Paul popped up and looked over the side of the couch. Stretching her long legs was Stacy. She was naked except for a thin sheet covering her midsection. Paul looked down at his own body and noticed that he was wearing nothing but his boxers. Stacy smiled up at Paul, who could only mutter “fuck…” in response.

24

Reese exited the large brown building on 137th and Fifth Avenue with her head hung low. Her eyes were puffy and irritated from crying, and it seemed as if her nose wouldn’t stop running. In one hand she held a wad of balled-up tissues that one of the nurses had given her and in the other she held a sheet of paper, with a prescription for penicillin on it.

A few days ago, she had noticed a funny smell coming from her vagina when she was using the bathroom. Thinking it was something cosmetic that didn’t agree with her, she switched her brand of douche and feminine wash. To her surprise, the smell was still there. She had made an appointment to see the gyn on Monday, but when she used the bathroom that morning and noticed an off-color discharge, it added urgency. After leaving the hotel and shaking Rhonda, she made a beeline for the STD clinic, which kept short hours on Saturdays. After filling out the necessary paperwork and getting swabbed, she was devastated to find out she had contracted the clap.

Reese was devastated by the news, so much in fact that she almost fainted in the nurse’s office. Her mind whirled, trying to figure out how the hell it had happened or who could’ve given it to her. She counted off on her fingers the number of men whom she had slept with unprotected within the last week or two and was horribly embarrassed when it spanned both hands. There had been Teddy, a guy she fucked with named Nashawn from the Polo Grounds, and of course the cats from Big Dawg. There were so many that she had no way to pinpoint exactly who it might’ve been. She had heard stories about girls who had caught STDs from guys and always figured it couldn’t happen to her, but it had. She was lucky the rapid HIV test came back negative, but she would have to be tested again in six months to be sure.

Reese collapsed on the steps of the building and placed her head in her hands. She had enough issues in her life already and getting burnt only made things worse. Feeling broken and defeated, she began to cry. Reese had gambled one time too many with her pussy and lost.

“Willamina Jefferson, I know you hear me calling you!”