Page 37 of Grown Folks Confessions: Black Lush

“You know what I mean. Seems fitting that you participate in that too given you’ve been fucking on random naughty holidays for years. Basically, shit nobody celebrated, except y’all nasty ass Hoods.”

“You damn right,” Cease stated, dabbing fists with Midas. “Us Hoods are naughty by nature.”

“That’s it!” Jade exclaimed. “When referring to the group as a whole, we’ll refer to you as Naughty Hoods by Nature.”

“It fits,” I said. “Growing up in the hood, our name always had a double meaning, so it ain’t far-fetched.”

“Exactly. Which brings up another point,” Jade stated. “For the Naughty Novice Holiday series, every now and then, one of you will be our featured male member for the month or quarter to help highlight each of you and yourtalents.” She wiggled her eyebrows at the last part.

“Will we get paid for this?” Rio asked.

She shook her head. “I’ll waive your membership fee. But, gentlemen, make no mistake that I could have asked any men to lead the Naughty Novice Holiday series, but I’m tryin’ to look out for y’all.”

“And we kinda inspired it,” I added.

She grinned. “The point is, this could be great at furthering your individual businesses and live out your sexual fantasies. Not to mention all the fucking fantastic sex you’ll have as a Lush member. And all of you are single with no serious attachments. There will be other male members as a part of these new locations, but you six will be the main entrée. Could even extend to more Hoods if you have other male family members who are interested. All I’m asking is for a couple days a month, or every other month, for up to a year of your time with the possibility of extending your contract and membership when the time comes.”

The room grew silent as we let Jade’s words sink in while she went through a few more slides before sliding over six identical contracts.

“Can we have a moment to discuss this?” Midas asked after she was finished.

Jade nodded. “Sure. I’ll check back in twenty minutes.”

When she closed the door, a few of my cousins started speaking at once.

“We’re not doing this, right?” Alessandro asked.

Cease laughed. “Cuzzo, speak for yo’ damn self.”

“Dro is right,” Rio stated. “Fellas, I know we’ve done some crazy shit before, but damn. Naughty Hoods by Nature, kinda like the hip hop group? Should we come up with our own theme song while we’re at it?”

Midas placed a hand on his chin. “You know what, that’s not a bad idea.”

Rio shook his head. “I’m joking, fool.”

“I’m not. I’m sure I could come up with some shit.”

Knowing Midas, the shit would be bomb too since he freestyled on the side anyway. A few of the cousins did, but Midas was lyrical with his shit.

Out of the cousins in the room, Demetrius and Cease were the oldest, but in more ways than one, Demetrius was who we all looked up to for advice.

“What do you think we should do, D?” I asked.

He leaned back in the desk chair and crossed his hands behind his head. “Over the years, the family has always looked at us as the fuck up crew, am I right?”

We all nodded in agreement.

“Yet, one thing we excel at in the family is sexually pleasing a woman and catering to her needs in the bedroom. This whole thing is unconventional as hell, but when else would we have an opportunity to be a part of something like this? I’d never give Jade the satisfaction of telling her this, but she knows a bunch of men she could have asked, but she chose us because she knows we’ll deliver.”

I observed my other cousins as they contemplated his words.

“Ares, what do you think?” Rio asked.

“He’s in,” Midas answered, not even looking up as he scrolled through the contract. “He was in before Jade even finished explaining the details, but he ain’t want to sway y’all opinion.”

I laughed at how well Midas knew me. He was right though. I’d seen Jade the most in recent years and the trust between us was there.

We talked a bit more before Jade sauntered back into the conference room twenty minutes on the dot. “Well, gentlemen, what will it be?”

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