Hot Girlz: Hot Boyz Sequel by Marissa Monteilh Read Free Book Online Page A

trippin, if you ask me.”
    “He’s not. He just tired of B.S.”
Venus walked out of the kitchen and toward the front door, turning her head to
talk loudly toward the back of the house. “Claude, I’m gonna go ahead and get
Skyy.”
    “I’ll go with you,” Cameron said right
away.
    Claude yelled back, “Yeah, you do
that. And check the mail while you’re at it. Might be some more mail in there
for you. And Cameron, don’t you bring Candy back up in here. Candy ain’t always
sweet, you hear me?”
    Venus looked forward and opened the
door.
    “Yes, Sir.” He rolled his eyes,
sighed, and then said to Venus as he followed her out of the door, “I’ll check
the mail. Adios Mio ,” he said, insinuating Good Lord , in Spanish
for only Venus to hear. The Spanish she had taught him through the years.
    “ No, lo conseguiré ,” she
replied, letting him know she would get it herself.
    He closed the door behind them.
    Both of them had a moment of much
needed fresh air all to themselves.
     
     
     
    6
     
     
    Sequoia
     
     
    “That would be a hot mess.”
     
    The house in Baldwin Hills on Coliseum
Street where Sequoia grew up was a remodeled, tri-level monster, with rust
stucco and green shutters. It had many large rooms and floor-to-ceiling
windows. Sequoia’s mother, Ruby Smith, had since passed on, but years earlier
she had lost the property to foreclosure. Sequoia moved her mother in with her
in Culver City before she got married to Torino. But recently, Sequoia was
proud that she had the means to buy the house for nostalgic reasons when it
came on the market. She turned it into her own catering location.
    She had transformed the kitchen into a
restaurant-style chef’s dream, complete with commercial appliances and a
ten-by-ten island with copper cookware hanging from stainless steel pot racks.
Having learned how to cook from her grandmother, Sequoia and two of her
employees, her cook and her young assistant, were hard at work that Thursday,
getting ready for a weekend event at a businesswoman’s home in Brentwood.
    Sequoia sat on the upholstered chair
in the formal dining room across from her sister-in-law, Mercedes. The sound of
pots clanging and a low volume hip-hip radio station played. The smell of
something hearty was coming from the kitchen.
    “So, Mason’s serious. I mean, about
running for city council?”
    “He seems to be.” Mercedes looked
relaxed, sipping from her glass of ice-water.
    Sequoia looked over some invoices and
asked, “What would he have to do in order to run?”
    “From what he tells me, since there’s
a vacancy and it’s not actually election time, he wouldn’t run. He’d need to
get appointed to the post by the council members. Looks like the council is
about to interview candidates. Not sure if he officially applied, though. I
think it’d be temporary until the election in a couple of years. It would take
a while to find out.”
    “Interesting. But he met with someone
already?”
    “He met with Eric Garcetti. And
someone else.” Mercedes picked up her phone from the table as it rang, reading
the name on the screen. “Oh Lord,” she said to Sequoia, “Excuse me.” She
greeted the caller. “Hello? Hi, Colette.” She raised her brows, mouthing to Sequoia,
“What the hell?”
    Sequoia’s mouth flopped open. Her eyes
were stuck on Mercedes.
    Mercedes continued, “Yes, it has been
a long time . . . Everyone’s okay, thanks. How’ve you been? . . . Uh-huh . . .
He’s that old already? . . . You did? I’ll bet he is . . . So you waited all
this time to try and get child support? . . . No. I know you tried to tell him.
Well, why don’t you wait until the lab results come in and go from there? . . .
True. Listen, it’s good hearing from you.” She looked at Sequoia like she would
rather slit her wrists than talk. “Keep the faith. It’ll all work out for
everyone . . . Excuse me . . . Huh? Oh, I’m sorry, Colette, but I can’t get you
any work. I have very