Page 35 of Grown Folks Confessions: Black Lush

Fucking sideways.

Fucking upside-down.

Fucking from the back.

Fucking several times a day.

Long fucks.

Quick fucks.

Mouth-only fucks.

Basically, straight fucking any and every way you could. Was it the best thing to be known for? Depends on who you asked. Did we give a fuck? Nah.

My cousins and I bounced around a few more ideas as to why we’d been asked to meet at this New York hotel when in walked a woman that made us immediately shut our mouths. Her head was down and in some papers, but it was the way she glided into the room that had me whistling in appreciation and muffling a curse under my breath. Ma was a baddie with those damn luscious curves and stiletto heels. Then again, she always was drop dead gorgeous, although she didn’t hold a candle to Layla in my opinion.

When she slightly glanced up, I looked to Demetrius who was shell-shocked to see her, but tried to mask it.

“Fix your faces, gentlemen,” she warned, coming to a stand in the front of the room. “I’m a happily married woman, and trust me, you don’t want any problems with my husband.” When she winked, it was directed at me since I was the only one of my cousins in the room who had attended her wedding.

“Jade Daniels,” I huffed, shaking my head in surprise.

“It’s Crowne now, remember?”

I nodded. “Right, my bad.” I thought about the fact that we were all gathered together. “Should have known a Crowne was involved in secret meeting shit.”

Now that I recalled, the hotel we were at was down the street from Black Crowne Hotel and Spa that the Crownes owned, so it made sense. In Chicago, the Crownes ran shit, just like us Hoods did in Detroit. Although I’d been in Chicago for years after my brothers and I opened our tattoo shop there, most of my cousins still lived in the Detroit area. Didn’t take long for us to get approached by a member of the Crowne family to “welcome” us to the neighborhood. Or in other words, remind us to stay in our lane in a city that put the Crownes at the top of the throne.

“Aww, come on now,” she replied with a wink. “I married a Crowne, but you know I still got love for my Detroit hometown.”

“Do you?” Demetrius asked, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall, looking her up and down. “The Jade from high school wasn’t the boujee one I’m looking at now. Get a man with clout and she’ll show you her true colors.”

And there it was … the bitterness in his voice since back in the day, everybody knew that Jade was D’s girl and she was not to be fucked with. She was one of Layla’s best friends, too, so I’d always been cool with Jade. But when her and D broke up, his ass went from a man you didn’t want to cross to an even more dangerous version of himself without her to keep him in check.

Jade lifted an eyebrow, placing a firm hand on her hip. “Funny, since you clearly haven’t changed.” She pinned him with a hard stare. “You still seem like the same bitter asshole who fucked around on me, then got pissed when I kicked yo’ cheating ass to the curb. But why you still mad, D? ’Cause I found a man to fuck me how I like and give me what you couldn’t?”

“Dayummm,” Cease chanted, observing them both and acting like he was eating popcorn. “Hell, I was locked up when y’all broke up. I forgot how much I missed watching the Jade and Demetrius sitcom.”

“Be careful,” Demetrius warned, his eyes on Jade. “Those who have talked to me the way you are now don’t stay breathing for long.”

She stepped to him, her voice serious when she said, “Out of respect for the gentlemen in this room and your folks, who I still consider family, Ima let that shit slide and not tell my husband that you threatened me.” She took another step forward, eye level with his chest, and to our surprise, she slapped him hard across his cheek, pointing a finger his way before adding, “But step out of pocket again and you’ll leave this hotel in a body bag. Trust me on that.”

Demetrius clenched and unclenched his jaw, but he didn’t say shit else. Once upon a time, we all had thought Jade and Demetrius would end up married with a bus load of kids one day. And even though they’d broken up way before she ended up with Nash Crowne, D still saw it as one of us had lost a good woman to one of them. Although I didn’t recall meeting the Crownes until I moved to Chicago, D and a few other cousins had. He couldn’t stand they ass, despite the fact that Midas’ brother, Constantine, and Pharaoh Crowne had a close relationship.

For D, Jade was Detroit born and bred, so in a way, the Hoods had called dibs on her. She was ours and he wasn’t wrong in how he felt. But he’d fucked up and lost her, and clearly, he hadn’t gotten over it.

“Anyway,” Jade voiced, shrugging off her annoyance, “this meeting ain’t about none of that petty bullshit. I needed each of you here for a very important offer that I would like to make.” She sat at the head of the conference table and nodded to Demetrius to join the rest of us who were already seated. “I had an emergency come up with my business and I need some help.”

“Whatever it is, you know we got you,” I told her, ignoring the grunt I heard from Demetrius. “You could have just told us in the message though. Detroit folks look out for their own.”

“I appreciate that, Ares,” she replied. “But I didn’t want to tell you what it was via message and risk you all saying no. Plus, I’m sure everyone here has heard certain things about the Crownes past what y’all already knew, and secrecy seemed best when I reached out. I thrive off being discreet with business. Which brings me to my first question.” She looked around the room. “Are all of you familiar with what I do for a living?”

“Yeah,” I answered, but a few of my cousins glanced at each other, seemingly unsure.

“Well, just to reiterate for those who don’t know, I run a couple exclusive fantasy lounges here in New York called First Class Fantasy.”

“Yo, ain’t that the sex club?” Alessandro asked. “Where you can fuck whoever you want whenever you please?”

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