Page 5 of Joey

A Mafia princess. I fight the urge to roll my eyes. I can never tell if that’s an insult or a term of endearment from her lips. She’s called me that for as long as I’ve known her. We’ve been best friends since we started high school, but even after all these years I can never quite figure out if she’s being nice or bitchy. That was probably what drew us to each other. I was just like her back then. We walked around Mercury High like we owned the goddamn school.

“You’re not exactly a peasant, Mo,” I say with a sigh. “Your dad left you and your mom with a fortune.”

“It’s not an endless pot of money though.” For a second, there’s a glimmer of something in her eyes that looks a lot like sadness. But she tosses her long blond hair over her shoulder and it’s gone.

Her mom does travel a lot. She’s always at some five-star resort in the Caribbean or somewhere exotic, and I suppose that eats into a fortune pretty quickly. Still, Monique has no idea how good she has it. She has so much freedom and independence, and I would trade this gilded cage for a little more of that any day of the week.

Monique lies on my bed, feet up against the wall as she twirls a tube of lip gloss between her fingers.

“Lex said she’ll meet us at ten. She’s bringing that douchebag, Nyx, with her too.”

Rolling my eyes, I continue to apply my makeup. Monique thinks any guy who isn’t into her is a douchebag. “He seems nice to me.”

“Ugh, he has a freaking ponytail.”

“Lex likes guys with long hair though. Besides, I’m pretty sure she’s not interested in him for his ponytail.” I grin. Lexi told me her new friend-with-benefits is amazing in bed, not that I’m going to tell Monique.

She laughs. “You think he’s got a huge dick?”

“Maybe.”

“Nah, he doesn’t,” she says, shaking her head.

I arch an eyebrow in amusement. “How would you know? You seen it?”

“No, but I know his type.”

“And that is?”

“Nice guys.” She shudders. “They’re only nice to girls because they have tiny dicks.”

I gape at her reflection in the mirror, incredulous. “You’re saying guys are only nice if they have small dicks?”

She gives a casual shrug. “Either that or they don’t know how to use them.”

“Jesus, Mo, your logic is so fucking twisted sometimes,” I snap, feeling defensive of our friend. Lexi’s happier than I’ve ever seen her, which is probably why Monique is being such a bitch.

“Oh, lighten up, Jo.” She releases a dramatic sigh. “Since when did you become such a fucking bore?”

I close my eyes and suck in a calming breath. I guess she isn’t wrong. This is the kind of shit we used to talk about all the time, but that was back in high school. We’re past that now, aren’t we? “Lex seems happy, is all. If she likes the guy, it doesn’t matter how big his dick is, right?” I say, trying to defuse the tension, because Monique and Lex are the only girlfriends I have.

“Not that you’d know anything about that though.” She snorts a laugh, and I roll my eyes, sorry I ever confided in her that I’m still a virgin. Ever since I did, she’s made it her one-woman mission to get me laid.

I toss my makeup sponge at her, and it bounces off her forehead. “Just because you’ve been dicked down more times than you can remember…”

Monique sits up, swinging her legs off the end of the bed, a wicked grin on her face. “Jealous?”

“Uh, no.”

“We’ll get you some good dick tonight, I can feel it.”

“I’m not looking for that.” I sigh and go back to my mascara. “Well, not exclusively.”

That makes her laugh out loud. “But if a nice fat dick were to present itself?”

“Depending on who it was attached to, maybe I’d consider taking it home.” I laugh too.

Monique gasps. “Can you imagine your brothers’ faces if you brought some stray home from the bar?”