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As she slid her ass into the soft leather seat and watched him round his truck, she couldn’t figure out how she went from not being able to stand the nigga to wanting to suck and ride his dick every time she thought about or saw his ass. But the one thing she did have a firm grasp on was that being near him was beginning to provoke feelings and emotions she wasn’t sure she was ready for—feelings and emotions she hadn’t ever expected to feel again.

four

“So what is folks' issue with you around town? Some of these folks been saying some real slick and disrespectful shit about you.” Trey asked Bleu as he hit the highway and navigated his truck to the middle lane. A mixture of heavy and light rain had been in the forecast all week, but thankfully, at the moment, they cruised under clear blue skies and fluffy white clouds. He put his ride in cruise control and turned on some Erykah Badu.

“Well,” Bleu popped a pecan half into her mouth while contemplating where she wanted to start her response. “My mom, before she ran off and left me and my dad, had a really hot and heavy affair with the mayor of Pleasureville at the time. Winston Mayhill. According to the town gossip, my mother, Selene, thought she was his one and only sidepiece, and she fell in love with him. Sidepieces one and two exposed my mom and the Mayor. They also told on themselves too. At the annual town picnic, Lou Anne and Tessa Jane went to Mayhill and demanded that he quit screwing my mother. My mom and Mayhill told them to fuck off. So them broads said fuck the dumb shit, and they aired that bitch out with all the details of their affair in front of my dad and Mayhill’s wife. When their business hit Mainstreet, they had nowhere to hide. My dad kicked my mom out and told her that the divorce papers would soon follow, and they did. Mayhill was kicked out of his crib too. He and my mom were supposed to run away together, but Mayhill backed out when the shit hit the fan.” Bleu snickered before popping another piece.

“Shit, that’s wild as fuck,” Trey shook his head. “But what⁠—”

“Hang on, I’m getting there,” She chuckled. “So after that, the Mayor stepped down and left all his pieces alone to go back to his wife after she threatened to divorce him and take him for everything he had. So he went back to his wife. My mom skipped down without even saying goodbye to me, and Lou and Tessa moved a few towns over. Mayhill’s wife did end up divorcing him a few months later. And she took him to the bank just like she said she would. She moved to Florida with their three kids, and Mayhill moved to Vegas. All this went down my freshman year of high school. Many of the residents around that time and their kids deemed me guilty by association. The women and girls assumed I was going to seduce their men and fuck up their marriages, and the men and boys called me a slut like my mother and was always propositioning me. Said I had the slut blood in my bloodline.”

“Damn, that shit is harsh as fuck,” Trey said, a frown distorted his handsome face. “Kids can be some cruel little shits sometimes.”

“Oh yeah, most definitely. But it was the adults who kept spewing the most fucked up shit to me,” She chuckled before taking a sip of her bottled water. “And that wasn’t even the worst thing that was said to me.”

“Mannn,” His eyes widened in disbelief as his eyebrows shot up. “That’s some wild shit. But when I think about all the grown muthafuckas who never grew up mentally, that shit makes sense. The shit still ain’t right though.”

“True, it was tough to be blamed for the sins of my mother,” she shrugged. “Hell, no one even felt sorry for me being the motherless child that I became. I never saw my mother again after that day. That shit fucked me up because up until that day, my mom and I had been inseparable. She was my world, and as an only child, I was hers. My own mother’s actions were my first lesson in betrayal and pain from someone close to me. But shit, there wasn’t shit I could do about it. But whenever my classmates said some slick shit that they’d heard their parents say, I started tagging ass before they knew what was happening. My best friend, Aliccia, my cousin Cariyelle, and I were fighting bitches left and right back then. I got suspended so many times that my dad, uncles, and aunts had to homeschool me the second half of my senior year. But they weren’t mad. They taught me how to scrap. I graduated with honors and went to college at Georgia State, where I graduated with honors from there too. So, that’s my life in a nutshell. The rest of the people you’ve probably heard around town who don’t like me are likely friends and family of Cassie’s.”

“Man, that’s wild. I had a feeling that she was gonna somehow be connected to your story. She’s tried to hit on me several times since I’ve been here. I mean, she approached me within hours of me being here and tried to fuck me. She even stopped by with some hard-ass cookies and tried to fuck me against the door. But she backed off after seeing that I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. I was relieved because I was close as fuck to hurting her feelings. That ignorant, uppity-ass rude princess mentality she got is not only a turn-off, but the shit was annoying and suspect as fuck. She’s easy on the eyes, but you couldn’t pay me to fuck her.”

“Wow,” Bleu shook her head. “Yeah, I’m not surprised. That sounds exactly like some shit she’d do. And you definitely called her personality down to the detail. She’d been like that her whole damn life. Haven’t matured at all. Back in high school, three of her boyfriends left her for me, and her crush asked me to prom before I got kicked out. He and I also dated after high school for a quick little minute until he and his family moved away for more lucrative job opportunities. Cassie was pissed about all that shit. She also hated me because I was smarter in every subject in school, and I was a better cheerleader and drama actress. Her brother Trenton is in love with me to this day and has been since we were kids. He and I also dated, and things got serious, but I broke up with him because I couldn’t take the constant disrespect from his family. He always took up for me, but the shit just got to be too much. I felt like he shouldn’t have to keep going against his family. So I ended it. He was pissed at me then, and he still is now. Anyway, so Cassie and her jealous-ass friends and family started spreading all kinds of rumors about me that weren’t true. At first, it hurt me a lot. Especially when she used to make jabs about my mother running off because she didn't want me. So it was on, on sight, every time I saw them bitches. But as I got older, I got tired of clearing up the rumors about me sleeping with married men and how any woman who had a man with kids shouldn’t let me babysit. Or how I strip at private parties in other towns that surrounded ours. And a whole bunch of other horrible shit. I just let it go and became cool with whatever people believed about me. It got so bad to the point that my family had enough of the shit she’d caused that they threatened at a town hall meeting to take their businesses to other towns.”

“Ya people own more than one business in town?” Trey asked, shooting her a glance.

“Yup, the coffee shop and ice cream parlor. The bakery and the baked goods food truck. And also the bookstore that was willed to me by my aunt that I now own.”

“Shit,” Trey whistled, “They weren't playing, huh?”

“Not at all, and they had several offers to relocate. People came from all over to visit my family's shops. Since the town couldn’t afford to take that loss, the disrespect from a lot of the townspeople stopped. Some people still won’t shop or support us, though, and try to keep up the rumors, especially the majority of Cassie’s family. To this day, most of the Nevens family refuse to patronize anything with my family’s name.”

“Damn, that shit is crazy. I guess that’s small-town drama for you. But with all that was happening to you, Bleu, why didn’t you get the fuck out of dodge the first chance you got? And why come back to this place after college?” He was genuinely curious as to why she’d continue to endure such disrespect and heartache.

“Well,” she began, “Pleasureville is home. I tried moving, but my heart was home. Plus, all of my family was in Pleasureville Bay. I’m really close to my family, and they all encouraged me to go, but I couldn’t because, as crazy as it sounds, I didn’t want to live anywhere else. But I no longer wanted to live in town, so my family built me a house on the outskirts. After that, a few other residents wanted homes built out where I was, and that was how the whole neighborhood where you now reside was created. The lady you purchased your home from, Mrs. Pritchett, and her daughters always had my back. I miss them so much. I wished she would’ve stayed, but after her husband died a few years prior in a car wreck on the way into the city, I understood her need to move away from the pain.”

“Yeah, I can see that too. But I’m happy she sold the crib to me because I love everything about it, even though I've got the neighbor from hell.” He chuckled as he glanced over at Bleu.

“Whatever, shut up. You’re such an ass. And you’re the real neighbor from hell, Trey, with your ignorant ass. I think you torment me just for the hell of it.”

“Yeah, sometimes I do,” Trey admitted with a smirk. “We’re almost at the store. Did you want to stop for anything to eat or to use the restroom or anything?”

“I could definitely eat,” Bleu smiled just as her stomach began to rumble. “But I have no idea what I want.”

“There’s a taco spot and a soul food joint near where we’re going if either of those interest you. The food at both places is good as fuck,” He said as he approached their exit. “You’ll enjoy whatever you choose.”

“In that case, tacos it is then,” Bleu said as Trey pulled into a small restaurant called Best Tacos.

“I don’t know if you like chicken, Bleu, but the loaded, deep-fried shredded chicken tacos are my favorite.”

“I love chicken tacos. I can’t wait to taste them,” she said before he exited his ride and opened her door. “Thank you, Trey.”

“Sure thing, Bleu. So,” he began after they entered the restaurant. “Speaking of things you can’t wait to taste, what else do you enjoy the taste of?” Trey asked and then smirked as he watched her ass jiggle real nice in her sundress. “Food and or…otherwise.”

“Many things,” She tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear as they stood in line at the carryout spot. “Strawberries. Cherries. Ice Cream. Caramels. Good Dick,” she glanced up at him with a grin, then asked, “Why the interest in what tastes I enjoy?”

Trey ran a hand across his goatee as his dick bricked up against the zipper of his pants. “Not sure.” With a chuckle, he shrugged and said, “It’s just something about the way you said that shit that made me wanna ask. That and the way I’m drawn to your soft-ass lips. I wanna kiss them pretty, plump suckas right now. Good to know you like the taste of dick, though.”

Bleu waited until after their order was placed, then stood off to the side before responding to Trey. “Why is it good to know?”