“But I always thought my first time would be fireworks.” I hesitate and then tell her the truth. “I guess I always thought my first time would be with you. I don’t think anyone could have lived up to that.”

She nods. “Same.”

“What about you? Who was it? Where? Was it good?”

I want to know everything all at once so I can stop thinking of her with anyone else.

“Terrell Anderson.” She chuckles. “It was a total cliché. Prom night my junior year. He was a senior and got us a room. I had to lie to my parents to stay out. Kayla covered for me and made sure I had condoms.”

“And was it good?”

She laughs, but it’s laced with regret. “I guess for him. Not for me. I was disappointed, too. Even more for how he acted after it was over.”

“What’d he do when it was over?”

“Another cliché.” She rolls onto her back and studies the ceiling. “He told all his friends he’d fucked Joseph Allen’s daughter.”

“Bastard,” I mutter, wishing I could find the piece of shit and tear him apart.

“Very much so. When I found out he’d told people, I confronted him and dumped his ass. He didn’t like that. I was a junior who should have been happy he’d deigned to take me to the prom, much less pay for a hotel room and dispose of my virginity.”

“What’d he do?” Because I can already tell he did something I’ll hate him even more for.

“He told me if I didn’t let him fuck me again and suck his dick this time, he’d post pictures of me in the cafeteria. Pictures he took while I was asleep. He even threatened to send them to my father.”

“Motherfucker. What’d you do?”

“What I always did with my problems.” She smiles sadly. “Went to my father.”

“You told him—”

“I told him everything. I always could.” Her naked shoulders gleam in the moonlight when she shrugs. “He told me not to worry. Said he would take care of it, and he did. I don’t know exactly how, but there were no photos and Terrell couldn’t even look me in the eye to the day he graduated.”

“I hope your dad did something incredibly painful that ruined his future.”

Kimba slants an amused glance to me. “He might have. Daddy did have his ruthless streak.”

I shake her playfully under the covers. “That’s where you get yours from.”

“Damn right.” She laughs but sobers after a moment. “Terrell ended up going to Morehouse. If I hadn’t known before that I didn’t want to go to Spelman, I knew then. I didn’t want to be that close, to run into him.”

“Did that idiot affect your decision not to go to Spelman?”