ISABELLA

      "This is it," Omari replied as he pushed open the door to his apartment.

      The heels of my sandals clicked lightly on the freshly waxed floors as I looked over my new home. The two of us had opted not to take a honeymoon; I was uncomfortable with taking a romantic get away with Omari and he had business to take care of. Everything was so neat and well decorated. By looking at his furnishings I could tell he was a minimalist but liked elegance. His home,our home, was one of modern comfort.

      Omari glanced down at his watch before turning his attention back to me. "I didn't think you would be comfortable with sharing a room with me just yet so I had one of the guest bedroom's set up for you. Evelyn said that she made the bedroom with the black and cream decor up for you. It's down that hall and the fourth door on the right. I'm sorry to just up and leave you but I have some things to take care of. Here's a set of house keys and if you have your license you're welcome to use one of the cars and get a feel of the area. Copies of my car keys are on my dresser. You'll know which room's mine seeing as it's the master."

      I nodded and took the offered keys and watched him leave the apartment before going off to find my room. My parents had shipped most of my clothing down here the week prior to the wedding and I wanted to make sure everything was arranged before doing some damage to my father's credit. He wanted this so bad, well now he was about to pay for it. The titanium centurion American Express card he'd had issued in my name a year ago was burning a hole in my Fendi purse and there were quite a few things I wanted to purchase.

      After following the simple instructions Omari had given me I found myself at the room he had set aside for me. I opened the door to find a spacious room, though it was smaller than the room I had in my parents' home, and it was designed in cream, black, and white. It was nice, albeit simple, and clearly designed with a man in mind. My Jo Malone grapefruit, jasmine, and French lime blossom scented luxury candle rested on my night stand while an orange blossom scented luxury candle was positioned on the coffee table in front of my closet. The doors to the closet were open and my clothing had been hung with care while my perfume was neatly arranged on the marble top of the chest of drawers positioned in the center of the space. Before I had a chance to walk in the closet my cell phone started ringing and I glanced at the caller-id before answering it.

      "Hey Paula," I greeted my best friend over the line as I took a seat on one of the cushioned black and white chairs across from the closet.

      "What's going on Is? How's married life?" she asked.

      I glanced down at my left hand before looking out the window at the blue ocean before responding. "It's life. I've only been married a couple of days and between now and the last time I saw you there hasn't been anything life changing."

      "Did you have sex with him?" Paula asked.

      "Paula!" I exclaimed completely scandalized.

      "What?" she asked in amusement.

      "My sex life isn't subject for conversation," I told her.

      "So you did," she replied in certainty. "How was it? He seems like he'd be good in bed. If not he's a complete waste of a beautiful package."

      "I do not need to hear this right now," I told her.

      "If you can't talk about this with your best friend then who can you talk to?" she asked.

      She did have a point. I had absolutely no idea; well I had an idea but no technique when it came to sex. If there was anyone I would ask advice of it would be Paula.

      "I didn't have sex with Omari," I admitted.

      "And why the hell not?" she asked.

      "Hello," I replied in annoyance, "I don't know him. How the hell am I supposed to do that with someone I don't love?"

      "Easy," Paula replied, "women do it everyday."

      "Well I'm not every woman and I guarantee you that quite a few of them had their first time with someone they cared about. I don't even know Omari's birthday. How could I possibly give my virginity to someone I know damn near nothing about?"

      "You know the subject of sex is going to come up eventually, especially since you're going to be sleeping in the same bed with this man," Paula pointed out.

      "That won't be a problem because Omari had a room set up for me. He understands that I'm a virgin and that I'm not comfortable with being in a sexual relationship with him right now," I told her.

      "Considerate too," Paula pointed out. "Tell me again why you're all melancholy?"

      "Stop trying to force me to see the bright side of this situation," I mumbled.

      "So when do you start classes?" Paula asked changing the subject for me.

      "Three weeks," I told her. "I think I'm going to set something up so I can visit the campus and pick up my books. I've already registered for my classes online and hopefully since I'm getting my books early I can get the cheaper used ones. I think they have some overnight thing for incoming freshmen so I'll check into that."

      "I can't believe you're not going to Georgetown with me. We had everything planned and were even going to be roomies-"

      "We can't be roomies but you can always transfer to the University of Miami," I told her and honestly I wouldn't mind. It would be nice to have a familiar face around.

      "If it wasn't for all the bad weather down there I would entertain that thought but after watching that Real World episode when that hurricane hit I think I'm going to keep my happy ass up North," Paula replied.

      "Well you could at least visit," I told her with a pout.

      "Oh no doubt," Paula replied. "I'd love to come chill with you for a bit. Maybe I'd be able to hook up with your husband's friend Dreux."

      "You like that phrase don't you?" I asked her as I momentarily ignored the fact she was trying to hook up with Omari's best man.

      "What?" she asked.

      "Husband," I pointed out. "You've been on that whole marriage and wife kick for a minute now."

      "Sorry," she replied. "It's just that my best friend since diapers is married. Excuse me if I have a hard time letting that go. Have you spoken to your parents since the reception?"

      "No, I've been dodging their calls. There's really nothing they can say to justify what they did. I understand that my father's job and money made my lifestyle possible but it wasn't like I asked to be born or that I demanded they hand me unlimited credit cards. They did that on their own and then tried to guilt trip me so that they could make this merger happen. It wasn't fair and I didn't appreciate it," I pointed out.

      "I can understand that," Paula replied seriously.

      "When do you have to head to DC and why are you so interested in Dreux? I thought you and Josh were all in love," I pointed out.

      Paula sighed over the phone and said, "That's been over for a minute now. He decided to go to Stanford and felt that the distance would be put a huge strain in our relationship."

      "Basically he wants to be a free agent with that new pool of ass," I blurted out.

      "You got that right. You know I loved me some Joshua but I can't let no monkey stop my show," she joked. "Seriously though Joshua was the icing to my cake but he forgot an important fact."

      "And what's that?" I asked her.

      "My cake tastes great with the candy icing but it's just as moist and delicious without it," she replied.

      "I hear that," I told her.

      "But on the whole school front, I start the last week of August but I have to be there the weekend before hand to move into my dorm room," she replied.

      "Did you get a single room?" I asked knowing how she was about her personal space.

      She sucked her teeth and said, "They don't allow freshman to have single rooms. Some bullshit about mingling and getting to know people."

      "Sorry," I replied knowing that there was going to be trouble.

      "I know, right? If that heifer so much as looks too hard at my Clive Christian perfume there's going to be problems," Paula warned.

      "I don't understand why you buy that overly expensive perfume anyway," I pointed out.

      "I get it for the same reason you purchase sixty-five dollar candles," she pointed out. "But I'm going to let you go. I'm tired and I'm sure you want to get settled."

      "Alright," I replied sad to end the conversation knowing that I'd be alone in the house for the while.

      "Cheer up. I'll look into getting a flight down there. That way we can spend our last two weeks together in style," Paula replied.

      "You'd spend your last free weeks with little ole me?" I asked.

      "Stop the mellow dramatics. This will be the last time we get together for a while so we have to do it up. I'll let you know what hotel I'm staying at-"

      "Now you know you don't have to stay at a hotel," I interrupted.

      "I'm not just going to barge into you and Omari's space. The two of you need to get to know each other and you can't really learn to be comfortable with each other with an extra person in the mix. Besides you just moved down there, the two of you need your quality time and I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate me just inviting myself in," Paula pointed out.

      She did have a point so I didn't argue, although I really wanted to. Paula was all about trying to make this situation a good one and wasn't about to inadvertently put a wrench in her grand plan. We ended the call on a positive note and I headed into my connecting bathroom, which had a crazy black and white marble design, to freshen up a bit before searching out those car keys Omari had told me about and making my way to the nearest Neiman Marcus.

OMARI

      "What's good my nig?" the familiar baritone of my cousin Jarell asked me as he walked into my office. By his mannerisms you would never know that the man was born and bred in upper crust society.

      "Not a thing," I replied with a sigh as I looked over the figures my accountant had sent me.

      "How's wifey?" Jarell asked with a smirk.

      I gave him the finger before looking over this year's projections. Jarell had been in St. Tropez with his current flavor of the month and couldn't catch a flight back in time for the wedding. While he hadn't met Isabella I was sure he'd heard a mouth full from Dreux. It wasn't that Dreux didn't like Isabella, he just didn't know her and she hadn't exactly been sending out the greatest vibes when they'd met. The girl had been forced to marry a stranger, so it wasn't like anyone could blame her, but you know how people got after first impressions.

      I shrugged and said, "I assume she's doing well since she hasn't called me."

      "When do I get to meet this mysterious woman?" Jarell asked.

      "Not tonight," I told him.

      Jarell smirked and said, "Got plans, huh?"

      "Get your mind out of the gutter. It's not even like that," I replied before checking the time.

      "How is it not like that? You're married. I know they say the sex stops after marriage but I know you're not going out like that," Jarell replied.

      "For it to stop it has to start," I mumbled.

      Jarell stared at me for a minute before plopping down in the leather seat across from me and said, "Explain to me again why you got married."

      "You know how my father was in the works of merging his corporation with Arcieri Technology?" I asked him as I saved my files and began to shut down my computer.

      "Yeah, so?" Jarell asked.

      "Well both my dad and Mr. Arcieri wanted a guarantee that both of their interests would be looked after and the best way to do that was by making business personal. To do that my father made me marry Mr. Arcieri's daughter," I explained.

      "Word?" Jarell inquired.

      I nodded my head in affirmation. "Damn. How did Terri take it?"

      Terri, or Terrell, was my girlfriend for the last eight months and things had been really going well. I wouldn't say I was in love with her but I enjoyed her company and her sex game was like that. When my father had first brought up the subject of maybe having to marry into the merger I automatically assumed he would have my older half brother Marques do it. Granted Marques's mother and my father hadn't been married when he was conceived and my father didn't find out about Mark until he was almost a year old, I'd always known him and he had always been around so logically I assumed he would be the choice. Unfortunately, because my father didn't know about Mark he didn't have the Deveraux last name and so I had to do it. By the time I'd realized this it was a month before the wedding and I just couldn't find the right time, or way, to tell Terrell. In the end I just ended up breaking up with her over a text message. Yeah, it was a punk move but it solved my problem.

      I shrugged and said, "I don't really know."

      "Tell me you told her," Jarell stated in all seriousness.

      "I sent her a text message. Whether or not she got it or took me serious is anyone's guess," I replied.

      "I do not envy you my friend because when Terri sees you, she's going to beat your ass and all I ask is for enough time to get a bucket of popcorn so I can watch," Jarell replied before leaving to carry his ass to Saks in Dadeland Mall so he could pick up the pair of Louis Vuitton sneakers he'd ordered.