three of them were high AF.
Raina stumble-walked to her seat. She slapped her thigh. “We gotta start. It’s time for the mind meeting. Meeting of the minds.” She snapped her fingers. “No, that’s not it.”
“Meetings of the masters!” Sienna yelled, still dancing in the corner.
“Mastermind meeting,” I supplied. “Damn, y’all can’t hold your liquor or your high.”
Raina rolled her eyes. “Whatever the hell. You know what I meant. Anyway, let’s do it.” Raina slapped her leg again, as if her hand were the gavel in the courtroom. “I’ll go first.” She drew a deep breath. “So, fuck Cameron Jeffries with his three-point-five-kids, having me chained to a stove, barefoot, breastfeeding a little crumb snatcher ass.”
Well, damn. “Um, I’ll try not to get offended by your lack of enthusiasm for motherhood.”
“Girl, you’re a cool mom. You’re going on tour with your ex while your husband takes care of your kids. Winning!” She raised her hand for a high five. The guilt that warred at me before turned on full blast.
“I’m not abandoning my kids. I’ll be back in a few months.”
“Girl, yeah.” Raina lifted her glass to her mouth. “We know that.”
“Okay, what about the book stuff?” I asked Raina.
“My second round of edits is due to my agent in a few weeks. Book will release early next year.” Raina waved a hand like it was no big deal. “You know what I won’t be doing next year?”
“What?” Kara asked.
“Fooling with Cam’s ole baby-soft ass. Maybe I’ll go on a book tour in another country, find me a fine-ass man, and have a fling.” She tilted her head and sipped her wine. If there was a class offered in the art of being petty while drinking wine, Raina would be a gold-certified instructor.
“Right!” Kara encouraged her. “This time next year, I’ll be touring the world. I’ll be a master Somm and work as an ambassador for a vineyard.”
“Oh, and you can have a fling with a guy named Francois!” I teased Kara. “Nothing gets you over a guy faster than being underneath another one.” I nudged Sienna. “Ain’t that right?”
“Please. I do not have time to get into another relationship.” She crossed her long legs. “Is Chris fine? Yes. Does he have me clamping my legs together every time he gets too close and I smell his cologne? Yes. Does watching his strong hands fly across the keyboard and watching his chest heave up and down under his suspenders give me hot flashes?”
“Yes!” Kara, Raina, and I answered for her.
“Right?” Sienna nodded as if we could follow her direction. “But, anyway, I’m too busy running for office—”
“And ruining Keith’s life,” Raina cut in.
“Yep!” Sienna popped the “P.” She shrugged. “Chris wants me to walk the straight and narrow, to stick to the facts and focus on my strengths as a leader. I’m cool with that, but I still want to drag that asshole through the mud.”
I shook my head. “What happened to my sweet and innocent friend?” My tone was teasing, but I was concerned for my girl. She had gone from sweet girl Rihanna circa 2005 to the RiRi we all know and love today.
Sienna sipped her wine. “I’m just tired of doing the right thing. Besides, relationships are a scam. Especially with these triflin’-ass men in Atlanta.”
“Not all men are trifling. My husband, for example.” Though he was acting like an asshole at the moment.
Sienna shrugged. “Fine. Not all men. But most men are con artists. They steal your youth, your optimism. They steal your power. Not only from the women they are cheating on, but from the ones they are cheating with.”
“Sienna,” I interrupted.
“No, think about it,” Sienna interrupted. “When someone cheats on you, what’s your first thought? What’s the first thing you do?”
I tapped my fingers on my thighs. “Google how to shank someone without killing them. Look up the jail time in case he presses charges. Which he better not.”
“Watch a few CSI episodes.” Raina shrugged. “I need options.”
Kara raised her hand. “I think about what’s wrong with me. I compare myself to the other woman.”
“Exactly.” Sienna sliced her hand in the air. “Am I too skinny, am I too fat, in my case, I put weave in my hair because Keith said she had long hair and a big booty. How crazy is that, huh?” Her voice rang in the air. “And in the end you change yourself to look like someone else. You change yourself for a man after he did you wrong. That’s