Politics. Escorts. Blackmail. (24 page)

Darla waved her hand at Magnolia. “See, you trip me out. Your banker look, with your hair always pulled back, wearing suits and carrying briefcases just doesn’t match with that madness.” She shook her head. “I know you meet guys, but, I can’t even picture you doing that.”

Magnolia nodded to the bartender as she set down their drinks. She asked Darla, “Well what about you? Like we’d ever be able to picture you doing anything.”

“To tell you the truth, I’ve been thinking about opening a business. I mean, I think maybe it’s about time for me to do something with what’s left of this life insurance money.” She heard her own words and knew it was her overbearing pride that was bigger than her honesty. “And, I was wondering what it would take for me to open an adult store.”

“An adult toy store? You?” Magnolia asked, looking baffled. “And you can’t picture me online?”

“Well, you know I love lingerie. I was thinking about a lingerie store, and adding in some toys, videos, things like that.”

Rebe spoke with energy before Magnolia could say anything else. “That sounds good, Darla. If that’s what you wanna do, then I think you should do it.” Her eyes flipped between her friends. “I’m shaking off all that ‘what we can’t picture’ crap. So what do you say? Three of us? I mean, it’s just sex. It’s not gonna kill us. Let’s do it.”

Magnolia tapped her fingernails along the bar and looked left and then right at her friends. “Shit, might as well.”

Rebe smiled, noticing the time. “Then the challenge is on. Grab your glasses, ladies.”

Just then, just as the BFFs agreed to their sexploration rules, the boisterous countdown began around them. They all rose to their high-heeled feet, standing side-by-side on the concrete flooring, and raised their glasses high in the air.

“Ten.”

“Nine.”

“Eight.”

“Seven.”

“Six.”

“Five.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

As everyone began to yell, “Happy New Year,” Magnolia said extra-loud, “Here’s to girlfriends never being farther away than the arms of our hearts can reach.” It was the threesome’s sisterhood mantra.

Rebe and Darla nodded and smiled, and all three said together, “Cheers,” as they clinked their glasses.

A few of the people along the bar and those who stood behind them offered a touch of their glasses, too, each saying, “Happy New Year,” and the ladies saying it in return. Groups of strangers hugged, loud horns blew and noisemakers cranked, and turquoise balloons drifted slowly from the ceiling downward among the many bodies, making a trail to the floor around them.

“Happy Freaking New Year,” Rebe said out loud like she started to really get the 2009 feeling, just as she looked over at the big man with the perfect goatee. He stayed seated as people hustled about. His eyes were only for her. Hers met his and stayed. She read his lips:
Happy New Year
.

Rebe heard him loud and clear and mouthed it back with sexy.

She had a new look on her face.

And Magnolia and Darla noticed.

They watched Rebe watch him and then she smiled toward the big man. She spoke with volume. “Freaking New Year is right. And I’m about to start right now.” She took hold of her black clutch from along the bar top and pulled on the hem of her short dress. “Listen. I love you both, but I gotta go.”

Magnolia placed her hand on Rebe’s wrist. “No you’re not.”

“Watch me.” She placed her glass back down on the bar. “And I might even suck his dick.”

Darla’s forehead was pissed. She warned, “Rebe. Be careful. You don’t even know him.”

“That’s the whole damn point.”

“I’d swear you were on something. Not a drop of alcohol?” Magnolia asked over the loud blare of feel-good voices.

“Nope. Not even a little bit.”

Darla spoke close to Rebe’s ear, “Look, you text me in ten minutes, and then if you leave, you text me an address. Don’t play now.”

Rebe acted as though she was deaf. Magnolia and Darla watched her simply sashay away, with her elongated back, and long legs strutting like she was on a runway. She gave a girly fling of her skinny braids and stood before the big man, shook his hand, and brought her lips close to his left lobe. Magnolia and Darla could see Rebe shut her eyes as she spoke.

They could see his chin dimple deepen.

“Celebration” by Kool and the Gang played as folks joined in to sing along, some heading to the dance floor.

In thirty seconds flat, after the big man whispered back to Rebe, he stood tall, proving that he was indeed six-seven, towering over her by a foot. He placed some money on the bar and grabbed Rebe’s hand, stepping away with an ear-to-ear smile, while she femininely followed, looking back at her buddies, winking and grinning like a teenager.

Fully checking them out, Magnolia said, “Well I’ll be damned,” almost giving off a smirk of envy. “The nerve.”

Darla’s mouth was stuck on open. She swallowed hard and blinked three times fast, looking at Magnolia as though prompting her to do something quick, and then darting her worried eyes back toward Rebe’s exit. “Oh my God. She did it. She’s leaving. Is she leaving, or are they headed to that private room? Where are they going? That child cannot be serious.” She turned toward the bar and looked at Magnolia, who was now holding her BlackBerry Pearl, reading a text message. Darla said, “I guess I’m the only one worried. You know we’ve got to watch that girl. I just wanna know, what happened to the squeamish girl who just used the word
ewwww
a minute ago? She has lost her ever-loving mind at the stroke of midnight.” Darla turned back toward Rebe’s departure and lost complete sight of the big man and Rebe. She stood on her tiptoes. “Heck, where’d his tall ass take her?”

Magnolia sat down and put her cell back in her purse. She wore a casual grin. “Rebe’s truly taken this forty-year thing to a whole new height. And I guess that means our butts need to get serious too, girlie. Like she said, we just made three sexual resolutions. And I don’t know about you, but I’m in.” Magnolia again raised her glass for a toast. “Happy fortieth birthday, Darla.”

Darla cut her eyes away from the crowd and plopped her body down on the bar stool next to Magnolia. “Happy fortieth birthday,” she said as though weak. She and Magnolia leaned toward each other for a hug, and Magnolia patted her on the back. Darla glanced at her tiny barrel purse and opened it, snatching her touch-screen cell, eyeing it with a frown. “That newly freaky girl had better text me. Trying to shake the missionary and get all sixty-nine on us with the Mr. Rick Fox wannabe. Let her hair down, my ass. She ain’t forty yet, dammit.”

1. Money Watts was determined to keep Lip Service in business, and to keep her and her client’s associations with prostitution under wraps. Did you feel that the many dimensions of Money matched the persona of someone who would go to any length to achieve that goal? 
   
2. Midori Moody was a love junkie, yet she was tragically wounded. Did you think it would have been possible for her to find Mr. Right and move past her demons? 
   
3. Leilani Sutton had a certain “skill at giving skull” that made her very popular. As you read her scenes, did you find any particular aspect of her techniques that intrigued you to the point where you would want to mimic her processes? If so, what in particular intrigued you? 
   
4. Kemba Price was in an open relationship with Beryl, who had her men on the side. Do you think Beryl had a right to be so upset when she found out what Kemba was up to? 
   
5. Were you surprised that a pimp like Romeo could have such an attraction to men? Have you ever heard of a story or movie where the pimp was bisexual? Is so, what is the title? 
   
6. Which sex scene turned you on the most, if any? What was it about that scene? Which scene turned you off the most, and why? 
   
7. Have you ever been in an intimate situation where there were two dicks in the room? 
   
8. Does penis size matter to you? Have you experienced a Kemba- and/or Virgil-sized penis? Would you continue to date a man who you found out had a micropenis? 
   
9. If you found out that one of your parents patronized hookers, would you tell the other parent? 
   
10. Would you consider a part-time career as a phone sex operator? 
    
11. Do you think prostitution should be legalized? Why or why not? 
    
12. In your everyday life, does dating a man who buys you dinner, gifts, trips, and so on, equate to being a prostitute if you sleep with him in return? 
    
13. Why does it seem that so many politicians take risks when it comes to sex on the side of their relationship/marriage? 
    
14. Is there a particular character in
    Politics. Escorts. Blackmail.
    that you would like to follow up on in a sequel? Why? 
    
15. Is there a certain power of the pussy that men cannot resist? Is the old saying true that, “Women rule the world because they’ve got half the money and all the pussy?” Either way, please give examples. 
    

Pynk is the bestselling author of
Erotic City
,
Sexaholics
, and
Sixty-Nine
, and a contributor to the anthology
The Heat of the Night
. Pynk won the 2008 YOUnity award for Fastest Rising Literary Star, and Disilgold.com’s Most Outstanding Author of the Year award for 2009.

Erotic City
, which centers around a fictional swingers club in Atlanta, was voted one of the Best Reads for 2008 by Black Expressions and was a finalist for a 2009 African American Literary Award in the category of erotica.
Sexaholics
, about four women addicted to sex, was voted among the 2010 Best Books by the Sankofa Literary Society.
Sixty-Nin
e, about three sexually repressed women born in 1969, was nominated for a 2011 African American Literary Award and was a Top 20 Black Expressions Bestseller.
The Heat of the Night
was written by five bestselling female authors, offering sizzling stories that empower women to take control of their climax.
Politics. Escorts. Blackmail.
tackles the topic of politicians and their not-so-undercover connection to the call-girl industry in New York City.

Each steamy Pynk title is set in a different city—Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, and New York City. Pynk’s mission is to encourage women to freely live their sexy dreams, responsibly and without guilt.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Pynk now resides just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. For more information on Pynk, you can visit her website at http://www.authorpynk.com/ or find her on Facebook.