I wasn't sure why he kept his hands off on them. Maybe it was a brother-code thing. Or, honestly, more likely, it was because he knew that if I had female friends to hit the town with, I stayed out of his, and his men's hair.
I kept my hands to myself where his men were concerned as well. A grudging bit of respect I gave him. Mostly because I'd known the guys since I was a teen still. Which made them more like brothers than anything.
Though, I was pretty sure I was going to break that unspoken rule now.
"There's no harm. I don't think he's going to be sticking around."
"Which makes him exactly your type," Ayanna, probably my truest friend in this group, said as she moved in closer.
Ayanna was tall and thick with russet skin, long braids she kept in one bigger, chunkier braid, and more confidence in her pinky finger than everyone else in the club combined. She rocked her bright yellow tank top dress, tits and ass all over the place.
"You know I don't like the clingy sort," I agreed, accepting the refill she handed to me. Ayanna didn't drink except on New Years and her birthday, which usually made her our designated driver. And my refill enabler.
"And yet you've had, what, six guys try to give you a ring?" Laurie asked, lip curling.
"What can I say? Guys like it when they can't have you, Laur," I told her, tone a little pointed. She was usually a little better at hiding her distaste for me. Why she was letting it slip was beyond me. She'd been around long enough to know I was quick to cut people off, so they should never get too comfortable giving me a reason to do so.
I moved away from the booth, away from my mostly-fake friends, save for Ayanna who I could feel following me as I went to Teddy's table, reaching across Che to steal a handful of the M&Ms Teddy inexplicably ordered when he came to the club, things I was sure they kept in stock for him alone.
As I straightened, my hand reached as my leg bumped West hard. Deliberately, distracting him for the second I needed.
"Whoops," I said, shrugging as he shot me a confused smile before I twirled away, leaving the VIP section.
"I saw that," Ayanna accused, smiling as she followed me.
"Why, whatever do you mean?" I asked as I waved through the crush of the crowd, making my way toward the side door I knew wasn't alarmed because the doormen liked to sneak out to smoke or take personal calls when things were calm.
"Are you ever going to stop stealing from people?" she asked, voice a little loud, ears too adjusted to the thump of the music as we stepped outside.
"Oh, you know I hung up my five-finger-discount gloves when I was a teenager." I hadn't told her that I had done so because I'd been caught by some skeezy rent-a-cop at the mall, who had pulled me into a back room, and told me he'd let me off if I'd suck his cock. Then proceeded to try to take the choice away from me. Some stories I didn't share. Even if I did manage to—just barely—get out of there, slamming his hand in the door as I went. I could still hear that crunch at times, waking me up in a cold sweat. It had been a close call. Too close. I never stole again.
Well, never stole things I didn't eventually give back, that is.
Like West's keys.
And, now, his wallet.
"I just want to do a little snooping," I told her, moving over toward a peeling red picnic table, climbing on top, unfolding the worn leather of the wallet.
"Does that boy have pictures of conquests in his wallet?" Ayanna asked, mildly outraged at the very idea as I flipped through the pictures.
"I think these are his sisters. And his mom." I clarified, seeing a resemblance in the shape of their eyes.
"That's kind of sweet. What man keeps a picture of his mama in his wallet anymore?"
"A good one," I guessed. "Or, you know, Norman Bates sort of sickos. His name is actually West," I realized, running my finger over the embossed letters on his credit card. "I thought it was a street name or something."
"Anything else in there?"
"A couple hundred in cash. Something in chicken-scratch on a piece of paper. And.. yep... he paid attention in health class, this boy," I said, pulling out a condom foil.
"Gotta like a man who wraps it up without a fuss."
"Remember that guy who tried to convince Sarah that he was deathly allergic to latex, poly, and sheep's skin?"
"I mean, really," Ayanna said, rolling her eyes. "Who is fucking without a condom these days? All these 'roided up STDs around nowadays and you are gonna risk that shit for a two-pump-chump who still believes the clitoris is a myth..."