Chapter Six

 

Nedra

 

When You Will Shoot a Bitch If They Don't Stop Playing

“Let me ask you something.”

I looked up from my e-reader and bowl of popcorn to see Ashton perched on the arm of the couch. I’d been staying in Shanice’s partially abandoned bungalow for a couple of weeks now. It still took some getting used to, but I appreciated my friend for allowing me this space more than she could know.

Ashton had come into town on Wednesday and was staying for a week. Today was Friday, and she had been reminding me since she landed that we were going to some new club tonight. I looked at her expectantly. So far, she hadn’t bombarded me with questions about the divorce, but I knew it was only a matter of time. Maybe this was that time.

“Is there any chance of you reconciling?”

I sighed. And there it was. There was no way Chris was getting this question as much as I was. Or any variation of it. I wish I could record my answers to the frequently asked questions I’d been receiving, and play them back every time I needed to.

Not only was I tired of having to repeat myself, I was also tired of having to give my answers with kid gloves. I was tired of having to gently let people know the few things I was willing to share with them. I was so tempted to start giving out Chris’s number to every person who asked me questions about the divorce. “Here ya go; he’s the organizer of the event, and he should be able to answer all of your questions. Have a nice day.” But see, if I did some shit like that, everyone would call me bitter or unnecessarily rude. It wasn’t Ashton’s fault that she was asking me shit I’d had to answer too many times already, but that didn’t stop me from being annoyed all the same.

I gave her a short and sweet answer. “No.”

She slid from the arm of the chair down onto the seat. “Oh. Well, have you—”

“Ashton.” She stopped talking. “Please don’t insult me by suggesting that I haven’t tried to save my marriage.”

She blinked rapidly. “No! I wasn’t going to do that. I was just going to ask if you’ve already scheduled your ‘new to you’ dick appointment.”

I stared at her. Okay, that is definitely not on my list of faqs. “Seriously, Ashton?”

“Uh, yeah. Seriously. Have you?”

“First of all, I didn’t even know that was a thing. Second of all, no.”

She tsked as if my answer aggrieved her. “Oh, Nedra.” She pulled out her cell phone and swiped at the screen.

“What?”

She shook her head and continued swiping at her screen. Finally, she peered up at me. “Have you had any sex at all since…?”

Since that last night with Chris? She didn’t have to say it; I knew that’s what she meant. I shook my head. “Sex has been the second to last thing on my mind. Plus, I’m still married.”

“You’re going through a divorce,” she pointed that out like it was the answer to the questions of the universe. “You’re stressed. If anything, your pussy needs a massage.”

I sputtered. A pussy massage didn’t sound too bad now that I thought about it. It had been a while. Still…“But I’m not divorced yet. My vows meant something to me. Forsaking all others meant something to me. Means something to me.”

She nodded, an unconvinced look on her face. “I get it. Well, I don’t get it, but I get what you’re saying. No new dick until the old dick has cleared the premises. Got you.”

This whole conversation was weird. “I can’t believe you’re talking about this so nonchalantly like your brother isn’t the old dick.”

“Man, fuck Chris.”

I chuckled. “I did. Quite a few times.”

Ashton grunted. “Yes, you did. The only one to do it.” She chewed her lip thoughtfully before returning her attention to her phone. “You know, Chris resented the fact that you weren’t a virgin when y’all got together.”

I tilted my head. Chris had made enough comments over the years for me to know it bothered him that he was a virgin when we started having sex. It wasn’t hard to deduce that it was a problem for him. That he resented the fact I hadn’t been, however, was news to me, but it confirmed the thoughts I’d had a couple of weeks ago.

“No, I didn’t know that.”

“Yep, he didn’t think it was fair that you’d been with someone before him, but you were his only one.”

I frowned. “How wasn’t it fair? Why was fairness even a part of that conversation?”

Ashton shrugged, her face still in her phone. Uh uhn. Something wasn’t right. That ain’t no random thing to say.

“Ashton.”

Her eyebrows lifted but her face stayed tilted down. “Hm?”

“What aren’t you saying?” My question was met with silence and I shifted in the chair. “Don’t make me knock that phone out of your hand. Answer my damn question.”

She sighed and looked up at me. Her eyes were worried and couldn’t hold my gaze. I don’t understand; there was nothing she could say that would change the outcome. Chris was divorcing me. The end. Unless she was about to tell me that he had been fucking around on me, it couldn’t be too bad.

I sat up straighter, dropping my e-reader and placing the bowl of popcorn on the floor. If she was about to tell me that Chris had cheated on me and she knew about it, I was going to beat her ass and then, I was going to go find Chris and shoot his bitch ass like I should have done a couple of months ago. That best friend bullshit would go right out the window because if Ashton put loyalty to her brother over loyalty to me in this situation, then they could meet the same fate. At this point, anyone could get an ass whooping and some hot shit in their ass.

Ashton must have seen the fury building on my face. She stood slowly, raising her hands in front of her, palms out in a sign of surrender. “Hold up, Nedra. Let me explain before you jump to conclusions.”

My hands clenched into fists. “I already jumped, so you better talk fast.”

“Chris never confirmed it, but I’m pretty sure that his lack of sexual partners factored into him filing for a divorce. I think he started wanting some variety or something. I asked him, but like I said, he never confirmed it.”

Oh.

The fight drained out of me instantly. “That’s it?” Leaning over, I grabbed my bowl of popcorn and pulled my e-reader from where it slid between the cushions, sagging back against the chair. “Girl, I could have guessed that.”

Ashton exhaled and clutched at her chest. “I thought you were going to kill me!”

I looked at her like she was crazy, even though I had been prepared to do just that. “Not over some mess like that.”

She sat back down heavily and resumed scrolling on her phone. After a moment, she glanced up at me. “You already know we’re going out tonight, right?”

“Yes, Ashton. You’ve told me a half dozen times already.”

She swung her head around and arched an eyebrow at me. “Do I detect an attitude, missy?”

“Indeed you do, bitch.”

She hissed. “Ooh, so feisty today.”

I had to laugh at that as I tapped the edge of the screen to flip to a new page of the book I was reading. Ashton’s bubbly ass had been calling me feisty since forever. It was her go-to word when I was ready to square up with somebody. I guess it was her way of lightening the mood or calming me down so I didn’t trip over it because I knew that fighting made her uncomfortable. It didn’t matter who was fighting; she just didn’t like it. I honestly don’t know how we became best friends because I was always ready to fight someone. The popular quote, “If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready” was a mantra for my life.

We settled into a comfortable silence as I read my book and Ashton resumed doing whatever the fuck she was doing on her phone. It couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes before Ashton’s phone rang, startling us both. A wide grin spread across her face and she jumped up, running out of the room with the device plastered to her ear. I could hear the murmur of her voice but not the words she spoke as she held her conversation somewhere in the back of the house.

A few minutes later, she ran back into the living room and launched herself into my lap, causing me to almost fall to the floor to avoid being crushed.

I glared at her. “Seriously, Ash?”

“Shh!”

She shook her head and pointed to the phone in her hand. I quieted down and that’s when I noticed that it was ringing. She was calling someone and waiting for them to pick up. I lifted a questioning eyebrow at her, but she just winked and pursed her lips at me. I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but smirk at my silly friend.

When the person on the other end finally answered and whoever Ashton had dialed spoke a greeting, my smile dropped off of my face.

“What up, baby sis!” Chris’s voice sounded clear and even normal as if nothing was wrong in his world. I turned my head to the side and looked away from Ashton, wondering why she even brought her phone call with him to my lap like this.

“Hey, boo, I’m just calling to remind you that I’ll be MIA this weekend and you’re my emergency contact, so keep your phone on at all times.”

I whipped my head back in her direction. Why was she going to be MIA? It was my understanding that we would be attending almost all of the All-Star festivities together. Did that change without her telling me? And since when was Chris her emergency contact? That honor had belonged to her and Chris’s mama since we were kids. What the hell was she talking about?

“Where the hell will you be this weekend?” Chris’s confusion echoed my own.

Ashton rolled her eyes toward me and shook her head. “Duh, Christopher. It’s All-Star weekend. I will be…occupied.”

I covered my mouth to stifle my giggle as the sound of Chris dry heaving floated up through the phone’s speaker.

“Why did you have to say the word ‘occupied’ like that?” He sounded disgusted and even though he was the last person whose voice I wanted to hear, I found it funny how Ashton was teasing him.

My dramatic friend huffed. “Because you’re acting dense as if you don’t know what people do during this fantastical annual celebration.”

I could just picture Chris shaking his head at his younger sister before he replied with, “I know what people do during All-Star weekend, Ash. They watch the games. That doesn’t sound like what you’re talking about, though, and to be honest, I’m sickened by what you’re implying. If you don’t mind, I’d like to change the subject.”

I rolled my eyes. Did Chris always used to sound this…condescending? I guess it was safe to say that my rose-colored glasses had been removed.

“Fine,” Ashton huffed in my lap and I gave her a side-eye. I didn’t want to make my presence known to Chris, but I wanted to know why she thought having this conversation right here was a good idea.

“Don’t forget about the emergency contact thing, okay?”

Oh yeah, and that was questionable as well. I had no idea what the hell this girl was doing. What could it be? I was tempted to whisper it to her, but Chris interrupted my thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah. I got it. You know traffic is about to be a beast. Why would you even risk going downtown?” He sounded so dismissive of her that I became annoyed. Ashton grew up in Houston; she could navigate the traffic without it being made into a big deal. Damn, was Chris always such an asshole?

Ashton sucked her teeth and held the phone closer to her mouth. “It’s a risk worth taking, Chris. This is All-Star weekend! Everyone who is anyone is going to be in Houston, and I’m trying to secure the bag!”

I chuckled silently at her exuberance, and Chris laughed before speaking. “Ash, I know you were a thot for Halloween, but I didn’t know you were making it a lifestyle change.”

There were muffled noises coming through the phone that sounded like Chris was trying to hold in his laughter, but that corny shit wasn’t even funny. My eyebrows rose and Ashton sucked in a breath. Ooh, she didn’t like that one.

Her top lip curled, and her eyes narrowed as she stared off into the distance. “Oh yeah, there is another reason why I’m risking the crowds this weekend.”

Her voice had taken on a sinister edge that made me curiously excited.

“Word?” Chris’s questioned response sounded like he was as curious to hear her comeback as I was.

In all of the years that I had known Chris and Ashton, they were always clapping on each other. Although Chris could be corny, rarely was Ashton able to best him. I didn’t expect this time to be any different until she said, “My sister is going through a divorce and I’ve taken it upon myself to find her a big, rich dick to sit on until she feels better.”

“Oh shit,” I breathed in a low whisper, not even thinking about being heard. I definitely had not expected that, but I was proud as fuck. Ashton was fighting dirty because that was sure as shit a low blow.

This time, Chris didn’t echo my sentiment as he yelped out an angry, “What the fuck, Ash?! You know I don’t want to hear that shit!”

Ashton stood up from the couch quickly and yelled into the phone as if her brother was standing right in front of her. “DON’T CALL ME A MUTHAFUCKIN HOE THEN, NIGGA!” Her screeching had my eyebrows in my hairline. Damn, she was really mad about that thot comment.

“Chill the fuck out, Ashton! It ain’t that damn serious, and I didn’t call you a hoe.” His voice had calmed considerably as he attempted to placate Ashton, and I imagined that he was surprised by the level of ire that his normally easygoing sister possessed at that moment.

“Yes, the hell you did! What do you think a thot is?”

He was quiet for a moment, and I couldn’t decide if it was because he was thinking of a lie or because he genuinely didn’t know. “I don’t know; a gold digger or something.”

I heard the honesty in his voice, and I rolled my eyes at his idiocy.

Ashton was unamused. “Thot is an acronym for That Hoe Over There.”

“Seriously?”

I almost laughed aloud at his incredulity. What a fucking idiot.

Ashton huffed into the phone. “How about your old ass do some research the next time you want to pick up some slang from your students.”

I nodded in agreement with that statement. Chris was so busy trying to be the “cool teacher” that he was making a fool of himself with little shit like this. And how the hell didn’t he know what it meant? If you hear your students use a word that you know isn’t in the dictionary, have them give you the definition and use it in a sentence. Call it a teaching moment or something, but educate yourself.

When he spoke again, he sounded remorseful, and I couldn’t help but notice that that particular tone had been missing on the night he asked for a divorce. How can a man be sorry about accidentally calling his sister a hoe but not be sorry that he secretly filed for a divorce from his wife?

Yeah…sitting and listening to this conversation had been a bad idea. I knew it would be, but I was just so damn nosy. But just like I felt like shit right now, I had to remember that curiosity killed the cat. I don’t know what Ashton’s intentions were when she made that phone call, but I should have shut it down as soon as I heard Chris’s voice come on the line.

I got off the couch and left Ashton in the living room to continue her phone call with her brother.

A short time later, Ashton appeared in the doorway of the bathroom and stood there watching me as I looked through my makeup bag for colors I wanted to wear that evening.

“You’re mad at me.” It wasn’t a question because she knew the answer already. I didn’t say anything, just continued to rifle through my lipstick tubes.

“I’m sorry.” She scooted into the room and hugged me from the side. I stopped pretending to ignore her and gave her a hard stare in the mirror.

“What was the point of all of that, Ash?”

Her thin shoulders lifted and fell. “I was just trying to help.” At my disbelieving look, she hurried to clarify her statement. “I figured that if Chris thought you were going to meet someone new that he would be jealous and want to stay married.”

I guess I could see the logic in her thought process. Maybe something like that would work for another couple, but Ashton failed to take into consideration that her brother had never been a jealous person when it came to me. From the moment I met him, I’d been a sure thing. He knew I didn’t have eyes for anyone else, so he never had anything to be insecure about. I didn’t want to think about why I was sad to know that my husband had never been jealous over me.

I sighed. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Ashton. I really do, but I think it’s time for you to accept that nothing is going to keep me and Chris together. He doesn’t care enough about me for something like that to work.”

She didn’t respond to that. What could she have said? There was nothing to say. After a moment of silence, I resumed going through my bag and Ashton disappeared. Unable to concentrate, I set the bag down and went to put away the things that I’d left in the living room. Once the room was clear and I’d straightened the cushions, I went to pull out my outfit for that night. There were about two hours until the time we’d decided to leave, and I was restless.

I thought about the whole conversation between Ashton and Chris. Not once did he ask about me. He knew that she was staying with me, and with me moving out, he had no idea what the status of my living situation was, and yet…nothing. No concern for how I was holding up, no instructions for Ashton to look out for me. Just…radio silence.

He really didn’t give a fuck about me.

Even if he didn’t love me romantically anymore if he cared about me at all, he would at least try to make sure that I was okay. He might have had time to mentally disconnect himself from me, but this had been sudden for me. It hadn’t been easy to completely shut off the faucet of my love, but with every day that went by and I saw just how much of a piece of shit Chris was, the flow got thinner and thinner.

I looked at my clothes laying on the bed and finally figured out what makeup I wanted to wear. I went back into the bathroom and started to pull out the items I had in mind. I always did my makeup before getting dressed. I washed my face and started beating my face.

“I don’t remember if I told you this, but I love that short haircut on you.”

I stopped applying my lipstick and met Ashton’s eyes in the mirror. “Thanks, boo.” There was a contemplative expression on her face so I waited to see if she would say something else.

She still hadn’t given me “the talk” I had been expecting, and there had been no tears, which was a surprise. That one question earlier couldn’t have been it for her. Ashton had wanted me and Chris to get together almost as much as I did and because she and I were as close as sisters, she probably had a lot invested in our marriage and the success of our relationship. Her chest rose with a deep inhalation and I braced myself for the onslaught of whatever she was holding in.

“I’m sorry.”

Nothing else followed those two words and I blinked. “Bish, whet?”

She shook her head, and her eyes became glassy. Noooo! I didn’t need her to start crying right now! If she started crying then I would surely follow right behind her, and I was sick to death of crying over my failed relationship.

“I’m serious, Ned. I feel like this is my fault too.”

I spun around and faced her. She stood in the doorway of the singular shoebox of a bathroom, dressed to the gawds in an azure strapless dress that left none of her slender curves to the imagination. The sides of the dress were made of strings crisscrossing all the way down, exposing thick swaths of the same light, red-brown skin she shared with her brother. Her relaxed honey-brown hair was shiny and glossy, brushing her shoulders in a straight bob. Her face was beat; lipstick and eyeshadow matching the striking blue of her dress. When had she done her makeup? How long had I been lost in my thoughts?

But my friend’s pretty face was crinkled into a pout, and I had to frown at her words.

“Are you really going to make this shit about you, Ash? Really?”

“No! That’s not what I’m doing.”

I sucked my teeth. “That’s what it sounds like. Your brother is divorcing me, and here you go saying it’s your fault. Do you hear what I’m saying? That’s what I hear.”

“Nedra!” She cried my name desperately. “I said that because I feel like I pushed y’all to get together, so in a roundabout way, this is my fault.”

I stared at her. Her face was twisted in agony. This damn girl was serious. Being in California had turned her into the stereotypical, airhead valley girl. I couldn’t believe it and had to laugh. She gaped at me and her mouth hung open.

“If you don’t shut your ass up. This mess is between me and Chris; it has nothing to do with you at all. Seriously, Ashton, unless you dragged Chris to a lawyer and physically forced him to file those papers then this is in no way your fault.”

The dramatic way that her shoulders collapsed in obvious relief concerned me. “Did you think I would blame you?”

She hesitated and wrung her fingers together. “I…wasn’t sure.”

I cocked my head and stared at her hard. “What kind of idiot do you think I am? Why would I place any responsibility for my marriage on your shoulders? What sense does that make? Especially when I haven’t done that once in the entire time that Chris and I have been together. Not even in college.” There had to be something else. Her statements felt deeper than some misplaced sense of responsibility.

“Welllll…” The word dragged for at least fifteen l’s, further annoying me. Her eyes flitted about the room, and I wondered if I was going to have to smack her to make her spit it out. “Chris told me how you were going to shoot him and…”

My eyes widened. So his bitch ass went and tattled on me to Ashton? Wow.

“When did he tell you that?” More than two months had passed since that night, and Ashton hadn’t brought this up before. Did he tell her on the phone earlier after I had stepped out of the room?

Ashton winced and I knew instantly that she knew before tonight.

“He, uh…he called me that night and told me.”

Surprised, I jerked back, my butt hitting the counter. “That night? The night he told me he wanted a divorce?” I was in disbelief. She knew about it this whole time and never asked me about it? I wasn’t mad that she’d never brought it up, but that didn’t seem like something she would be able to keep to herself.

She nodded. “Yeah. He called me, crying because he thought he’d driven you crazy. He really thought you were going to shoot him. I had to calm him down and convince him that you weren’t going to shoot him for real.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “Uh, no bitch. I was definitely going to shoot his ass.”

Ashton sputtered and grabbed the door frame. “No, you weren’t!”

I propped a hand on my hip. “Yes, the fuck I was. He was gon’ get some street cred that night with his punk ass.”

“You were going to shoot my brother?!”

“Bitch, your brother fucked me doggy style then asked for a divorce! I was going to shoot his kneecaps off so he could never doggy style another bitch in his life!”

“Nedra!” She looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“That’s my name, bitch” I snapped at her. I was irritated. What Chris had said to her was closer to the truth than I wanted to admit to myself. I was undeniably a little crazy that night. My heart was hurting and had convinced my brain that I was dreaming, in an attempt to deal with the pain.

“I want to be mad at you but…”

I sighed. Ashton was my friend, had been my best friend since I was fourteen. But she was also Chris’s sister. “For the record, I didn’t really think I would hurt him. I thought I was dreaming, and you know how they say that you can’t feel pain or die in a dream? Well, I figured if I shot him then I would wake up and everything would go back to normal.”

The sympathy in her eyes made me look away from her. I hadn’t even told Shanice that part.

“Aww, sissy!” She squeezed into the bathroom and wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my neck.

I felt the tears rise in the back of my throat and tried to stave them off. I needed to get her off of me. “Ashton, your makeup!”

“Duh, I used a setting spray! This shit ain’t going anywhere.” Then she sniffled. “I’m so sorry, Ned. You don’t deserve to go through this.”

I nodded, afraid that saying anything would release the dam of my tears. She rubbed my back and rocked us back and forth for a few minutes and I let her, knowing that she needed this. Ashton was the more emotional of the two of us and the dissolution of my marriage would be hard on her. She’d been calling me her sister since we were kids, and when I legally became her sister you couldn’t tell her shit. Now that bond was disappearing, at least legally, and I had no idea how she would react.

Suddenly, her hands froze on my back, and she leaned back to look me in the eye. I met her suspicious gaze with my curious one.

“What?”

She stepped back and propped both of her hands on her slender hips. “Wait a damn minute. If the belief is that you can’t feel pain or die in a dream then why were you going to shoot Chris?”

I processed her words and cracked up laughing. “Oh shit.” I bent over at the waist and laughed until my ribs hurt. “Ashton, I really am crazy.”

She didn’t know why I was laughing, but she started chuckling along with me.

I stood upright and tried to speak through my giggles. “Girl, you know how they say, when you get married, two become one?” I waited for her to nod before I continued. “Okay, so like, I figured that because we were one, shooting him would hurt me.” I shook my head at the logic my heartbroken self had conjured up. “Ooh shit, I am a damn psycho.” My laughter petered off and out of nowhere, I burst into tears. “I’m so fucking crazy!”

I dropped down to the closed toilet and covered my face with my hands. Ashton rushed over and kneeled next to me, wrapping her arms around me and resuming her rocking motion from before.

“You’re not crazy; you’re heartbroken. I’m so sorry, sissy.”

I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but my butt started to hurt from sitting on the hard toilet seat, and my back started to ache from being in a hunched position. Ashton released me as soon as I started to lift up, but she didn’t back away. She leaned back and studied my face, presumably to see if I was okay. Grabbing tissues from a box on the back of the toilet, she wiped the tears from my face and shoved some in my hand so I could blow my nose. When I was done, I nodded and she stood up and backed toward the door.

Following suit, I stopped in front of the mirror to look at my face. The waterproof mascara I had applied and nude lipstick that matched my skin tone were still intact, but my eyeliner had run a little bit. An easy fix. I looked at Ashton and was surprised to see her face still looked flawless.

“Damn, Ash, I need to try that setting spray.”

She smiled at me and posed for a second, blinking her eyes coquettishly. She dropped the pose and raised her eyebrows at me. “Do you want to stay in tonight?”

I shook my head. After that cry, I definitely needed to get out. I wanted to go to this club and dance. Chris and I never used to go to clubs, but I loved to dance and rarely got to do it. Not only that, I knew how badly Ashton wanted to go out. Her whole trip home was because of this weekend, and I would not hold her back from being the thot she claimed she wasn’t.

“Absolutely not. There is twerking to be done tonight. I need copious amounts of alcoholic beverages and random niggas tryna grope my ass as I walk by.”

Ashton gave me a knowing look. “All of that is doable. I’ll take care of everything, and the groping is guaranteed.”

“Good.” So I turned and redid my eye makeup then went into my room to get dressed. The dress I’d planned for tonight was something that had caught my eye online more than a year ago. It was a long-sleeved, bodycon scoop-neck dress that I’d purchased, even though I had nowhere to wear it. The soft pink color looked amazing against my dark brown hue, and the smooth fabric felt amazing against my skin.

I paired the dress with strappy sandals in the same pink shade that I had bought from the same boutique months after the dress but also not had a chance to wear. I kept my jewelry understated, going with a simple pair of large wooden earrings in the shape of a black woman’s head and afro and a thin gold chain, with an N pendant in the center, around my neck. With the fresh haircut I’d gotten that morning plus the mani and pedi that Ashton had treated me to, I looked—and felt—good as fuck. When I walked into the living room, Ashton put two fingers in her mouth and let out a loud wolf whistle.

“Gotdamn, Nedra!”

I grinned and posed as she whipped out her phone and took a picture. I’d taken a couple of selfies in my room but hadn’t posted them anywhere on social media.

“Are you ready?” I had a small clutch that held my phone and card case along with gum and a mini switchblade hidden inside of a lipstick tube. I had done my research on this club we were going to, and there were no guns allowed, but I wasn’t going anywhere without some type of protection. Plus, I kept a gun in my car at all times. Folks were crazy out there these days.

We were in my car and on the road in no time, and Ashton proceeded to tell me about her foolproof plan to secure a sexual partner.

“Girl, I’m telling you, this app has been the best thing to ever happen to me.”

I shook my head at how earnest she sounded, but I didn’t respond. The quickly growing website designed for safe and verified one night stands, JustOneNight.com, had finally created a mobile app and apparently, Ashton was pleased with the outcome.

“All I do is turn on the location, and it shows me if I have any matches within a one-mile radius. I can adjust the range down or up to five miles.” She grinned. “Technology is amazing.”

I had to agree with that one, especially since it was allowing me to build a successful business from the ground up. “That it is.”

When we arrived downtown, I was unsurprised at the amount of traffic. This was a big weekend, and the surge of people to the city had already been planned for weeks. I had purchased a parking permit for the weekend the moment Ashton told me she was making the trip. I preferred having my own transportation than having to depend on a rideshare app or having to hoof it back and forth to the train. The garage that I purchased my permit from was central to all of the event venues.

To my surprise, Ashton had purchased tickets to the game on Sunday as well as the rookie game and the multiple challenges taking place. I know that had cost a grip, but she said she had it, so I didn’t ask her any more questions. Cali had apparently been good to my friend.

The line to get into the VR Club & Lounge was literally wrapped around the building. I had started to slow down because as eager as I was to drop it like it was hot, I was not down to wait in a long-ass line.

Ashton noticed that I had fallen behind, and she grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. “Come on, sissy. That line isn’t for us.” To my surprise, she walked right up to the door and gave her name to the heavily muscled man at the door. He flicked his finger across the screen of the tablet in his hand and two seconds later, turned to nod at the similarly shaped man behind him who was blocking the door. The second man stood aside, and Ashton pulled me into the building.

“What the hell just happened? You were on a list? How?”

Ashton flipped the end of her bob back. “You ain’t know, girl? I know people.”

If I hadn’t witnessed what I’d just witnessed, I would have laughed in her face, but I was walking into a brand new night-club that was owned by a professional basketball player, and it was all because of her. So, maybe she really did know people. What the hell was Ashton doing out in Cali?

We rounded a corner and came into a wide open space of the club. It was a huge room that looked to be divided up into zones. There was a bar on either side of the room, each almost as long as the building and already swarmed with people. To our right, on a raised platform, was the DJ, who was speaking into a mic over some random rap song. Across the room, opposite the DJ, was another raised platform that had several sections of couches. At the foot of the short flight of steps that led to that platform stood another large man. That must be the VIP section.

After looking around and taking in her surroundings, Ashton looked back at me and asked in a loud voice, “Drinks or dancing first?”

I didn’t even hesitate to call back, “Drinks!”

She nodded and led me over to the bar closest to us. We waited for a couple of minutes for one of the many bartenders to get a moment and acknowledge us. When a woman with a braided mohawk came over, Ashton gave her order then looked back at me.

“Whiskey sour, Jameson, extra sour, please.”

She nodded and started on our drinks. While we waited, I looked around the room. There were so many people here. From my limited memory of clubbing back in college, people didn’t usually come out until well after eleven. It was just after ten, but the dance floor looked like it was already midnight.

I chose to come early because I anticipated there being heavy traffic and had hoped to avoid the long line that would surely be at the door come midnight. Had I known that Ashton was on the list, I would have waited at least another hour. Looking at the crush of people all around, it looked like we made the right decision anyway.

Ashton nudged me, and I turned to see my drink sitting in front of me. I grabbed it and took a sip. It was perfect. I started to unzip my clutch, but Ashton grabbed my hand, stopping me. I looked up and she leaned in close to my ear.

“Drinks on me tonight.”

I smirked. “Say no more.” I looked at the bartender who was placing Ashton’s dirty martini on a bar napkin and pointed to my glass. “Let me get another one of these.” Ashton laughed and pulled a card out of the top of her dress. She handed it to the bartender.

“Start me a tab, hun.” The woman grinned and took the card. By the time she placed my second drink on the bar, my first was gone. I sucked down the fresh one quickly and pulled Ashton to the dance floor. She laughed at my antics and shifted her drink to her other hand so she wouldn’t spill it.

The DJ was playing Crew by Goldlink, and I loved that song. I started rocking my hips and swaying to the music. Ashton started rapping, and I laughed as she stumbled over the words. The DJ asked if all the ladies were ready and then the song switched to Rake It Up by Yo Gotti. Ashton screamed and bent at the waist, shaking her hips left and right. I put my hands in the air and danced along with her. She stood upright and got behind me, pushing at my back to bend me over. I laughed at her silliness but did as she instructed. I put my hands on my knees and twerked my ass on her. She rubbed her unoccupied hand on my ass but when she slapped my butt, I jerked forward. Her bony-ass fingers hurt.

“Bitch, watch those sticks you call fingers!”

She laughed at me. “My bad, sissy.” She’d finished her drink, and the empty glass was dangling from her fingers. “Let’s go back to the bar.” I followed her back across the dancefloor and requested a bottle of water as she set her empty glass on the bartop. She pulled out her phone and started moving her thumbs across the screen.

“Lemme see if there’s some dick in here with my name on it.”

I chuckled and accepted my water, downing half the bottle in seconds. Dancing had heated me up, and the iciness of the drink was hydrating and cooling. Ashton gripped my arm and I looked at her.

“You found someone?”

The smirk she gave me answered the question. She told me to follow her as she, in turn, followed the app in the direction it led her. We pushed through the crowd until we were in the back of the room where the VIP platform was. I glanced at her, wondering if she was going to go in another direction or if the bouncer was her new dick. I was surprised when, once again, she gave her name and the man moved to the side.

My eyes widened, and I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “Biiiitch! Who the fuck are you?” Ashton was on lists and shit now, and I didn’t know what to do with this new development.

Ashton looked back at me, and that ever-present smirk was on her face. “You ain’t know, bitch? I’m Ashton fucking Phillips.”

I threw my head back and laughed hard at that. “You right.”