Makarios sat at his desk with his phone up to his ear, a smile so big stretched across his face that I stopped peeking and opened the door and folded my arms across my chest. I cleared my throat, and his eyes shot up.

“Let me hit you back.” He hung up the phone.

“Can we talk?”

Sighing, he shrugged his shoulders and then held his hand out in front of the seat that sat across from him.

“What’s up?” He slouched deeper into his chair, loosening his tie.

“About Wednesday night… was it good? Did her pussy grip like mine or better?” Makarios laughed.

“I thought we weren’t going to speak on that anymore?”

“I want to talk about it.”

“It was really good, but if I’m being honest… her pussy don’t grip like yours. Not even close.” He bit his lower lip, as he slid his chair back and unfastened his belt, unbuttoned his pants and unzipped them. “Come here.”

I remained seated in my chair. “No. Who were you just on the phone with?” folded my arms across my chest again. Makarios sighed heavily, becoming agitated. He hated being questioned, and I hated not knowing where I stood in his life. Even is what I called it, because an even swap ain’t no swindle.

“Nobody.”

He was beginning to piss me off, and he knew it. He zipped up his pants and buttoned them back up, neglecting the belt .

“So we’re lying now?” I stood to my feet and headed towards the door.

“Toni,” he called after me as he stood up from his seat.

“We have nothing else to talk about right now. Get back to your sermon for Sunday.” I told him as I walked out of the room, slamming the office door behind me. I walked upstairs to our bedroom, stripped out of my nightgown and went into the bathroom. I stood in front of the full body mirror looking at my curves. My stomach was flat, thighs and legs matched, and I wore my own natural hair. My breast were perky, nipples hard from the friction of my bra rubbing against them as I was taking it off.

I turned around to turn on the shower, allowing it to run a little before stepping in. I Loosened my hair from the bun, Tossed my scrunchy onto the countertop and stepped inside the shower. The water was warm, so I turned it up a notch. I slouched against the wall and my head spun with a million thoughts. Like how Shannon kept cumming on my dick, like she’d had it before. How he already had her in the buck standing up when I walked into the sanctuary. How he made me kneel and taste Shannon in front of him. How he fucked her deep and hard, made her cum, and then made me suck her juices and cream off of his dick.

Makarios was comfortable enough to fuck her without a condom. Either he was dumb or he had already been hitting her. Either way it went, I couldn’t wrap my mind around how he gave someone else the same dick that he gave me. A tap on the shower door made my eyes pop open. “Yes, Makarios?”

He opened the shower door, and stripped out of his clothes and joined me in the shower. “Why are you mad?”

He grabbed my arms and held them down to my side as I pushed against him and he kissed my neck.

“Makarios.” I warned.

He didn’t stop. He only proceeded to kiss my collarbone, both breasts, my stomach, and then my thighs. He stopped there for a moment, looked up at me while sucking my pussy lips into his mouth, sucking each lip then turning his attention to my clit. I gasped and my body betrayed me and my back arched against the shower wall. His tongue flicked fast and hard against my pearl, causing me to shudder.

“Makarios,” I moaned as he gripped my hips. He sucked and licked on my clit at the same time. Getting my pussy ate right now was ideal, but not when I had questions and he failed to answer the first one. I pushed against his shoulders as he shook his head, sucking my clit like a baby sucks its pacifier. I was real close to cumming, but I needed truth. Pushing his forehead back, he tumbled backwards slightly, his elbow hitting the glass door.

“I’m not doing this with you. Every time something doesn’t go your way, you start trippin.” Makarios got out of the shower, grabbed his towel and left. My pussy was throbbing like crazy. I should’ve let him finish. I thought to myself.

I stood in the shower feeling like a fool, not only because I interrupted my own orgasm, but because I let Wednesday night happen without trying to stop it. Another woman knew what my husband’s dick felt like after 15 years of us being married, both of us considerably faithful to one another until recently. Sighing, I grabbed my washcloth while holding my head back, letting the water soak my hair before applying body wash to my washcloth.

—————————————————————————

Shannon and I exchanged looks at each other as we sat across from one another. She had a glow about her, one that only God himself could give or the power of good dick, and we both knew why she was glowing. She rubbed her lips together after applying a fresh layer of lipgloss, and then smiled at me. I couldn’t hide the look of disgust on my face as I turned to look away from her.

“Pastor Toni,” just hearing her call my name irritated my soul. I huffed and then got up from the table. We were suppose to be having our usual Saturday brunch, but I couldn’t get past her almost screaming out Makarios’s name… like it had been right on the tip of her tongue. I turned around and looked back at Shannon, her smile had now faded.

“How long have you been having sex with my husband?”

Shannon’s expression turned into an expression of confusion. “It was just that one time.” Her voice was soft.

“Have you talked to him today?”

“Briefly. He asked me to clear the tapes at the church.”

“What time was that?” I asked.

“It was early this morning, I’d say about nine forty-five. Is there an issue?”

Right before I could answer, speaking of the devil he was calling. I held up my finger and answered. “I was just talking about you.”

“Oh yeah? To who?”

I looked over at Shannon who had a questioning look on her face. “Shannon and I are having our usual brunch.” A pause immediately silenced the line for about two minutes. “Hello?”

“I’m here. I thought you were canceling today?” He would’ve liked that too much.

“Nope. We’re sitting here now, waiting on our food.”

“Okay, call me as soon as you leave. I have something for you.” Here we go, the gifts after realizing he’d pissed me off, but little did he know I had something for him too. I ended the call and turned my attention back to Shannon as I took my seat back at the table.

Her light grey eyes focused on me, searching my face for what I may say next. “Relax,” I sighed as I prepared my words carefully in my head before speaking them aloud. “I deserve an apology.” Shannon scowled and then picked up her cup and took a sip of Sweet Tea, before letting out a sarcastic giggle.

“For what? Exposing you of your lies or for giving the both of you something that you obviously were missing?” Her response caught me completely off guard.

“Excuse me?” Now a scowl was working its way across my brow.

“I mean, didn’t you tell us that you live what you preach?” She took another sip of her tea, while I sat there wanting to snatch her ass from across that other side of the table and drag her from the front to the back of this restaurant.

“Don’t get cute,” I folded my hands in front of me as I leaned forward.

Shannon smirked. “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy watching him tear me up for embarrassing y’all.” See that’s where she was wrong. I didn’t like what I was watching, and had it not been for Makarios’s fingers being hooked against my G-Spot, stroking my pussy as deep as my walls would allow his fingers to go… I would’ve shut it all down.

“Shannon,“ I paused as the waitress came to the table with our food. “Thank you, love.” I painted on a smile for the server, but it quickly faded when she left. “Don’t get the situation twisted. I didn’t enjoy watching my husband have any dealings with you,” I paused thinking that my next statement was going to be just as contradicting as the messages that I preached with faith on Sunday mornings. “However, I haven’t seen Makarios this upbeat in a while… How about we make some type of arrangement?”

Shannon’s face lit up slightly as her eyes locked with mine. “What type of arrangement?”

I can’t believe I’m about to say this. Sighing, I crossed my legs beneath the table top, and tapped my manicured nails against the marble of the table. “He doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve been planning for some time now… I want us to have a girlfriend.” Shannon smiled softly.

“Well, if you’re looking… you don’t have to look any further. I’m sorry for exposing you. I just couldn’t take you looking at me while you delivered that sermon.” Her hand stretched across the table, I hesitated to let her touch me for a moment, but managed to relax under the warmth of her petite hand and fingers.

I nodded my head, because part of me agreed with why she called me out. I should have never looked her way. “You’re forgiven,” I smiled slightly before taking a sip of my French Vanilla Bean cappuccino. “I’m sorry for making you feel uncomfortable.”

Shannon nodded her head, “I forgive you Pastor Toni.”

Motioning for the waitress, I asked for the bill and handed my credit card over before she could even walk away to print the bill. “I will leave your tip in cash.” I told the waitress, she smiled and nodded. I turned my attention back to Shannon, “And please call me Toni from now on, unless we’re at the church.” I placed a fifty-dollar bill on the table, grabbed my purse and strutted to the front of the restaurant.

She sat on one of the barstools with her car keys beside it. The rain had darkened the shoulders of her denim jacket. She pushed her hair behind one ear as she dug through the Cook Out bag.

"I said have the gate open," she complained without looking up. "I sat out there looking stupid for damn near two minutes."

"My fault." Tee walked straight to the refrigerator. "We didn't hear you pull up."

Latrice stopped digging through the bag and her eyes moved from Tee to Dre then back to Tee.

"How y'all didn't hear the garage?"

Tee opened the refrigerator even though she didn't need anything from it. Cold air poured over her flushed face.

"TV was loud."

"The TV's not even on."

For half a second, nobody moved. Dre pulled out a stool and sat down like the question had nothing to do with her. She grabbed one of the drinks, checked the label, then slid it toward Tee.

"You got her sweet tea."

The ease in Dre's voice irritated Tee more than the question had. Dre could have her hands all over Tee one minute, then look through her like they barely knew each other the next. Meanwhile, Tee stood barefoot in the kitchen trying to control her breathing while her girlfriend studied her face.

Tee shut the refrigerator. "We had the game on upstairs. I turned it off when you came in."

Latrice's eyes dropped to Tee's bare feet. "You been hooping with no socks on?"

Dre twisted the top off her drink. "She took her shoes off after she lost. You know she gets emotional."

Tee shot her a look. Dre's mouth barely moved, but Tee saw the satisfaction in it.

Latrice laughed as she pulled the food from the bag. "That sounds like her. Always got an attitude when she loses."

"I don't get an attitude."

"Yes, you do." Latrice leaned across the island and kissed Tee's cheek. "Especially when Dre beats you."

Tee's body stiffened before she could stop it and guilt crawled over her skin.

Dre watched them from across the island, with a blank expression on her face. Only the slow tap of her thumb against the plastic cup gave her away.

Tee sat beside Latrice instead of across from her. She needed Dre outside her direct line of sight. It didn't help.

The scrape of Dre's stool against the floor. The soft pull of her drink through the straw. The calm way she opened one of the trays like she hadn't been upstairs rearranging Tee's common sense less than five minutes ago.

"Where Kiara at?" Latrice asked.

Dre lifted one shoulder. "Don't know."

"She called me twice looking for you."

"My phone on silent."

Latrice glanced toward the ceiling. "It upstairs too?"

Dre finally looked at her. "Probably."

The answer came too smooth. Latrice looked between them. "What is up with y'all?"

"Nothing," Tee answered too fast.

Dre didn't answer at all.

Latrice narrowed her eyes. "Did y'all get into it?"

"Tee always irritated," Dre said.

"I'm sitting right here."

"And?" Dre finally turned her eyes on Tee.

It lasted less than a second, but the look carried everything they couldn't say with Latrice between them. The bedroom, the phone call and the fact that Dre had been inside Tee while Tee told Latrice she loved her.

Tee's jaw tightened and Latrice caught it. "There it is. I knew y'all had been arguing."

Dre wiped her fingers on a napkin. "She mad because I told her she getting soft."

"I ain't getting soft."

"You barely made it through three games."

"Because you was fouling."

"See?" Latrice laughed. "This why I don't go nowhere with y'all. Two grown-ass studs arguing over basketball like somebody getting drafted."

The tension loosened just enough for Tee to breathe. Dre had given Latrice a reason for Tee's behavior, and it worked. But it also meant Dre knew exactly how to cover for them. Which meant Dre had thought about this before.

Latrice opened Tee's tray and pushed it toward her. "Eat before it get cold."

"I'm not that hungry."

"You just said you wanted a double cheeseburger."

Latrice stared at her. "You sure you good?"

There was no accusation in her voice, just concern and that made it worse.

Tee nodded and picked up the burger. "Yeah, baby. I'm good."

Latrice rested her hand on Tee's thigh and Tee almost jumped. Her girlfriend's hand landed only inches from where Dre's had been.

Across the island, Dre looked down at her food. The muscle in her jaw moved once. Dre finished her food first. She stood and folded the empty tray closed.

"I'm out."

Latrice looked toward the windows. "At least wait until the rain slows down."

"I'll be straight."

Tee didn't look at her. "You got your keys?"

"Upstairs."

The word hung in the air.

Latrice's brows pulled together. "Why are your keys upstairs?"

Dre paused. "Left them in the game room."

Tee spoke before she could stop herself. "I'll grab them."

Dre's eyes cut to her. "No. I know where I put them."

She walked away from the island and headed upstairs. Every step Dre took sounded louder than it should have.

Latrice rubbed Tee's thigh. "You sure y'all didn't get into it?"

"We good."

"Because she usually doesn't leave like that."

"Mmm."

Tee turned her head. "What does that mean?"

Latrice pulled her hand away. "You're defensive tonight."

"I'm not defensive."

"You are. And you're sweating."

Tee wiped her forehead. "The heat's on."

"It’s cold in here Tee."

The air shifted, not enough to become an argument but enough to warn Tee that the story had holes in it. Footsteps sounded above them. A few seconds later

Dre came down holding her keys in one hand and Tee's phone in the other.

"You left this upstairs."

Tee's entire body went rigid.

Latrice looked at it, then at Tee. "I thought you threw it on the couch."

"I took it upstairs when we started playing."

Dre placed the phone on the island beside Tee. Their fingers never touched.

"Good looking," Tee muttered.

Latrice slid off her stool. "I'll walk you out."

Dre glanced at Tee one final time before heading toward the garage. The look wasn't soft nor did it look it apologetic. It looked more like a promise. Tee stayed at the island while the two of them disappeared downstairs. She unlocked her phone with shaking fingers. A message was already waiting.

Dre: You gon' keep pretending that wasn't what you wanted?

Tee read it twice then locked her phone without answering. From below, Latrice's laugh drifted faintly up the stairwell as the garage door opened. A few seconds later, Dre's engine rumbled to life. Tee stepped toward the window. She watched the black truck reverse into the rain, red taillights glowed through the wet glass before disappearing down the ramp.

Her phone buzzed again.

Dre: Don't wash me off.

Tee's breath caught and she deleted the message just as the garage door began closing. Latrice came upstairs carrying Dre's unopened drink.

"She forgot this."

"Throw it away."

Latrice set it on the counter instead. "You acting real weird."

"I told you I'm tired."

"And I told you I don't believe you."

Tee turned from the window. "So what you think happened?"

"I don't know yet."

The word *yet* landed hard as Latrice folded her arms. Her expression wasn't angry but she looked confused and a tad hurt.

"I called you three times before you answered. Then when you finally picked up, you sounded like you could barely breathe. I get here, the TV off, y'all shoes upstairs, Dre's keys in the game room, and you jumping every time I touch you."

Tee's mouth went dry. "We was hooping, came back here and played the game. It ain't nothing deeper than that."

"Then why you lying?"

"I'm not."

Latrice stepped closer. "Look at me and say that."

Tee did and forced herself to hold Latrice's gaze.

"I'm not lying to you."

Latrice watched her for several long seconds. Finally, she nodded.

"Okay."

She turned toward the stairs. That easy acceptance scared Tee more than an argument would have.

"Where you going?"

"To take a shower."

Latrice started upstairs.

Tee followed her. "Baby, come on. Don't catch an attitude over nothing."

Latrice stopped halfway up and turned around. "I'm not catching an attitude. I asked you a question. You answered it." Her eyes dropped briefly to Tee's hoodie before lifting back to her face. "So I'm letting it go."

Tee glanced down and a dark smear was marked near her shoulder. It wasn’t make up it because Dre didn’t wear make up but she did keep oil in her hair that could have sweated onto Tee’s shoulder. While Tee rubbed at the mark Latrice continued up the stairs.

In the bathroom, the shower turned on. Tee walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind her. The smell hit her immediately it was thick beneath the expensive room spray Dre had used. The sheets were still twisted, one pillow was on the floor andDre's black T-shirt lay half-hidden beneath the bench at the foot of the bed.

"Fuck." Tee snatched it up. The bathroom door opened behind her andTee spun around. Latrice stood there wearing nothing but her bra and jeans, one hand resting on the doorframe. Her gaze moved from Tee's face to the shirt balled in her fist. Latrice looked toward the bed and then the shirt.

"Why Dre clothes in our bedroom?"

Tee's mind raced through every lie she could tell. None of them fit. "She changed after we played ball."

"In here?"

"Her clothes got wet."

"So why she ain't take it with her?"

"I don’t know maybe she forgot it."

Latrice's lips parted, but no words came. Latrice walked toward the mattress.

Tee stepped in front of her. "Baby—"

"Move."

"It ain't what you thinking."

Latrice looked up at her. Something in her expression cracked enough to make Tee reach for her. Latrice backed away before Tee's hand could land.

"Don't."

The single word froze Tee in place. Latrice stared at the bed again. Her eyes moved over the wrinkled sheets slowly. Then she reached down and pulled something from between the comforter and the mattress. A heavy silver bracelet, Dre's bracelet. Latrice held it in her palm as the room begin to shrink around Tee.

"You still gon' stand there and lie to me?"

Tee looked at the bracelet. Then at the woman she'd spent the last year promising she would never embarrass. Her phone buzzed again, Latrice heard it and her eyes dropped to Tee's pocket.

"Who keep texting you?"

"Nobody."

"Let me see."

Tee didn't move. Latrice gave a quiet laugh with no humor in it. "Right."

She walked back toward the bathroom and started gathering her clothes.

"Where you going?"

"Home."

"This is your home."

"No. Apparently, this Dre house too."

"That ain't what this is."

"Then tell me what it is."

Tee opened her mouth but nothing came out. Latrice grabbed her purse from the chair. Tee blocked the bedroom door. "Just let me explain."

"You had the whole time I was downstairs to explain. You lied instead."

"I was scared."

"Of what? Me finding out you fucking Studs. You let me strap you Tee, you fucking a stud wouldn’t have been too much."

I was scared of losing you."

Latrice's eyes filled, but she blinked the tears back. "You should've thought about that before you fucked her." The words hit harder than Tee expected and her face changed. Latrice saw the answer before Tee could deny it and her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my God."

"Latrice—"

"You did."

"Listen to me."Tee reached for her again. Latrice slapped her hand away. "In our fucking bed, Tee?" The hurt in her voice tore through whatever defenses Tee had left. Tee stepped back then Latrice shoved past her and headed downstairs.

Tee followed. "Trice don’t leave like this."

"How else you want me to leave?"

"That's not fair."

Latrice stopped at the bottom of the stairs so fast Tee nearly ran into her.

"Fair? You had me on FaceTime while she was in here, didn't you?"

Tee froze, Latrice searched her face and the silence answered for her.

A tear finally slipped down Latrice's cheek. "That's why you sounded like that."

"Baby—"

"Don't call me that."

Latrice yanked her keys off the counter. The abandoned sweet tea tipped over, spilled across the marble and neither of them reached for it. Latrice opened the door to the garage. Tee caught it before she could slam it. "I made a mistake."

"A mistake is forgetting my order. You planned this."

“I didn't plan nothing."

"You brought her here. You took her upstairs."

Tee had no answer. Latrice shook her head like she didn't recognize the person standing in front of her. "You let me kiss you with her still on you."

Tee's stomach dropped.

Latrice stepped into the garage. "I hope she worth it." The door slammed between them. Tee stood there listening as Latrice's car started as her phone buzzed for the fourth time.

Tee pulled it out.

Dre: She know?

Tee stared at the screen. Then typed.

Tee: You left your bracelet.

The typing bubble appeared almost immediately.

Dre: I know.

Tee's thumb hovered over the keyboard.

Tee: You did that on purpose?

The bubble appeared. Disappeared. Then returned.

Dre: I got tired of sharing you with somebody who don't know she sharing.

Tee called her and Dre answered on the first ring. "You set me up?"

"You set yourself up."

"You left that shit in my bed knowing she was coming."

"I ain't make you bring me upstairs." Dre went quiet for a second. Then she laughed. Low. Disrespectful. "You ruined that shit the moment you opened your legs."

Tee paced the kitchen, anger wrestling guilt inside her chest. "You foul as hell."

"And you still want me."

"Fuck you."

"When?"

Tee stopped walking.

Dre's voice dropped lower. "You can be mad all you want, but don't act like you ain't relieved. You was never leaving her on your own."

"You don't know what I was gon' do."

"I know exactly what you was gon' do. You was gon' go downstairs, eat with your girl, sleep beside her, then text me after she passed out."

Tee couldn't deny it.

Dre's voice softened, but not enough to sound kind. "She ain't built for what you really want."

"And you are?"

"I ain't scared of it."

"You don't want me. You want to win."

"Same difference."

A horn blared faintly through Dre's end of the phone. "I'm coming back," Dre said.

"No, you not."

"Open the gate."

"I said no."

"I heard you."

The line went dead and Tee lowered the phone. Outside, Latrice's taillights disappeared beyond the property gate. Ten minutes later, the gate alert sounded.

Tee looked toward the wall panel and saw Dre's truck waiting beneath the camera, headlights cutting through the rain. Tee should have denied access, called Latrice, locked every door and sat with the consequences.

Instead, her thumb pressed the screen and opened the gate. A few minutes later, Dre came through the front door dripping rainwater onto the floor, her black shirt clinging to her shoulders. She didn't ask where Latrice went, she already knew. Tee stood near the island with Dre's bracelet dangling from her fingers.

"You happy now?"

Dre closed the door behind her. "No."

"Could've fooled me."

"I don't want you because she caught you. I wanted you when you were still lying to both of us." Tee tossed the bracelet at her chest and Dre caught it. "You don't get to come in here and act like you did me a favor."

"I didn't."

"You blew my shit up."

"I did and I don’t feel shit about it."

Tee's nostrils flared as she shoved Dre hard in the chest but Dre barely moved. Then Tee shoved her again and this time Dre grabbed both her wrists.

"Let me go."

"Make me."

"I'm serious, Dre."

"So am I."

Tee struggled once, then stopped. They stood close enough for Tee to smell the rain on Dre's skin. "You ain't right," Tee whispered.

"Neither are you." Dre released her wrists. Tee could have stepped away, but didn't. Dre lifted one hand and wiped a tear from Tee's cheek with her thumb. Tee hadn't realized she was crying.

"You love her?" Dre asked.

Tee's face tightened. "Yeah."

"But you want me."

Tee looked away. Dre caught her chin and turned her face back. "That's the problem. You think wanting somebody means you get to destroy everything around them."

"I ain't destroy shit that was solid."

"You don't know us."

"I know you." Dre leaned closer. "Then show me the rest."

Tee stared into her eyes angry enough to hate her and weak enough to want her anyway. Dre pressed her forehead against Tee's. "Tell me to leave.”

Tee's lips parted whileDre waited. For once, she didn't touch her anywhere else. She didn't push the moment forward or hide behind some slick comment. She simply waited for Tee to decide. Tee looked toward the garage door.

Latrice was gone. The food was cold. The lie had already been exposed.

"Go," Tee whispered.

Dre stepped back with surprise flashed across her face. "You sure?"

"No." Tee wiped her cheeks. "But go anyway."

Dre studied her for a long moment. Then she fastened the bracelet around her wrist. "Aight."She turned and walked toward the door. Tee watched her reach for the handle. "Dre."

Dre looked back and Tee hated herself for what came next. "Don't go home to Kiara."

Dre's expression shifted. Not a smile but to something darker and more satisfied."Why?"

Tee swallowed. "Because I said so."

Dre released the door handle. She crossed the room again, slower this time, stopping directly in front of Tee. "You don't get to claim me while crying over her."

"I'm not claiming you."

"Then why you care where I sleep?"

Tee didn't answer.

Dre leaned close to her ear. "You want me to stay, say it."

Tee closed her eyes. Her relationship had collapsed less than twenty minutes ago, yet her body still responded to Dre's voice like betrayal had become muscle memory. Tee opened her eyes, "Stay."

Dre kissed her and Tee kissed her back with all the anger, shame, and hunger that she hadn't figured out how to separate.

---

Dre's mouth tasted like rain but Tee kissed her harder than she should have, teeth catching Dre's bottom lip until she felt her inhale sharply. “Upstairs," Dre said between kisses. Tee grabbed Dre's wet shirt and pulled her toward the stairwell, their bodies colliding against the wall halfway up. Dre's hands found Tee's waist, fingers digging into the fabric of her hoodie as she pushed her back against the railing. "You still mad at me?" Dre asked.

"Yeah."

"Good." Dre kissed her throat, teeth scraping the sensitive skin just below Tee's jaw. Tee's head fell back, breath coming faster as Dre's mouth moved lower.

They made it to the bedroom.

The same bedroom Latrice had walked out of less than an hour ago. The sheets were still twisted. The pillow still on the floor. The smell of sex and room spray hung in the air. Tee shoved Dre toward the bed. Dre caught herself on the edge of the mattress, eyes dark as she looked up at Tee. "You gonna take that anger out on me?"

"Shut up." Tee pulled her hoodie over her head and threw it across the room. Her sports bra followed. She stood there bare from the waist up, chest rising and falling as Dre's gaze moved over her body. Dre reached for her and Tee stepped back. "Take your shit off."

Dre obeyed and peeled the wet shirt over her head, revealing the lean muscle of her shoulders and the dark lines of her tattoos. Her bra came next, then her jeans, until she was sitting on the edge of the bed in nothing but black boxer briefs. Tee stared at her. At the way Dre sat there like she owned the space. "You really don't feel bad, do you?"

"No."

"You should."

"Why? You the one who opened the gate."

Tee's jaw tightened and She crossed the room and pushed Dre back onto the mattress, climbing over her before Dre could sit up. Their mouths collided again, rougher this time, all teeth and frustration. Dre's hands moved up Tee's back, nails dragging against her skin hard enough to leave marks. Tee gasped into her mouth, hips rolling forward as Dre's thigh pressed between her legs. "You want me to stop?" Dre asked against her lips.

"No."

Dre flipped them and Tee's back hit the mattress, and suddenly Dre was above her, one hand pinning Tee's wrist beside her head while the other worked at the button of her jeans. Tee lifted her hips to help, and Dre dragged the denim down her thighs along with her boxers, leaving her completely exposed. Dre's eyes moved over her body slowly. "You so fucking pretty," Dre said quietly.

Tee's breath caught. She hated how those words made her feel. "Don't," Tee whispered.

"Don't what?"

"Don't act like this means something."

Dre leaned down, lips brushing Tee's ear. "It does mean Every fucking thing."

"It doesn't."

"Then why you shaking?" Dre's hand slid between her thighs, fingers moving through the wetness there. “You this wet for somebody you don't want?"

Tee turned her head away and Dre caught her chin and forced her to look back. "Answer me."

"Fuck you."

Dre's fingers pressed inside her and Tee's back arched off the bed, a broken sound escaping her throat as Dre filled her. Two fingers, then three, stretching her open while her thumb found Tee's clit and circled it. "That's what I thought."

Tee grabbed Dre's shoulders and pulled her closer, nails digging into skin as Dre fucked her harder. Rain hammered against the windows while sweat gathered between their bodies. Dre's mouth found Tee's neck, teeth sinking into the soft skin there as her fingers moved faster, deeper. "You feel that?" Dre asked against her throat. Tee couldn't answer because body was too busy chasing the pressure building low in her stomach.

"That's me," Dre continued. "Not her. Me." The words pushed her over. Tee came hard, her whole body tensing as the orgasm ripped through her. She cried out, fingers tangled in Dre's hair as wave after wave of pleasure left her gasping.

Dre didn't stop. She kept moving until Tee was trembling and oversensitive.

"Dre—"

"I ain't done." Dre pulled her fingers out and moved lower, settling between Tee's thighs. Her mouth replaced her hand, tongue sliding through Tee's folds.

"Oh my God—"

Dre's hands gripped Tee's thighs, holding her open. Tongue circling her clit, then dipping inside, then back again. The guilt was still there and Latrice's face flashed behind Tee's closed eyelids. She could see the hurt on Latrice face hurt, the betrayal in her eyes and the tears in her eyes. But Dre's mouth felt too good. And Tee was too weak to stop her.

She came again, harder this time, her thighs clamping around Dre's head as she rode out the orgasm. Dre didn't pull away until Tee's body went limp. Dre crawled back up her body, lips glistening as she kissed Tee slowly. Tee tasted herself on Dre's tongue. "You good?"

Tee nodded, even though she wasn't. Dre rolled onto her back, pulling Tee with her until Tee was straddling her hips. "Your turn," Tee said. She didn't wait for permission. She slid down Dre's body and pulled her boxer briefs off. Dre's legs fell open, and Tee settled between them, hands gripping her thighs as she lowered her mouth.

Dre's breath hitched as Tee worked her slowly at first, tongue moving through her folds. Dre's hips lifted, and Tee pressed her down with one hand while the other slid inside her.

"Fuck," Dre breathed.

Tee added another finger, curling them inside Dre while her mouth stayed on her clit. Dre's moans filled the room, low and rough and unguarded.

"Right there," Dre said. "Don't stop."

Tee kept going until Dre's whole body went taut with her back arching off the bed, her legs shook while her pussy pulsated around Tee’s finger. She pulled back slowly, wiping her mouth as she looked up at Dre. Dre stared at the ceiling, chest rising and falling. "You still mad?" Tee climbed back up the bed and collapsed beside her. "Yeah."

"Good."

They lay there in silence, bodies tangled together. The rain had slowed to a steady drizzle outside, and the room smelled like sex and sweat and the faint trace of Dre's cologne. Dre's arm draped across Tee's waist, pulling her closer.

---

Sometime after midnight, Tee lay awake staring at the ceiling. Dre slept beside her, one arm stretched across Tee's waist like she'd won something. Tee's phone rested facedown on the nightstand. She carefully lifted Dre's arm and reached for the phone. A notification waited on the lock screen. Not from Latrice but from Kiara.

Kiara: I know Dre with you. Tell that bitch don't come back here.

Tee stared at the message and before she could open it, Dre's voice came from behind her. "Delete that." Tee turned.

Dre was awake and watching her.

"You gave Kiara my number?"

"Nah."

"Then how she get it?"

Dre rolled onto her back. "Probably from Latrice."

Tee sat up. "What?"

Dre's face stayed calm as she watched Tee unlocked her phone and open social media. Latrice had posted three minutes ago. No picture or meme just a black screen with white words. “When your girlfriend and her Stud Bro think you stupid, sometimes you gotta let everybody's woman know what's going on.”

Tee's chest tightened.

Below it, another story had been shared and it was a picture of Dre leaving Tee's building earlier that night, captured from the garage camera Tee had once given Latrice access to. Dre's truck and license plate on display with the timestamp stamped clearly across the bottom. Tee looked at Dre. "You said she ain't built for this." Dre sat up slowly and the first trace of concern crossed her face.

Tee's phone began ringing., it was Kiara. In the same moment, heavy pounding shook the front door downstairs. Not the doorbell, it sounded like fist pounding three violent hits. Then Latrice’s voice ripped through the house. "Tee! Open this damn door!"

Dre climbed out of bed and Tee looked toward the bedroom entrance, then back at the phone vibrating in her hand as another fist struck the door. This time, a second woman's voice joined Latrice's. It was Kiara and Dre reached for her pants

Tee stared at her. "You still ain't scared?"

Dre fastened her belt and looked toward the hallway. "No."

The pounding came again while Tee pulled on her hoodie. For the first time all night, neither of them had a lie ready.

Thank you for reading please keep in Mind that this part of the story is also apart of Rue & Smoke: Session 32 in which part 2 of that will be dropping next week. Please like, Share and comment. You can follow me on Threads, Instagram, and TikTok @Sheenajbooks. Follow my facebook like page Sheena J/ urban fiction author. This book will be available on Kindle in October. Pastor Toni will be back next week as well.

It had been nearly a week before my last sermon was rudely interrupted. I knew my sermon would upset certain ears in the crowd, but for Shannon to stand up and gather her things… turn and shine a light so bright on the message that I was bringing, I had to come up with something that would get the congregation to look at me like their Leader again, and not like a hypocritical whoremonger.

Makarios paced the floor of our bedroom, pounding his fists into his palms. He had been on 10 since Shannon had put me on blast in front of the congregation and with him being the First Gentleman, he was just as angry as I was.

“I’m not going to pretend like I’m cool with this.” He snapped, as he paced back and forth from the bedroom door to the bed where I sat applying my lotion.

“You don’t have to be cool with it, because it’s not true. She has no proof.” I sat calmly, knowing the truth sat behind a mountain of lies. I did spread Shannon on top of the alter where I watched so many people experience the Holy Ghost. So many powerful real breakthroughs, and I was breaking the Lord’s rules in his house.

The room fell silent, tension settled in the air. Makarios stopped pacing and glared at me. “Shannon? Shannon of all people? Really, Toni?” I blinked at the real reason why he was upset.

“Wait,” I lightly laughed. “So, explain why you’re really mad? You’re not mad about the accusations themselves?” I asked, wanting to clarify what I had already gathered.

“Toni, I ain’t stupid. I’ve seen the way you look at her. The way you look at Melody, Toshiba, and Candice. You take them to lunch individually, and I know it ain’t always about no church functions.” He swung at the air with agitation, his light skinned face reddening slightly.

“Makarios,” he held up his hand as if he wasn’t done.

“I’m not done. I didn’t tell you that I came to the church the other night when y’all having choir rehearsal. You came home that night at 11:45. Choir practice was over at 8:30… you said that you and the choir members went to Chili’s afterwards… the camera at the church caught you coming out the church at 11:25. Wasn’t no Chili’s, was it?”

I swallowed hard, the lump that had formed in my throat refusing to go down. I looked up at him as he was now standing directly in front of me. His hands in his pockets, something he did when he wanted to put them to work for destruction. Bucking his eyes as if to say “say something,” I stammered a response.

“O-okay look.. one thing led to another. And,” Makarios chuckled.

“So after years of me suggesting to bring another woman into our bed… you went out here and greedily fucked all of these women by yourself?”

I didn’t know what to say as a response. As a woman and a woman of God, inviting someone else to our bed went against everything we believed in. However, I had already broken half the commandment by myself. What’s done in the dark, shall come to the light. I sighed softly.

“You’ve got nothing to say?” He asked, his tone piercing through the silence.

“I’m not ready to share you with anyone else.” What I said was truthful. I wasn’t ready, didn’t know if I ever would be. Makarios bit his lip hard and began pacing the floor again.

“And I’m suppose to be okay with my wife sharing what’s mine with someone else? Make it make sense.”

I couldn’t. How could I make something make sense that I wasn’t even sure made sense to myself? If I was honest with myself, I couldn’t bear to watch my husband stretch another woman out the way he would me.

“You better figure something out, and figure it out quick. These folks bring good money to the church, and I’ll be damned if we lose over half if not all of it because of you.” He pointed his finger in my face.

“Can we talk about this later?” I asked, as my eyes nervously shifted to the clock that sat above the bathroom doorframe. Smacking his lips, Makarios threw his hands up and walked out of the room.

With him out of the room, I stood from the edge of the bed and headed to the closet to find something to wear for this morning’s service. This wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, trying to persuade my congregation that their leader was only human. One that wasn’t free of the sin that I so boldly stood up and preached about.

—————————————————————————

I had just the solution. Denial. Makarios gave me strict instruction… Figure this out, and figure it out quick. I had to tell the congregation that these allegations are simply a figment of Shannon’s imagination. I sat behind my desk in my office, going over my sermon one final time when someone tapped on the door.

“It’s open.” I said without looking up from my tablet.

“You’re up.” Makarios said, his face still looking slightly irritated.

“I’ve figured it out.”

Makarios eyebrows turning into a confused scowl as he stepped inside of the office, closing the door behind him and stood in front of it.

“Talk.”

“I’m going to deny everything. It’s not like there is proof. I made sure the cameras were turned off before anything happened.” I said, tapping my stylus against the desktop. Smirking, Makarios shook his head and opened the door.

“Let’s go before they start getting restless.”

I nodded my head in response and stood from behind my desk. My blouse was a cream white, my skirt was black with a slight split going up the front of it, my heels black with the red bottoms. I grabbed my tablet and exited the office behind Makarios. The ushers opened the double doors, the congregation stood and faced the entrance.

The sound of percussion, piano, bass guitar, and saxophone played loudly, making the floor boards beneath us shake. I will bless the Lord at all time, for he’s so good to me! The choir sang as I walked down the aisle. I sung along with them, smiling, despite the knots that I felt forming in the pit of my stomach as I walked up the steps to get to the podium. Placing my tablet on the stand, I turned and clapped along with the choir, and then turned to the congregation. I saw familiar faces that were dear to my heart, I smiled.

Loki, my daughter and her cousin’s Mayhem and Ke sat on the third row towards the front. Loki smiled at me and nudged Ke, her gold fronts looking freshly polished. I grabbed the mic, holding my fist up to silence the music and singing.

“Before I can give the word today,” I looked out amongst the crowd, looking for Shannon’s face, but failed to do so, so I kept talking.“There were some allegations that were spoken this past Sunday, and as your leader I am here to tell you that what you heard is a bold face lie from the enemy.” I looked back towards the back of the church where Makarios stood talking to an usher. A sudden flashback of Shannon riding my face, my tongue buried deep inside her pussy. I shook my head, gripping the pulpit tight. “Lord, you gonna have to help me up in here today!” I exclaimed as I felt a pulse thumping wildly between my thighs.

Whispers filled the pulpit. “Sister Shannon is going through a lot, but I didn’t know that it was as deep as it is… I’ve been meaning to tell the congregation that she needs,” my mic cut off briefly before moans echoed throughout the pulpit. My mouth ran dry immediately, as I recognized the very sounds that were being played.

“Yes, Toni… right there.” The audio grew louder as I dropped the mic onto the podium, and looked back at the screen that the congregations eyes were bucked wide open on. Shannon had done the ultimate. She was playing the footage back from the night of choir rehearsal, audio and picture.

“Damn, Auntie!” I turned to see Ke standing up, her mouth wide open as she watched the video like it were meant to be a flick. “From the rooter to the tooter?! Ian even made it to the tooter!”

If my face could’ve turned red, it would have. Makarios briskly walked to the front of the church, snatching cords from the wall and making the screen go completely back. His face was beet red, with his lips pressed together so tight that the color started draining from them.

“Church is over.”

The whispers grew louder as he grabbed my hand and quickly pulled me down from the pulpit. As we walked past the first two rows before Loki grabbed me by the arm and looked at me. Her eyes were cold, her body tense, and her brows were wrinkled.

“Is you cool? How you get on me about eating pussy, and you really out here tossing heux salads and shit? You beat my ears down about homosexuality, but you in the closet?” Loki smacked her lips, curling her lips into a smirk. “Come on y’all.” She said as she walked past me, Ke following behind her, and Mayhem last. Tears filled my eyes. I was a hypocrite. I preached a word that I failed to follow myself. Even though my child had somewhat broken my spirit, I had to walk out here with my head high.

—————————————————————————

Wednesday Night

It was 4:35 pm as I walked inside the church, Shannon’s car was out front, as well as Makarios’s. He had called a meeting for the two of us so that he could see how this even became a thing. At least that’s what he had told me before he left home earlier this morning. I could hear what I believed to be chatter, until I got closer to the double doors and realized that the noises I was hearing were grunts, accompanied by small conversation. I cracked the doors and peeked inside slightly. What I saw made my heart race.

Makarios was balls deep inside of Shannon, with her head down between her legs, her arms gripped behind her back and him plowing my dick in and out of Shannon’s hole. I watched for a moment longer, before opening the doors and entering, making sure that the doors didn’t make noise while I entered.

“You wanna embarrass me, right?” He asked, now gripping her hair firmly between his fingers, jerking her head up as his jeans fell down to his ankles as he began beating her pussy with thrust that made her legs buckle as she stood there, helpless.

“Makarios,” I interrupted but he didn’t stop stroking, he just simply looked back at me. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he smacked Shannon’s ass, pulling her hips back further, looking down and then back at me as he pounded her harder. She cried out, her voice shaking just like her body as he fucked her senseless.

“Makarios my ass, get on your knees.” He told me. I looked at him, and shook my head no. “I don’t remember asking you, just like you didn’t ask if you could use my mouth to eat her pussy. Now,” he took a hand off of her hip, smacked her on the ass and pointed down at the alter. “On your knees. I wanna see if she cums quicker for you or for me.” He put his hand back on her hip, and pushed deeper inside of her. He wasn’t wearing a condom, I rolled my eyes and got on my knees as instructed.

“Yea, that’s right. Put that muhfucka in her mouth.” He told Shannon as she looked down at me before mounting my face. “Stick your tongue out.” He told me, as I held my tongue out tasting a mixture of her cum and his semen. I sucked her clit into my mouth, humming on it softly.

“Oh God,” Shannon moaned, as she place her hand behind my neck, pulling me deeper between her plump lips. Her clit was hard against my tongue. “This feels so,” before she could finish her sentence Makarios was hammering himself deeper and deeper inside of her, making her squirt in my mouth slightly. I swallowed a little and let the rest run down the side of my face.

“God ain’t got nothing to do with this,” Makarios growled as he drove himself in and out of her, his skin slapping against her ass cheeks. “And don’t you dare cum again, until I tell you.” He smacked her ass hard, leaving his hand print on it.

The nerve that this man had. He really was fucking Shannon and talking to her just like he does me. This is why we could never have a threesome, and I damn sure as hell was going to let him know once this meeting was over that this was crossing the line.

He pulled out for a moment, his dick covered in cream, juices dripping from the head of it. Shannon’s legs shook, as Makarios moved my head away from her pussy lips and rubbed the head of his dick against my lips, smearing her Shannon’s cum onto my lips.

“Come here,” he told Shannon as I remained on my knees with his hard dick in my face, having the nerve to make it jump before grabbing the back of my neck and shoving it into my mouth. “Get up there.” He said, pointing up at the In The Remembrance of Me rolling table that sat in front of the pulpit.

My hands worked up and down Makarios’s shaft, his knees buckling as I relaxed my throat and welcomed his girth past the little dangly thing in the back of my throat. I choked slightly as he began thrusting, holding my neck tightly until I gagged. Leaning his head back, he moaned and then looked down into my eyes as I sucked his dick. My plush lips worked up and down his shaft, cleaning Shannon’s sweet and salty cum from it.

“Fuuuckk,” he moaned as he pulled his dick from my mouth and turned and tapped his large head on Shannon’s clit, before pushing himself inside of her roughly. “Take them pants off.” He told me, I unbuttoned my dress pants, letting them hit the floor. I wore a satin black thong, which Makarios pulled to the side and pushed two of his lengthy fingers deep inside of my pussy. I bit my lip so hard that I split it. I instantly tasted copper.

The sounds of wet pussy echoed at the front of the church, moans bounced off the wall like a ball being thrown against it. My walls gripped his fingers with each thrust, threatening to make a mess. Shannon’s eyes rolled back as her moans turned into screams. Her breasts bounced hitting her in the chin as Makarios used his feee hand and pinned her legs forward and watched his dick go in and out of her, before burying himself inside of her, letting out a groan. His fingers curled against my G-Spot, making me whimper as I gripped his forearm as I started to cum on his fingers.

“Baby,” I protested as he pressed firmly against my spot, my legs shook violently as I came again.

“Mmhmm, I want y’all to cum at the same time. Hold that next one.” He told me, as he pressed against my spot harder with each stroke. My breath caught in my throat as I tried to let out a moan, but only a gasp came out. He took his fingers out of my pussy and slid them into my mouth, making me suck them clean, before returning his hand back to my pussy. He smacked my clit, making it quiver.

Shannon let out another scream as Makarios started stroking again, but only faster. I could hear splatters of squirt hitting the top of the table. “Maka-,” Makarios covered her mouth and nose with his palm, stroking harder until Shannon’s hips bucked and shook, he curled his fingers inside of my pussy again, thrusting and shaking his fingers inside of my walls.

I watched as Shannon’s eyes rolled to the back of her head, before my eyes did the same. My pussy pulsated against his fingers, cumming hard as Shannon gripped my forearm, moaning along with me as Makarios pounded her into yet another orgasm, while fighting to not bust his own nut.

“F-fuck it,” he breathed before letting out a howl and burying himself deep inside Shannon’s pussy. Shannon whimpered as she locked eyes with me, feeling Makarios’s seed being emptied into her. He breathed heavily, as he gave four more hard thrusts, moaning with each stroke. His ass cheeks squeezed tightly together, he pulled out, his dick finally not hard anymore.

Shannon’s eyes were closed, her breathing unsteady, and her knees knocked against each other as her legs trembled. Makarios turned to me. “Clean me up.” He said, a crooked smile appearing at the corners of his lips, after seeing the pissed look on my face.

Dropping back to my knees, I took him back into my mouth. Sucking slow and hard, gently grazing his head with my teeth. He hissed and then gave me a warning glared. I giggled and then took his dick down my throat just as slow as I was sucking it originally. His legs trembled as his eyes rolled slightly. I gagged slightly, but then began breathing through my nose as he gripped the back of my neck, holding it in place as he slowly fucked my mouth. I could taste his cum, his warm salty nut spilling onto my tongue.

“That’s enough.” He told me as he pulled me up to my feet. Shannon was now sitting up on the side of the table, watching with a smile on her face as Makarios pushed his now soft dick back into his boxers, and then pulled up his pants. He looked at Shannon. “If I hear anything about what happened tonight,” he buttoned his shirt back up and looked at me then back at Shannon. “I’ll get rid of you myself.” He told her as he grabbed his hoody from the pew and headed for the double door, leaving Shannon naked from the waist down, and me pantless.

Thank you so much for reading… If you liked this story please comment, like and share

Kyra is the kind of woman who never really leaves.

She may not be in Reign’s life the way she used to be, but she still knows how to show up at the wrong time, say the right thing, and remind everybody that history does not stay buried just because somebody moved on.

Kyra is beautiful, slick, and bold enough to walk into spaces where she knows she no longer belongs. She carries herself like a woman who still has a claim, even when nobody gave her permission to keep one. And when it comes to Reign, Kyra knows exactly which buttons to push.

But Kyra is not just an ex.

She’s a complication.
A secret.
A warning sign with lip gloss on.

Her connection to Reign is messy enough on its own, but Kyra’s name being tied to Mink makes everything more dangerous. Because in Stud Love Vol. 1, cheating is never just cheating. One bad decision can expose loyalties, start problems, and pull people into wars they didn’t even know were waiting on them.

Kyra moves like she still has access.

To Reign.
To the past.
To rooms she should have been locked out of.

And that makes her dangerous.

She’s the woman who can ruin a moment without raising her voice. The one who brings old energy into new situations. The one who reminds everybody that sometimes the past doesn’t come back for closure.

Sometimes it comes back to cause chaos.

“You think you still running something?” Was the only thing running through my head, even 3 weeks later I couldn’t explain what Maya had me feeling. I ain’t like that shit, but somehow I loved the way she took me into her mouth. Devouring me like I was the last supper. The way she buried her nose against my clit as she tongue fucked me. I grinned to myself while plotting my get back.

My phone buzzed on the counter top of my kitchen as I grabbed my coffee mug and began fixing a fresh cup. I picked up my phone and looked at it, my grin widening as I opened my messages and looking at the pictures that had been sent to my phone. It was Maya. Maya was fine as hell, sitting on the side of her bathtub with nothing but her panties on. In one hand she held a glass of wine, and the other hand rested on phat ma like she was patting her. A caption was on the picture. Ready when you are.

This was beginning to feel like a game of cat and mouse. I was the cat, and she was the mouse. Revenge is said to be sweet, and I had a huge sweet tooth. I took a sip of my coffee before sitting the cup back down on the countertop as I replied to her message.

Me: let me find out you missing me.

Dots of response popped up immediately.

Maya: I actually don’t. Just making sure you’re still breathing, haven’t heard from you in a couple of weeks.

I smirked as I responded back even quicker than she did. She thought she was running something, she thought she had proven a point.

I couldn’t admit to her personally that she had made me look at this situation a bit different. Like it wouldn’t be so bad to just fuck on one person, like it would be okay to just fuck the shit out of her with no strings attached. Biting my lip slightly, I looked back at the picture she had sent me.

Me: I’m definitely breathing. Just been busy is all, but are you free tonight? My home girl’s mom is hosting a wine tasting at their vineyard tonight… would you like to be my plus one?

Dots appeared across my screen shortly, and then disappeared. They reappeared once more, before her response came across the screen.

Maya: Ooouu, I’ll be ready in 30 minutes. You remember the gate code, right?

I smirked. Of course I remembered the gate code.

Me: See you in 25.

I sat my phone down on the counter, and picked up my coffee mug and headed for my bedroom to shower. Pulling my locs back into a large bun, I stripped out of my clothes and drank the rest of my coffee before strutting the cup back into the kitchen in my nude. I scooped my phone up from the countertop and saw that just from the little time I’d been gone that I had missed a phone call. Ignoring the missed call, I tossed my phone on top my of Bamboo California King mattress and went into the bathroom.

Looking myself over, I grabbed my eyebrow archer and cleaned my brows up a little, grabbing the hairs that looked out of place. I stared at myself a bit longer than I probably should have. Thinking that my pops and moms had done the damn thing when they procreated. Fine was an understatement… what NLE Choppa said? “If I was a bad bitch, I’d wanna fuck me too!” I yelled, before howling with laughter I started my shower water.

—————————————————————————

The night’s air was hot and humid, almost suffocating. Luckily, I had dressed for the weather. My locks were tied back in some two strand twists that I’d thrown in at the last minute, With a black and silver trimmed custom made cowboy hat sitting neatly on top of them. I wore a chain that was dripping in vvs diamonds, an opened black button down shirt that revealed my tattoos. Titty tape covered my breasts, making them damn near invisible. My black pants were loose enough to hide the print of my strap.

I dabbed body oil onto my wrists, rubbed them together and rubbed the oil from my wrists onto stomach, chest, and behind my ears. The fragrance of Gentlemen Intense filled my jeep before I opened the door and swung my lengthy legs from underneath the steering wheel. My boots hit the ground with a slight thud as I stepped out of the truck, closing the door behind me. A stale draft of wind caught the scent of my body oil, carrying it through the air as I walked through the lobby and headed to the elevator.

Pressing the button to go up, the doors opened slowly and I stepped in. “Hold that, please!” I heard as sandals beat the floor beneath her feet. I slid my hand between the opening of the elevator door, preventing it from closing. “Oh my God, thank you.” Her voice was soft as she entered the elevator, holding groceries in one hand and her car keys in the other.

“What floor?”

“3rd, please.” Her hair was curly, jet black, and falling into her face as she pulled it back.

Damn, it’s some fine ass bitches in this building. I thought to myself as I pressed the 3rd and 4th floor buttons. She stood back against the wall, her back pressed against it slightly. She stared straight ahead, but my eyes couldn’t seem to unglue themselves from her face that I could now see clearly. Her eyes were a honey gold, her skin was radiant; bright and original. No caked up make up, she smelled sweet; her scent penetrating my nostrils as the doors opened and she tightened her grip on her bags and smiled at me before stepping forward to exit the elevator.

She exited the elevator, her curves provocatively calling back to me as she stole a final glance of me through the cracks of the doors. I grinned and rubbed my hands together, licking my lips. The doors dinged opened to the 4th floor, I walked out, made an immediate left, and knocked on Maya’s door. The door opened and a face that I hadn’t yet seen, but assumed she was the roommate.

“Damn,” she slumped against the door frame while looking me up and down and biting her bottom lip softly. “Maya ain’t say you were this fine.”

“Trinity,” Maya huffed as she walked past her, purse in her hand.

Maya’s was a sight that even Steven Wonder would be able to see, a sight for sore eyes. Damn she wore the fuck out of that dress. Black, showing just enough cleavage to leave your mouth watering for more. A split rose slightly above her hip, revealing that she wore no panties. Black heels that complimented my 6’3 height.

“I’m just saying, she’s way better looking than what’s her face.” Trinity shrugged, and then winked her eye at me.

Trinity was pretty, but her face card wasn’t like Maya’s. Maya didn’t have to wake up and put on makeup. Trinity had on makeup, although it was light… you could still see the blemishes beneath it. Maya rolled her eyes in response, and then grabbed me by the hand, forcefully pulling me down the hall to the elevator.

“Excuse her.” She giggled, as her fingers tightened around mine. Her thumb gently caressed my own as we approached the elevator. The doors opened, and we entered damn near at the same time as she pulled me inside.

Before the doors could even shut, she wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing me nastily. Her tongue gently slid across my lips before sucking my lower lip into her mouth, suckling it gently. A soft moan escaped her parted lips as I eased her back against the wall, lifting the thigh with the split onto my hip. My fingertips traced her bikini line, before I nuzzled them between her pussy lips, rubbing her clit in slow tantalizing circles. I broke the kiss, placing my lips against her neck, nibbling gently with Maya breathing slightly heavier into my ear.

The elevator doors opened, and to our surprise no one was in the lobby. It was quiet, with the exception of the lights buzzing above us as we recomposed ourselves and stepped out of the elevator. Bringing my fingers up to my lips, I sucked the moisture from my fingertips. No taste, no smell.

“Your pussy must really like me or something, cause she never disappoints.” I teased as we walked out to my Jeep.

“Maybe, you just know how to touch her the way she likes to be touched.” She shrugged. “We all know that pussies have a mind of their own.”

She was right about that, because mine was thumping behind this strap. Chill out. I thought to myself as I opened the passenger door, watching as Maya got inside before I closed the door.

—————————————————————————

Maya’s mouth fell open at the beauty of the landscape of my family’s land as I parked my Jeep on the side of the gate. She stayed put, not moving a muscle until I walked around and opened her door. She looked up at me and smiled.

“This is gorgeous, Ke. And this is strictly family land?” She asked, taking in the view of pear, apple, and orange trees lined up accordingly. I nodded my head and held out my arm. She looped her forearm through my own and walked along side me as we entered the gate. Maya’s thumb gently stroked the inside of my bicep nervously.

“You good?” I asked, looking over at her.

“Is this a date?”

Chuckling, a grin appeared much wider on my face than I had intended it to. “You want it to be?” I asked as I rung the doorbell.

“Depends on if you’re trying to make me break a rule or not.” She teased right before the door opened.

“Well damn, look what the circus done brought to town!” Mayhem yelled, pulling me into his embrace without permission. “Pops is gonna be happy to see you.” His eyebrows rose as he looked over at Maya. “This you?” He asked, smiling like he was proud.

“Maya… my brother Mayhem. Mayhem, this is my lil yea yea Maya.” Mayhem extended his hand, and Maya shook it briefly before shooting me a questionable look.

“Come in, you know how pops is about these damn fire flies getting in the house.” Mayhem stepped aside, letting us walking inside before shutting and locking the heavy double doors.

“I thought we didn’t have titles.” Maya asked, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

I smacked my lips and chuckled, my grip tightening slightly on her hand as we made our way from the front of the house, all the way to the backyard where more fruit trees and vines were planted in various areas.

“We don’t, I just had to let my whore of a brother know that you’re off limits.” I laughed, and then playfully smacked her on the ass before approaching my cousin. “Late, but never denied.” I started before she could, grabbing myself and Maya a glass of wine. Sipping it immediately once I gave it to her, Maya stood closer to me as we approached Loki.

Gold fronts greeted me as Loki approached me, her wick locs sprouted from her skull like a literal palm tree. She rubbed her hands together, before slapping her palm against mine and pulling me into a brief hug. She looked over at Maya, eyes piled up from the wine she’d already drunk instead of actually tasting.

“Glad to see you, Cuzzo. Who’s this fine specimen of a lady you got with you?” She was now smiling at Maya, licking her tongue across her grill slowly.

“Say man, chill.” My hands going to Maya’s side, gripping her curves slightly as she sipped more of the wine from the glass. “This me.” There was no need to have warning in my tone. I didn’t come around much, but they knew not to play with me and whatever I called mine at that moment. Loki held her hands up, and backed up slightly.

“My bad, cuz. Ian mean to push up on ya shawty like that. She bad though.” Maya smiled warmly, and then looked up at me.

“Baby,” that word caught me by surprise as I looked down at her trying to keep my face unreadable. “Can you show me where the bathroom is?”

“Yea, come on.” I said, taking her hand again and walked her back inside the house. “We’ll go to the one upstairs, it’s quieter.” Walking up the stairs, I couldn’t help but hear her calling me baby all over again in my head. “So… baby, huh? It’s just all kinds of new things we’re learning about each other today.” I laughed.

“I don’t think your cousin was getting it. She was still staring at me like she wanted me to be her dessert after a hefty entree.” Her face twisting up in disgust. “She’s definitely not my cup of tea.” Maya laughed and entered the bathroom door that I’d opened, and pulled me in with her, almost making me drop the glass of wine in the hallway.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing me slowly. Her tongue flirted with my lips briefly, before slipping between them, and entangling with my own. I sat the wine glass down on the countertop, I had no real intentions of drinking it anyway. I’m more of a brown liquor person myself.

Gripping her hips closer to me, I whispered into her ear as I slipped her thigh up onto my hip. My hands rubbing her pussy lips, and then parting them before plunging my middle and ring fingers inside of her pussy. She gasped and gripped my neck tighter as she slowly rode my fingers. Her eyes locked with mine.

“Tell me this pussy is mine.” I demanded as I slammed my fingers in and out of her pussy. Maya bit down on her lip hard, letting out muffled cries. Her nails now dug into my neck, as I sped up the tempo.

“Keeeeeeeeee,” she exclaimed as she looked up at me after looking down at the floor that she had just squirted on. “Yes, baby.. this… pussy… uhhhh…. It’s yours.” She whimpered into my shoulder, as her pussy walls sucked on my fingers like a bitch with no teeth.

“Good girl,” I pulled my fingers from her warmth, and smacked her thigh. “Turn around so you can get this dick.” Maya didn’t hesitate, didn’t protest. She just simply turned around after lowering her quivering leg down to the floor, only for me to lift onto the bathroom counter while unzipped my pants, letting my strap fall free from the zipper. I spit on the head of it, rubbed it from the head down to the top of the shaft and then tapped it against Maya’s pussy. She jerked slightly.

I pulled her dress up over her hips, gripping the back of it tightly as I entered her with one swift hard thrust. A sudden cry erupted from her core as she gripped the towel rack that held no towels or wash clothes. She hissed sharply as I worked my strap inside of her like I grew it myself.

“F-uck.” She stammered as I gripped her by the neck, arched her back deeper and began beating her pussy like a drummer. Our flesh smacked together, her cream smearing on my boxers with each thrust. “Ooooh, I’m bout to fuck some shit up.”

She giggled, and then moaned immediately afterwards as she squirted again, this time making a puddle between both of our feet.

I pulled out slowly, making Maya whimper in protest. “Shhh,” I told her as I dropped into a squat and sucked her pussy lips into my mouth from the back. It was a bolt of lighting hit Maya’s body the way she started trembling as I cleaned up the mess that I made, while intending to create another.

“Yes, Ke… yessss, yesss, yeeeeesssss!!” She screamed into the tile wall as she threw her pussy into my mouth. My tongue inserting into her hole, fucking it fast and as deep as her ass cheeks would allow for me to go. “Ohhh, baby… suck my pussy.” Her hands made their way behind her, attempting to caress my locs after my hat had fallen to the side moments ago.

I did as I was told, sucking soft then hard, pulling back to watch her clit jump with each suction before slipping two fingers in and pressing them against her spot. We had came to a wine tasting, but seems like the only thing I was interested in tasting was the very thing that was in my mouth right now. Pussy.

A knock sounded at the door, causing me to pause in mid tongue stroke. “Baby, please… I’m…almost… there.” Maya moaned brokenly. The knock sounded again, but this time I actually stopped and turned the water on in the sink.

“Just a minute.” I called while stuffing my strap back into my pants. “We’re not done.” I told her, before turning her around and kissing her lips, while she wiped her cum from my chin. Throwing water on my face real quick to get the extra creamy cum that had dripped down the side of my face and then opened the door.

“I know damn well,” I held my hand up and smiled innocently at my pops. Stealing a glance behind me at Maya as she got herself together in the corner of the bathroom he shook his head. “What a pleasant surprise.” He teased, gesturing towards Maya with a friendly smile.

Maya blushed as she came to my side. Pops reached for her hand, kissing it softly and then looked up at Maya.

“Pops, this is Maya.”

“Wish I could’ve met her before I met her vocal cords screaming from my bathroom. I thought it was Mayhem and Erykah again.” He shook his head and laughed. “I don’t know what kind of hormones you young folks got, but anyway… it’s nice to meet you Maya.”

“I’m so sorry.” She blushed, holding her head down for a second. I bursted into laughter.

Pops threw his hand up and chuckled. “No need to be sorry, Maya. Y’all come on back out here and have a lil more wine before they get to pulling up the glasses.” He told us as he looked down at the floor, noticing that it was wet. “I’ll get Jasmine to clean this up.” He gestured down to the tile.

“Preciate it, Pops.” I said as I took Maya’s hand and headed back downstairs and out the sliding glass door to the backyard. Not a soul had missed us, Loki and Mayhem were standing over by the fire pit sharing a blunt, while a woman that I didn’t recognize approached him and gave him a drink.

“Damn, where y’all been?” Or at least I thought no one had noticed our absence. My brows lifted as I smiled.

“Minding our damn business.”

“Yea, ight.” Mayhem shot back, before taking the drink from the woman. “Oh yea, meet Erykah. My fiance.” My eyes widened.

“Congratulations to you two,” I looked over at Maya whose legs still appeared to be trembling slightly as she stood. “I think we’re about to head out though. Maya has work in the morning and I got clients to train at the gym, so ima holla.” I told Mayhem and Loki. They both nodded, before we turned to walk off.

“I need some more of that. Without noise restrictions. We’re going back to my place.” I whispered to Maya as I took her by the hand, gently pulling her through the crowd.

“Your house? Mmm, now we level the playing field.” Her tone seductive as she got into the Jeep. I closed the door and rounded the hood, got in and started the Jeep. I put it in reverse and sped back to the city before Maya’s pussy could lose the warmth that I knew was waiting for me to slip my hand up under that dress again.

Thank you for reading. Part 5 coming. In the mean time stay tuned because Pastor Toni Part 2 is up next.

If you like this story. Please hit the like button and share.

Santana is the kind of woman people underestimate because she doesn’t need to be loud to be powerful.

She’s plus-size, beautiful, spiritual, and calm in a way that makes you want to tell her the truth, even when you planned on lying. Santana doesn’t move through the world begging for attention. She moves with purpose. She listens more than she speaks, watches more than people realize, and picks up on energy before anybody says a word.

She is Ry’s fiancée, but she is not just standing in the background of Ry’s world.

Santana is the balance.

Where Ry is technology, codes, secrets, and control, Santana is instinct, spirit, softness, and truth. She brings peace into a circle full of women who are always carrying guns, grief, power, and responsibilities they don’t talk about out loud.

But don’t let the softness fool you.

Santana has a backbone. She knows how to love without losing herself. She knows when something is off. And she knows that sometimes the most dangerous woman in the room isn’t the one reaching for a weapon.

It’s the one who already saw the storm coming.

In Stud Love Vol. 1, Santana brings heart, intuition, and quiet strength to the Cannon circle. She is the woman who reminds Ry that even the smartest person in the room still needs somewhere safe to fall.

She’s spiritual.
She’s loyal.
She’s observant.
She’s soft until she has to be solid.

And when Santana finally speaks on what she feels…

Everybody might want to listen.

Meet Santana.

Ry’s peace.
The circle’s spiritual eye.
And the woman who sees more than she says.

Content Warning: This book contains mature themes, including lesbian/sapphic domestic violence, emotional and physical abuse, toxic relationship dynamics, manipulation, trauma, threats, and strong language. Reader discretion is advised.

Birgundi -Chapter 1

  I knew the words for what Mink was doing to me. That was the part that made the shame feel so heavy. Knowing didn’t save me. It just meant I had to sit in my own mess with a dictionary. When my body went stiff at the sound of my wife’s key turning in the door, I knew that wasn’t love. When my hand shook before I answered a text, I knew that wasn’t loyalty. When I lied to people who loved me just to protect the person hurting me, I knew that wasn’t privacy.

A whole bunch of pretty clinical words for ugly shit that still felt like home when it had the right voice. How could I know better, help other women see better, then go home and shrink in the same kind of darkness I had just helped somebody else name.

I was sitting in my office on a Friday evening with my last client across from me, her purse hugged to her stomach and her eyes swollen from crying. She was young, pretty, dark-skinned, knotless braids down her back, nails done, lashes still holding on even after tears tried to take them out. She had spent the first twenty minutes of our session telling me how good her girlfriend was when things were good. That was usually how it started. Before people told the truth, they built a case for the person who hurt them.

“She just got a temper.”

“She don’t mean it like that.”

“She had a bad childhood.”

“She really love me though.”

“I know how it sound, but…”

That but carried a lot of women straight back into hell. I sat across from her with my legs crossed, notepad resting against my thigh, listening without judgment. I didn’t have the luxury of judging nobody. People thought because I had degrees and a license, I was supposed to be above the mess. Like education came with some kind of force field. It didn’t. I knew too much about pain to look down on somebody for how long it took them to admit they were drowning.

“She grabbed me,” my client finally said.

Her voice got small on grabbed. Not because the word was small, but because she was still trying to make it fit inside something softer. I waited. She looked down at the tissue twisted in her hand. My fingers tightened around the pen before I could stop them.

“Like… not crazy. She just grabbed me by my neck for a second. It wasn’t like she choked me or nothing. She was just mad.”

My stomach tightened, but my face stayed calm. At work, my face knew how to be safe.

“What was your reaction when she did that?” I asked.

She looked up at me like she already knew the answer but hated that I had asked the right question.

Her eyes filled again. “I got quiet.”

I nodded. “What did the quiet feel like?”

She laughed, but it cracked in the middle. “Like I better stay that way.”

I didn’t say anything for a second. Not because I didn’t have anything to say. Because my own body remembered too fast. Mink never had to wrap her whole hand around my throat for me to understand what her fingers near my neck meant. Sometimes it was just her thumb resting there, soft enough to look romantic if you didn’t know better. Sometimes it was her palm at the back of my neck, not squeezing, just sitting there like a warning she didn’t have to finish. 

People wanted abuse to look obvious. Black eyes. Busted lips. Holes in walls. Police lights. But some abuse lived in the almost. Almost too tight. Almost too loud. Almost too much. Just enough to make you scared. Not enough to make everybody else sure. So, I looked at that girl sitting across from me, trying to dress fear up in better words, and told her the same thing I wished I could make myself believe.

“You don’t have to decide everything today,” I said. “But you do have to be honest with yourself about what your body already knows.”

She cried harder after that. Most women did when they stopped arguing with the lie and started sitting beside the truth. When the session ended, I handed her a safety planning sheet from my drawer. I did it casual, like it was just another piece of paper, because I knew accepting help could feel like betrayal when you still loved the person making you need it.

She folded it and slid it inside her purse. Then she thanked me for not making her feel stupid. That sat in my chest for a while. Who the hell was I to make anybody feel stupid?

After she left, I sat there staring at the empty chair. My office looked peaceful, like a room that hadn’t just held somebody’s breakdown. Cream walls. Soft rug. Bookshelves full of trauma books, grief books, Black women healing books, and boundaries books. My name was on the door in gold letters.

Dr. Birgundi Williams.

I had built a whole room for women to stop abandoning themselves. Then I went home and did it every day. My phone buzzed on the desk. I already knew it was Shawna before I picked it up. Shawna didn’t text. She threw rocks through your phone.

Shawna: Bitch don’t start that disappearing shit tomorrow.

I smiled before I could stop myself. Another message came in.

Shawna: It’s my birthday weekend and I’m not accepting captivity, mysterious headaches, fake tiredness, or any other lie you planned on telling.

Then another.

Shawna: Tia said I should say this nicer but Tia not the birthday girl.

I laughed. The sound surprised me because I hadn’t heard it in a minute. Not my work laugh. Not the careful one I used at home when I needed Mink to believe I was okay. A real laugh. The kind that belonged to me. Tia texted next.

Tia: Please ignore Shawna’s delivery and hear her heart. We miss you. We pregaming and getting ready at Shawna’s house tomorrow at eight.

That was Tia. Always putting a blanket around Shawna’s madness. I stared at the message longer than I needed to.

Tomorrow.

Shawna’s birthday event was tomorrow. I had known for two weeks and still hadn’t given a real answer. Not because I didn’t love Shawna. I did. Shawna was family without paperwork. Tia too. Tink and Diamond had slid into my life through Shawna and stayed because they were too loud to remove. I missed them. All of them.

I missed sitting in a room full of women who knew me before I started checking my wife’s mood before making plans. I missed music playing too loud while everybody got dressed. I missed somebody yelling, “Who got lash glue?” I missed Shawna calling everybody delusional while being the most delusional person in the room.

I missed being around people who didn’t make love feel like a debt. But missing people and seeing them were two different things when you lived with Mink. Seeing them meant questions. What time you leaving? Who all going? Where y’all going? Why you ain’t tell me earlier? Whyyou wearing that? Why you need to be out late? Why Shawna always got plans? Why Tia always around? Why your phone face down? Why you smiling? Why you quiet? Why you acting funny? My wife could turn anything into a federal investigation.

I didn’t text back right away. I locked my phone and looked at the picture frame on the corner of my bookshelf. Me, Shawna, and Tia at a day party in the city, sun on our faces, frozen drinks in our hands, all of us laughing at something I couldn’t remember. My skin looked rich and deep under the light, dark brown and glowing like I belonged to summer. My pixie cut was fresh, curls soft and laid. Big hoops. White sundress. Smile wide enough to show I didn’t know yet how much of myself I was about to lose.

That girl in the picture looked free.

I touched the frame with one finger. I didn’t even know when I stopped looking like her. That was what scared me most. Not the fights. Not the silence. The slow part. Mink didn’t take everything at once. She took little things. So, little I didn’t notice until I looked up and had less of myself than I started with.

First, it was my time. “Stay home with me tonight.”

Then my clothes. “You look better in what I pick.”

Then my friends. “Shawna don’t respect us.”

Then my family. “Your mama always in our marriage.”

Then my work. “Why you got so many lesbian clients, you trying to find somebody to fuck?”

Then my mind. “You always making me the villain.”

By the time she was done, I was apologizing for tone, facial expressions, pauses, dreams, outfits, text messages, and thoughts I hadn’t even had yet.

My mama called while I was still staring at the picture. Mama. I let it ring. I let it ring until it stopped. Then I waited for the voicemail notification because my mama left voicemails like it was still 2003 and didn’t trust text messages to carry tone. Sure enough, the little red dot appeared. I didn’t play it. My mama’s voice had a way of pulling truth out of places I had boarded up. She could call me baby and make me want to confess. Could ask if I ate and somehow, I’d hear, are you safe?.

My daddy was worse in a different way. He wasn’t loud. Never had been. But his quiet had weight. The last time I went to their house for Sunday dinner, he hugged me too long at the door. Didn’t ask me nothing. Didn’t embarrass me. Didn’t pull me to the side. Just held me there with one hand on the back of my head like I was still his little girl.

When he let me go, he looked at me and said, “You know you can always come home, right?”

I smiled and told him, “Daddy, I am home.”

He didn’t argue. That hurt worse, because he knew something was wrong, they both knew. Maybe not the details, maybe not the shape of it. But love could smell fear on your clothes.

My brother Davinchi would’ve been worse than both of them. That was why I kept him out of it. My mama would cry. My daddy would pray and come get me. Davinchi would do something he couldn’t take back, and I wasn’t ready to be the reason my brother ruined his life over mine. Mink knew that too. She knew my family was the line I tried not to let her touch.

Mink said my parents didn’t respect her or our marriage. Said Davinchi needed to stay wherever the hell he was and mind the business God gave him before she gave him something else to worry about.  Somehow, she made isolation feel like loyalty.

I left the office close to seven. The building was quiet by then. The physical therapy office next door had already shut their lights off, and the dentist suite across the hall had one woman vacuuming with earbuds in, swaying like whatever she was listening to was better than the job. I locked my office door and stood there for a second, looking at my name again.

Dr. Birgundi Williams.

Sometimes I wanted to take the plate down and carry it home like proof. See, I’m somebody. Not just who she says I am when she’s mad.

Outside, Atlanta was doing what Atlanta did on a Friday. Traffic acting ignorant. Cars cutting across three lanes like turn signals cost money. Somebody in a Charger driving like he had a court date and no brakes. Girls in the next car doing TikToks at the red light. Men posted at gas stations like the whole city was their porch. Everybody looked like they had somewhere to go and permission to enjoy getting there. I was jealous of that. Not the outfits. Not the plans. The ease.

My Range Rover sat near the front. White. Cream interior. A gift from Mink. People loved that car more than I did. When she surprised me with it, everybody acted like I had stepped into a dream. She pulled up outside my office with a bow on it, flowers in the passenger seat, cameras ready, smile perfect. My coworkers came outside. Somebody recorded.

Tia said, “That’s beautiful, B,” but her eyes were careful even through FaceTime. That was Tia. She could admire the gift and still wonder what it cost.

Mink had kissed me in front of everybody that day and whispered, “Ain’t nobody gon’ ever do you like me.”

Back then, it felt like a promise. Now it sounded like a threat that had taken years to translate. By the time I turned into our subdivision, my stomach had already started tightening. Our house sat at the end of a quiet street with perfect lawns and neighbors who waved like they didn’t want to know too much. From the outside, it looked like peace. That was how most cages worked when somebody had money. Pretty from the outside. I pulled into the garage and sat there after the door came down behind me. Mink’s truck wasn’t there, but that didn’t mean nothing. Mink had too many vehicles and too many places to leave them.

I checked my phone. No text from her. That meant nothing too. I grabbed my bag and walked inside. The kitchen lights were on. I stopped in the doorway. I had turned them off that morning. Mink was home. She sat at the island with a glass in front of her, phone flat on the marble, one hand resting beside it. No music. No TV. No food. Just sitting there like she had been waiting long enough to turn the kitchen into court. My heart dropped. My face didn’t. That was a skill too.

“Hey,” I said.

Mink looked at me. Light brown skin smooth. Low cut fresh. Waves laid. Thick brows. Eyes low and dark. She had on a black tee and gray sweats, simple but still expensive somehow. Mink could wear house clothes and still look good. Her watch was on, even in the house, because Mink liked reminders of what she could afford.

“Hey,” she said. Too calm.

I set my keys in the bowl by the garage door. Not on the counter. In the bowl. I had learned that even something as simple as sitting keys on our kitchen counter could set her off to start a fight if Mink needed somewhere to put her anger.

“You been home long?” I asked.

“Long enough.”

I nodded like that was an answer. It wasn’t. I walked to the refrigerator and opened it because standing still felt too much like waiting on a sentence.

“You left work at what time?”

That was how Mink did it. Straight to trial.

I closed the refrigerator and turned around. “A little before seven.”

“Your last client ended at five-thirty.”

My chest tightened. Not because she knew. Because she counted.

“I had notes to finish.”

“Notes took an hour and a half?”

“Yes.”

Mink leaned back. “I shouldn’t have to call to know where my wife at.”

My wife. Always sitting in her mouth like ownership.

“I was at work, Mink.”

“You always at work.”

“That’s what having a job means.”

The words were out before survival caught them. Mink stared at me. The house went still. Then she smiled a little. Not happy. Just enough to let me know she heard the attitude and decided to take her time with it.

“Say that again.”

I looked down at my purse strap. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“How you mean it?”

“I’m tired,” I said.

Mink smiled a little. “Of me?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

I nodded. She stood then. Slow. That was how Mink moved when she wanted me nervous. Slow enough to make me watch. Slow enough to make the waiting part of the punishment. She came around the island and stopped a few feet from me.

“You been different,” she said.

I hated that sentence because it had truth in it. I had been different. Less quick to laugh at jokes that were really insults. Less quick to defend her to Shawna. Less willing to pretend my body didn’t remember every cruel thing she said before touching me. But I couldn’t tell her that.

So, I said, “Work has been heavy.”

Mink’s eyes moved over my face. “You been talking to somebody?”

I frowned. “What?”

“Don’t do that confused shit with me.”

I let out a slow breath. “I talk to people all day. That’s my job.”

“There go that smart shit again.”

She stepped closer. I stayed still. Mink reached up and brushed her fingers across the side of my face. The touch was light. Almost sweet. To anybody else, it would’ve looked like affection. To me, it felt like the part of a storm where the wind stops moving right before the sky breaks.

“You know I don’t like feeling like I don’t know what’s going on with you,” she said.

“I’m not hiding anything.”

Mink’s fingers slid down to my jaw. “You sure?”              

“Yes.”

“You said it like you tired of me asking.”

Because I was. The thought was so loud I was scared she heard it. Then she reached for my purse. I moved without thinking. My hand caught the strap before hers did. It was small. Barely a tug. But it was resistance. And resistance in my marriage had consequences. Her eyes dropped to my hand. Then lifted to my face.

“Move.”

“Mink, why do you need my purse?”

“Move your hand.”

“There’s nothing in it.”

“So, move.”

My fingers tightened around the strap. I don’t even know why. There wasn’t anything in my purse. No secret phone. No love letters. No evidence. Just lip gloss, wallet, sanitizer, gum, receipts, my work badge, and a granola bar I kept forgetting to eat. But it was mine. And in that moment, mine felt important.

“Mink, stop.”

The punch came so fast that my brain didn’t catch it until my eye was already burning. My face turned with it, not all the way, but enough to make the room tilt and the marble counter blur. Before I could catch my balance, she punched me again and I could taste blood where my teeth cut the inside of my lip. At first, I didn’t cry. I just stood there, one hand still gripping my purse strap, the other hanging at my side like it belonged to somebody else. Mink didn’t move either. Her chest rose once. Twice. Then her face changed. It wasn’t guilt. Something close to surprise, like she had shocked herself. Like she hadn’t done this before and apologized before making it my fault.

“See?” she said, voice low. “See what you make me do?”

There it was. The oldest trick in the world. I made her.  The invasion. The resistance. The hit. The blame. Textbook. My marriage had become textbook. And still, I didn’t move toward the door. That was the part that made me hate myself. Mink grabbed my purse, and this time I let it go. She dumped it on the counter and went through the pieces of my day like she had a warrant. Wallet. Keys. Lip gloss. Compact mirror. Work badge. Gum. Receipts. Pen from my office. Granola bar. Of course, she found nothing. She stared at my things like they had disappointed her.

She picked up my phone. I didn’t stop her. She knew my passcode. Not because I gave it freely. Because privacy had been one of the first things to go, and I got tired of the arguments. She scrolled. My cheek and eye kept burning. I stood there under expensive lights beside fresh flowers she had sent two days ago, watching my own humiliation happen in a kitchen people would probably call beautiful.

“Your mama called,” she said.

“Yes.”

“You ain’t answer her, but you texting Shawna and Tia.”

I didn’t say anything.

“What they want?”

“Shawna’s birthday is tomorrow. They want me to come by and get ready,” I said.

Mink laughed once. “You got a whole house.”

“We’re friends, Mink.”

“And I’m your wife.”

“I just got punched in my face.”

Mink looked at me like I had punched her back. Then she moved. She grabbed my arm and pushed me back against the counter hard enough for pain to shoot through my hip. Her hand came up around my throat, not tight enough to choke me but close enough to remind me she could.

“You trying to make me feel crazy?” she whispered.

My heart slammed against my chest.

“No.”

“You think because you got them letters behind your name, you know everything?”

“No.”

“You don’t know me.”

I wanted to scream that I did.  I knew my wife. That was the problem. But her hand was at my throat, my hip hurt, my mouth was bleeding and I was tired.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

It was small and practiced. Mink stared at me, breathing hard. Then she released my neck and stepped back like the whole thing had exhausted her. Her face softened. I hated that part the most. The way she could turn human again after making me feel like prey.

“Baby,” she said.

I looked away. She reached for me. I flinched. I couldn’t stop it. Her hand froze in the air. The hurt came to her face so quick you would’ve thought I was the one who hit her.

“Damn,” she said quietly. “You flinching now?”

I pressed my lips together.

She rubbed both hands over her head like the whole thing happened to her.

“I don’t be trying to get like that with you,” she said. “You push me, B.”

I hated when she called me B after. Like my nickname could pull us back toward love.

“I take care of everything,” she said. “This house. Them cars. You. I make sure you don’t want for nothing, and you still looking at me like I’m the enemy.”

I wanted to tell her being taken care of and being controlled were not the same thing. But courage had already spent itself on one sentence. So, I said nothing. Mink came back to me slower this time. She set my phone on the counter. Then she lifted my chin. I let her. Not because I wanted to. Because sometimes letting was safer than resisting. Her eyes moved over my face, stopping on my cheek. My skin didn’t show every mark easy, but Mink knew my face. She knew what she had done. Her thumb brushed near the heat of it. I tried not to move.

I’m sorry,” she said.

There were those two words that meant absolutely nothing.

“I’m sorry, baby.”

I nodded because that was what I usually did. Mink leaned in and kissed the side of my face she had hit. That almost made me cry and not because it was sweet. Because it was sick that some part of me still wanted the kiss to fix it. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me against her chest. I stood stiff at first, then forced myself to relax because she would feel the stiffness, ask about it, and we would start all over.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I know.”

Her arms tightened. I corrected myself fast.

“I love you too.”

She kissed my temple. “You know I don’t like hurting you.”

I closed my eyes. Not I shouldn’t hurt you. Not, I won’t do it again. Just, I don’t like hurting you. Like my pain was inconvenient for her.

Mink pulled back and looked at me. “You still going tomorrow?”

The question should’ve been simple. It wasn’t. It was a test. If I said no, she would win and maybe peace would last a little longer. If I said yes, I might pay for it. If I hesitated, she would smell the fear and use it. If I asked what she wanted, she would say I was grown and punish me for choosing wrong.

So, I did something stupid. I told the truth.

“Yes.”

Mink stared at me. My heartbeat so hard I felt it in my cheek. Then she smiled. Slow and cold around the edges.

“Okay.”

I didn’t believe that okay. She picked up my phone and handed it to me.

“Text them back then.”

I took it. My hand shook and she saw it. Of course she saw it.

“Tell them you coming,” she said.

I opened Shawna’s thread. Mink stood close enough to read.

I typed: I’m coming.

Shawna replied so fast I knew she had been sitting on the phone.

Shawna: FINALLY. I was about to send a search party and by search party I mean me, Tia, Tink, and Diamond with bad attitudes.

Tia replied in the group chat a second later.

Tia: Don’t forget Shawna’s house. I’m not debating this.

Then Diamond.

Diamond: Glad you’re bringing that pretty face and stop playing before Shawna ruin everybody night early.

Tink followed.

Tink: I already got pregame bottles. So ion want to hear that I ain’t drinking shit.

I stared at their messages, and something warm and painful spread through my chest.

My girls. Loud. Nosy. Too much. Mine. Mink read over my shoulder.

“All of them going?”

I nodded.

“Mm.”

That one sound had a thousand little knives in it. She walked away and started putting my things back in my purse like she wasn’t cleaning up the mess she made and planned to deny. Wallet. Keys. Lip gloss. Badge. Gum. Then she picked up the granola bar and looked at it.

“You don’t eat enough during the day,” she said.

I almost laughed. Not because it was funny. Because Mink could slap me, shove me, go through my purse, scare me, then notice I hadn’t eaten and act like the caring one. That was the part that made leaving hard. The good always came right after the bad, acting like proof that the bad didn’t count.

“I’ll eat,” I said.

“You better.”

She put the granola bar back and zipped my purse. Then she looked at me again.

“Go clean your face.”

I touched my cheek without meaning to. Mink’s eyes softened.

“It ain’t that bad,” she said.

Upstairs, I stood in the bathroom with the door closed and stared at myself under the bright vanity lights. My cheek was red, my eye was swollen but not bad. The inside of my lip had a small cut. My hip hurt when I shifted my weight. My arm had a faint mark from where she grabbed me. I looked at myself in the mirror. Dark brown skin. Soft curls.  Full lips, one corner angry from where my teeth had cut it. Eyes tired. My face looked tired in a way makeup could negotiate with. I opened the drawer, wet a washcloth with cold water, and pressed it to my cheek.

My phone buzzed on the counter. Mama. A voicemail transcription popped up.

Hey baby, it’s mama. Just checking on you. Call me when you get a minute. I had you on my spirit today and—

I locked the phone before the rest showed. I had you on my spirit today. If I called her right then and heard her say baby one time too soft, I might tell her. Maybe not all of it, but enough for the truth to get its foot in the door. And I wasn’t ready for what would happen after. My mama would come. My daddy would come faster. Davinchi would come with no questions and too many consequences.  No. Not tonight.  I put the phone face down and stood up. Washed my face. Brushed my teeth careful around the cut. Stood there until my breathing sounded like mine again. Got in the shower for almost an hour. When I came out of the bathroom, Mink was sitting on the edge of the bed. The room had changed. Soft lamp on. TV low. A jewelry box beside her. The apology set up.

Mink looked up at me. “Come here.”

I walked over. She opened the box. A bracelet. Diamonds, of course. Thin. Pretty. Expensive enough to make most women scream if they didn’t know it was blood money wearing a bow.

“I was gon’ give it to you tomorrow before you left,” she said. “But I don’t like us being off.”

I stared at it.

“Mink.”

“Let me put it on you.”

I wanted to say no. I didn’t. She took my wrist and clasped it. The diamonds looked beautiful against my skin. They always did. Mink knew what looked good on me. That was part of the problem. She saw me. Just not in ways that kept me safe.

“There,” she said.

She lifted my wrist and kissed it. The bracelet sparkled like it didn’t know what it was covering. My spirit sat somewhere in the corner with her arms crossed.

“You like it?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“You ain’t even look at it for real.”

“It’s pretty.”

“You pretty.”

I looked at her. She pulled me between her legs, arms wrapping around my waist. Her face pressed into my stomach.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, smaller this time. “I be feeling like I’m losing you.”

I stood there, hands at my sides.

“You’re not.”

She looked up. “Then act like it.”

There it was. The apology always came with a demand hiding inside it.

“I’m trying,” I said.

Mink nodded like that satisfied her. For now.

She pulled me down onto her lap, and I let her hold me because sometimes being held after being hurt was easier than sitting alone with the hurt. That was sick too, but it was honest. Her hand rubbed slow circles on my thigh like we were a couple having a regular hard night. Like this was just marriage stuff. Like the slap would fade, the bracelet would stay and neither one of us would say anything about it again. That was how it usually went. The body healed. The jewelry stayed. The story changed.

Later that night, after Mink fell asleep, I lay on my side of the bed with my back to her and my phone tucked under the pillow like I was sixteen. The room smelled like her cologne and the lavender linen spray I used because I read somewhere that lavender helped with sleep. Mink’s breathing was heavy behind me. One arm was thrown over my waist. Not tight. But still felt like a locked door. I eased my phone out, careful not to move to much. The screen lit low against the sheets.

The group chat had been active. Shawna sent outfit options, all of them inappropriate but exactly right for her. Tia told her one dress looked like a lawsuit. Diamond said lawsuits were sexy if you won. Tink sent a voice note I couldn’t play because Mink was asleep, but I already knew she was talking loud and wrong.

Then Shawna sent:

Shawna: B, I’m not playing with you tomorrow. You coming to my house. We need our girl back outside.

Our girl. I read it over and over. With Mink, hers meant don’t move. With them, ours meant come here. Tell the truth when you ready. Let us love you even while you lying. My eyes burned. I typed a response. Deleted it. Typed again. Mink shifted behind me. I froze. Her arm tightened around my waist for a second, then loosened. I waited until her breathing evened back out.

Then I typed:

Me: I promise I’ll be there.

I sent it before I could talk myself out of it. Shawna replied two seconds later.

Shawna: That’s all I needed to hear.

Tia: Love you, B.

Diamond: ❤️

Tink: We not accepting housewife trauma fits.

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing too loud. Housewife trauma fits. Tink was stupid. But she wasn’t wrong. I locked the phone and slid it back under the pillow. Mink was warm behind me. The bracelet was still on my wrist. I let one tear slide into the pillow without wiping it away. Not because I was weak. Because I was tired.

Tomorrow, I was going to Shawna’s house. That wasn’t freedom. It wasn’t a plan. It wasn’t a packed bag or some dramatic exit where I finally chose myself forever. It was just one text. One yes. One small piece of me reaching for women who still remembered my real laugh. Sometimes one small piece was all you had. Sometimes, if you held onto it tight enough, it could become a door.

Birgundi -Chapter 2

By the time I pulled up to Shawna’s house my jaw was still throbbing from the fight with Mink. I sat in the car for a second, staring at the little brick house with white columns, blinking porch light and grass high enough to piss her daddy off from the grave. If Shawna’s parents were still alive, Mr. Macklin would’ve been outside at seven in the morning with a water hose, clippers and gospel music, acting like the lord himself had assigned him to the neighborhood beautification.

Now the grass was too high, A cracked flowerpot leaned by the walkway, and the porch light blinked like it couldn’t decide if it wanted to keep going or quit. For some reason I understood that light. My phone buzzed from the passenger seat. I grabbed the phone and opened my messages.

Shawna: you good?

I stared at the text message, then locked the phone and dropped it in my purse. I pulled my visor down and opened the mirror. The makeup had held better than I expected, but it wasn’t a miracle worker.  Mink had caught me good, like she wanted to stamp me for the world to see. Concealer. Powder. Lashes. Extra setting spray. A prayer I didn’t even deserve because I was sitting there asking God to help me hide what I should’ve been asking him to help me leave.

I leaned closer to the mirror, turning my face toward the light. I bumped into the car. Curling iron burned me. Allergies acting up. I slept wrong. Every lie sounded stupid before I could finish rehearsing it. My face cracked and I started crying right there in Shawna’s driveway. Not the ugly, loud, snot-running type of cry. the quiet kind. The kind your body does when it finally gets a second alone and decides it don’t care if you got makeup on or not. Tears slipped down my face, messing up the same lie I had sat there trying to protect.

“What the fuck am I doing?” I whispered to myself. “Covering up bruises and making up lies. Get your shit together, Birgundi.”

I didn’t have myself together. I had pieces. Enough pieces to go to work. Enough pieces to smile at clients. Enough pieces to keep my hair done and my name good. Enough pieces to sit in rooms with women and help them be honest while I kept lying to everybody. Shawna and Tia were going to know. They always did.

They’ve been on this roller coaster with Mink and I for over five years. Through every breakup and every make up. Every “I’m done” that turned into going back. Every bruise I tried to explain away. Every time I said it wasn’t that bad while looking exactly like it was.

I wiped my face before one of them could peek out the window and catch me crying in the car. I fixed what I could. Patted under my eye. Smoothed the make up where my tears had cut through.  Added lip gloss, like lip gloss ever saved anybody. Once I looked good enough to pretend, I turned the car off, grabbed my purse, Shawna’s gift bag and got out.

The night air was thick and warm, carrying somebody’s weed from a few houses down and music already leaking through Shawna’s walls. Before I could knock, Shawna opened it.

“Bout damn time.” Shawna said.

Her Birthday sash hung off one shoulder, wine glass in her hand, and robe slipping open on one side like she had already been celebrating before the celebration even started. I ignored how fast her eyes went to my face and threw the gift bag in the air.

“One time for the birthday bitch!” I sang,

“Aye!” Shawna yelled back, throwing her free hand in the air.

Shawna turned around and started twerking right in the doorway.  Knees working harder than the porch light.

“Two times for the birthday bitch,” I sang laughing.  “Three times for the birthday bitch. Fuck it up if it’s your birthday bitch!”

We both burst out laughing, and one for one second, I felt normal. Then I stepped inside, and the house was already lit. Music low from the kitchen. Perfume in the air. Flat iron heat floating from down the hallway. Diamond and Tink, were in the dining room taking shots from the table while on live, talking loud like the whole internet had asked for their opinion. Tia was getting up from the couch wearing boy shorts and a sports bra, hair in a messy bun, half done make-up, curling wand in one hand and her phone in the other. The moment she saw me, she moved straight toward me. 

“Late as always.” Tia said, rolling her eyes, but her voice soft.

“Girl, bye. I’m not late.”

“You are when it’s my birthday” Shawna said, closing the door behind me “We said pregaming was eight, it’s damn near eleven”

“It’s ten fifteen”

“Same thing when we waiting.”

Tia wrapped her arms around me, I hugged her back and let myself sink into it for a half second because Tia gave the kind of hugs that made you want to tell the truth.  Then she pulled back. Her whole face changed. 

“Birgundi”

Fuck.

The room went quiet in pieces. First Tia. Then Shawna. Then Diamond and Tink, whose live suddenly became a whole lot less important. 

“Don’t start” I whispered.

“I wasn’t gon’ start,” Tia said, eyes locked on my face, “till I seen your face.” 

Shawna moved closer, wine glass forgotten in her hand. “Mink?”

“Nobody said all that” I muttered, brushing past them.

“Your face did,” Tia said.

Diamond ended the live without saying bye. Tink set her shot glass down. I headed straight to the kitchen, grabbed the bottle of Casamigos from the counter and took a swallow. Shawna followed me and tilted my chin toward the light.

“Burgundi”

I pulled back. “Stop touching me like I’m fragile.” 

My voice cracked on fragile, but I refused to cry again.

“I’m not,” Shawna said. “I’m touching you like I’m tired of her putting her hands on you.”

 That hit harder than I wanted it to. Diamond came into the kitchen already mad.

 “We should jump her ass.”

“Tonight,” Tink said, way too serious. “Not tomorrow. Not next week. Tonight.”

 “Mink was tripping,” I said, wiping under my eye. “That’s it”

“What’s new?” Tia said from the doorway.

“I’m handling it,”

Shawna laughed, but nothing about it was funny. “You always handling it. Every time, you handling it. Then you go right back over there like she didn’t just treat you like a punching bag with a wedding ring.”

I looked at her. The kitchen got still.

“She ain’t just beat my ass,” I muttered, the lie sliding out too easy. “You should see her face.”

Tia sucked her teeth. “Girl.”

Diamond rolled her eyes. “Please don’t insult us tonight.”

Tink pointed at me with the shot glass. “We drunk, not dumb.”

I looked away first. That was how they knew. The tears came again, quiet and hot, slipping over all the work I had done in the car. Shawna’s face softened, but her voice stayed firm.

“How many more you gone give her, B?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t have one. Leaving somebody sounded simple when it wasn’t your life wrapped up in them. Your memories. Your routines. Your fear. Your pride. The house. The cars. The bills. The comfort people kept mistaking for love. Mink didn’t need me broke to make me feel trapped. She just needed me convinced that leaving meant losing everything at once.

“I’m tired” I admitted

Tia stepped closer and wiped my cheek with her thumb “I’m tired for you.”

“I know” I whispered. “But can we please let it be about something other than this tonight?”

Shawna leaned against the counter, staring at me like she wanted to shake me and hug me at the same time

 “It can” she said, “But you gotta stop dragging Mink in every room you enter, even when she ain’t here”

I looked at her.

“You our best friend,” she said. “We’re always here when you need us remember that. Even when you go back and make us cuss you out in the group chat.”

I cut my eyes at her. “That was real deep for somebody wearing a Party City sash.”

Shawna looked down at the sash, then back at me. “And still accurate.”

We laughed and Diamond clapped her hands once. “Okay. Crying portion over. Sit down.”

“I already did my makeup.”

“And clearly the makeup had a personal issue with coverage.” Diamond pointed toward the chair. “Sit.”

Tink grabbed the bottle from me and started pouring shots like she was the bartender and the therapist “Everybody drink. I don’t like all this sadness when we supposed to be celebrating.

Shawna lifted her glass. “Facts. I’m not crying with lashes this expensive.”

Tia gave both them a look. “Y’all are ridiculous.”

“And yet,” Tink said, lifting her glass, “Still emotionally available.”

I sat in the chair, and Diamond went to work. She didn’t baby me.. She dabbed under my eye, blended the swelling into something softer, cursed Mink under her breath twice, and told me to look up like she was fixing eyeliner instead of hiding evidence. Tink kept the shots moving. Tia finished curling her hair. Shawna disappeared into her room yelling for somebody to bring her body oil, then yelled again because nobody moved fast enough. The house shifted around me. Not all the way. The bruise was still under the makeup. Mink was still somewhere in my phone, even if she hadn’t texted yet. The truth still sat in the room, quiet but present.

But music got louder. Flat irons clicked off. Somebody yelled about lash glue. Tink accused Diamond of stealing her lip liner. Diamond said if it was in her purse, it belonged to the people. Tia kept reminding everybody the Uber Black was not going to wait all night. Shawna walked around like the mayor of her own birthday, telling everybody to hurry up while being the main person not ready.

By the time Diamond finished, she stepped back and nodded like she had just completed surgery.

“There,” she said. “You look like you never met a toxic stud in your life.”

“Girl, shut up.”

“I’m serious.” She handed me the mirror.

I looked. She had done better than I did. The swelling was still there if somebody knew what to look for, but the bruise was tucked under soft glam, lashes, liner and a prayer with setting powder on top. Shawna came out of her room and the whole house got loud. Her hair was laid in a buss down middle part with long curls that framed her smooth brown skin and dark almond eyes. That gold dress hugged every inch of her body like it had been poured on. Soft but not loud. Birthday girl without needing to announce it, even though Shawna would announce it anyway.

 “Yasssss, bih!” I yelled.

Shawna spun around, giving us a full look. “Don’t play with me tonight.”

“Girl, we couldn’t if we wanted to,” Tink said. “That dress got an attitude.”

Tia came behind her with a whole different type of pressure. Rust-colored jumpsuit, curls pinned up messy but pretty. The jumpsuit hugged her waist and moved around her legs like it had rhythm. Grown woman. Soft. But not quiet.  Diamond stepped out in a silver mini dress and heels so thin they looked like a threat. Bone straight black wig, deep side part, straps sparkling every time she moved.  Tink followed in a short red dress with a honey-blonde bob sitting sharp at her jawline, diamond choker catching the light like it had its own ego. Then there was me.

My black fitted top. Dark denim jeans hugging my waist and thighs. Heels high enough to straighten my back and push my ass out more than it already was. Gold hops brushing my neck. Thin chain against chest. Pixie clean. Lips glossed. And the bruise. Hidden, but not gone. Diamond had done her thing. Shawna came up behind me and fixed one curl at the back of my head. 

“There go my Birgundi”

I smiled.

“You okay?” She asked

I wasn’t, But I was better than I had been in the driveway, so I nodded. Shawna held my stare for a second, like she knew the difference and decided not to fight me on it tonight.

“Good.” Shawna said, grabbing her clutch. “Cause tonight, we outside.”

“Only because you old.”

“I’m thirty-fine. That ain’t old, bih”

“It is when you been reminding us for three weeks.”

She laughed. “Uber here, get your purse.”

I grabbed my purse and looked around the room one more time. Cups on the counter. Bottles open. Shoes by the couch. Tia checking her lipstick. Diamond fixing her dress. Tink talking mess. Shawna standing in the middle of it all, glowing like the night owed her something. For the first time in a long time, I felt close to myself. Not free. Not healed. Not even okay. But close enough to remember what okay used to feel like. Tonight, that was going to have to count.

Birgundi -Chapter 3

Atlanta looked expensive at night. Not peaceful. Not pretty in the sweet way people who didn’t live here tried to make it sound. Expensive. Like the whole city had jewelry and secrets. Buildings lit up against the dark, headlights sliding across wet looking pavement even though it hadn’t rained, traffic sitting bumper to bumper.

The drive from Oakland city to downtown should’ve been simple. It wasn’t. Nothing in Atlanta was simple once the sun went down and everybody decided they needed to be outside at the same time. If you had somewhere to be at ten, you needed to leave at eight and still expect to be late. Folks drove like lanes were suggestions, Cars cut through traffic like they had sirens nobody else could hear. Girl hung out of passenger windows recording videos. Men in fitted caps leaned out of trucks trying to talk to anything with lashes and lip gloss.

Inside the Uber black, we kept the energy going like the city had plugged us in. The seats were leather and clean, the kind that made everybody act fancy for the first five minutes before Tink pulled a bottle from her purse like we weren’t in somebody else’s vehicle.

“Girl, put that up before he put us out,” Tia said.

The driver glanced at us in the rearview mirror and then looked away like he had decided tonight wasn’t worth a lecture.

Tink hugged the bottle close to her chest. “He not putting out five fine women. That’s bad for business.”

Diamond laughed. “You not fine enough to override policy.”

Tink snapped her head toward her. “Now you hating because this bob doing what your wig wish it could.”

“My wig cost more than your rent.”

“You live with your mama.”

“And my wig still expensive.”

Shawna sat in the middle like a queen holding court, birthday sash sitting right, gold dress catching every streetlight we passed. One hand wrapped around a plastic cup. The other in the air as she rapped every word wrong and with full confidence.

The music jumped from Megan to Cardi to KenTheMan, and by the time we hit downtown, the edible Tink had talked me into taking was stretching slow through my body. Not too much. Just enough to make my shoulders drop. Enough to make the city lights look softer. Enough to make me forget, for a few seconds at a time, that my phone was in my purse and Mink existed on the other side of it.

Tia leaned over from the back row and touched my knee.

“You good?”

I looked at her.

She wasn’t asking about my face this time. She was asking about the way my hand kept moving toward my purse every time my phone buzzed.

“I’m good,” I said.

Tia gave me a look.

“I’m better,” I corrected.

She accepted that because Tia knew how to take what you could give.

Shawna turned around, catching the end of it. “Tonight, you not married.”

I laughed. “That just sound so disrespectful”

“It’s supposed to.” She lifted her cup. “Respectfully.”

“No for real.” Tia said, “You just Birgundi tonight. I need homecoming Birgundi with us.”

Homecoming Birgundi.

That version of me didn’t check her phone every five minutes. Didn’t think joy needed permission. Didn’t flinch at hearing her own name. She laughed too loud, posed in front of everybody’s tailgate like she knew them, and let Shawna talk her into outfits she had no business wearing.

“I don’t know if homecoming Birgundi still in there,” I said.

Diamond leaned forward. “She in there. She just been held hostage by some nigga bitch with a low fade and anger issues.”

“Diamond” Tia warned.

“What? Am I lying?”

“No,” Shawna said, pointing at her. “And since we being honest, I need homecoming B, summer brunch B, Birthday dinners before Mink B, and cussing out men at the gas station B, all in attendance tonight.”

I shook my head, laughing. “Y’all are so stupid.”

“But you smiling,” Tink said. “So clearly the ministry is working.”

By the time we pulled up to Club Quest, I was feeling good. Not reckless. Not drunk-drunk. Just loose enough to want the night to love me back. Quest sat like it knew people were looking for it. Black exterior. Gold lighting. Valet moving fast. A line wrapped along the side of the building, full of women in heels, studs in expensive sneakers, femmes taking pictures, and everybody acting like standing outside a club was its own event. SUVs kept pulling up. Doors opened. Perfume, weed, laughter, and money hit the air before people even made it inside.

Security stood in all black with earpieces in, faces blank like they had seen too much to be impressed by anything. We sat in the Uber for one last check. Shawna fixed her sash. Tia checked her lip gloss. Diamond adjusted the straps on her heels. Tink fluffed her bob. I pulled my compact out and checked under my face. Shawna caught me and reached back, closing the compact with one finger.

“Don’t do that all night.”

“I’m just checking.”

“I know what you doing.”

I looked at her.

Her voice softened, just a little. “You look good, B”

I swallowed and nodded. “Thank you.”

She smiled. “Now get out this car before I make my grand entrance without y’all.”

“Please do,” Diamond said. “Give us time to deny we know you.”

Everybody knew Quest. But knowing it and walking into it were two different things. The bottom floor hit first. High ceilings. Dark exposed beams. Low lights. Heavy bass. Bodies moving slow and deliberate. Strip club energy without feeling cheap. Money in the air. Temptation on display. The kind of place where nothing felt rushed and everything felt paid for.

We got out the truck and entered the club without having to stand in line. Because Shawna had booked a VIP section and knew someone who knew the owner and we wouldn’t have to stand in line. We entered the club with no issue. A dancer slid down a pole near the far side of the room, thighs shining under the lights, while a section full of women threw money like rent had already been handled. The DJ talked his shit over the mic. Bartenders moved fast behind black marble. Security watched everything while looking like they weren’t watching nothing.

“This is cute,” Diamond said, looking around.

Tink cut her eyes. “Girl, cute? This fire.”

Shawna smiled like she had built the place herself. “I told y’all.”

We moved through the bottom floor and up to the middle level, where the whole building opened up. Wide dance floor. Long bar. Plush seating. Curved VIP sections that felt private enough to make you feel important, but open enough for everybody to see who was really spending. Amber light washed the room in gold. Black walls. Emerald velvet panels. Gold trim. Music so loud it got in your chest and told your body to stop being stiff.

Above it all was the top floor. Darker. More private. People leaned over the railing like they had the best view in the building. The dancers. The crowd. The chaos. All of it beneath them. Our section sat curved above the dance floor like it was watching instead of participating. Gold metallic balloons spelling thirty-five floated behind the seating area, shining every time the bass made them sway. A worker removed the rope from in front of our section, and we slid in like we belonged there.

No sooner than we sat down, a bottle girl came over with two black ice buckets. Club Quest was written in gold across the front. A bottle of D’ussé sat in each one over ice, cold and pretty like trouble waiting on permission. For a while, I let myself belong to the night. One minute I was sitting stiff on the edge of the section, half-aware of my phone in my purse and the bruise under my makeup.  Shawna had pulled me up, Tink had put a shot in my hand, and Diamond was yelling about how nobody better stand around looking boring.

The first round went down ugly. Tia coughed like the liquor had personally disrespected her. Shawna said she drank like somebody’s auntie at a funeral repast. Tink poured again before anybody asked. Diamond recorded clips for her close friends, careful to keep my face out of it because even drunk, Diamond still had sense where it mattered. Girls kept stopping by to tell Shawna happy birthday because Shawna knew everybody or at least acted like she did long enough for it to become true. A stud in a leather vest sent over a round of lemon drops, and Shawna accepted them like a tribute.

“You know her?” I asked.

“No,” Shawna said, picking up one of the shots. “But she know taste.”

Tia shook her head. “That’s how people get poisoned.”

“That stud too fine to poison me.”

“Fine people poison too,” Tink said.

“Diamond lifted her glass. “If she poison us, at least my outfit hard.”

We screamed laughing, Belly Gang Kushington’s “Friend Do” came on and the room lifted. Girls screamed. Drinks went up. A woman in another section almost fell over the back of a couch, and security pointed her back down before she could embarrass herself permanently.

Shawna grabbed my hand. “This my shit!”

I let her pull me to the edge of the section. I didn’t fight it. I let the music get in me. Let my hips loosen. Let my shoulders drop. Let my hands go up without wondering who was watching. Nothing wild at first. Just enough to feel my body again. Enough to remember that my hips still knew what to do when fear wasn’t sitting on top of them.

When the song transitioned from “Friend do” to “Take me through dere” by Ykniece, it was over.

Shawna was in front of me throwing ass like she was waiting on me to tip her. Tia kept it cute for about ten seconds before the beat got too disrespectful and pulled her in too. Tink kicked off one heel and was doing some made up footwork that looked like a trail ride, majorette eight step that had no business going together.

Diamond kept yelling, “Tink, you not eating!”

We stayed like that for a minute. Laughing. Dancing.  Taking breaks just to sit down, sip, talk shit, then jump right back up when another song came on that nobody could ignore. Tia kept checking on me without making it obvious, sliding me water between shots, squeezing my hand when my smile faded, then letting me go before I could feel pitied. That’s how you knew somebody loved you right. They didn’t make a show out of saving you. They just made sure you had room to breathe.

I hadn’t thought about my face. Mink. My phone. Whether the makeup was still holding or if everybody could see my business sitting under my left eye. I was just there. In a section above the floor, under beautiful amber lights, with women who loved me before my life got complicated.

That was when I noticed her. Not because she was loud. She wasn’t. Her presence pulled my eyes in her direction like my body noticed her before my mind got permission to. People parted for her and the four studs moving with her as they walked up the stairs toward the top floor. For a second, everything around me blurred. The music was still there but it sounded far away. People kept dancing. Lights kept flashing. Drinks kept being poured. But none of that mattered. My eyes locked on her

Her locs were long and brown, swaying slow against her skin with every step. Her black button down crisp, open just enough at the collar to show the tattoos climbing her neck. Sleeves rolled to her forearm. More ink covering both arms. Black pants. Gucci loafers. A diamond Z chain sat against her chest, catching the light every time she moved. On her wrist a black and gold Patek, quiet and loud at the same time.

She walked with a slight bow in one leg, like every step had already been decided before she took it. While everybody else in the club was performing, dressing up, showing out, trying to be seen, she moved like being noticed was just a side effect. She turned and said something to the stud behind her, the one with blonde locs. The woman nodded and headed back down the stairs.  Then the one I was staring at turned around. She caught me. Looked directly at me. And smiled. My whole stomach moved stupid. I looked away quick and started moving with Tia again like I hadn’t just gotten caught staring at somebody’s fine-ass wife, girlfriend, or problem.

“You good?” Tia yelled over the music.

“Yeah,” I lied.

Because what was I supposed to say? No, girl. I think a stud with a diamond Z chain just looked at me and rearrange my whole nervous system. A few minutes later, Tia, Shawna, and I were laughing at Tink and Diamond, who were in the middle of a dance battle nobody asked for but their drunk asses were determined to give us anyway. Tink had kicked off her heels again and started jumping in circles around Diamond like she was on You Got Served.

Diamond kept yelling, “You not eating me up!” while absolutely getting ate up.

Then my phone buzzed. I ignored it. It buzzed again. Then again. I pulled it from my purse. Six missed calls. Thirty-four unread texts. All from Mink. The phone rang in my hand. I turned the screen toward Tia. Her face changed.

“Ignore it,” Tia said.

It buzzed again. And again. Shawna looked down at the screen and her smile died. “Don’t answer that shit.”

“I don’t want no drama tonight,” I said, sliding the phone back into my purse. “I feel good.”

“Then stay feeling good,” Shawna said, handing me another shot.

I threw it back. For one second, the liquor burned louder than the fear. Then I felt it. Not the liquor. That feeling your body gets when danger is close before your eyes catch up. It hit me in the back first, crawled up my spine, and sat at the base of my neck. The room felt smaller behind me. The music was still loud, but my body had already stopped listening to the party. Then her voice cut through the music.

“Birgundi!”

Everything inside me dropped. I turned. Mink stood at the edge of the section like she had been watching longer than I realized. Eyes low. Face flushed. Jaw tight like she was about to break her teeth. She had on an all-black Nike Tech, and her brothers Crank and Jeho stood behind her in black sweatsuits, their presence swallowing the space around them. Somebody had posted. Somebody had tagged. Or Mink had done what Mink always did and found a way to know what I didn’t tell her. All five-nine of her came toward me fast.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, reaching for the bottle like another shot was going to save me.

Mink stopped in front of me, eyes dragging over my outfit, the section, the cup in my hand, all of it offending her.

“What the fuck am I doing here?” she snapped. “Why the hell you not answering your phone?”

“It’s Shawna birthday.”

“I don’t give a damn who birthday it is.”

“Gone on with that bullshit Mink,” Tink snapped, stepping forward.

Crank and Jeho moved at the same time, blocking her before she got far. Diamond stood up. Tia moved beside her. Shawna stepped in front of the table like she was waiting on Mink to give her a reason. Mink didn’t acknowledge any of them. Her eyes stayed on me. Maybe it was the liquor. Maybe the edible. Maybe the part of me that had cried in the car earlier finally got tired of being quiet. But I laughed. A real, gut-deep laugh.

“Girl” I said, shaking my head. “Don’t start.”

Mink face hardened. “You think this shit funny”

“No,” I said, still laughing even though nothing was funny. “I think you embarrassing.”

The second it left my mouth, I knew. Sober me would’ve swallowed that. Sober me would’ve apologized before it finished leaving my lips. Sober me wouldn’t even have said the shit.  But too much liquor, too many lights, and too many pieces of myself were floating around the room for me to catch it before it escaped. Mink moved quick. Her hand went to the back of my neck, gripping hard enough to make my breath catch.

“You got me fucked up!” she yelled.

“Oh, hell nah…Let her go!” Tia screamed.

Shawna lunged, but Jeho stepped in front of her. Diamond tried to move around Crank. Tink was already cussing loud enough for the next floor to hear. Mink yanked me out of the section. My heels stumbled against the floor, and I grabbed her wrist with both hands.

“Mink, Stop!”

“Come the fuck on” 

She dragged me through the club by the back of my neck while people moved out the way. Not helping. Just recording. Whispering. Shaking their heads like my humiliation was entertainment they hadn’t paid for but was glad to catch live.  Embarrassment, anger, liquor, and panic all mixed together inside me, gave me enough courage to snatch from her grip. I broke free for a half second, then she grabbed my wrist. Hard.

“Come the fuck on!” she yelled.

“Stop!” I yelled back. 

“Aye,”

One word. Steady. Sharp. Her voice cut clean through everything. Loud enough to be heard. Calm enough to be respected.  Mink turned. So, did I. It was the fine ass stud from the stairs.  She was taller than she looked from across the room. More beautiful up close in a way that didn’t make sense. Her face was calm, focused, unbothered. But something sat behind that calm. Something that said she would tear this club up if necessary and not lose sleep over it. Then her eyes found mine.

God.

 One caught the light different. Blue-gray, cool and sharp. The other light brown, warm and steady.  The difference threw me off so bad that for a second, I forgot Mink still had my wrist.  Those eyes looked at like they were trying to figure out what part of me hurt first.

“You, okay?” 

Simple. But it hit different like she meant it. Mink stepped in front of me, still holding my wrist tighter than before.

“She straight,” Mink snapped. “Back the fuck up.”

The stud’s eyes stayed on me for one more second before moving to Mink.

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

The room tightened. A second stud stepped up beside her. Tall. Brown skin. Long cornrows braided straight back from a face sharp enough to start trouble by accident. Tattoos started under her chin, disappeared beneath her white Armani Exchange T-shirt, then reappeared down both arms. Her eyes were low, dark, and full of malice. Her whole body looked like it had been waiting on permission.

“Mink,” she said, voice low and dangerous. “You can fuck around and find out tonight.”

Mink let me go and squared up. “Let’s do it.”

My heart jumped. The stud with the eyes didn’t move fast. She didn’t have to. She lifted one arm, stopping the one with the cornrows before she could step any closer.

“Let it go”

Soft. Controlled. Final. The woman beside her hesitated, jaw tight, eyes still locked on Mink like she wanted permission to ruin her. Then she stepped back. Barely.

Mink laughed, but it didn’t sound as solid as she probably wanted it to.

“Yea, aight. Reign you know what the fuck going on.”

So that was Reign. I took a mental note because I had heard Mink say that name before. Not often. Just enough for me to know it carried history. Reign smiled, but it wasn’t regular. It made my heartbeat climb into my throat.

“Mi nuh know nutten Pussyclat bwoy but old gyal business and jealousy,” Reign said, dragging her thumb across her throat. “But we can handle it however yuh want.”

Mink’s jaw worked, but she didn’t answer. That told me more than words would have..

“Yall good?”

Another stud appeared from behind Reign. Same face. Curly long hair. Same dangerous beauty, but different energy. Behind her, two more studs stood close, looking like they were ready to wreck some shit if the wrong person breathed too hard.

The one with the eyes looked at me again.

“You good?” she asked, softer this time.

I wanted to answer. I wanted to say no. I wanted to say I hadn’t been good in years. But Mink snatched my wrist again before the truth could reach my mouth.

“Another time bitch.” Mink said, pointing at Reign.

Reign tilted her head, still smiling. The one with the eyes watched Mink’s hand on my wrist, then looked back at me like she was waiting for me to give her a reason. Any reason. I didn’t. I let Mink pull me. Because that was what I knew how to do. I looked back as she dragged me through the crowd and toward the stairs. The stud with the eyes followed at a distance until Mink and I were completely out of the club,

Those eyes. God.

Outside, the air hit cooler than it should have. Mink was talking loud, accusing me of all kinds of shit that I was too drunk and high to fully process. Something about disrespect. Something about acting like I’m single and embarrassing her. Something about whatever story she had built from what she saw inside that club. I heard her, but not all the way. Part of me was still inside Quest. Still stuck on that one question. “You, okay?”

Jeho opened the back door for me, and I slid inside. The world felt suffocating the second he closed it. Mink got in beside me and slammed the door hard enough to make my body jump. “You got me fucked up,” she said.

“Mink, I—”

My face snapped to the side. Before I could get my hand to my cheek, she slapped me again. Harder. Then again. Each one quick enough to scatter my thoughts, loud enough to make the inside of the SUV feel smaller.

“Out here acting like a hoe,” she snapped. “Then laughing in my face and staring at that bitch?”

Another slap.

“Embarrassing me in front of people.”

Another slap. This one made my ears ring. I tasted blood again, fresh and metallic, mixing with the liquor still sitting on my tongue. Crank kept driving. Jeho stayed quiet. Neither said anything. That silence hurt almost as bad as her hand. Mink leaned in close, voice low now, which was always worse than they yelling.

“You belong to me.” You hear me?”

I stared out the window because looking at her felt like giving her more of me than she had already taken.

“Mink, stop,” I whispered.

“You gon stop,” she said. “All this acting like you don’t know who the fuck you married to.”

I blinked hard, trying not to cry in front of her brothers.  Atlanta glittered in front of me like nothing in my life had just shifted. Restaurants. Streetlights. People laughing on sidewalks.  Cars lined up at red lights. The city kept moving like I wasn’t in the back of an SUV getting slapped around by the woman who had bought me diamonds after doing the same thing yesterday.

The crazy part wasn’t Mink. Not the slaps. Not me just sitting there taking it. The crazy part was that even with my cheek burning, my wrist aching, and my neck sore from where she dragged me through that club, I was still thinking about the stud I didn’t know. The way she stood. The way she didn’t flinch. The way she looked at me like she saw me before she ever knew my name. I thought about her the whole ride home. Not Mink dragging me out. Not the embarrassment. Her. And the fact that I could think about somebody else after all that scared me more than Mink ever had.

 Thank you for reading, this book will be coming October. In the meantime leave a comment, tell me what you think of this story so far. Is it hitting? What do you think of Birgundi, what do you think of Mink?

“Brothers and sisters, the enemy is busy,” Toni preached, hands gripping the sides of the podium. “He’s sending confusion into our homes, into our bedrooms, into our churches. Homosexuality is not of God. It is a lie straight from the pit. We must stand against it!”

My thighs clenched. Last night that same mouth had been buried between my ass cheeks, tongue working nasty and relentless while Toni moaned like she couldn’t get enough.

I closed my eyes and the memory hit hard.

We’d been in Toni’s office behind the choir stand, door locked, lights low. Toni had me bent over the desk, skirt shoved up, panties yanked to the side. “Spread that ass for me,” she growled, voice nothing like the polished pulpit tone. I reached back and pulled my cheeks apart. She dropped to her knees and dragged her tongue from my dripping pussy straight up to my tight asshole, licking slow and filthy before sealing her lips around it and sucking. My knees buckled. Her tongue pushed inside, fucking my ass while two fingers worked my clit in tight circles. Spit ran down my thighs. She didn’t stop, she licked, sucked, and tongue-fucked my asshole until I was shaking and whimpering.

“Turn around,” Toni ordered. She pushed me onto the desk, yanked my blouse open, and sucked a dark nipple into her mouth hard, teeth grazing, tongue flicking while her fingers stayed buried in my ass. She switched to the other tit, sucking and biting until both nipples were swollen and shiny with spit. Then she dropped lower, lifted my leg, and sucked each toe one by one, tongue sliding between them, moaning like she was tasting something sweet.

“Ride my face,” she demanded, lying back on the carpet. I straddled her, facing the wall, and lowered my soaked pussy onto her waiting mouth. Her tongue went straight to work. licking, sucking, fucking deep while her nose pressed against my clit. I rolled my hips, grinding down, ass bouncing. She gripped my thighs and pulled me harder, tongue flicking fast. My moans turned into broken cries. I reached back, grabbed her head, and rode that tongue until my whole body locked up. My pussy pulsed hard, squirting thick and hot straight into her mouth. She swallowed every drop, licking and sucking through the gush, not letting a single drop escape.

I came again right after, legs shaking so bad I had to brace myself on the desk. She kept licking me through it, tongue sliding from clit to asshole and back, nasty and greedy.

Now, in the pew, my panties were soaked just from remembering. Toni kept preaching, voice rising. “We cannot let the devil use our bodies as his playground!”

I stood up slow. Every eye turned. I walked straight to the front, heels clicking loud on the tile.

“Pastor Toni,” I called out, voice steady but shaking with anger. “You really gon’ stand up here and preach that bullshit after what you did to me last night? After you had your tongue so far in my ass I couldn’t walk straight? After you sucked my titties, my toes, and swallowed every drop when I skeeted all in your mouth? You a whole hypocrite and these people need to know.”

Gasps filled the sanctuary. Toni’s face went slack behind the pulpit.

I didn’t wait for an answer. I turned on my heel, walked straight down the aisle, and pushed through the double doors without looking back, leaving the whole church in stunned silence.

Thank you for reading…If you liked this story please leave a comment, like and Share. Thank you with ya nasty asses!!!

Rain beat against the windows of my pick up truck, as my engine hummed low. Between my lips, I pulled on a blunt slowly, as I let out a shaky moan; feeling Irie’s tongue trace the scorpion tale of my tattoo on the side of my neck. Everything that was happening in this very moment was wrong. Number one rule in the employee handbook, was that no employer was to have relations of any kind with his/her employee. It had been 3 months too late for this particular incident. Second rule in the handbook, no drugs or controlled substances were allowed on the property. I had 2 ounces, and even sold some to the employees that I fucked with the long way. But, everything wasn’t meant to be right. Especially not on 3rd shift, where all hell tends to break loose.

Irie, an Islander that had been placed on my team of 3rd shift leads from another department about 5 months ago decided that she was done with him and wanted a her. After a single conversation, I was on whatever timing she was on. Shawty’s body was tea, with every curve belonging exactly where it was. Her face card was one that couldn’t decline, not even after its expiration date, even with glasses. She had locs that she normally kept in a Caribbean wrapping scarf, but tonight they hung below her shoulders, with platinum blonde tips.

“Slide your seat back.” She told me, as she climbed over into my lap, straddling my thighs until I pushed the button that slid my seat back until I was damn near in my back seat. Dropping below the steering wheel, and between my feet, her hands worked quickly to undo the buckle of my pants. I puffed on my blunt, smoke floating through the air, as I lifted my hips as she tugged

my trousers and boxers down to my ankles.

“You sure you know whatchu doin?” I asked, as I grabbed her chin before she could put her mouth on me.

“Did I say you can touch me?”

I liked that shit. That talking back to me shit. I like for a muhfucka to think they were in charge, until I showed them who really ran shit. Just like I ran shit in that building that she was about to swallow me up in.

“I got one rule. You swallow everything I give you. Don’t spit out shit. My juices are worth money, be appreciative that you’re getting a sample for free.” I told her, as I pulled my work cap to the front so that she couldn’t see my face as I reclined the seat back.

Her breath was warm as she blew her breath on my pussy lips, I sighed softly, mostly to myself. Keeping my breathing low and control, I awaited her lips to greet them with a kiss, but instead she spread my lips and abruptly sucked my clit into her mouth. While it once remained calm and awaiting, my pussy jumped alive from her tugging and slurping on my slowly swelling nub. I gripped the support handle, tugging on it slightly as her hands clamped my thighs down to the seat as I tried to fuck her mouth.

“Fuck is you doin to me?” I grunted, as I used my non supporting hand to push her face deeper into my pussy.

She released her hold on my thighs briefly, allowing me to fuck her face. Irie moaned into my pussy, as her tongue flicked against my clit at a nasty slobbering speed. I considered myself as one of the bros, but if the head was right, made my toes curl and pop all at once… I let my hair down and let that heux make me feel like a woman. Studs like head too, in the words of Chris Brown, we like to be SWALLOWED UP.

Pushing her hands under my thighs, she extended my legs to the dash board. I planted my feet against the windshield, white Nike low ankle socks with a black check at the toe of the sock. I closed my eyes, biting my lip as a low groan ripped its way through my esophagus.

“Damn, suck that muhfucka.” I moaned as her lips wrapped back around my swollen nub, tugging slowly, and then pulling back to look up at me as she spit on my pussy, and then went back to work before I could cuss her ass out for spitting on me. She slurped her spit back up into her mouth, and drizzled it down my slit as she ran her fingers along my pussy lips, pushing them further apart, and tracing my slit with her middle finger.

Pulling my hips away from Irie, I looked down at her with a warning glare. “Don’t make me fuck you up, Irie.” I told her as I grabbed her hand, moving it from between my legs. She grinned and then held her hands out.

“Blu, I’m not stupid. Now move your fucking hand.” She snapped, irritated that I had interrupted her.

“Watch yo mouth.”

“I think that you can do that best.”

Next thing I knew, I was doing just that. She started all the way over, making me feel twice the intensity as I felt before. My clit jumped in her mouth as I emptied my first nut into her mouth. Lighting flashed across the sky, intensifying the moment. I gripped her locks, pulling her neck back and forth as she attacked my clit with succulent lips. She sucked in and then released nub repeatedly, making my hole intake her slob as it drained down into as my pussy contracted yet again. Damn she was doing her big one.

Whole time I thought shawty was just all talk, but I should’ve known when she finally shut the fuck up and started pulling my card, and tonight she made me pull up before the shift so she could suck me clean off the bone. Them folks were lucky if I even clocked in tonight, I might just call out from the parking lot and pardon Irie for her absence, because it was a must I slut her out after this.

Irie hummed against my clit, sending vibrations straight through me, I clenched the side of my seat as my mouth dropped open, my golds shining as lighting flashed once more as I let out a guttural moan, and then bit my lip hard once I realized how loud I was. Gripping the brim of my hat, I flipped it around as I lifted my hips, acceptingl Irie’s tongue as she teased my entrance before plunging her tongue inside.

She moaned, her eyes closing, as her tongue slid in and out of me slowly.

My blunt fell from my mouth, ashes dropping onto my shirt, but the blunt itself wasn’t lit. Ignoring them for the moment, I enjoyed the feel of Irie’s tongue twirling inside my hole. Her tongue was stronger than I expected as it broke through the clenching of my walls.

“I’m bout to…,” my eyes squinted tightly together as hips rose one more time, only for my thighs to stiffen and my toes to curl hard against the windshield of the truck. Irie’s tongue slid out of my pussy, traveling down to my ass. “Hollup.” I protested. Again, Irie stopped and looked up at me. Her eyes piercing straight through me.

“When you’re at a buffet, do you like being interrupted for small talk if all you came to do is eat?”

Oh she was nasty nasty. Never underestimate a softy pretty face, because then you might end up like me… ready to follow this heux home, just to make sure nobody else greeted her at the front door.

“Nah, but,” she smacked my hand from between my thighs.

“Move.”

A bully, she’d get what she wanted, but that shit was going to come with a price. She wanted to slut me out, and just so I could do the honors of repaying her later… I was going to fuck her until she walked around like Future, looking for my ass in broad day light with a muhfuckin flashlight.

Moving my hands, I opened back up, allowing her access to everything below. Relaxing my head back, I sucked on my bottom lip as I felt Irie’s lips pressing firmly against my asshole. I had never had my ass ate before, and was nervous of my upcoming reactions to her sticking her tongue in my ass. Her lips moved like a pro, as she suckled my little button gently.

“Ohhhh, fuck.” I groaned, as Irie’s arms gripped me tighter around the waist, as slop dripped my ass, down to my leather seats. I was going to have to detail this muhfucka later, but as of now… I really didn’t care about these seats. This shit felt amazing, and then it happened. Irie’s tongue went from flat broad strokes, to a muscle flexed one as she rammed her tongue into my asshole. My thighs jerked from the feeling of her tongue sliding in and out of my hole slowly.

Toes curling against the windshield, I placed my hand on the back of her head, tugging at her locs as I felt my pussy starting to cum in a way it never had before. An unexpected whimper escaped its prison, as she pulled back and looked up at me before spitting on my hole, letting it drip to my ass crack, before catching it with the tip of her tongue. Her tongue traveled from my ass crack, back up to my asshole, visiting it shortly before coming back up to my pussy lips.

Thunder vibrated under the wheels of my truck, as the rain poured harder on the rooftop. My breathing became ragged with each tug of my tender clit between her lips. At this point, the sound of her eating my pussy sounded like one of those crab leg and lobster AMSR videos. Biting my lip, I stifled a cry that desperately wanted release, instead I just gripped a handful of her locs again, while looking at the time on the radio screen that shined brightly through the darkness of my truck.

I closed my eyes tightly, as my hips bucked against Irie’s grip on them. “Ooooooooohhhh, SSSHHIT!” I exclaimed, as I released my now copper tasting bottom lip. Irie moaned in response to my nature releasing into her mouth, as I held the back of her head tightly. Making her do exactly what I told her she was to do with my cum. Wasn’t no spitting or letting it dripped. “That’s right,” I heaved. Breath uneven, almost pants as I eased my grip on the back of Irie’s head. “Swallow that shit.” I told her, as I could hear my pussy juices bubbling in her nostrils as I fucked her face.

I let out a raggedy long exhale before releasing Irie’s head. Her head arose slowly, my milky cum glistening against the light of the radio screen. Seeing my essence dripping from her chin, I grinned and swiped her chin with my index finger.

“Damn,” my voice low and heavy as I let out a final exhale. Reaching into the glove box, I grabbed a pack of wipes that I kept stashed for just in case situations. Handing her one, I too grabbed one to clean the mess that we had made that was still dripping from my pussy and ass. My seats were definitely going to need detailing in the morning. “I ain’t know you was a Cookie Monster like that.” I teased her as she cleaned her face, and then took an unopened bottled of water from the side of the passenger door, opening it and then swishing the water around in her mouth before opening the door to spit it out.

“That’s what you get for assuming. Now come on, we’re an hour late.” She laughed, grabbing her quality gear from the back seat and getting out of the truck. Sighing, I pulled my pants and boxers from around my ankles. Fastening my belt, I grabbed my clipboard and turned the engine of my truck off. Jogging behind Irie in the rain, my legs trembling the entire light jog. Entering into the busy atmosphere of loud machines slamming, workers hurrying to look as if they were busying themselves as they caught view of my presence. I nodded towards familiar faces that I saw more than my own family’s faces, while turning to go to my office.

My eyes felt heavy, legs still weak from cumming as hard as I did. The entire session replayed back in my head as I grabbed the Do Not Disturb sign that I kept behind the door knob. I hung it, as I pulled my phone out from my pocket. It was 2:30 in the morning. I only needed a 45 minute reset so that I could function like a regular human being, and not walk around like a baby deer all night. Setting an alarm for 3: 15 a.m. I sat down in my office chair and slumped over the desk top. “I needed more of that.” I smiled groggily, and then passed out on the desk top.

by Sheena Jones

The rain slammed against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the West Midtown high-rise, turning the Atlanta skyline into a blurry smudge of neon and gray. Inside the apartment, it was pitch black except for the cold, blue ring of a smart-hub humming on the kitchen wall.

BZZZ. BZZZ.

The sudden glare of a phone screen sliced through the dark, catching Tee and Dre completely exposed in the middle of the living room. Tee’s thighs were locked tight around Dre’s waist, her back pressed flush against the cold window glass. Dre’s tatted hands were buried deep under the waistband of Tee’s cargo pants, her fingers gripping skin. They froze, their chests heaving against each other, the vibration of the phone on the glass coffee table rattling right through the soles of their feet.

FaceTime: Latrice 🤍✨

Sweat glinted on Tee’s sharp fade. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her teeth. "Drop me," she whispered, her voice rough, barely a breath.

Dre didn't drop her. Instead, she took two heavy, quiet steps toward the couch, holding Tee’s weight smooth off the floor without breaking a sweat. She cut her dark eyes to the phone, a toxic, wicked smirk pulling at the corner of her lips.

"Answer it," Dre muttered against Tee’s neck. "Keep the lie going."

"We playing with fire, Dre."

"Then let it burn." Dre’s fingers squeezed Tee’s hip, just hard enough to let her know who was driving.

Tee swallowed the lump in her throat and swiped the green icon. She tilted the front camera up fast, framing only her face from the collarbone up, keeping the dark room and Dre’s bare, tatted shoulders completely out of the picture.

Latrice’s face popped up on the screen. She was sitting in her sedan, her thirty-inch bundles laid to perfection, her nose contour looking sharp under the yellow fluorescent lights of the Cook Out drive-thru on Northside Drive. She looked completely irritated.

"Tee, why it take you so long to answer?" Latrice snapped, smacking her lip gloss. "This line is long as hell. You want a tray or what?"

Down below, out of the camera’s view, Dre’s hand slid lower, her fingers moving with a slow, deliberate friction right through the fabric of Tee's boxers. Dre held her tighter, one hand sliding between Tee’s legs, two fingers pushing straight into her soaked pussy without warning. Tee’s knuckles turned white as she gripped Dre’s shoulder to keep from dropping the phone. Her eyes widened, a hot spike of adrenaline shooting straight up her spine.

"Uh... yeah, babe," Tee choked out. Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat quickly, forcing her smooth, Atlanta register to take over. "Just... get me a double cheeseburger tray. Up the fries."

On screen, Latrice squinted, her eyes tracking Tee’s face. "Why you sounding like that? You sound out of breath. Y'all still hooping?"

Dre increased the pace, a quiet, vibrating chuckle hitting Tee’s chest. She bit down lightly on Tee's arm, her tongue tracing the tatted script there. Tee bit her inside lip so hard she tasted copper, forcing a deadpan smile for the camera while her body literally betrayed her in the dark.

"Nah, we just finished a heavy run, now we bout to play 2k," Tee lied, her eyes locking onto Latrice’s digital face.

"Dre was running my pockets on the court."

"Mmhmm. Well, tell Dre Kiara was looking for her too," Latrice said, checking her rearview mirror. "Anyway, I'll be there in like fifteen minutes. Have the gate open."

"Bet. Love you," Tee said, her thumb flying to hit the red button before Latrice could even reply.

The screen went black. Tee tossed the phone onto the couch cushions, and the second it landed, a loud, ragged moan she’d been holding back tore out of her throat.

"You such a bitch for that," Tee panted, her fingers tangling into Dre’s hair, pulling her face up.

"But you ain't hang up," Dre said, her voice dripping with pure dominance.

She didn't waste another second. Dre carried Tee straight into the master bedroom, throwing her down on the mattress. The cream-colored hoodie Tee was wearing was ripped over her head and tossed into the dark corner. Dre’s vintage black tee followed, exposing her broad, athletic shoulders and tatted chest against the dark charcoal sheets.

"Twelve minutes," Tee pants, her breath hot against Dre’s mouth.

"Twelve minutes gives me plenty of time," Dre growls, her fingers yanking the button of Tee's cargos open with a rough, practiced hunger. Dre shoved Tee’s pants down just enough to get full access. Dre dropped to her knees at the edge of the bed, and buried her face between Tee’s thighs.

Tee’s thick thighs trembled as Dre’s tongue pushed deeper, the wet muscle sliding in and out of her dripping hole with nasty, sloppy sounds. Dre spit on Tee’s pussy, watching the thick string drip down before she sucked it back up, lips sealed tight around her swollen clit. “This pussy stay wet for me,” Dre growled, voice low and rough like a nigga who knew she owned it. She shoved three fingers inside at once, stretching Tee open, pumping them hard and fast while her thumb mashed Tee’s clit in rough circles.

Tee palmed the top of Dre’s head while jerking her hips with Dre’s rhythm.  Tee’s back arched off the sheets, her tatted chest heaving, nipples hard in the cool air. “Shit, Dre…fuck that pussy like you mean it,” she groaned, gripping the back of Dre’s head and grinding down on her face. Dre’s tongue flicked fast and nasty, licking from Tee’s asshole up to her clit in one long stroke, then sucking the fat nub between her teeth just enough to make Tee’s legs shake.

Dre pulled her fingers out slow, strings of cream stretching between them, then slapped Tee’s pussy twice before diving back in. She tongue-fucked her deep, nose buried in the soft patch of hair above her clit, inhaling the raw, musky scent of her girl while her fingers dug into Tee’s ass cheeks and spread them wide. Tee’s hole clenched around nothing, juices running down to soak the sheets under her ass.

“Eight minutes,” Tee panted, trying to catch her breath. “We gotta….ah fuck!”

Dre ignored her, sucking harder, two fingers sliding back inside and curling right against that spot that made Tee’s toes curl. She fucked her rough, wrist snapping, the wet squelch of Tee’s pussy filling the room. Tee’s moans got louder, her deep voice cracking as her walls started to flutter. Dre pulled her mouth off just long enough to spit again, watching it drip down Tee’s slit before she licked it up and went back to sucking her clit like she was trying to pull the soul out her body.

Tee came with a guttural groan, thighs clamping around Dre’s head, pussy pulsing and squirting a little onto Dre’s tongue. Dre didn’t stop, she kept licking through the orgasm, fingers still pumping, drawing it out until Tee was shaking and pushing at her head. “Too much…fuck, Dre, too much.”

Dre finally pulled back, lips shiny with spit and cum, chin dripping. She stood up, wiped her mouth with her hand, and unbuckled her belt. The thick black strap-on she kept packed swung free. She climbed on the bed, grabbed Tee’s ankles, and spread her wide. “Turn over,” she ordered.

Tee flipped onto her stomach, ass up, face pressed into the pillow. Dre lined up and slammed the strap inside in one thrust, burying it to the hilt. Tee moaned loud into the sheets as Dre started pounding her, hips snapping hard, the base of the strap rubbing against her own clit with every stroke. The bed rocked. Sweat ran down Dre’s back, her tatted arms flexing as she gripped Tee’s waist and fucked her like she was trying to break her.

Tee reached back, spreading her own ass cheeks so Dre could watch the strap disappear inside her creamy pussy. “Fuck me harder, nigga,” she begged, voice hoarse. Dre obliged, pounding deeper, the wet slap of skin on skin echoing through the room. Tee came again, walls clenching around the thick silicone, juices squirting out around the strap and running down her thighs.

The heavy metal garage door downstairs began to roll upward with a loud, mechanical groan, letting in the gray, rainy night. Headlights cut through the darkness of the lower level as Latrice’s car pulled into the private space, the engine idling with a low purr. Upstairs, the bedroom looked like a war zone of discarded streetwear uncreased Jordan 4s, Amiri jeans, and grey sweatpants were scattered across the floor.

Tee was frantically pulling her cream hoodie back over her head, her chest still flushed and heaving, her heart hammering against her ribs. Dre stood by the edge of the bed, fastening the heavy silver buckle of her belt, her breathing shallow, her eyes still dark with the hangover of what they had just done.

Downstairs, the front door clicked open.

"Tee!" Latrice’s voice echoed up the stairwell, accompanied by the heavy, unmistakable smell of hot grease and fried food. "I got the food! Where y'all at?"

Tee cut her eyes to Dre. Dre caught her look, slid her hands smooth into her pockets, and nodded once locking the "bro" mask right back over her face. Tee took a deep breath, smoothing down the front of her cream hoodie as she stepped out of the bedroom. Dre was a half-step behind her, her hands slid deep into the pockets of her Amiri jeans, her face completely wiped of any emotion. By the time they reached the top of the stairs, the "bro" mask was locked down tight.  Looking like two masculine women who’d just been chilling, nothing more. But the sheets were soaked, the air still smelled like pussy, and both of them knew this secret wasn’t staying buried for long.

Thank you it means so much to us that you subscribed. Please stay tuned because every week more is coming.

-SheenaJ

Tia is the friend everybody needs but not everybody deserves.

Pretty, thick, quick-mouthed, and warm with it, Tia has the kind of energy that makes people feel comfortable before they even realize they’ve let their guard down. Curly hair, light brown eyes, soft face, sharp instincts, and a mouth that can either make you laugh or make you sit with the truth.

She’s Birgundi’s best friend, and she sees more than Birgundi wants her to. Tia knows when a joke is really pain. She knows when “I’m good” means the exact opposite. And when it comes to Birgundi, she’s not afraid to say what everybody else keeps dancing around.

But Tia isn’t just the best friend in the background.

She’s walking into a world full of secrets, loyalty, danger, and women who don’t love easy. And somewhere in the middle of that chaos is Reign — wild, reckless, dangerous, and everything Tia probably should avoid.

But attraction doesn’t always care about safe.

Tia brings warmth to the story, but she also brings fire. She’s loyal, observant, funny, and bold enough to stand her ground, even with somebody like Reign.

In Stud Love, Tia is the calm that might challenge the storm.

And Reign?

Reign may not be ready for a woman who can see straight through her.

Subscribe now

Hey y’all,

Welcome to Sheena’s Book Tea List.

I created this space for my readers, the ones who love messy love, street drama, toxic tension, betrayal, redemption, family secrets, sapphic romance, straight romance, and stories that feel like a whole season.

This is where I’ll be sharing the tea before everybody else gets it.

You’ll get first looks at upcoming books, deleted scenes, character drops, playlists, cover reveals, release updates, behind-the-scenes writing notes, and sneak peeks from the worlds I’m building.

First up, I’m bringing y’all into the world of Stud Love Volume 1.

This story starts with Zion. Quiet, powerful, dangerous when she needs to be, and the type of stud who doesn’t have to say much to control a room. She owns the night, protects her people, and keeps her heart locked behind power, loyalty, and silence.

Then comes Birgundi.

And once their worlds touch, nothing stays simple.

So welcome to the list. Get comfortable, because the drama is just getting started.

— Sheena

What do y’all want first: a Zion character drop, a Stud Love playlist, or a sneak peek from Chapter One?

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