19. Chapter 19
19
He sat in the waiting area. His loctician should be here soon, and he used his phone to occupy his time. A ding rang throughout the partially empty room. He looked toward the door as a man entered.
The man smiled before making his way toward Zain. He sat on the chair to Zain’s left. “Scar.”
“Don’t call me that around civilians,” Zain said.
“Fuck these people.”
Zain rolled his eyes at Owen’s comment. “I prefer when you call me Stork.”
“I know. That’s why I’m calling you Scar.” Owen grinned. “Plus, it kinda makes you look badass. You got that whole ‘don’t fuck with me’ thing going on for you now.”
Zain ignored the comment. “What are you doing here?”
“Mi come visit mi barber, dawg. Deevn look like him deh ya.”
“Let someone else do it.”
Owen scoffed. “Yu mad? Mi naa trade my barber fi love nor money! Anyway, you figured out what we’re gonna do about PNG?”
Zain’s jaw clenched. He’d been pretending the meeting never happened. Maybe if he could convince himself, he wouldn’t have to worry about how PNG would affect the life he had now.
Owen gasped. “Yu cya serious right now, dawg… Yu nehna think bout it?”
Zain sighed. “No. ”
“Well, you need to hurry. Jollof is against this shit too, and you know we stand with you despite whatever Rice wants to say.” Owen lowered his voice. “We need you, Scar…”
“I’m not the Sergeant anymore. Whatever Rice says is law.”
“Fuckry dis yaa chat ina mi ears, bredda,” Owen hissed. “I didn’t spend ten years of my life at your side fi that fassy come tell mi wa fi do. And you know Jollof feels the same. Just think bout it, please .”
Zain sighed, looking at Taeja, who was walking toward them. She was coming from the bathroom.
“Jah,” Owen said. “Did bout fi leff, but mi cya liff up without tha catty ya number.”
Zain’s brows furrowed. “What?”
Owen nodded his head in Taeja’s direction. “Her. My type a gyal dat.”
Zain glared. “She’s my girlfriend. Keep talking if you wanna lose your tongue.”
Owen threw his hands up in the air. “Fuck, sorry. Didn’t know.”
Zain didn’t answer.
Taeja finally reached over and sat on the chair to Zain’s right. She looked at him expectantly, and he withheld a groan before introducing the two.
“Taeja, Owen. Owen, Taeja,” Zain said.
The light in Taeja’s eyes dimmed a little, but she looked at Owen with a warm smile. “Nice to meet you. I’m his girlfriend .”
Owen smirked. “I know. Yu Jamaican?”
Taeja nodded. “How did you know?”
“The way you look. Jamaican women cya hide.”
Taeja chuckled. “Never know we look a certain way.”
“Yeah, man…”
“How do you know Zain?”
“We worked together,” Zain said as he looked at his wristwatch, then at the entrance. He tapped his foot against the floor as another minute dragged by.
“Which part of Jamaica are you from?” Taeja asked.
“Junction.” Owen chuckled at Taeja’s furrowed brows. “It’s in St. E. You?”
“I-I can’t remember. ”
“Been here that long, huh?”
Taeja nodded, looking at her fingers as she fumbled with them. “Yeah…”
Owen laughed off her embarrassment, then easily led them into conversation. Zain was thankful she’d have someone to talk to while he got his hair done, because his loctician walked in a moment later.
“Dee?” Taeja asked, shocked.
“Tae!” Dijonae exclaimed, her face brightening. “Wa yado here?”
Taeja’s eyes darted to Zain before settling on Dijonae. “I’m here with him. I didn’t know this is where you work,” Taeja said while standing to hug Dijonae. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“Can I tell you?” Dijonae laughed. “A this morning Mommy a cuss seh yu dash her weh.”
“You two know each other?” Zain asked, raising his brow as he stood.
Dijonae nodded. “My mom babysat her when I was younger.”
Taeja chuckled. “Your age is showing.”
“I’m twenty-nine, and I look as young as you—” Dijonae paused to look at Owen, who was now standing, and her smile wiped away.
Taeja glanced between them. “Dee, this is Owen—”
“We know each other.” Dijonae scowled, her gaze softening as it shifted to Zain. “Sorry for being late, Zain. Traffic was thick like overnight cornmeal porridge.”
Zain nodded.
“Okay, follow me. Come too, Taeja. That man’s not good company for you.”
Taeja’s brows furrowed. “I’ll be there soon.”
Dijonae scowled at Owen before walking away. Zain followed closely, barely hearing Owen’s heavy sigh over the loud hum from a hairdryer. Zain sat on the styling chair, watching Dijonae as she gathered her necessary tools from the cabinets.
“I told you to stop bringing him here,” Dijonae whispered low enough so only Zain could hear.
Zain shrugged as she put the cape around his shoulders. “I don’t control him.”
“Ha. Funny.” Dijonae rolled her eyes while running her fingers through his locs. “How yu hair look so fuzzy this month? You didn’t buy the silk bonnet?”
“I bought a duvet.”
“Hm… that can work, but just buy the bonnet and wear it for the first few weeks so it can keep longer,” Dijonae advised, and he nodded. “Back to your friend. I don’t want him here, Zain.”
“His barber is here.”
Dijonae scoffed. “Grant switched shops a week ago, and he knows. All you men do is lie.”
He glared at her in the mirror. “Why are you stereotyping me with him?”
She tugged one of his locs. “Stop move yu head.”
“I’m older than you, and all you do is abuse me whenever I come here.”
Dijonae grinned. “Because no one else knows how to do your hair like me. You should thank me you got to this length in two years.”
Instead of answering, Zain looked at Owen’s and Taeja’s reflection approaching them.
“Can I sit right here?” Taeja gestured to an empty chair.
“Yu see anybody name pon it?” Dijonae asked, and Taeja muttered an apology before sitting.
Owen nodded at Zain’s reflection in the mirror, and Zain returned a subtle nod. Owen cleared his throat before looking at Dijonae. “Later, Dee.”
“Mhm.”
Owen sighed. “You cya give mi a better bye than that? Anything can happen when I’m on the road, you know.”
She froze before recovering. “That’s the least of my concerns.”
Owen smiled. “You care.”
“I don’t,” Dijonae said, pretending to be extremely focused on Zain’s locs. “Leave my shop.”
Smirking, Owen looked at Taeja. “See you around, Tae. Was nice meeting you. Take care of my brother.”
“Was nice meeting you, too.” Taeja smiled, watching as Owen walked away. Once he was out of earshot, her eyes snapped at Dijonae. “Dee—”
Dijonae chuckled. “Yu nuh learn fi control yu mouth yet?” she asked, and Taeja shook her head. “I’m not telling you what happened between me and him.”
Taeja huffed. “You never talk to me about your relationships.”
“Because it’s weird. I basically raised you,” Dijonae said before looking at Zain with a laugh. “How do you manage her?”
Zain glanced at Taeja, a small smile playing on his lips. “I try my best.”
Taeja playfully rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. “I’m not a handful.”
“Whatever you say.”
Taeja laughed. “I knew you were going to say that.”
Zain smirked, jovial because she smiled at him. Her joy was contagious. It felt strange, but was welcomed. He kept his eyes glued to Taeja while she looked at her phone and spoke to Dijonae.
Taeja was gorgeous. Really gorgeous. Exactly how Damon always put it.
From that full head of curly hair, to those long eyelashes, soft lips, and smooth, dark skin. She was everything. He liked her smiles and her laughs. Her posture and her slim build.
She looked at ease right now, given all that she confessed earlier.
Zain clenched his jaw and looked away. How would she feel when he finally managed to deliver the news to her? Because it couldn’t be a coincidence that he saw Twenty today. Time was running out faster than he anticipated; PNG would be in action soon.
He snapped back to reality when Taeja gently laid her hand on his thigh. It surprised him that he didn’t jerk away or break her fingers for touching him.
Was this reaction even normal for a man like him?
Of course not.
Taeja was an open book, yet she was a mystery to him. He could never understand why she made him feel half of the things he felt, and it scared him the better he got to know her.
“Sorry.” Taeja retracted her hand. “Dee is talking to you.”
Zain looked at Dijonae in the mirror.
Dijonae smiled apologetically. “Last time mi touch yu, yu nearly bruk mi hand, and I need these,” she joked, but Zain didn’t laugh. “I’m going outside to collect my lunch from… a delivery man. I’ll be back in five minutes. ”
Zain nodded, and Dijonae smiled before brushing down her hair and taking quick strides toward the waiting area.
“Ketch her nuh,” Taeja mumbled. “A must the man she gone to. What happened between them?”
Zain shrugged and dipped his hand in his pocket. “Ask her.”
“Dee nago tell me nun,” she muttered.
“Then that means you don’t need to know,” he replied while throwing and catching the ball he made with the material he found in his pocket.
“True, but cause mi fass—” Taeja abruptly paused.
Zain looked at her, his brow raised. “What?”
Taeja yanked the ball from his hand and lowly hissed, “Yu really a play with mi draws ina the people dem place?!”
Zain burst out laughing. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize.”
Taeja paused, her sneer becoming a smile. “You laughed.”
“Yeah. So?”
“That’s the first time you laughed when you’re only around me.”
His smile washed away. He was confused. Did she not want him to be comfortable around her? “Is something wrong with that?”
“No,” Taeja rushed out. “It makes me happy that you’re getting more comfortable around me. Cause when we first met, it was like you were scared of me.”
Not wanting to admit that she hit the nail right on the head, Zain looked at the ball in her hand. He extended his hand toward her. “Give it to me.”
Taeja’s eyes narrowed as she jumped to her feet. “No. Mago put it on back.”
Watching her hips sway as she walked away, Zain’s lips twisted upward into a small smirk.
The agonizing memories of his past typically plagued his days, but since he met Taeja, there’d been a shift. He looked forward to making her breakfast, working out with her, and being forced to watch her cheesy movies with Damon. She was a bittersweet distraction that puzzled him, a reminder of the inevitable distance that’d be placed between them within a month.
He parked before the apartment complex, then texted her. While he waited for her to come outside, he looked at the building, remembering that he’d been here recently under different circumstances.
Looking away from the apartment complex, his eyes settled on the bags on the back seat. Zain smirked, anticipating going home and showing Taeja what he bought her.
Seeing movement out of the corner of his eyes, he looked over and saw a woman taking brisk steps toward his car. She opened the passenger door and sat, then looked over at him with a heavy sigh.
Zain raised a brow, wondering what caused this reaction when she was chirpy on the call minutes ago. “You okay?”
“Yeah… I’m just glad you finally called.”