Chapter 9

"What!?! Jesus f- Are you serious?"

Tapiwa winced and squeezed her eyes shut for a second. It was still early morning and after failing to catch any sleep last night following the dinner revelation, her head was pounding. It definitely didn't appreciate her friend's raised voice.

"Please don't shout," Tapiwa begged.

"I'm not shouting," Nicole responded, her voice still within range of being considered a shout. It was as though her friend was too shocked to control her volume. Not that Tapiwa could blame her.

Still, Tapiwa rubbed at her right temple and tried again. "Calm down, Nicole. I really need your help right now. I didn't come to be shouted at. Could have easily gotten that at home."

"Wait, does your family know about this?" Nicole asked, sounding horrified, her eyes wider than they had been seconds before.

Tapiwa paused mid-rub and gaped at her best friend. As soon as she had made it out of the fancy hotel and back home last night, Tapiwa knew she needed to talk to someone. That was the reason she'd sneaked out of the house this morning before her mother woke up and began her interrogation about last night. She wanted to talk, but she wasn't suicidal. Hence why she was at Nicole's apartment. "Are you insane? Why would I tell my family I lost my virginity to Asher's brother?"

Nicole grimaced. She nodded and then released a heavy sigh. "Yeah. Okay. That would be stupid."

"You think?"

"Hey, look" Nicole waved a jerky hand in the air. "I'm still trying to understand how you ended up in bed with a total stranger who turned out to be Asher's elder brother. Were you that drunk?"

Tapiwa ground her teeth together as she felt a wave of anger course through her. Her hands clenched at her sides into fists. Before she knew it, she was on her feet pacing Nicole's one-roomed apartment.

Unfortunately, after a minute, she felt ridiculous and flopped back down on the double bed next to her friend. Pacing in a four-by-four room that served as the bedroom, living area, and kitchen just wasn't satisfying. There was barely any space except the narrow path Nicole had left that allowed her to move to the door and the tiny attached bathroom.

Tapiwa had thought Nicole had lost her damn mind when she moved out of her parents' house and moved into the tin can. What had been even more shocking was the fact that Nicole's parents encouraged her and even paid her rent whenever Nicole fell short. Something about wanting Nicole to be independent and responsible.

As Tapiwa looked around the room, she doubted Nicole's parents' vision of responsibility was working. There was a gigantic pile of clothes at the head of the bed. It looked like Nicole had done her laundry but just hadn't gotten around to ironing and putting it all away.

The two plate cooker on a small table against the wall had been turned into a shelf to hold several boxes of cereals and two bottles of wine that looked empty. There was a small fridge under the table and Tapiwa wondered if she would find anything other than milk, water, and maybe more wine in it. Tapiwa shook her head and scoffed.

Nicole didn't say a word, allowing Tapiwa the time to compose herself and gather her thoughts. Tapiwa liked that about her friend. Nicole was almost always loud, her dietary choices were deplorable, and she upset Tapiwa. But she also knew when to shut up and allow Tapiwa to catch her breath. Most importantly, Tapiwa knew her friend cared.

Finally, Tapiwa felt calmer. She returned her gaze to Nicole. There was no point answering the question about her state of intoxication that night. It's not like she remembered. No. She had more worries to focus on.

"What am I going to do, Nicole?" Tapiwa heard the break in her own voice. She swallowed around the lump she felt lodged in her throat. "What if Jadon tells Asher?" The very idea of that happening made bile rise to the back of her throat. She swallowed again.

"Did he give any sign that he remembered you last night?"

Tapiwa let out a dry chuckle and shook her head. "I wouldn't know. I was too busy not trying to choke on my own tongue and then I hightailed it out of there."

There was silence for a beat, and then Nicole exploded into a fit of laughter. "Damn, I can almost imagine it," she said between laughs.

Tapiwa groaned, remembering how embarrassing it had been, but then she found herself laughing as well. She shook her head. "I hope no one got it on camera. I wouldn't want to end up on Facebook as the idiot who choked in a fancy restaurant."

"I doubt it. People who can afford to go to such places don't waste their time on social media."

She arched a brow at Nicole. "Are you forgetting Asher Paterson already? The guy will post everything and he can afford to go eat a slice of raw tomato that cost more than a whole chicken at the supermarket."

Nicole waved a hand in the air and leaned back, using the heap of clothes like a giant pillow. "That one doesn't count. He is a party animal. Still makes me wonder how you two started dating."

Tapiwa gave her friend an incredulous look. "Are you not the one who told me to live a little when he started pursuing me?"

"Oh," Nicole whispered sheepishly. Then she offered Tapiwa an apologetic smile. "In my defense, I didn't think it would get this far. I thought he would show you a good time for a few days and then everything would go back to normal."

"Except, I discovered he was the son of mom's friend and suddenly, I had mom all over it."

Nicole frowned. "Damn. And now all this How the hell are you going to handle it?"

That was the million-dollar question. Tapiwa squeezed her eyes shut for a second and drew a deep breath. She released it and then squared her shoulders. "I will dump Asher after a few days."

"Why not now?"

Tapiwa shook her head. "Can't dump him the day after the dinner. It will raise too many questions. I was lucky mum didn't catch me returning home so early yesterday. But I know she will have questions about the whole thing. I think the woman is already planning a wedding in her head. I need to do this properly."

Silence met her words. Tapiwa looked up and found Nicole staring at her as though she had just spoken in another language. "What?"

Nicole sighed. "No break up is clean. This one definitely won't be. Just get it over and done with before the cat is out of the bag and everything gets messy."

"Just a few days."

"I think that's a bad idea. And we still don't know if the brother will talk or not. Hey. Wait. Do you think the brother planned it? Or maybe he took advantage of you when you were drunk?"

The words made a shudder run down Tapiwa's spine. She immediately shook her head. "I don't want to think about that."

"Tapi-"

"No," Tapiwa stated firmly. She wrapped her arms around herself and drew a deep breath.

Realizing how distressed her friend was, Nicole rushed to her side and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be mean and upset you. Shit! I should have gone with you to that damn party. All this wouldn't have happened."

Tapiwa exhaled and allowed the comfort her friend was giving her to take away some of her anxiety. After a beat, she shook her head again. "No. You are not to blame. I got careless and paid the price."

"At least tell me the man is good looking. That will take some of the sting out of all this."

Unexpected laughter burst out of Tapiwa. She pushed Nicole away from her. "Oh, shut up!"

"Oh!" Nicole smiled widely and waggled her brows. "So he is nice to look at? Thank God."

Tapiwa shook her head at her friend. "I'm done talking to you."