Chapter 32 #2
Kay-Dee pushed her bundles out of her face and placed her hands on her hips. “I mean, that’s the top dawg in the city now. He never gave no bitch as much attention as he’s giving you. I heard you got you in a huge brown stone in the ‘burbs. What kind of pussy you throwing at him?”
Reign took in a deep breath, schooled her features, and responded.
“It’s not always about pussy. Some men just want something real.” Reign looked over the BBL, the weave, the bright, big veneers, and hummed. “Something that keeps their feet on the ground, I guess.”
The front door chimed ever so softly, announcing the entry of a client. Ms. Jayne entered the salon. All her sassiness swaying from side to side.
“Good morning,” Reign greeted with a wide smile. “You ready?”
“So ready for your hands to get in this. My husband is tearing me up,” Ms. Jayne said with a giggle.
“That’s what I like to hear. Let’s see if the color is going to be in our favor today.” With that, Reign left the front of house to do their thing while she serviced her clients in the private suite. It wasn’t until six and the salon was quiet that she checked her phone and roamed out to the floor.
Markus: made it, ready to get home. It’s hot as fuck here
Reign: I told you those hoodies were too much
Markus: I swore you were playing
Reign: next time you’ll listen
According to the digital scheduler they used, there should’ve been no clients in the building.
She purposely blocked everyone’s schedules out before seven so she and Nia could get out of the way for the floors to be polished.
At least that’s what she told the stylists.
Since Reign took over this location, business had been booming, and the safe in the office wasn’t big enough to handle the cash flow.
The rattling near the sitting area grabbed her attention. The man flipping through the magazines almost made her jump out of her skin. She looked over her shoulder, certain that Kay-Dee had texted her that the front was locked up and she was headed home. Why this man was here was beyond her.
“I’m sorry we’re closed,” Reign spoke up as she tapped Nia’s name in her favorites.
The man looked at her, ill intent in her eyes, and she almost froze. Almost reverted to who she was when she arrived in Majestic Heights. One thing Markus promised her was that she’d be safe. So how this man made it past his people raised red flags in her head.
“Heard you were the woman to come to get some trim,” the man said.
“Sorry, wrong salon. Try the barbershop down on 50th and McCalleen,” she shared, sliding her phone into her back pocket, hoping that Nia would get the hint.
The man strolled past her and sat at a booth where the clippers were located. “Nah, right here seems good. My girl Kay-Dee told me you were the one to see. Heard you was close to Money.”
Reign hummed, keeping her cool and remembering what Markus taught her. “That’s what you heard.”
“Mmhmm. Heard you had that nigga wrapped around your finger. I need that treatment.”
Reign grabbed a cape. Now wasn’t the time to cower in fear. Whoever this man was, he was leaving with something. Not her, but something to remember her by.
“Yeah, shit seems simple to me. You give me what I need, I keep them niggas combing through the city away from you. I heard that you got a nice bag on your ass. Money sure does know how to choose them. Always finding a bitch that don’t belong to him.”
“So what, you’re going to do what? Kidnap me?
Beat me up? What is this? A scare tactic?
” Reign asked, reaching for the clippers and sneaking the razor in her hand too.
The gun Markus purchased her for times like these was stashed away in her office.
Right now, she couldn’t panic or freeze.
She turned on the clippers and started cutting the back of his hair.
“What I want to know is how’d you get past the niggas on the street? ”
The man chuckled. “You should probably do a better job at checking your stylists. Kay-Dee is one of my bitches.”
Reign nodded, looking at him in the mirror.
The demons dancing around him were nothing like the ones she escaped.
He was small, playing big. He didn’t scare her.
Whoever sent him on the dummy mission would have hell to pay once the word got out.
At least when his body dropped, he’d be casket-ready because she ensured that his best haircut would be his last.
“Good to know. So what you want? My feet hurt, and I would like you to get me to the point,” Reign commented, seeing the movement just outside the window. Nia did what needed to be done.
“All that fuckin’ money you made to-”
His words were cut short as Reign pulled him back by the low afro and drove the blade into his neck as deep as it would go. When he roared in pain and dropped to the ground, she ran to open the door with her bloodied hands.
“You bitch!” he roared and rolled on the floor holding the blade. “I’ll fuckin’ kill-”
G attempted to stand and pulled the razor out of his neck as Markus’ goons ran in. Five shots were fired out dropping his body and silencing him forever. One of the goons she’d seen around every time she left with Markus looked at the dead body and then at her.
“You good, Reign?” he questioned, noticing how shaken she was.
“I-I’m, I’m, I’m fine,” she struggled to get out. She pulled in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and shook her head.
“Fuego this that nigga G,” another shooter spoke up, squatting over the body. “Tell Money we found him.”
“Who is that? Why is he running up on me?” Reign asked, trying to get her brain to settle down.
She could hear the rev of Nia’s engine approach and her tires screech to a halt.
Fuego looked at Reign and grimaced. None of them were supposed to be this close to her. They were supposed to watch. G slipping past them meant that when Markus touched down, there would be a problem for all of them.
“What the fuck happened?” Nia roared, whisking into the salon and locking the door behind her. “How the fuck did he get in here? What part of keep your fuckin’ eyes on her didn’t you get?”
“Nia, I don’t know,” Reign rasped, knowing Nia wasn’t talking to her. “Kay-Dee was the last one here she told me she locked up. What the fuck is this?”
Nia’s eyes darted to Fuego and Bullet. “Get him off the floor before his blood stains the tile.”
She grabbed the visibly shaken Reign and maneuvered her into the back to assist with washing the blood off her hands. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” Reign muttered, looking behind her at the men doing as they were told. “Kay-Dee was talking shit earlier, and I just thought that was it. She let him in here.”
Nia groaned. “That’s the thing, Kay-Dee is a no-brain ass bitch and so is that dead ass nigga. Someone told them to come. I’ll find out. We’re going to shut the shop down until Money gets back.”
“No! We can’t stop business every time someone rolls up on me, Nia. We can’t-”
Nia stopped scrubbing Reign’s hands to look her in the eyes. “You don’t get it yet, do you?”
“Get what?” Reign asked as if Nia was going to tell her something new.
“You did something to him. I haven’t seen this version of my brother in years.
If he tells his men that no one so much as touches a hair on your head or breathes in your direction, he means that.
He’ll go to war for you. And now that people know his weakness, they’re going to step to you just to try their luck.
The shop is shut down until Money gets back. ”
Reign watched Nia scrub her hands while her mind played her trauma on a loop.
Abuse started before Javier. Mental and emotional manipulation, the breakdown of her confidence.
Years of being the sad girl. Now she was tired of that narrative.
Yes, she had Markus, and she was thankful for him and Nia, but she had herself, and gone were the days niggas did whatever they wanted and got away with it.
This unlocked something in her. She was finally coming into her own.
“Okay. I hear you.”
It felt like hours before the pair returned to Reign’s. Both were sitting in silence on the couch, staring into space. The tea Nia made for Reign still had steam dancing on the surface.
“You did good, Reign,” Nia stated.
“I never took someone’s life before,” Reign mumbled, swiping a tear. “I’ve thought about. Dreamt about it.”
“Your abuser?” Nia softly asked, and Reign nodded.
“I refuse to be in that space again. Now, it’s them or me.”