Page 23 of The Smoke Hour

“You haven’t returned any of our calls. You’ve only texted to say that you’re busy. And you’ve been moving differently since you got hemmed up in the office the other night at The Smoke Hour.”

I waved my hand and replied, “I’m not moving differently.”

Tamara sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she stated.

“What?” I shrugged and widened my eyes at them.

“That man was damn near salivating over you that night. He kicked us out of his office without a second thought and barely bothered to look at us. You’re not gonna sit here and tell me nothing happened that night,” Tamara stated.

“And I saw how you were looking at him,” Christina stated.

“Fine. Something happened that night, Tuesday afternoon, and Tuesday night.”

“What the hell?” Tamara demanded and sat forward in her seat.

“Told you she was holding out,” Christina stated smugly.

“Well, are you going to tell us or not, heffa?” Tamara demanded.

I sighed and contemplated whether I should tell everything that happened or not. I wasn’t really a kiss-and-tell girl, but I was over my head when it came to dealing with Smoke’s ass. I didn’t know him, but I couldn’t stay away from him. All I wanted was to be around him and have him all inside of me. He felt like a potent drug that I was addicted to. An addiction I knew I needed to steer clear of, but I just couldn’t.

I sighed and stated, “Fine. I’ll tell y’all, but keep your damn big mouths shut.”

Christina clapped her hands like a little kid, and Tamara crossed her arms and legs and leaned back in the chair to listen.

I told them everything that happened, starting with the night we were kicked out of the club, all the way up until last night. Neither one of them had shit to say. They just listened in fascination.

When I finished, Tamara asked, “What part of you have a fiancé don’t you and this nigga get? You’re playing with fire, ho.”

“This marriage between Terry and me isn’t going to be traditional, so neither is the engagement.”

“But still. Have you two talked about being open to seeing other people? I think that man expects exclusivity from you,” Tamara replied.

“I don’t know what he expects, but we didn’t have that conversation. I can see him expecting it once we’re married, but that was never part of our discussion. He doesn’t get to make those demands on me or my time.”

“No. But he can take you to court and demand that you repay the loan because you failed to uphold your end of the contract.”

“There’s nothing in the contract about being exclusive during the engagement, only during the marriage,” I clarified.

“Still, it won’t stop him from dragging you through court. Terry is a nice guy, but I have a feeling he’d be vindictive and petty if things didn’t go his way,” Tamara stated.

“Yeah.” Christina agreed. “He doesn’t seem like the type to play fair. I just don’t want you to get hurt or create more problems for yourself down the line because you played games with that man.”

“But I want him sooo bad,” I whined.

“Who do you want so bad?” Noel, my roommate, ambled down the stairs and into our living room.

He and I had been best friends since middle school. With all the shenanigans lately, he had been out of town on business and out of the loop.

“Fill him in, girl,” Tamara stated.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

“Wait a minute. Let me grab a beer because this sounds like some shit’s been going down while I’ve been gone,” Noel stated.

“There has been, and it all started with Mr. Terry Thompson,” Tamara replied.

Noel grabbed the beer from the refrigerator.

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