Nookie (Nookie Series) by Anieshea Dansby Page A

before I left.”
    Joy laid her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes. Tears burned behind her eyelids. She remembered the pain on Kevin’s face when he threw her out. She begged, cried, and reminded him she had nowhere else to go. He didn’t care. He was done. Kevin slammed the door behind her as she grabbed her last bag. She felt low and ashamed.
    Forever Joy wanted to feel love and Kevin showed her that. She blamed him for giving up. Her heart became colder. She felt worst than when she didn’t have love and vowed never to fall for another dude. Love equals pain. She thought about the men in her life and realized they only hurt her. They each turned their backs on her when she needed them the most. Her father, Josh and even Kevin.
    From that moment on Joy developed a hate for men. She looked at them as a way for pleasure or a come up to advance in life.
    “Girl, don’t sweat that shit. That’s why you need a handful of dudes for when shit like this happens,” Tanya said, breaking her thoughts.
    Joy didn’t respond. She kept her eyes closed until she felt the car stop. She looked out her window and saw a series of apartments. Shit , she thought to herself. They were the apartments near where they got rid of the gun. She started to panic, but then realized it didn’t matter. Nobody else knew.
    Tanya called her boyfriend and told him to come get Joy’s bags. Three guys walked out, all sexy as hell. The two at the front had beautiful brown skin and were built, but when she saw the third one, her eyes almost jumped out of her head. He looked Dominican. He had pretty black curly hair and the smoothest mocha-colored skin. He smiled; his teeth were white and straight. The wife beater he had on showed off his big, muscular arms. Joy wanted to melt, and then she wanted to die when she watched him walk up to Tanya and kiss her. Tanya put both her arms around him and they pressed their bodies together.
    One of the guys yelled out, “Ya’ll need to stop all that boo loving shit.”
    “Shut up, Rob,” Tanya’s man replied.
    “Aight. Everybody, this is Joy. Joy, this is my baby Shawn, his big mouth friend Rob, and the quiet one is Dre.”
    “Wassup?” they all said.
    “Hi,” Joy said.
    They grabbed the bags and went into the apartment. Joy looked around. All the living room furniture was burgundy and the walls were painted cream. It had the most comfortable looking burgundy leather couch, a love seat, and two recliners. The carpet, also burgundy, was thick, and Joy wanted to take her shoes off to feel it on her feet. There was a mini bar and a huge plasma TV covered almost the whole wall. Joy was impressed.
    “You can put your stuff in here,” Tanya said, leading her into one of the rooms. “This was Shawn’s son’s room, but his bitch of a baby mom refuses to let him come over since I moved in. Shawn can only see him at her house. Do you believe that shit?”
    Joy looked at all the toys and the Sponge Bob TV in the corner and felt nothing but sadness. Her throat tightened and she fought the urge to cry as she stared at the five bags sitting side by side. Covering her face with both hands, she took several deep breaths. After taking some time controlling, she went into the living room, where the others were. Tanya and Shawn were sitting on the sofa. Dre was sitting on the love seat, and Rob on one of the recliners. So Joy took a seat in the one remaining recliner, almost moaning out loud when she sunk into the chair. Her whole body felt like it was floating.
    She turned to the TV. BET was on. The new Game video was playing and everybody watched in silence, bobbing their heads. Joy looked around the room and noticed Dre rolling a dutch. She watched his fingers as he expertly rolled, her eyes traveling up his thick arms. She looked at the tattoos that lined both arms. Continuing her search, she looked up at his face. He is so cute . He had chocolate skin, long curled eyelashes, light brown eyes and a dimple