in some kind of green face cream. Candace’s face was covered with the same cream, but her hair was pulled up in a messy bun.
“What’s whose name?” I asked feigning ignorance.
“Who is this little boy that you’ve been sneaking around with? And don’t lie. That’s the only reason that I can think of for you lying to Bryce,” Candace said.
“It’s somebody that goes to my school,” I lied.
There was no way in hell I was telling them it was Dominic. Not only would they not approve, Candace’s best friend used to date him.
“Is it Kevin?” She asked.
“No, Kevin is just my friend,” I said for what felt like the hundredth time.
“Are you having sex Brook?” Candace asked me. “And tell me the truth.”
“No, I’m still a virgin.” I wanted to say, unfortunately, but I kept that part to myself.
“Well, something is going on judging from that huge red mark on your neck. You’re a young lady, so the subject of sex is bound to come up. I know your brothers are not going to talk to you about it, but you need to make sure he wears some kind of protection if anything were to happen between y’all. It’s not just about avoiding pregnancy. You have to worry about diseases as well,” Candace stated.
“That’s right. You tell them niggas no glove, no love,” Co-Co yelled.
“You know we’re here if you ever need to talk about it,” Candace said.
“I know, thanks y’all,” I said to my cousins. I really did have a lot of questions, but I was too scared and embarrassed to ask. At least, I knew when the time came I had somebody to talk to if I ever needed it. The only problem was the time wasn’t coming anytime soon.
CHAPTER 12
BRYCE
“I’m so happy we finally have our house to ourselves,” Tiffany said while we lay in the bed.
“What, you have a problem with my sister being here?” I asked even though I know she did.
“No baby, I’m just saying that I like our alone time,” she replied.
“We’ll be having a lot of alone time soon,” I replied with a chuckle.
Tiffany had pissed Brook off for the last time and she had been staying at home or with our cousins. I really preferred for her to still be here, but I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. When my mama found out about how Tiffany was treating her baby, it took me and my brothers to keep her from coming over here to beat Tiffany’s ass. As crazy as we were about Brooklyn, my mama was even worse. Pamela Andrews was no joke and she didn’t play when it came down to her one and only daughter. It didn’t help that she didn’t like Tiffany in the first place. Taylor was her girl and she wanted us to be together. Little did she know, but her wish was about to come true. Taylor and I had been apartment hunting for the past two weeks. I still had four months left on the lease at the apartment that I shared with Tiffany and then I was out of here. Taylor was smart and signed a monthly lease so she could leave at any time. I couldn’t wait to get away from Tiffany’s aggravating ass and make things right with my family. Taylor was right about it being hard for us to work things out as long as I was here.
It was damn near impossible to do. I wanted to show her that I was serious about being with her so moving out from Tiffany and in with her and my girls was the next step. As a matter of fact, we were going back out to look at a few more apartments today. It was the weekend so we were just sightseeing.
Taylor and I only wanted to sign a one-year lease because I planned to buy us a home soon.
“Where are you going?” Tiffany asked when I got up from the bed.
“I have business to handle,” I replied.
“On a Sunday Bryce? This is our day off. I thought we were going to do something together,” she whined.
“Well, I got shit to do. Call Kennedi and see if she wants to do something with you,” I said getting agitated.
“Maybe I will. At least she makes time for me,” she continued to nag as I walked into the bathroom.
I hope she didn’t think that she was making me feel bad. I made time for what was important to me and right now that was Taylor and my daughters. I was starting to hate even being home with her disgusting ass. The only time it was alright was when my brothers or some of my boys stopped over. Over the past few weeks, I’d gotten cool with Kennedi’s boyfriend Dominic and his brother David. I’ve known Dominic for a while, but we never really hung out until now. Sometimes they would come over to chill and that always proved to be fun. David was a fool and he kept me laughing from the time he came until it was time to go. He hated Kennedi, so it was funny when he talked about her. The three of us had a lot in common, so it was easy to see why we clicked so fast. Just like my brothers and me, they started from the very bottom and worked their way up to the top. We didn’t live in the projects like they did, but we weren’t hood rich like some of our peers. Dominic was even more like me because he ended up with one of the Henry women too. Kennedi seemed to get on his nerves just as much as Tiffany got on mine. Coincidentally, his story of how he met Kennedi was almost identical to mine. He was with my cousin’s friend Nadia when she made her move on him. She helped him to get his business off the ground and claimed him as her man from then on. Sadly, he was about to make a lifetime commitment while I was about to be out the door.
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