Page 302 of Kentrell

“Girl… you know they got a whole class-action going on right now from all these pissed-off mamas who ain’t take that cold-cuddle, warm-bundle theory seriously,” Stacia cut in, pulling me out of my daze. Her and Mars both let their eyes drop straight to me.

And just like that… all three of them—Mars, Stacia, and Ayesha—busted out laughing like they’d been holding it in this whole time.

I shook my head, sniffling up the last of the snot threatening to embarrass me and wiping my eyes with the paper towel Ayesha handed over. “Thank you.”

“You welcome,” she said, patting my back.

“And I wasn’t on anything,” I added quietly, knowing full well that was about to open the floodgates.

“What?” Ayesha gasped so loud I jumped.

“Zoe!” Stacia sighed, her voice laced with disappointment like I was her baby sister who’d just flunked out of common sense.

“Zoe… I know you wasn’t bouncing around on no dick with no slip?” Mars scolded, giving me that big-sister stare like she was two seconds from pulling my ear.

I bit my lip, already flushing at the memory. “Oh… there was plenty slip,” slipped out of my mouth before I could catch it.

All three of them screamed at the same time.

“Ooooh, I love dicked-down Zoe!” Mars hollered, clutching her stomach as she cracked up. “You ain’t never been this bold to say no shit like that to me?—”

“Shit,” Stacia chimed in, slapping Mars a high five. “None of us!”

I covered my face, laughing just as hard… cheeks burning… but for the first time all day… it felt good to laugh. To not feel so scared. To just… let it out.

“My cousin has officially graduatedfrom her ‘boys are icky’ stage—a round of applause!” Ayesha clapped in a wide circle over her head, leading Mars and Stacia to follow right behind her. The whole living room burst out laughing and clapping like I’d just hit some coming-of-age milestone.

But leave it to Ayesha to bring the mood right back down. “Now… back to this dumb-ass decision not to protect yourself.” Her face fell flat… just like my shoulders did as I sank deeper into the chair.

“Remember when I had that bad reaction?—”

“Back in high school, Zoe!” Ayesha cut me off, sounding less like my cousin and more like my mama. “When our bodies were still developing! You don’t know how your body would’ve taken to it now?—”

“Yeah… yo ass ain’t even try to fight this,” Stacia chimed in, shaking her head like I was a lost cause. I rolled my eyes so hard they almost got stuck at the ceiling.

“Roll ‘em again,” Mars said, grabbing a handful of my hair from the back and tugging my head toward her. “I’ma roll them beady bitches outcho sockets.”

“Stop playing so much, Marniece!” I laughed, swatting at her hand. “I know…” I exhaled hard, finally letting the weight of it hit me. “I feel so stupid.”

“Awww, pooh,” Mars said, letting my hair go but still grinning. “You are… but what are friends for?” Her comedic timing was perfect. All three of them fell out laughing at once.

I sat there, half-fighting my smile, feeling salty and a little pitiful because there really wasn’t anybody to blame for my current state… except Kentrell. And maybe me. Okay… mostly me.

“You can always…” Stacia’s voice trailed off, but the implication hit me dead center. Her brows lifted just enough to land the meaning without saying the words.

Ayesha gasped and whipped her head toward her. “Nope. No ma’am. Not with him.” She turned fully to face me, her voice sharper now, full of protective big-cousin energy. “You said this man had a whole file on you, right?”

And just like that… the mood shifted.

My stomach tightened. My chest burned.

Oh brother.

The last thing I wanted to do was drag back up that damn file… or the part where Kentrell was once contracted to kill me.

“Girl… this is serious!” Ayesha snapped, catching the irritated glare I shot her way at the mention of old news. “He knew your high school GPA… your Starbucks order… your damn blood type. The man could predict your next move when he wanted to.” Her voice climbed with every word, her full-on manic address kicking into high gear.

“Okay… and?” Mars and Stacia said in unison, both giving her identical side-eyes like she was doing the most.

---