Page 114 of Jaeda

I shook my head. “Like you don’t ball out on a regular basis on his behalf.”

“Don’t be a hater because your brother worships me, boo.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, Sharina. My man loves me too.”

“Oh, we know he does.”

Something about the way she said that made me raise an eyebrow. It didn’t help that the rest of the girls were smiling hard as hell.

“Have y’all been talking to my man about me?” I asked.

Salima waved me off. “Girl, he talks to your brothers about you, and you know they come tell us everything. That man is obsessed with you. He loves you like your brothers love us.”

I blushed. “He’s not crazy like my brothers.”

Shar kissed her teeth. “About you, you’d be surprised what he’d do.”

I might could agree with her there. Quaid and I hadn’t been put in many situations where he had to act out of character, but that wasn’t to say he wouldn’t. If push came to shove, I was sure he would protect me.

We finished up at the hair salon and then headed to the nail shop. I decided on a classic French manicure for my nails and toes. Cute but simple. I also opted to get my eyebrows and lashes done since the other girls did the same. It had been a long time since I did a full pamper day, so I might as well go with the flow.

After leaving the salon, we headed to the downtown boutiques to do a little shopping. Most of my money was spent on electronics and my hobbies, but when I decided to shop, I wouldshop, shop. As soon as we got into my favorite boutique, I branched off from the girls to look through the clothes racks.

They didn’t tell me where we were going for dinner, but Shar mentioned she had a taste for something expensive. Nine times out of ten, that meant we had to dress up. A couple different things caught my eye. As I hung the dresses over my arm to try on, Mia came over and bumped me. When I looked over at her, she was smiling big.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. I just wanted to tell you how much I love you. I know we didn’t get the chance to grow up together, and I’ve always hated that. But since I’ve been around, you’ve never made me feel like anything less than a sister. That means a lot to me, Jaeda. I don’t have female friends. Never have, actually. I’ve always been one of the boys, . . . having to be hard or having to prove myself. I get to be soft for a little while. That started with you.”

I stared at her for a moment. “Bitch, are you okay? Why are you being so sentimental today—are you pregnant?”

“Bitch, how does me being sentimental equate to being pregnant? See, this is why I don’t show you hos love.”

She tried to walk off, but I pulled her into a hug, laughing as I did. She playfully put up a fight but quickly gave in and hugged me. This was my little sister, and I loved her dearly.

I kissed her cheek a couple times before holding her away from me.

“You know you’re my bestie, Mia. You work my nerves like your brothers, but there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Whether we were raised together or not, you are my sister, my blood. Nothing can ever change that.”

She kissed my cheek. “Promise me we will always be this close.”

“Always. Now, tell me which one of these dresses is gonna make my ass look fat. I wanna send pictures to my man.”

She laughed. “I’m loving this side of you. Who knew getting a man and some dick would boost your ego? Let me see these dresses.”

After going through them, I decided to try on this sexy red number. It was a halter style dress that plunged low in the front, and my entire back was out. The dress stopped at my ankles and exposed a good bit of my left thigh. When I came out of the dressing room, the girls caused a ruckus in the store.

They were clapping and cheering, making me blush hard as hell.

“Honey, you look flawless,” Romi said, hand over her heart.

Salima snapped her fingers. “Ain’t a bitch badder.”

Shar turned me around and slapped my ass. “You know you can’t wear any panties with this, right? Let that thang jiggle when you walk. And by walk, I mean strut, bitch.”

“This is my sister, y’all!” Mia announced to the whole store. “Can we get a little commotion for the dress?”

The nearby shoppers clapped and snapped their fingers too. A few of them shouted compliments that had me blushing even harder.

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