When Dahlia decides to get even with a man, named Troy, who broke her heart she thinks of a master plan. To her dismay after asking Nitrah, her best friend to help her get even, she falls in love with Troy. Not only does this cause a huge rift, the ladies must soon face the fact that they both have lied and their secrets will unveil. Troy thinks he has finally found true love with Nitrah but what will happen when he finds out their relationship is based on a lie. This novel includes, love, sex, deceit, and betrayal. Five characters tell the story as they see it. Learn what The Ultimate NO NO is when it comes to love.

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I only wanted a quick fix, and now I’m stuck on what to do next. It’s been three long years and nothing but pure, unadulterated drama. I hadn’t expected things to turn out the way they did, especially since my friendships were on the line. But, no, I had to say yes, and commit to something I knew I would regret. All I wanted to do was help my friend. Dahlia approached me with this bright idea, but I didn’t expect it to go as far as it did. What she asked me to do was like nothing I’d ever done before. At first, I thought it would be harmless. You know that “pay back is a bitch” kind of thing. Yeah, right!

My subject was Troy, short for Troyon—local gigolo of Fort Worth and the headmaster of heartbreak. You see, he’d hurt so many women, including Dahlia, we wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. However, Troy Washington was no joke. Yet, my girls and I needed to break him down a little. Teach him a lesson. He needed to know how it felt to be cheated on, to have a broken heart, to have his mind twisted and, definitely, he had to know how it felt to love a cheater. Why was I the chosen one? It beats the hell out of me. But, just call me Superwoman; always coming to the aid of my girlfriends, who somehow always found themselves in some shit.

Troy had a brother, Robert, and a best friend, Tim. Although they hung out with Troy, they weren’t heartbreakers. Now, I still don’t know why my girls chose me to do their dirty work nor do I know why I suckered up and agreed to do it. However, there was one thing I did know, if nothing else. I knew I was playing with fire. Still, in the end it could have helped plenty of women. Okay, at least that’s what I kept telling myself.

From the kiss to the fight, from Dahlia’s screams to the truth being revealed; I constantly shake my head at this whole mess, and thinking about everything that happened, simply because my dumb ass said yes. Ugh! I used to hear my friend’s laughter when thinking about the old days; what I would do to get those days back. How we would go to the lake and pull phone numbers. Get our hair done and buy new outfits, simply to impress. Nevertheless, as I sigh heavily, I realize that all changed the moment I said yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The three-letter word ended up being the death sentence for our friendship. All of our lives changed. I just didn’t know if it was for the best or for the worst.

        Fort Worth, May 2002

“So who in the hell made you the queen of all queens and allowed you to tell us what to do?” Jazzaray asked while laughing. Jazzaray was my youngest friend out of the group. Still in school, working at Lapetite Academy, and so badly wanting to move out of her mama’s house. That was me about a year ago. 

“I graduated too, and I want to hit up Club MP3,” Dahlia demanded. Dahlia was my very best friend. I was the peanut butter and she was the jelly. You rarely saw one without the other. Dahlia earned her degree in criminal justice, but just like Jazzaray, she struggled with what she wanted to do with her life. So for now, she was a medical assistant. Something she hated to do, but it paid her bills.

It was my college graduation party and I made an effort to keep things going my way.  “Well, I just want us girls out tonight. I mean, we always hit up some club,” I argued. I had just completed my degree and could now do everything I ever wanted, and that was to become a teacher.

“I know why you don’t want to go. Y’all know Denim is going to be at the club. I think it’s his night to spin records,” my friend Charmaine joked. Charmaine was the most responsible one out of the group—she kept us in check—and when we were about to fight or get into it with someone, she held our purses. Never was she the one to start a confrontation.

“Oh hell no! Don’t even go there, Charmaine. Denim is my ex so, of course, I don’t want to see him; it’s only been a while. I mean, damn, can’t we just have a girl’s night?” I yelled.

“Oh, she is cussing now so that means it’s true,” Jazzaray joked.

“Here we go again,” I mumbled.

Dahlia and Charmaine were laughing but my spirit was mingled with them mentioning Denim. He was my high school sweetheart until a month ago. I thought we would be married by now but, then again, we both couldn’t stay faithful to each other. He would usually spin records at many of the Fort Worth and Dallas clubs, and Club MP3 was one of the main clubs where he would spin. I figured tonight would be no different; I just knew he would be there.

“Okay, I will admit he is spinning tonight but hell, we just called it quits so why would I want to see him tonight, of all the nights, why tonight?” I debated.

“Okay, you right, so let’s just go rolling on Miller and just chill,” Dahlia suggested in my defense.

“Fine, let’s go. You know on Sundays it’s always somebody out on Miller and then we can hit up Arlington Lake,” Charmaine added.

On Sundays, we knew where to be and why to be there. We wanted to be seen, and wanted to make sure we were at the places with the most guys. Now don’t get me wrong. We are all young, beautiful educated ladies but, from time to time, we like to get a few phone numbers. Nothing wrong with that, right?

When we got to the lake we saw a lot of potential new boyfriends—one for Charmaine, Dahlia, Jazzaray, and me. Dahlia was the light-skinned female out of the click, while I was the blackberry. Both Jazzaray and Charmaine were caramel brown. Don’t get me wrong. Even though I was the darkest, I got much play with the men, plus my confidence stood out. We were all trim-shaped model types but conservative and laid back. I guess you can say we all got along great because we were more like true sisters than we were friends. I have my own siblings but these were my girls, my own set of relief from my everyday family.

Before I knew it, Dahlia had spotted some trouble and, as usual, she was eager to jump in someone’s face. Why does she always have to start some mess, I thought.

“Look at that bitch, Sarah,” Dahlia yelled over the crowd. “I have been waiting for her to show up.”

Realizing whom she was talking about, I saw Sarah, the woman who was now sleeping next to the man I had been with for years.

“We aren’t about to fight out here, I just got my hair done,” Jazzaray declared.

Sarah was my enemy, but we all hated her equally. “You don’t have anything to say, Nitrah? That hoe took your man of six years, let’s go kick her ass.”

“I don’t have much to say to her. You know I was messing with Kenneth anyway,” I said. 

“I’m going to kick her ass anyway. Come on y’all,” Dahlia said, pulling my arm. As usual, Jazzaray and Charmaine were down and followed suit, and since he was my ex man I had to put my A game on and get ready to fight. I didn’t hate Sarah, but then again she was sleeping with Denim, while I held cold sheets at night. 

As we walked toward Sarah, I thought, Dahlia is about to start some shit again, damn. What am I doing over here?

Sarah saw us approaching. She had one lonely friend with her—it was Kia. Now Kia was the local bed hopper in Fort Worth. I just knew she had a plan to get with Denim; she was that type of female that loved men who were taken, and hated men who were single. The challenge of the chase, I guess.

 Noticing us, Kia yelled out, “So you hoes come to fight or should your men stand in line for some Kia action?” She ran up toward us, yelling in our faces, and before I knew it, my fist connected with her mouth. I didn’t expect to get so angry over this simple female, but she had it coming when she disrespected my friends and me. I could feel her teeth cutting my knuckles. The anger rushed through my body, and it felt like pure heat seeping from my pores. I heard people in the crowd yelling, “Fight!” I could feel Dahlia breathing down my neck. I could tell that she and Sarah were going at it. My mind was racing and then I thought, How in the hell did I end up fighting Kia?

Jazzaray started yelling, “Kick her ass, Nitrah.”

Charmaine was trying to separate us, and then I heard a familiar voice bark, “Nitrah, chill out.”

A group of guys separated Dahlia and Sarah, and Kia finally gave up trying to gain access to me after being pulled away. Then I saw the damage to her eye and mouth. I wanted to laugh because she never got a good hit on me. I also felt stupid because I didn’t know why in the hell I started fighting that girl in the first place.

“Next time, come prepared to back up all that noise you be talking, trying to act hard,” Dahlia yelled at Sarah over the crowd.

“I don’t have any beef with you,” Sarah shot back. “Separate myself from you. We don’t have anything to discuss.”

“We all got problems with hoe ass tricks like you,” I yelled, trying to get in my two cents. I was released by a man that restrained me and as I turned to walk away, with the crowd still watching hoping something else would happen, Denim walked up to me, yelling all in my face.

“So, you’re hittin’ on my girl. Damn, Nitrah, we’re supposed to be cool.” I wanted to run away from Denim. All I kept thinking was, why is he here and not at MP3? This is so embarrassing.

“Denim, this girl ran in my face. We didn’t start anything with her!” Dahlia yelled at him.

Even though we broke up, Denim and I stayed cool. We have known each other for fifteen years; we were friends for a long time. I truly did miss him, but why we could never stay faithful wasn’t clear to me. Of course, he started cheating first and I simply followed suit. I finally decided to cut him loose, seeing as though our relationship would never go anywhere. We were friends all of our lives so it was only natural we stayed close.

“Dahlia, my girl don’t start mess so don’t even go there with me!” Denim yelled back.

“She didn’t start it, Kia did,” Jazzaray interrupted.

“Don’t put me in this mess,” Kia objected. 

Sarah yelled, “They were all planning on it; I saw them talking over there.”

“Don’t even go there, Kia came at us. What was that you said? Our men need to stand in line for some Kia action?” Charmaine reiterated.

“Kia you always starting something, and Sarah you going to start leaving her ass at home,” Denim demanded pointing his finger in Sarah’s face.

“That’s right,” Jazzaray yelled, trying to get her two words in as well.

Denim walked away but not before giving me a wink. He always did that to me, letting me know that this fight wasn’t anything and that he was cool with it. I gave him a wink back in hopes that he saw I was still his girl and not Sarah. Then my girls and I turned to walk away. It was just about time to leave before the cops came.

“Let’s go get something to eat, y’all wore me out tonight,” Jazzaray said jokingly, knowing that she was the only one that didn’t fight or, should I say, the only one that didn’t get involved. She knew that if she would have fought, her hair would have gotten messed up, or she would have broken a nail.

“You are good for nothing Jazz; you think you too cute to fight,” Dahlia teased.

We all hopped in my Sorento and drove off, heading toward the next eatery. We ended up at Bennigan’s because Charmaine wanted their wings. After we were seated at our table, we ordered our food, and Jazzaray spotted more boyfriend material. I told her I would introduce her and Charmaine to the brothas we saw, a little game we played. We would occasionally hook each other up; I would usually be the front man as I was tonight. I would create a leeway by stepping to the brothers first and telling them that my friends were digging them. Unlike every other night, they declined my opportunity to give them some leeway.

“That’s alright, Nitrah, we got it.”

While they were gone to go get some potential new men, Dahlia and I started talking. “You see me beat down Sarah?”

 “I was too busy beating down Kia’s ass. You are going to have to stop pulling ‘em into every single fight you have. We got jobs now and we are grown. I am too cute to be fighting some simple bitch like Kia.”

“A’ight, girl, I know what you mean. But she had it coming but I saw Denim wink at you, so I’m guessing you two aren’t over.”

“Yeah we are. I mean for now we are, but I’m sure he’ll call me or my mama’s house to talk about tonight.”

 “So whatever happened between you and Kenneth anyway?”

She was referring to the man I cheated with on Denim. After a while, that’s what I did, cheated. I guess Denim showed me how to do that.  I never planned on staying with Kenneth; he was just someone to hang with at the time. Looking back now, he wasn’t even worth my time. A waste of a cheat.

“Nothing. He was just something to do at the time and so were Billy, Carlos, Antwain, and Tyrin,” I admitted, laughing.

“Damn, you a slut. Denim was trippin’ on the same stuff you were on too. Why couldn’t you two just stay faithful?”

She was right to ask me that, because if Denim was guilty, I was too. When you look at how he cheated on me, you would’ve thought I would’ve just dropped him. At first, it was a get even thing, but it later became like second nature. I just didn’t see me being faithful to him anymore.

“Dahlia, Denim was my first but wasn’t worth being my last.”

“I heard that!”

“So what are you two talking about,” Jazzaray asked coming back to the table.

“Denim, who else?” Dahlia answered obviously rolling her eyes as if she was tired of hearing his name.

“He was looking mighty fine tonight. I saw how he looked at you, Nitrah. You two are trippin’.”

“Yeah he did look good; I am not trying to go back that way you all. Let’s just drop the subject.”

At Bennigan’s our food had arrived and we started to eat. Just when things were about to get boring, in walked Troyon Washington and his crew. Troyon was about six-four, two hundred ten pounds, with caramel skin, curly hair like the singer Genuwine, and was clean-shaven. I noticed him walk in as I reached for the ketchup. My eyes were set dead on him, and I knew why. He was such a good-looking man. Charmaine, noticing who I had my eyes on, said, “Oh my, God. He is here.”

“Who?” everyone asked with curiosity.

I had locked eyes with Troyon as if he knew we were talking about him. He was with Robert, Michael, and another guy I came to know named Tim. Now Tim was just like Troyon and just as good looking. Seeing them two together was like walking into ongoing traffic, deadly.

“Don’t look at him, Nitrah, he is hypnotizing,” Dahlia demanded as her mood suddenly changed.

“I was just seeing who it was, you were talking like it was a celebrity up in here, and you know it isn’t any celebrities in Fort Worth.”

“It’s Troy and Tim, the damn dogs of the funk,” Jazzaray said in disgust.

The funk was the nickname everyone called Fort Worth, which was only thirty minutes outside of Dallas. It was rumored that the city was named Funky Town because it reeked of cow manure, but it never smelled that bad to me.

“Why you call them dogs? I’m sure they aren’t dogs, they just get silly females who do whatever they ask,” I teased.

“You laughing, but I’m sure he can punk you, too,” Dahlia added. She almost spit at me as if she was spitting venom. What’s up with her, I thought.

“Yeah right, I could punk him. You know I got skills. Better yet, I can show you how I work it,” I challenged

“Alright then, let’s make a game out of it. Go ask for something from their table…but very sexy,” Jazzaray dared me.

“Really, that’s it? No big challenge. I can do this in my sleep.” I knew the challenge was coming, but who was I to be scared? I was the queen of dares.

“No, Jazz, don’t dare her like that,” Charmaine begged. “You know she will do it, and Lord knows Troy is not the one to play with.”

“He may be the devil but he sure does look mighty good from here,” Jazz joked.

“I’m down, ladies. Watch and learn. Oh, by the way, you girls may want to take notes.”

Before I could get up, Dahlia grabbed my hand and said, “Be careful. This isn’t a game.”

“I’m not worried about that fool, Dahlia. I’m cool, I got this.” I walked over very slow and sensual, but not to obvious. I wasn’t scared but I wasn’t trying to fall on my face either. This seemed just like a good opportunity for something wrong to happen. I knew who Troy was. I graduated class of ‘97 from Southwest High with him. I knew he was the type of dog I would never date, and even now at the tender age of twenty-three, he was still that same boy to me.

I reached their table and said, “Hey boys, how are y’all doing tonight?”

Tim was the first to speak. “Good and how are you, miss?” 

“I’m Nitrah, and you are?”

“Tim and this is Troy, Robert, and Michael.”

“How do you say your name again?” Robert asked me.

“Knee-trah,” I said slowly, sounding out my name.

“So there are four of us and four of you and your girls… Do y’all want to sit together?”  Troy asked me, noticing my friends watching us. I saw something in his eyes as if he wished he could retract that comment. He saw something; I wanted so badly to look back but didn’t want to lose concentration.

“No thanks, but I do want something from you,” I said above a whisper to let Troy know I was flirting with him. His boys smiled at him thinking he had pulled another female his way, but I was a different female. He returned his attention to me, his smile returned. I have him railed in, I thought.

“And what do you want from me, Miss Nitrah?”

“Not much, just that ketchup on your table.” Tim looked at me like I was crazy, as if I was delusional for not wanting more. I repeated, “Can I have it?” and reached out toward him just a little bit. He didn’t give me an answer; just stared at me as if he was waiting for me to say more. So I leaned over the table, very sexy like, and grabbed the ketchup myself. I walked away but not without saying thanks first. I was hoping he was watching my ass sway in my shorts and I felt sure he was.

Troy yelled out to me before I got any further. “What’s your name again?”

“Nitrah! Nitrah Hill. You boys have a good night.” I walked back over to my table knowing Troy and his friends would be still watching. I sat down and all eyes were on me.

Charmaine was the first to speak. “He is still watching. What in the hell did you say to him?”

“I didn’t think you were going to do it,” Jazzaray added.

Dahlia said, “You’re my new idol.”

We all started to laugh. I didn’t want to admit that seeing Troy up close like that made me a little moist. Just thinking about what I could do to him made me squirm in my seat. I phased the thought out of my mind and finished eating my food, using the ketchup I got from Troy’s table.

Afterward, we had great conversations about men and the dirty things they do. I noticed Troy and his crew getting up to leave, and then I looked at my watch. It was way past one in the morning. “Alright ladies, let’s go because it’s late. We’ve been at this table for three hours.”

“Yeah, I hear you,” Jazzaray said. “It’s back to work in the morning.”

As I got up from the table and started walking to the exit, Troy came back in to give me a message.

“Hey, sweet thing, how about you give me your number.”

I was a little appalled at the way he asked me and started to see his playa mentality. “My number? I don’t believe you deserve that reward.”

“You know I’m feeling you, and you are just too gorgeous for me to just walk away.”

I decided to play with his mind just a tad and call in on his bluff. “Alright then. Here’s what we are going to do. If we meet again, and I’m sure we will, then it was fate and I’ll give you my number then,” I said as me and my girls walked out the door.

Making sure not to look back and give him eye contact, Dahlia whispered, “Girl you got him twisted.”

I smiled, knowing I could have him if I wanted to. “I could show him a new thing or two.”

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