Jaded Read Online Free Page B

Jaded
Book: Jaded Read Online Free
Author: Rhonda Sheree
Pages:
Go to
going?”
    And then the warm feeling turned cold.
    “Still interesting.”
    “Like hell. I’m the one who taught you how to lie, little sister, and you suck at it. You still flunking out?”
    “I’m not flunking out, Trina. No one ever said anything about flunking out. It’s hard working full-time and attending night school. I cannot wait to finally be a lawyer so that I won’t have to sit at lunch and hope my sister will pick up the tab.”
    Trina chuckled, pushed a bit of her sleek bob behind her ear and asked, “How do you like my new ice? Pretty hot, huh?”
    “They’re gorgeous,” Syeesha replied. The plump diamond drop earrings were fat as grapes and were even more brilliant against the simplicity of her black dress. Trina would never let her miss seeing them. Syeesha placed her elbows on the table and played with her ponytail, now wishing that she had worn her long hair down to hide her twenty-dollar studs. “Gift from . . .?”
    “Myself.”
    Syeesha could’ve sworn she saw her sister’s chest protrude in her usual self-congratulatory style as she responded.
    Then Trina played with her soup for moment. Her mood turned pensive. “I just wish Daddy . . .”
    A heaviness hung in the air. Syeesha swallowed hard, rolled her eyes, and took a long, deep sip of her Bellini. She played with the straw inside her water glass, staring at her sister until she could no longer bear the sight of her pathetic trip down woe-is-me lane.
    “He would’ve been very proud of you, Trina.”
    “You really think so?” Trina’s eyes remained fixed on the pea-green liquid in her bowl.
    Instead of responding, Syeesha stuffed her mouth with breaded shrimp and chewed the warm shellfish without really tasting it. Trina was really something. Hell, a six-figure salary would be all the validation Syeesha needed.
    “Well.” Trina took a few more sips of her soup. “I’m really proud of you for sticking with law school. It’s a smart choice. Although at the pace you’re going, you’ll be in the market for a set of dentures before you graduate.”
    Syeesha marveled at how the woman sitting before her—the very same woman who had smoked pot with her high school chemistry teacher while letting him tattoo his name on her inner thigh—was now the bastion of conservatism.
    “I didn’t want to say anything,” Trina continued. “But you’re a cute girl, Sy. So why do you insist on walking around looking like your wardrobe is compliments of Tar-zhay? Throw on some more jewelry, at least.”
    “First of all, I can’t afford to be concerned with high fashion. I’m a legal secretary.” Syeesha felt her patience trickling away like the sand in an hourglass. Grains of irritation began to pile high. “ Second of all, I don’t much care for fashion. Third of all, what’s wrong with clothes from Target? Or as you like to put it, Tar-zhay?”
    “You’re right,” replied Trina. “I’ll shush. I guess I’ve taken over where Dad left off. He used to harp on my ass for every little thing.”
    “God in heaven. Please tell me you’re not about to start on that again. I heard someone say you only get permission to blame your parents until you’re thirty-five. I think this is the year you need to start looking for better excuses. Besides, even if you insist on lamenting that I was the favorite, you haven’t turned out too badly for all of your extra effort. Me? I’m twenty-eight years old and coasting along as an expendable secretary, studying courses at night that instantly induce sleep, in hopes that I will stumble into a career that is—as Dad would say—secure and honorable. Stop with the pity party.”
    Trina’s back arched a little straighter and her plump lips curved into a tiny smile.
    “Yeah, you’re right. In some crazy way I guess I have come out ahead, haven’t I? Not that we’re keeping score or anything.”
    “No.” Syeesha stuffed her mouth with calamari. “Of course we’re not.”
     
     
    ***
    After
Go to

Readers choose