Chapter 16
Arris
“What, bitch?” I yawned as I answered the second call I’d gotten from Alex in the last two minutes.
Alex owned the shop I tattooed out of and it was rare for him to call me at all, but the fact that he’d called twice was off-putting honestly.
It was four in the fucking morning and my tolerance for dumb shit when I was trying to sleep wasn’t even low. It was nonexistent. On top of the fact that there was a chance this stupid ass call would wake up Jayme.
“The fuck are you doing, nigga?”
“Sleeping like a regular person,” I yawned, “What do you want?”
“There’s been an issue at the shop.”
“What shop?”
“The tattoo shop,” Alex snapped.
It took a second for me to realize that made sense considering who he was. I yawned and sat up fully.
“What’s going on?”
“Somebody broke in and vandalized the shop. Your room got the worst of it.”
“Of course it did,” I scoffed. “I’m on my way.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you when you get here.”
“Yeah, alright.”
I hung up and hopped out of bed. I threw on a T-shirt, hoodie, sweatpants, and slides, then pocketed my phone. I leaned over the bed and planted a soft kiss on Jayme’s lips. She stirred slowly and it took her a moment to wake up. Her eyes bounced around my face while she came to.
“Where are you going?” she asked after a moment.
“There was an issue at the shop. I need to go take a look. I’ll be back.”
“What kind of issue?”
“The kind you don’t need to be worried about.” I gave her a small smile. “I’ll give you more info when I get it though, alright?”
“Yeah. Do you need anything?”
“Nah. Just get some more sleep.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
“Okay.”
I watched Jayme shift and roll onto her stomach. Then I jerked my hood on and headed out.
I made the drive out to the shop in a fraction of the time it usually took. When I got there word had already spread like fucking wildfire. The cops were on the scene as well as several DP members.
Alex wasn’t gang, but he knew a lot of us, which was how I’d even linked up with him in the first place.
It made sense that he’d told his boys who also told their boys.
I dapped up the dudes I knew as I walked to the front door.
The glass had been shattered and I kicked the rest out before I pushed my way inside.
Alex and a few of the other artists were already inside, standing around talking to a cop.
“This is a closed—”
Alex cut the cop off. “He was invited. He works here. That’s his room.” He pointed back to my door.
“Alright.” The cop exhaled. “Come on in.”
I walked over and joined the little circle.
“So, maybe you know why the cameras were offline?” The cop looked over at me.
“Nah. I don’t,” I deadpanned.
“Look, Arris works here and I’ve never had an issue with him.
I don’t know why the fucking cameras didn’t work but there are a handful of businesses around this one.
Maybe one of them got something, alright?
It’s not like I’m going to get some kind of payout for this stupid shit.
What would I gain from setting up my own business to fail? ”
“Look, I just have to ask all the questions, alright?”
“Yeah, alright.”
The cop asked each of us a series of questions and jotted different things down. He kept us for at least an hour before letting us go.
Alex looked more annoyed than he’d ever been by the time he walked off and he lit a cigarette as soon as he got a chance.
I took that opportunity to walk over to my room and check it out.
The door had been damn near kicked off the hinges, even though I never locked it to begin with.
Somebody had cut up the table I tattooed on and the stuffing littered the floor.
There was tattoo ink and needles all over and random drawers thrown open.
I carefully walked inside and pulled each drawer open.
Even though I didn’t keep anything at the shop that I wasn’t okay with other people fucking with, I still felt the need to take a quick mental inventory.
It looked like whoever had forced their way in was looking for something. I didn’t know why or what they thought they’d find.
I exhaled and took a deep breath to stop myself from crashing the fuck out.
I did my best to keep shit nice and calm because when I started flashing on mothafuckas it was hard for me to reel myself back in.
I left my room and grabbed a broom. Everyone was still out talking and throwing out theories about what had happened. I didn’t bother joining in. No matter what we all thought. Even knowing for certain who’d fucked everything up wouldn’t fix it.
I got to work cleaning everything up. I took my time wiping all the ink and stuff up before sweeping and wiping everything down. Then I took my chair apart and dragged each part out one by one to the front of the shop and tossed it.
It took me about an hour and a half to work my way through the wreckage and see what I could manage to save.
Then I helped some of the other artists take their inventory and clean up their spots.
By the time I finished, the sun was up and the gang had headed off.
“Ay, let me holla at you before you head out,” Alex called after me.
I turned back around. “What’s up?”
I yawned and stretched as I closed in on him.
“You remember when you told me you were thinking about opening your own spot?”
I lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah?”
“I’ll sell you this one.”
“What?”
“Look, there’s constant bullshit around here.
I’m struggling to make ends meet. I just had two artists tell me they won’t be working out of here until I can get everything taken care of.
Even though I would let people work out of the shop, I understand them being apprehensive about not knowing why we were targeted.
I’m losing out on their cash, gonna have to pay to get this place fixed up, then pour money into court trying to get the cash back when we find the person?
I mean, if,” he corrected, “And that’s a strong if.
” He shook his head. “I’m over this shit.
I want to tattoo because I love it, but honestly, whether you buy it or not, I’m ducking out and moving on.
I’ll work out of someone else’s shit before I keep putting up with this. ”
I took a deep breath and nodded.
“Alright. What were you thinking for it?”
“I’m thinking forty grand.”
I whistled. “Alex, I don’t have that kind of money and you know that.”
“I’ll take ten and a payment plan if you have it to put down.”
“Alright.” I shifted on my feet. “Look, don’t shop the offer around for a few weeks. Give me a little bit of time and I’ll see what I can do.”
“I can’t wait too long, Arris.”
“I know. Just give me a few weeks. Look, I’ll talk to Jayme, and if she says it’s cool, I’ll give you two grand to put it on hold for me to get the other eight.”
Alex looked off and paused. I watched while he thought carefully about his answer. He nodded.
“Alright, man. Have that conversation and let me know.”
“Alright. I’ll update you tomorrow.”
“Bet.” Alex ran a hand down his face. “Well the shop is still open to anyone who wants to use it I guess, but I don’t know when that fucking glass will get fixed.”
“I’ll come through in any way I can.” I offered.
He nodded.
Honestly, I was one of the people considering tattooing out of my spot for a little bit. Not only was it around DP, but between my spot, Jayme’s spot, and Dyani’s spot, I didn’t care as much about having people in and out of my place.
If the Bedford Boys were out to get me or make some kind of fucking stance, they were going to have to run that shit back on my home turf.
Regardless, I needed a nap before anything else. I went through my appointments and rescheduled all the early ones then dapped everyone up and headed out.
I was fifteen minutes into the drive when my phone rang.
“Hello?”
“It’s damn near ten in the morning and yet I haven’t heard from you. What’s going on?” Jayme asked.
“Are you okay?” Dyani asked.
I smiled at the fact that they’d three-way called me.
“I’m good. The shop got vandalized and my room got really fucked up but I’m good.
I got caught up cleaning and helping Alex however I could but I’m about to head home and see if I can get a little sleep.
I moved some shit around on my schedule so I don't have anything to tattoo until later tonight and that’s it.
I’m about to head to the crib and see if I can get some more sleep in. ”
“Do you need anything?” Dyani asked.
“Nah, baby. I’m good.”
“Well, do they know who did it?”
“Nah. We’re waiting around to see the camera footage from some of the nearby shops. The cops are working on getting it.”
“Any ideas?” Jayme asked.
“A few, but I’m not going to make a move until I get some confirmation.”
“Well, that’s smart,” Dyani offered.
“I’m proud of you,” Jayme added.
“Thank you, baby.”
“Do you have a game plan?” Jayme asked.
“Something like that but I wanted to run it by you first.”
“Okay?” She sounded confused. “What’s up?”
“Alex wants to sell the shop.”
“What?”
“Yeah, and he asked me to buy it.”
“For how much?”
“Ten grand down and we can work out the rest. I told him if I was interested I’d put two thousand in his hand by tomorrow and work on getting the eight.”
“How much do you already have saved up for a shop?”
“About twenty-one racks,” I admitted, “but I’m not going to lie, thinking about emptying my savings account when shit isn’t set in stone and we have Blake doesn’t sound too smart.”
“Maybe not, but I still think you should do it,” Jayme said. “I mean, I have a little nest egg of my own that I can use if Blake ends up needing something. Plus, he only wants ten down so you can sit on the rest if you really want to.”
“Is there a reason you’re second guessing it?” Dyani asked.
“Honestly? It’s something about handing over that kind of cash that’s making me a lil iffy.”
“Nah. There’s something about being your own boss and having to deal with everything that comes with being a business owner that’s stressing you out,” Jayme corrected.