Icrossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the counter. “Not that I care how you have fun, Laney, but you’re telling me that you’re going to go an entire year without penis?” I shook my head. “Don’t believe it.”
Wehad a small kitchen table that could only accommodate two chairs, and Laney plopped herself down in one of the chairs and grinned up at me with her elbows on the table. “It’s true,” she insisted.
I looked at myfriend and wondered how we could get along so well with us being so different. Physically, I was her complete opposite with my black hair, blue eyes, short stature-I was only five-foot-three-and I had curves where Laney was curvy but slim. She bordered that line where she could go without a bra if she had to, but she still ought to wear one. Plus, she was proud to show off what The Good Lord gave her. I had confidence, and I knew I wasn’t ugly, but I gravitated towards privacy more than openness. I didn’t mind PDA, but I preferred not to overdo it.
Wewere complete opposites in looks and personality, but I just loved her to death.
Myarms dropped to my sides. “So, why this sudden turnabout?”
Sheshrugged a shoulder, and I thought I saw something flash in her eyes, but it was gone so quickly that I might have imagined it. “It’s time to get serious,” she replied. “I spent my freshman, sophomore, and junior years sowing my wild oats fantastically. It’s time to get real about my next step.”
Somethingsounded off, but I couldn’t disagree with anything she’d just said. “Well, I have no doubt we’re going to rock our senior year, Laney,” I predicted.
Laney grinned up at me. “We got this, girl.”
I nodded. “We got this,” Iagreed.
Chapter 3
Stone~
The initiation ceremony was this Friday, and my father’s phone calls have increased over this past weekend. Every call was in the disguise of checking in on me, but he’s never checked on me continuously before, so he wasn’t fooling anyone.
He knew it, also.
Jonathan Lexington was as brilliant as they came. The man was a Wallstreet banker and financier, and he hadn’t made billions being stupid. My mother, Tami Lexington, was what you expected the wife of Jonathan Lexington to be, and they made the perfect power couple.
My motherwas arm candy, and she spent a fortune every year to make sure she looked the part to perfection. While they had both given up on their wedding vows ages ago, they were still very dedicated to the Lexington empire they’ve built. A younger, prettier version of my mother was not going to come along and ruin what she’s built. Same could be said for my father. He had no problem with my mother straying as long as he still held her leash tightly in his fist.
Still, while my mother’s job was to look good on my father’s arm, she wasn’t simple like a lot of socialite wives. Tami Lexington was just as formidable as her husband, and together they made one hell of a team.
Evident by this upcoming Fridaynight’s activities.
However,if there was one thing that could be said of being raised by a man who viewed obstacles as challenges and a woman who viewed ambition as a religious calling, it was that I didn’t know how to quit or settle. I was only twenty-two, but I had stopped being young on my fourteenth birthday when I’d been told what was expected of me. From then on, it had been nothing but focus and determination.
If there was something I wanted, nothing could stop me from getting it.
Also, even though I knew my initiation class was made up of the best of the best in my generation, I still wasn’t intimidated. I’d get a feel for each guy and go from there, and the only way the girls would come to matter was if they ended up together. At that point, I’d have to reevaluate and research the girl’s background a bit more. Again, Kincaid Black was the only wild card among them.
Plus,the rules were simple: you didn’t fuck around with your girl unless you planned on marrying her. That was the only condition to approve a relationship with your chosen female. You had to marry her if you planned on sticking your dick in her.
There were no exceptions.
Thatnon-negotiable rule came into play about thirty years ago when one of the chosen females had become a woman scorned and had threatened the entire organization’s foundation. Pillow talk had made her privy to all kinds of confidential shit, and that had made her dangerous. The rumor was that when she’d been cast aside by her sponsor, she had worked her skills on his father. Both being high-profile and powerful, she had been bathing in a fountain of information that she should never had known.
Anotherrumor was that she had taken her own life before she could cause any irrevocable damage, but I suspected the girl hadn’t met her maker voluntarily. That was just me, though.
So, now, if you got involved with your chosen female, you’d better have plans to marry her. Since a lot of guys didn’t want to get tied down before the money really started rolling in, and they started basking in the high life, every man since then has kept things strictly professional.
Or sothose were the rumors.
I hadn’t been concerned with the players until these past few years, though. I could give two fucks what happened thirty years ago. All I cared about were the recent years, and how I needed to use the past to shape my future.
Right now, I was on my way to Business Strategies, hoping to avoid another phone call from my father on why he thought it’s a bad idea that I was opting not to choose a girl for my initiation. My reasons were endless, but-
All thoughts came to halt as a body crashed into me, and I was certain I would never be the same again. As a matter of fact, Iknewit.
My right arm wrapped around a soft, lush female form as I steadied the both of us to keep us from falling. “Oh, God,” came an embarrassed female voice. “I’m so sorry.” I’d been about to tell her it was okay, but then she looked up at me, and my entire world stopped.