Page 40 of Welcome to the Heart Of A Maniac
“Y’all okay?” I asked my cats when I came into the house. Smoke was nowhere to be found, but I knew he was somewhere around here. I replaced their water was some fresh water and fixed their dinner before grabbing the three bottles of wine off the counter and exiting back out the house.
Today, the meeting was taking place at Mariah’s loft downtown. Every time, we’d switch up locations. Sometimes, we’d even have a meeting outside somewhere from the park to bookstores and restaurants. We tried our best to keep things exciting.
Pulling up to Mariah’s house, I grabbed my tote and all the wine and then got out the car. I wandered up to her front door and rang the doorbell. The door pulled open, and I was met by Mariah’s glowing face.
Mariah was a BBW, but damn sure didn’t carry herself like one. That girl had better fashion than me. She always kept herself up from her nails to her hair. Right now, her hair is platinum blonde and flowing down her back.
“Hey, girl.” She pulled me in for an embrace. “You’re the last one to get here.”
“Really?”
“Yup.” She stepped out the way, and I entered the house to find everyone sitting in the living room. They already had a bottle of Maniac Noir sitting on the coffee table. How?
“I bought wine!” I said, lifting the bottles up into the air.
“Have you tried this?” Ashley asked when she lifted her cup up into the air.
I wanted to say that was my man’s liquor, but I opted out of it. Instead, I replied, “Yeah, I’ve had it.”
“Of course, she has.” My head whipped behind me to find Maniac standing in the corner of the room.
“B-bu-… how?” I looked from him to them. All of them were staring at him as if he was a piece of meat.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“Oh, you two know each other?” Mariah asked as she shut the door behind me.
“Know each other? I just ate that pussy this morning,” Maniac responded and my face turned red as tomato paste. He ain’t have no business in here embarrassing me like that.
Mariah’s eyes expanded. She grabbed one of the bottles of wine from my grasp and carried it into the kitchen.
I hemmed Maniac up in the corner and asked, “What the hell are you doing here and how did you even find out about my book club.
“Girl, I know everything ’bout you down to the panties that you’re wearing right now.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Wanna bet?”
Stepping closer to him, I asked, “What color are they then?”
“The pink ones with the florals.”
My eyes bucked. “How do you know that?”
“Alright, let’s get started,” Mariah spoke, gaining everyone’s attention.
I took the remaining two bottles into the kitchen and set them on the counter. When I came back out into the living room, Maniac had gotten comfortable in one of the chairs, leaving an empty one next to him. Shaking my head, I went over and took my seat.
“I seriously don’t know why you’re even here. You don’t read books,” I told him, removing my book from my tote.
“You don’t know what I be doing in my spare time.”
I guess he has a point there. “Who wants to start?” Mariah asked as she took her seat in her chair in the circle.
Maniac lifted his hand in the air and I whacked it down. He mugged me. “You know you ain’t read that book,” I told him in a hushed tone. At this point, I felt like he was here to solely embarrass me.
“I did read…” His head tilted and eyes squinted. “Rhy Blue.”
