Carina

I slink into the passenger seat and watch Valentino disappear as Desirae drives away. “How was your weekend?” I decide to beat Desirae to the punch.

“I’m sure not as interesting as yours… But I did get laid so much that I needed a hot bath to soothe my lady bits… gotta abstain for a few days. Damn that man can fuck!”

I throw my head back laughing. It isn’t often that Des can’t keep up with a guy. She’s usually complaining that they’re done after five minutes and have completely neglected her. I’m starting to see a pattern her. MEN know how to please a woman. BOYS just aim to bust a nut.

“Unlike you” I playfully scoff, “Valentino took me out. He bought me some things and we had dinner at some nice place on Park Avenue.”

Desirae bounces in her seat. “Oh, that hurt” she winces. She leans to the side and continues to drive in that position.

I scrunch my face at her. “Don’t ask me to rub ointment on your shit! You need to learn your limits instead of letting the man fuck you into oblivion.”

“Worth it” Desirae singsongs. “So…” she drawls, “Have you checked your phone all weekend?”

“I had to turn the damn thing off” I shake my head in disgust. “He finally decided to fucking start harassing me Saturday afternoon. He must remember something since this is the first time he’s tried reaching out to me in two weeks.”

Desirae’s face pinches like she’s dying to say something but doesn’t know whether to share it or not. “I’m sure whatever you want to say Des is already on this phone. Just spill it so that you can spare me the bullshit.” I stare at the blinking red light letting me know I have all kinds of voicemail messages and unread text messages.

She exhales slowly causing my hackles to rise. Apparently, this is going to be big or bad, or both. What the hell did he do after we parted ways Friday evening?

“There are two things you should be aware of” Desirae begins, “The first is that there are social media pictures of you and Valentino leaving the club Friday night. Everyone’s seen it and decided to call both of us about it.”

My hands twitch wanting to pull up these so-called pictures. “Are they bad?” I quietly ask. Was I humping him in the parking lot or something? Are there cameras in his office? Why didn’t he mention anything? Surely a man of his position would know what’s out there posted about him.

“On the contrary… you two appear intimate, tasteful… Like a real couple. You make him look younger.” Desirae laughs making me smile. Valentino isn’t old, but he did confess that I’m the youngest woman he’s ever been with.

“The other thing…” she hesitates. By the tension in her voice I know this is going to be bad. She parks the car at a nearby grocery store. Yep, really bad…. “Everyone’s talking about Jaxon.”

I arch my brows waiting for the rest. This isn’t news. Where’s she going with this? Desirae nods before continuing. “They say he banged that blonde bimbo he was feeling up Friday night.”

I sigh not in the least bit surprised. Jaxon couldn’t mask the relief and irritation on his face when we’d “talked” during his drunken stupor. I doubt he even remembers the conversation.

“It gets worse” she hedges. Time to brace myself. “Apparently” she emphasizes the word, “It was so good that the bitch cried or passed out. That motivated the entire sorority to an orgy that featured Jaxon as the headliner. Word has it Pete and the other dickwads took advantage and partook in the sorority fuck-fest.”

Aaannnddd whatever little hope I had left for Jaxon is gone… I swallow the bile threatening to climb up my throat. “Well, Jaxon Wright always goes big or goes home right?” I hate that my voice trembles. There should be nothing but disgust lacing every word. Just knowing he slept with that many girls in one night makes my skin crawl. I’ve allowed him to go bareback more than one. I make a mental note to get tested for every fucking thing under the sun after classes this week.

“For what it’s worth I am sorry” Desirae whispers into the silence of the car.

A traitorous tear trickles down my cheek. “We both called it Des. This was just the kind of embarrassment I wanted to avoid when I left him the first time.” What I would give to just be back in Valentino’s condo away from all this drama. I lean my head back knowing I need to face this. I hand Desirae my phone so she can read the slew of text messages.