Page 5 of Primo DeLuca

Chapter Three

Nevah

A night out with my friends, Tracy Monroe and Maya Daniels, was a task much like the one job you needed to do but dreaded the most. Each time I denied their requests to go and shake my ass in front of strange men, they accused me of being stuck up and antisocial.

So what if I was a bit reserved? I grew up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city and had managed to claw my way out of it without ending up shot, pregnant, raped, or mentally insane. In my opinion, I deserved to chill and be as boring as I desired.

However, I indulged my friends’ requests at least once a month. Wasn’t that enough?

I preferred to spend my days off binge-watching television or playing bingo at the nursing home my mother, Vivian Moore, resided in.

Tracy, because she was the married one of the three of us, was using the ‘girls’ out’ time to get away from her husband and three kids. Maya picked up and dropped men like she was testing fruit at a supermarket.

Our birthdays were all a month apart, me in April, Tracy in May, and Maya in June. We celebrated our thirtieth in an all-inclusive spa resort in Jamaica last month in June. While drunk off my ass, I made the resolution to be more outgoing. Now, here I was, begrudgingly keeping my word and entertaining their request.

I met Tracy and Maya in college, my freshman year, during our pre-processing weekend twelve years ago, and we’ve been as tight as the calf muscles on an Olympic sprinter ever since.

“Nevah, meet Ken, Ken, Nevah.” Maya introduced her newest victim, shouting over the music before they sat on one of the couches in our cozy corner.

As always, I was nursing a drink before taking one of the two dances I would allot myself as a show of participation. Tracy was out on the dance floor, dropping it like she wasn’t married with children, but I knew her well enough to know that all she would do was drink and dance.

Maya’s new hookup, who sat between us, leaned closer and whisper-shouted in my ear, “So how about a threesome? You’re hot.”

Instead of answering him, I sat my unblinking gaze on Maya. If she insisted on picking up these club hounds, the least she could do was make better choices.

I leaned across the man to get closer to Maya’s ear and to make sure he heard my comment.

“Put your mangy stray on a leash before I neuter him and lock him in a cage until he learns better manners.”

I may have been the quiet friend, but I wasn’t anyone’s pushover.

The man’s eyes bucked at my comment. The statement made him sit his ass up straighter before he cast a questioning glance at Maya. She waved her hand in a sweeping motion away from her body, her gaze locked on his.

“We were going to have some very disrespectful sex, but the one thing you can’t do is disrespect my friend. Shoo, fly, you’ve bothered the wrong person.”

She flicked the man away with her hand while keeping her unflinching gaze pinned on his. He had the nerve to look upset at her dismissal.

“How are you just going to reject me?” he asked, eyeballing her. “You aren’t even that cute.”

She smiled away what he assumed was an insult. If there was one thing I knew about Maya, she didn’t lack self-confidence. She invested gym time, salon time, and enough grooming time to her five-seven body to draw attention no matter where she went.

Her honey-hued skin tone and head full of thickly coiled dark hair also drew attention. In her head, she was too good for every man in the building and didn’t hesitate to use them as one would a box of Kleenex.

When the man didn’t leave after her dismissal, she set her sights on one of the guys who’d walked into the club with him. She called the man closer with a wave of her finger. The man came willingly with a huge shit-eating grin plastered on his face. He didn’t even cast a glance at his friend who sat next to Maya wearing shock like an expensive suit.

“If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, call the fire department to come and put this one out.” She motioned her head to the man reaching down for her hand to help her up. The asshole who asked for the threesome was so outdone, he hopped up and stormed off, muttering something about a “bunch of raggedy bitches.”

I stood, prepared to stop Maya from making a drunken decision she would ask for details about tomorrow. Before I could stop her and the man’s movement, a group of four stumbled into our corner and bumped me back into my seat, where I landed with a huff of frustration.

The minor setback caused me to lose track of Maya’s movements with her new part-time lover. My motherly instincts insisted that she’d drank too much to make sound decisions. Not to mention, she made me nervous with the way she ran through men like she was on some type of mission she hadn’t told me and Tracy about.

Once I broke through the crowd of swirling bodies, I raced away from our corner, abandoning it to the drunken group. Maya was nowhere in sight, so I veered in the general direction I assumed they had gone.

A bump, thump, waist squeeze, and a growl all greeted me while I threaded through the hyped-up crowd. I could have doubled as a pinball, but the jostling had no effect on my search efforts.

After a once-over of the wide expanse of the establishment and a scanning stroll down the hall that led to the restrooms, it was beginning to look like my hunt was in vain. This was why I didn’t like going out. I spent more time stressed about my friends than I did mingling and connecting.

This wasn’t the first time Maya had run off with a man the same night she met him. However, this was the first time she hadn’t waited until she left the club. The music in the back office area I loitered in was at the most optimal setting, allowing me a chance to hear myself think.

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