Chapter One

 

 

When You Haven't Found a Real One To Bust It Wide Open For

February 2017

 

“I swear on Pappy and GamGam’s graves, if you don’t drop that resting bitch face and let one of these fine-ass men around here take you back to their hotel room and fuck the curl pattern from that bomb-ass twist-out on your head, I will piss on you!”

I choked on the combination of cranberry juice and lemon-lime soda that I was sipping on and turned my startled gaze to my sister who seemed to appear out of thin air with her dark brown eyes lasered on my face. Latoya’s—affectionately called Toy by members of our family—perfectly arched eyebrows were raised toward her hairline and her left hand was planted firmly on her hip while her right hand was curled into a fist with her index finger inches away from my face. Slapping away her hand and straightening on the cushioned bar stool I occupied, I patted my chest lightly.

“Nobody wants any parts of your golden showers, you freak.” I shuddered, shaking my head in an attempt to stymie the thought from entering my head.

Toy stuck her pierced tongue out at me, the silver ball in the center catching my attention even from the corner of my eye. “Don’t kink-shame me, bitch. And don’t think you’re going to distract me from what I said; I meant that shit.” She signaled one of the half-dozen bartenders and climbed onto the stool on my right. After placing her order for a frozen margarita and a shot of tequila, she swung her head dramatically in my direction.

“I’m serious; it’s past time to gon’ sweep out them cobwebs with a dick-sized broom.”

“Latoya!” Why the hell were we even having this conversation? We’d come to Las Vegas to celebrate our cousin’s upcoming wedding, not to be fucking all willy nilly.

“Pshh. Don’t try to sound all scandalized on me; I know you.” Shooting me a knowing look over the rim of her frozen drink, she waited for me to deny her words, but all I did was roll my eyes.

She did know me. As my younger sister by only two years, Toy knew me better than anyone and was the yin to my yang. She wasn’t just my sister, she was my best friend, and as my best friend she knew exactly how long it had been since my vaginal walls had felt anything that wasn’t silicone or battery operated. I couldn’t even use work as an excuse since the both of us—along with our baby sister Tasha—had the same job: running Black Coffee, the café that had been started by our parents more than forty years ago. Our parents were getting ready to hand over the keys to the three of us soon, and we were all putting in major work to make the transition as smooth as possible.

On top of work, I had my extremely active pre-teen son to think about. Wisdom was in every club and played every sport offered at his elementary school. Even being a single mother wasn’t an excuse I could honestly cling to, though. Not only was Evan, Wisdom’s father, active in his life and a great co-parent, my baby was the only grandchild of both my and Evan’s family, and he was doted on excessively. If dating were on my mind, I had a tribe I could call on and they’d step in and pick up the slack when I needed time.

That was just it, though. Seriously dating hadn’t been on my mind for quite some time. It wasn’t even like I was averse to the idea of it. In fact, I longed for something new and fun in the form of male company. The problem was that I hadn’t spent any time looking for anyone. Lately, I tended to focus on work and my son and let everything else fall to the wayside. It wasn’t ideal, but it was life, and until our plane landed the day before, I hadn’t realized that anyone else was paying attention to my relationship status—or lack therof.

Sighing, I grabbed at Toy’s glass, flicking her fingers away from their post around the stem and pulling the drink toward me. “You’re right. I’m going to enjoy the rest of this trip, get a little relaxation in, and when we get home, I’ll definitely go on a few dates. Or maybe I’ll join that popular site JustOneNight.com.”

She frowned at me. “The fuck you will! You think I’m gonna let my sister pay for dick? You smoking rocks or something?”

“First of all, that’s not even how that website works. I’m not paying for sex; I’m paying for peace of mind.”

“You ain’t paying for shit!” In the most aggressive way possible, she tossed back her shot and slammed the one-ounce glass on the bar top. Dabbing carefully at her painted lips with a napkin, she glared at me once again. “Don’t worry about it; I got this.”

It all happened so fast; I blinked and she had hopped down from the stool and walked away before I could even bother to take a guess at what she meant.