After that little stunt, I got “upgrades.” Self-defense classes. A personal trainer. Strength drills. Not exactly the parenting style I would have picked for my own kid, but it worked.
Now, I can spot a tail a block away, and I can throw a punch that lands harder than most college guys ever could imagine.
6
LEANNA
Once I’mon the train, I FaceTime Maria, my ride-or-die since kindergarten.
Her dad’s one of my father’s most trusted enforcers, and she’s the only person outside the family who knows the whole truth about my world.
When she chose UCLA, I was shocked.
Her father is extremely protective and even more traditional than mine, which is saying a lot considering mine is the standard-bearer for how people should act within a made family.
“Hey girl,” she chirps through the phone screen. “Where are you?”
“On the train home,” I say.
“Home as in…”
“My apartment,” I say. “I just left Tuesday night dinner with the menfolk.”
“Oh? How was that?”
“Ah, Carlotta makes amazing pasta, Vince is a psychopathic moron, and my father is obsessed with hockey.”
“So, the same, then.”
“Yep.”
“And how are you?”
I grin. “I’m good.”
“What’s that cheesy smile all about? You got a secret that needs to be told?”
She knows me too well. I’ve been dying to tell someone thewholestory about that lap dance last week.
My college friends only got the PG version—how I found an open room, danced for a masked stranger, and bolted the second the timer went off.
Haha, super weird and funny, right?
But with Maria, I tell the truth. I tell her about the strange way the man made me feel, like Ineededto please him. Iwantedhim to find me sexy, to want to touch me.
Maria’s the only one who knows my real secret—I’m a virgin.
Yep. A full-grown woman who’s never had a man inside her.
Shocking, right? Considering everything else about me. I’m a walking contradiction: I chase dares, flirt with danger, and never back down from a fight. My dad calls meimpulsive.I call italive.
But for all my recklessness, I’m not careless.
I have lines I don’t cross.
I’ve never had a real boyfriend, too risky, too complicated, when my father keeps tabs on my every move.
I’ve never given myself completely, even though I know exactly what I like. Because deep down, I’m waiting.
