Playin' Hard (Original version)

Twenty-six

"Did you hook up in Florida?"

He smirked and let out a chuckle. "No, I didn't."

"Then what happened?"

"What happened in your room?"

I stared at him as he stared at me. What happened in my room was something I barely liked acknowledging, let alone was it something I wanted to put out there for them to dissect. If it got out, the truth of the matter would get out and that was something I could barely swallow on most days knowing on my own.

"I didn't fuck her."

"Ever think about it?"

"No, she's not the type of girl you fuck. You make love to her."

This caused all of the boys to laugh and tease me, my brother included.

"What?" I asked, becoming annoyed.

Marcus spoke up. "Nothing, you sound like a virgin. Just because you're with a good girl doesn't mean you can't get a little interesting."

I looked to my brother who simply agreed.

I stared down at the hardwood floor, feeling more and more inadequate. Of course Marcus and Darnel knew that about girls and relationships, and of course I didn't.

"You ever think about making love to her?" Tremaine goaded next.

Shooting Tremaine a glare, I controlled the urge to tell him to fuck off. "Why you teasing me, Trey?"

He lit a cigar, taking a puff and leaning back in his chair. "Besides the fact that I can? Because, you're in love with Cree and I don't get why you're wasting your time with Draya."

I didn't have the energy to laugh it off. I could only glower at my best friend.

He sat up and took another drag from his cigar. "One reason why I never allowed myself to get too deep with Cree or fall for her is because of you. Florida was fun but I thought of you. It's been there from the beginning. The moment you first argued and she stood up to you. The moment we tricked her into going to the hookah bar and almost Inferno and she got pissed and stood up to you again. It's the way you look at her, like you respect her, but won't hesitate to put her in her place for her own good. The way she looks at you says it all. The chemistry is undeniable."

Chris frowned as he faced me. "Plus you have been weird since my party, since the morning after. You barely looked at her, and you barely look at her now."

Tremaine bobbed his head. "You're my best friend, and sometimes as best friends we gotta call each other out on bullshit. We all knew Marc was in love with Troy for a minute—"

"Ain't no one talking about love in our relationship," Marcus cut in.

Chris snorted. "Really? We're going to play this game?"

Marcus waved him off. "We're happy, leave it alone."

I dropped the whole topic, not feeling like getting into it. The only people who knew about Draya's pregnancy were the boys and the girls, my family was in the dark and I couldn't imagine the disappointment when Darnel found out. Besides, I wasn't "with" Draya.

"Truth or Truth?" Chris asked next, aiming the question at Tremaine.

"Truth," he answered.

"If you're not into Cree, who were you talking about the other day at the court?"

Tremaine grinned. "Castidad Iglesias."