Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
My mother’s voice enters my head. It was something she said right before she abandoned me. It has always stuck with me.
This world ain’t meant for us. We don’t get to be happy.
I hate that her words still haunt me. It’s not like Daddy left us on purpose, but you could never get her to see that. Her scars became mine and now I don’t trust happiness. I know this feeling of bliss is only borrowed.
“Where are you?” Chloe asks.
Quickly, I shake off my thoughts. I hadn’t realized I stopped laughing and zoned out.
“Nowhere. I’m here.”
Marnita sits drinking her wine with a smile on her face, totally oblivious to my turmoil or Chloe’s prying. It’s a trait of hers I admire. She’s always happy. It’s infectious and something I welcome tonight.
“Remember that one guy in our study group? All the girls had a crush on him until that one time he took off his shoes and stunk up the place,” she says as she laughs, and her cheeks turn red.
The atmosphere lightens again, thanks to her. It has to be a gift and I love her for it.
“Oh, I remember that. He was fine, but, girl, those feet.” I double over in laughter from the memory. There had to be at least five of us girls in the study group and three other guys. We all wanted to kick his ass that night.
Chloe emptied two cans of air freshener and it hadn’t helped one bit. The room still smelled horrible after he was gone. Like someone had hidden a bag of corn chips and a block of Muenster cheese under their bed.
“I thought someone ordered a pizza with extra parmesan cheese,” Chloe laughs out.
“Yes, I almost gagged. The worst part was he sat there like nothing was going on.” I frown as I’m taken back to that night.
“Wait, wait, I have a reason for bringing this up,” Marnita says, laughing so hard she can barely get her words out. She wipes at her tears and takes another sip of wine. “Well, he works at a strip club now and, honey. From what I hear, the BO isn’t just a feet thing.
“A friend of mine works with him at a gym where he’s her manager, second job, I’m assuming. Turns out his personality stinks as much as his feet. Well, he had been giving her shit and she was about to quit. Her cousin came in to check the gym out and recognized him.
“Honey, she spent a good hour roasting him. My friend quit, but not before her cousin let him have it good.”
“Now that you mention it, I do remember him having a funky-ass attitude,” I muse and nod.
“Yeah, you’re right. I think that’s why I wasn’t disappointed when he took off his shoes. I was already over his ass,” Chloe snorts.
“I miss the laughs we used to have. New York is such a different vibe. You guys say what you think and let it be known what you want. No games are played. I love that energy,” Marnita says, with a distant and longing look in her eyes.
“You’re welcome to stick around as long as you want.”
“I’ll be here for both weddings and Chloe’s showing, that much I know, but I need to figure out what I’m going to do about my business.”
Guilt hits me in the gut. She wouldn’t be having issues if it weren’t for me. I have to talk to Clay to see what we can do for her. I feel terrible. My thoughts halt. When did I start to think of Clayton coming to the rescue?
“There’s that look again,” Chloe murmurs and taps her foot against my leg.
“What look?”
She takes a long sip of her wine. Marnita catches the exchange and tunes in, an expectant look on her face. I look down into my wine, gathering my thoughts.
“The other shoe is about to drop. I know it is. This feels too good to be true because it is.”
Chloe groans. “Sid, we’ve beaten the odds. Look at this place. Three stories of opulence. Your man is worth trillions alone. Put him and his brothers together, you triple that. Then you can add on their father’s wealth.
“But if you stripped all that away, you’d still have a fine-ass man who loves you and from the smile that’s always on your face, I know he’s giving you that good dick.”
I roll my eyes and laugh. Leave it to Chloe. Yet I still can’t shake the feeling that something is about to go wrong.
“I remember when I had to watch my mom decide if she was going to eat or feed us. That shit broke my heart. I never thought this would be our world.
“Now, I hold my head high as I go to work and get this money I was told I’d never have. I have a man who’s trying his best to show me the love I deserve. Am I scared? Hell yeah, Sid, but as long as we look for the other shoe, we’re not living in the presence of the good life has given us. And guess what happens?”