Page 47 of Solomon’s Temple

“You said you were a sex addict. How many partners have you had, and how did that become a thing?”

“You really want to know that?” I asked, smirking at her.

“If you want me to marry you, then yes. I need to know everything about you and your family. I have to make sure I’m not marrying into the sanctified lunatics.”

I laughed aloud at that. “I feel you, baby . . . Two hundred and four.”

She almost choked on the champagne she sipped. I patted her back to help her regain her breath, then took the glass from her and set it on the table.

“Two . . . what? How, Solomon?”

“Some of them were four or five at a time since I was sixteen.”

“Sixteen!” She screeched. “Like, you really were just out here laying it low and spreading it wide. Where the hell were your parents?”

“They didn’t know, Beauty. I used to be a master manipulator. It’s how I was able to protect my family on the streets.”

“Is this some master manipulation you pulled on me? To fly me across the country, get me to fall for you, and marry you just to fuck me to satisfy your sexual appetite?”

I frowned slightly. “I’m not that guy anymore, Temp. I don’t need to manipulate you to fu—have sex with you. I genuinely want to get to know you, spoil you, and give you the world, and don’t have to lay a finger on you until you’re ready.

“My vision for my life has changed. I want to be a one-woman man and give my wife the world. I hate that you feel that way, but I’m only being honest with you, and now I feel like you’re judging me.”

“I’m not judging you, but over two hundred women is crazy, baby.”

“I know, . . . but since you wanted to know my life story, I’m going to tell you everything you want to know. I just need you to have an open mind, and let me know if it’s too much, and I’ll chill.”

“I want to know, so I’m going to listen. I was only caught by surprise. You were just so young when you started out.”

“I was. When I was fifteen, I met this girl. She was eighteen and like some sort of madam. She had a harem of girls who she used to trick out. At the time, I didn’t know how old she was or that she was into that kind of stuff.

“I met her at a house party one of my friends had and just assumed she was around our age. Anyway, me and her talked, and before the party ended, she had me in the bathroom while she was on her knees giving my virgin behind the best head of my life. From that day forward, we linked up almost every day. I’d lie to my parents about having after-school studies just to link up with her.

“Fast forward to my sixteenth birthday, she invited me back to her spot. Here I was thinking she still lived at home with her parents, but she finally revealed her age to me and that it was her house we were in. I didn’t care because I had already caught feelings for her.

“For my sixteenth, she threw me a party at her house, but there was nothing but girls there. They were friendly, bought me a cake, and sang happy birthday to me. Then right after I blew out the candles on the cake, things shifted. Clothes were being removed, girls were kissing girls, and drinks were flowing⁠—”

“Oh goodness. That girl turned you out,” she said, tossing her head back.

I chuckled. “She did. I had sex with eight girls that night while she sat and watched. I had never experienced anything like that in my life, so it kind of spiraled from there.”

“And where did your parents think you were on your birthday?”

“Staying at a friend’s house.”

“And what happened to this sex demon?”

I shook my head with an amused look on my face. “She was murdered a year later by some dude she was with before me.”

Temple’s mouth formed into an O of surprise. “Damn. Were you sad about it?”

I nodded. “I was. She was the first girl I fell in love with.”

“And Sharika? When did you two hook up?”

I smirked. “Shereece. We hooked up in the eleventh grade. I tried the whole monogamous thing with her until I found out that she was giving it up to anybody who wanted it. After our breakup, I didn’t get into relationships anymore. That’s when I stopped hiding that sexual urge to hit any woman I chose to.

“It was bad. It’s what God revealed to me on my deathbed. I could hear His words vividly and repeatedly while in a coma, saying, ‘turn from your wicked ways, and you shall have everlasting life.’ I wanted to live more than I wanted to die, so once He spared my life, I promised I’d try hard to do better. Now here I am. It’s still a struggle, but He sees and knows my heart.