Chapter ??

Regular weekly lunch – Atlanta Breakfast Club

Zoie

4 months pregnant

Y

ou know you actually make my balls hurt and not in a good fucking way at all," I say as I gather my art tools.

"Hold on. You don't have balls. That's not the equipment you were born with unless there's something I need to know?" Cherry asks me as she shares a look with Max.

"That should tell you just how much your ass and everything else about you is irritating me right now."

Max, Cherry, and Yaz laugh out loud as I put the last of my equipment into my bag.

"Zo, you've been spending too much time with Trev's crazy ass if you're adopting his sayings. That sounds like something that is all Trevor."

Max rubs ointment on her newest tattoo as I ponder the truth of their words.

"Suck a dick, all three of you. There's no such thing as too much Trevor."

That statement makes them laugh even harder.

––––––––

“I’m happy we’re doing this. We all need it. A lot of sad has been going around since Sam left. Plus, I want to gossip.”

Yaz’s excitement level makes me want to jump for joy. It’s a palpable entity in the room.

“Where’d you take them. I know you had somewhere special that night.”

“There’s a rooftop downtown that has this fantastic view of the skyline and all of the buildings below. We did a little sightseeing prior to and picked up some food on our way there. I keep a bag hidden up there for times when I want to escape the world. It turned out to be the perfect spot for something fantabulous.”

I clap my hands together.

This gone be good.

"Finish HIM!" Yaz yelled in her best imitation of one of the hottest guys we'd ever encountered, causing all of us to jump in response. "Catch growled in my ear before placing a line of kisses up my neck to my ear. I had a feeling he wouldn't have minded taking my place working his friend into the frenzied state he'd been in."

“Yasmin is a dirty bitch,” I state as I shake my head in response to the phone conversation I just finished with one of my closest friends.

“Come on. Not that sweetheart of a woman working the front desk,” Ilona states as she puts down her menu.

My sister’s surprised expression makes me want to howl with laughter. Ilona doesn’t want to believe what I’m telling her about our dear, young Yasmeen.

“Max, will you tell her?”

Max pauses her motion of devouring the cheesy biscuits that were just delivered to our table to look then toss an apologetic look my way before smiling at my sister.

“Oh, the dirtiest. I mean, who else do we know who would stoop to telling her best friend's dad she would blow him something nice if he took her virginity?”

Ilona laughs and almost chokes around the piece of bread she just popped in her mouth.

“You're lying. How long ago was this?”

“She was in high school. It's the truth. Scout's honor.”

I cross my heart.  Max settles back and prepares to enjoy the tale again. Ilona is still chuckling while chewing.

“I love it when she tells this story.  She's so animated,” Max states before taking a sip of her tea.

I laugh before adopting a serious look looking around to make sure no one is paying attention to me.

“Seventeen-year-old Yaz determined in her mind she was tired of being a virgin, so she was going to get rid of it.”

Maxie snorts then coughs since she was still chewing.

“Like it was something to toss out with the trash?” Ilona asks.

Max nods as she responds, “Yep. convinced herself she was missing out in something special. Max begins to smirk because she knows what’s next. I swear the longer she's married the more she and Deck look alike. “Anyway,” I interject.

“Yaz said she'd always liked how this one guy looked when he was out and about working on keeping his body in shape.  She would see him on his morning run and liked the way his muscles bunched and corded as he moved,” I pause for dramatic effect. “Who does she see directly after she's made up her mind to no longer be the inexperienced teen she was?”

“The running dude was the friend's father?” Ilona asks in a voice that’s clearly states she’s caught up in the story.

“One. In. The. Same.” I pause as I take in Max’s scrunched up face. When she notices my expression, she waves her hand for me to continue. “Yaz told us she didn't initially know he was her friend’s father When she’d called him to ‘help her’ with something in her parents' yard. He was just some random hot guy. Yet, he’d dutifully followed her across the long expanse of the front lawn to the backyard where she proceeded to lead him to an apartment above the garage that was vacant at the time.”

“She'd had very little time to prep, so the items she'd thrown together were literally tossed into the front entrance,” max adds before we all pause to place our orders. Each of us orders our food then we wait a beat before I pick up where Max picks up where left off. “What most people don't know about Yaz is the fact that she has no filter. She's blunt as hell and those tits of hers she’s had since she was fourteen.”

“What she said,” I add as I finally get to taste the biscuits I’ve been craving.

“Damn,” is all that Ilona can add as she stares blankly off into space for a moment before looking expectantly at me.

“I know right. Jealous. Party of one. Whatever.” I shake my head as I pop the last of my biscuit in my mouth. “She has them and knows how to use them. Our girl said her opening line was something cheesy like ‘You're all wet. Want to see if I am?’ He didn't initially reply. As a matter of fact, he turned to leave. Her follow up statement was, ‘You'll want to stay for this.’ To this day, she says she doesn't have a clue what made him turn back around to face her.

She guessed curiosity got the better of him. When he turned around, she was bare from the waist up and playing with those perky globes.  The second she asked if he wanted to feel them in exchange for feeling what was barely hidden beyond his joggers, and he nodded stupidly, she knew she had him.

All she had to do was whisper in his ear that her never-been-touched-by-a-man cunt was waiting for a man-sized, experienced dick like his and he was on board.” I took a moment to take a drink of my lemonade then smiled at the expression of shock written all over my sister’s face. “Yaz promised to swallow him whole if he relieved her of that one little thing.”

“He actually did it?” Ilona looked between myself and Max as if that would help her process all of what I just shared with her. She looked confused then a questioning look crossed her face before she put voice to it. “Did he know she was?”

“He did. He even said Valerie was going to kill him right before he drove deep within her. It must not have bothered him too much. He still stuffed her full of his cock. Repeatedly.  She said they worked up such a sweat after he popped her cherry she felt like she'd gone for a run right along with him.”

“Oh my gosh! Wow, that's  ... wow.”

“Yeah, that's what we said.”

Ilona sat back and exhaled.

When Max spoke next, Ilona actually jumped.

“But wait there's more.”

“There's more? What?”

I nod my head before I continue the story. “He didn't settle for that one morning into afternoon with her. He kept it going for almost three months.  Her friend walked in on them one day after a shopping trip with her mother, his then wife.”

“That put an end to it.”

“You’d think,” Maxie says, while picking at her salad. “Getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?” Smirking, Maxie eats a carrot strip.

“Anyway, they'd been fucking in the main hallway.”

Max’s chuckle causes me to laugh, giving Ilona the time to absorb what I just said.

“Shit.”

“Yep, that's what she said after she got off, Maxie,” I tell my sister.

Max, full-on, laughs at her own statement. Ignoring her, I continue.

“It gets better.”

“Better than that?”

“Oh yes?”

“What happened?”

I take another sip of my drink then hold another beat. Ilona blows out a breath of frustration.

I’m loving it!

“On the floor was a bag. Nestled on the edges of the open bag were pregnancy tests.”

“Noooo!”

“Oh yes. Positive pregnancy tests.”

“Shut the front door,” Ilona gasps and her expression makes me snort because she is in a state of complete shock.

“Yep, sister girl was pregnant and had gone to the house to share the good news with him. He'd been so excited he'd started stripping her right there.”

“He wanted to get caught,” Ilona tells us.

“He did. The husband hadn't been happy and was too much of a wuss to just let his wife go. Yaz had been riding him when the wife and friend opened the front door.  She was also in the middle of an orgasm.  He later told her that the mother and daughter stood staring for at least two minutes before the daughter stormed off. The wife remained quiet and watched until he finished.”

“The wife asking if this was who he'd been regularly fucking the husband. His wife wasn't. That information had been surprising to everyone including us when she told us the story.”

Max’s phone rings. Standing, she takes the call while getting our waitress’ attention.

“His answer was a calm and easy ‘yes.’ The wife then asked him if fucking Yaz was worth throwing away a fifteen-year union.”

Max returns to her seat, smiling. I laugh because her grin tells me she just got off the phone with Deck. They’ve finally reached a place where a call from him doesn’t send her into stupid, girly mode, but she still can’t fight the smile hearing his voice brings to her face. She picks up as if she never left.

“Again, he said ‘yes’ to answer her question then proceeded to proclaim the baby he and Yaz created was more important than either relationship.

Wifey then asked something that floored the two of us when Yaz shared it with us.”

“What did she ask?” Ilona asks with far more enthusiasm than any of us expected.

I look over at Max and she nods. The nod is to tell me I get to be the one to reveal this juicy tidbit to my big sister.

“Is she better at it than me?” I roll my eyes and suck my teeth in response the wife’s question. It’s an automatic reaction every time I hear or tell this story. “Again, he answered honestly.  ‘It's fucking fantastic with her because she’s willing to learn what I like and what gets me off. Her sucking my cock is a thing of beauty.’ The man had balls of steel to say all of this while naked from the waist down and still inside of Yaz.”

“The wife went on to ask even more questions like: Would you have stopped fucking her if I would've been more willing to budge ...?’ The wife asked the question, but Yaz said her ears perked up. She suddenly felt like she should really tune in. Mind you, Yaz is still seated on this man’s lap,” Max adds when I pause to take sip or three of my drink.

I don’t know why I was all of a sudden so thirsty. Regardless, I take a few sips then I’m ready to 

“She’d been desperately trying to be as motionless as possible it was her naïve way of trying to be invisible while being fully visible the husband’s response was to say, ‘No. we tried. We had our run. We’re done. I’m ready to move on. You should be too.’ The hurt Yasmeen saw written on the wife’s face broke her heart. She had to check herself because she was still full of the husband’s dick.”

“What a douche,” Ilona states with as much disgust as she can muster in those three words.

She shakes her head then shutters, releasing an additional disgusted sound from her lips.

“Exactly. We all said the same thing.”

“Whatever happened to them?” my sister finally asks.

“Oh, the husband and wife are still married and live in separate homes.”

“You’re kidding me.”

Shaking my head, I reveal something very few members of the crew know about Yaz.

“The wife agreed to let her husband have his thing on the side as long as she was allowed to help raise the baby. The husband agreed because be didn't want to deal with the backlash of a woman scorned. It would’ve apparently looked bad with his business reps or something like that.”

“What does be do for a living?”

Max speaks up, “Hotel Owner.”

“Okay,” Ilona sounds completely confused by Max’s two-word explanation.

“The wife was the one who handled the marketing. She'd always wanted another baby but didn't want to be the one who carried the child. The husband liked the idea of his woman carrying his child. Yet another thing Yasmeen was willing to do that the wife wasn’t. Yaz accepted the stipulation because, in her words, ‘it was damn good, regular dick’ and she didn't have the first clue how to raise a child. The almost twenty-year age difference mattered not to our girl. The husband and Yasmeen were together for the first year of Kayla's life. They saw each other off and on for two years after that.  Now, they are nothing more than fuck buddies and parents of the same kid.”

“Kids. Blake?” Max says while clearing her throat.

“Damn, I always forget that little bugger and no, it's not on purpose,” I add when I catch Max mid laugh.

“Zo and Blake have a love hate relationship.  Meaning she loves to hate him.”

First, sending Max a glare I then roll my eyes. She chuckles in response causing me to glare even more.

“Blake is hot and cold towards Zo. She never knows which side will greet her when he visits with Yaz. Still, he’s a sweet, memorable kid.”

“That’s what you say,” I mumble then clear my throat. “Moving on. The forgotten second born of Yaz and Donovan Sr. came a year and four months after Kayla was born.”

Ilona gives me a confused look when I’m done speaking. It takes me a moment to realize what she could possibly be questioning. I get it around the same time Ma figures it out. I yield the “floor” to her.

“Blake is Donovan Snyder’s middle name.”

It takes Ilona a moment to pick her bottom lip up off the floor. Donovan Snyder is a pretty well-to-do entrepreneur and owner of Snyder Incorporated. The Donovan Hotel is one of the premier hotels in the area. It’s known for it’s stellar service an amenities. Knowing someone who is not only rubbing elbows but other body parts with someone from that world usually takes people a moment to adjust to when they learn of Yaz’s connection to the “rich” and “elite” side of Atlanta. Ilona quickly recovers enough to offer up a response to all that we’ve shared with her.

“That is one hell of a story.” Ilona sits back in her seat then sits up while tapping the table. “Wait, do they—Yaz, the wife, and Snyder—have the same deal for both kids?”

Max is quicker than I am to respond.

“Yep. Yes. Of course they do. Snyder wouldn’t have it any other way. He gets to have his cake and eat it too.”

“Stories involving Yaz usually are,” I conclude.

“Wait, so when she suddenly had to leave before ...?” Ilona asks as the waitress places our plates on the table.

Nodding our heads in response, Max then speaks.

“She'd received a text from Dick Pic.”

That's what Max calls Donovan Sr. which I find hilarious.

“Yeah, I want her not to be so available to him.”

Ilona then makes a suggestion that makes my entire body cringe.

“Set her up.”

“I don't think a person exists who has the ability to handle all that is Yaz,” I tell them.

“I might,” Max declares.

“Of course, you do.” At our confused looks, I clarify, “Know of someone who could handle all of who Yaz is.”

“Are you going somewhere special?” I ask as Yaz strolls into the office. “We saw the picture float across your screen so we figured you were headed over to see Dick Pic,” Cherry asks as she leans back in her seat to peer out of her booth so she can see Yaz as she struts by her area. “Looking at you now, I’m questioning whether or not that’s true.”

Yaz blows out an exasperated breath.

“Is it possible for y’all to actually call him by his name and not the name Boss Lady Max gave him?”

The remaining staff takes no time in responding.

“No!”

We all smile or laugh while Yaz rolls her eyes. Pulling her emergency bag from beneath her desk, she silently answers my question.

“Soooo, you are going to see ... him.” Cherry says then stands to move closer to where Yaz is waiting.

“Not that any of you really care, but yes.”

I smirk because I have a snide ass reply but Yaz appears to be extra sensitive today. I’ll keep it to myself.

Instead I offer up, “Oh, the problem isn’t with us caring. That has never been the issue.”

“Really?” Yaz replies with a little too much sass for my liking.

Max decides to put it all out there.

“All right. Tonight, instead a ‘fuck and duck,’ you’re getting him to ‘take you for a spin’ so he can see what he’ll win?”

Cherry snorts and tries to cover her response with her hand when she sees the hurt on Yaz’s face.

“Why does it have to be like that?”

“It has to be like that because not one week ago you were lying on my couch with your head in my lap, crying your eyes out over how horrible this man treats you. Today, you’re all dolled up like you’re going on a date in a brand-new situation.”

Max nods her head in agreement with my statements.

“It isn’t new and you’re not some fresh-faced teen. You’re a woman in her twenties who is mother to two of this man’s children. You’re accepting of a situation and a person who isn’t worth your time. I don’t care how you try to rationalize this situation, the man is still married. I don’t give a damn what the reasons are behind it. It’s the truth.”

“You don’t understand what it is we have together.”

Yaz turns on her heel and makes for the door. Her statement makes me sad for her. She doesn’t know what it means to have a man in her life who is solely devoted to her and wants to do everything in his power to ensure her every happiness. I’m sad because I wish she had a guy like one of the men Max, Cherry, and I have. Those guys would fold the world in half just to keep a smile on their woman’s face.

“You deserve more than he’s offering, Yaz. Hopefully soon you’ll know that for yourself,” I tell her exiting form.

I know she’s going to be pissed at us. I also know she hates it when we doe this because she knows we’re right. I don’t care because I can’t stand the fact that my friend is getting hurt and taken advantage of because her esteem is too low to accept that she’s not happy. Nor can she accept the fact that living in misery for the sake of keeping a man makes the man instantly unworthy of the jewel that she is.

Nodding to Max, I silently tell her that I’m “in” on whatever scheme she has cooked up. Maxie’s phone is in her hand within the next second. I hope like hell she is right about whoever this guy is because Yaz doesn’t need another pathetic sac of nothing in her life. She’s full up enough for several people.