Chapter 6
REINA
I’m about to block this nigga. Don’t get me wrong, I had so much fun during our date.
It was so thoughtful, and the horses Cash and Money loved me.
I even love how easily he went with me to The Palace, even though he wasn’t a clubber.
The shots, the hookah, the dancing, and that kiss we shared made my pussy thump.
And the way he cracked Enrico’s jaw for grabbing on me, made me wanna drop down and get my eagle on all over his face.
Aside from that, Vasiah was just cool as fuck.
Very smart. Even-tempered. But also nothing as I expected.
I knew he didn’t know anything about guns, but seeing him use his fists turned my sick ass on.
Yeah, I needed to block him.
I wanted to shoot Enrico so bad. Touching me without my permission was such a violation, but there were way too many witnesses around, even if I was cool with security.
Ping
Unsaved number: I’m outside.
I sighed. What I was about to do was stupid.
If my girls or my brother knew, they probably wouldn’t judge me, but Reign would for sure call me a dumb ass.
And maybe I was being a dumb ass, but rule #444 was never to give up some regular dick for some maybe dick.
That’s silly, no matter how strongly I felt that Vasiah and I would be together, get married, and have kids.
“You wild as fuck for the other night, LaReina!” Enrico seethed, his jaw still looking swollen from where Vasiah punched him. His eye was black, and his nose looked broken, too.
“Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have grabbed me.” I shrugged and stepped aside so he could come in. “You know I woulda and shoulda popped yo ass.”
“LaReina.” He stared menacingly at me, but his balled-up face ain’t scare me none.
I’d shot niggas for less, and the only thing that spared him was the fact that there were too many witnesses around and the fact that I didn’t feel like hearing Reign’s mouth.
I wanted him to enjoy his marriage in peace and not worry about me and my shenanigans anymore.
“Is this nigga yo new nigga or something?”
“You know you truly don’t want me to answer that.”
“I don’t get you sometimes, LaReina. You so hot and cold, and for what?
We been fucking with each other for a minute now, but anytime I approach you on some serious shit, you run from it.
You parade around the city with different niggas, and then sicc’d some four-eyed muthafucka on me like I’m the problem! ”
I blinked at him while he poured his heart out, truly unmoved.
A nigga groveling for my affection was nothing new to me, and I had the same reaction every time.
It was a rule of mine to never trust a nigga’s words, only his actions and barely even that.
Men were truly psychotic – they’d act one way in your face and then lead a whole double life behind your back.
Then, the ones who were actually honest with you had the nerve to think their honesty absolved them of being an asshole.
Then they met a bitch like me, and I rocked their world.
You couldn’t make me feel a type of way because I didn’t have a heart present to feel. Men were for one, maybe two things only. I wasn’t crashing out- what reason did I have for that? And if you weren’t giving me money or satisfying my sexual appetite, then what purpose did you serve exactly?
“Enrico!” I interrupted. “I hear you, I truly do. But that’s not what I called you over here for.”
He sighed, shaking his head, and dropped to his knees. I walked closer to him, lifting my robe where I was bare underneath, and let his tongue take his frustrations out on my pussy.
I’d never fuck his flaccid dick ass again… but I ain‘t say shit about getting no head. The boy had a tongue made of gold. And when it was all said and done, I’d block him again, and he would crash out, but I didn’t give a fuck because I got what I wanted.
“Reina, he did WHAT?” Rae yelled in disbelief.
I was curling her hair, putting the finishing touches on this cherry red bob I wanted to try on her.
Rae was the only client who actually let me be adventurous with her hair, while the rest of my clients wanted the same two or three styles.
Now me, on the other hand, I was gonna change my hair as much as I wanted, because sticking to one style was boring to me.
And I took care of my natural hair underneath all my weaves and wigs, too.
My edges wouldn’t be hanging on by a thread.
Never trust a hairstylist who doesn’t take care of her crown first; I don’t care how tired she is.
“Laid that nigga out like he was a sack of potatoes,” I boasted. “Then I made him come apologize with his tongue.”
Rae cut her eyes at me, confused. “Wait a minute…you had poor Nerd Boy defending your honor just to turn around and have mister floppy dick sop you up like a biscuit? What the fuck was the point of that?”
I shrugged. “Because… I felt like it. Enrico is blocked again anyway.”
“You play dangerous games, girl,” she snickered, meeting my eyes in the mirror.
And maybe I did play too many games, but these niggas were worse.
So in a way, the bullshit I pulled was retribution for every woman who ever got played in their face by a nigga.
These niggas couldn’t play me because I did the playing, and when I was done with them, they were tossed to the side like an old toy.
“I am the dangerous game, boo,” I responded with a blow of a kiss.
“So when y’all going out again?”
“Me and Vasiah? I actually don’t know…” I replied sheepishly.
“LaReina.”
“Hmmm?” I avoided Rae’s eye contact by sweeping up my station.
“When’s the last time you talked to him, crazy?”
“Like two days ago…”
“Ya’ll date was two days ago. Did you block that man, LaReina?”
Shit. She got me there.
“Yes.” I decided not to lie because Rae would see right through it anyway.
She stared at me in utter shock, and dare I say… disappointment? All I knew was that I didn’t like this look on her face, so I asked why she was looking at me like that.
“You my girl and all, but sometimes I don’t get you.
Now, I’m not saying that you gotta put all your eggs in one basket with Vasiah since y'all have just met and everything, but I also don’t understand your reason for blocking that man.
He did nothing wrong to you. You were just gushing to us about the date, and now he’s on the block list? Make it make sense.”
I sighed. I wasn’t used to explaining my decisions or my rules. In my life, it was either my way or my way. Asking me to consider a nigga’s feelings was like asking me to plunge a knife in my throat, and I just wasn’t doing that.
“I… I gotta feel him out first. Like yeah, the date was cool… amazing even, but what if he turns out to be a fraud like these other niggas?”
“What if he doesn’t, though?” she countered. “What if Nerd Boy turns out to be the real deal and you fuck it up with all these rules and games you like to play? I don’t know, Rei, based off how you described him, I get a good vibe about him. I don’t want you to count yoself out before he does.”
“Everybody’s not meant to fall in love and be married like you and that nutcase, Rae.”
She smirked. “You’re right, because everyone’s story is different, including ours. Your brother and I ain’t a fairytale by any means, but one thing we both did was take a chance with each other. I know you’re still hurt behind –”
“Don’t,” I warned. I knew exactly what territory she was about to cross, and I didn’t want to rehash the memories of the first and last time a nigga played in my face. Sure, I was 19 years old when it happened, but the sting of learning that very hard lesson stuck with me over twelve years later.
Rae pursed her lips. “I’m just saying, Reina. At least unblock the man; he ain’t even do shit! He’s probably doing whatever it is that nerdy men do, and you over here playing, knowing you wanna see his ass.”
I gave her a small smile because she was right. I did want to see Vasiah again, and blocking him may have been a little immature.
“Fineeee.” I grabbed my phone and went to his contact. “I’ll unblock him. Not because you told me to, but because my board of directors and I decided that it was the right thing to do.”
“Board of directors?”
“The voices in my head, duh!”
“Bye, fool!” She grabbed her purse and shades from my station and headed towards the door.
I had some time in between my next client, so I sat in my chair and opened up me and Vasiah’s text thread.
Every message I tried to type, I ended up erasing because it just wasn’t me.
I know I blocked him, but he should’ve sent a carrier pigeon or something to get my attention.
I was an eligible bachelorette, and many vied for my affection, no matter how ruthless I was.
Hell, even Enrico was back to texting me off yet another burner phone.
Rae’s words played on a loop in my mind, and I let out another exasperated sigh. If I didn’t get my shit together, I was gonna die an old rich maid. The rich part didn’t sound bad, but I didn’t want to be lonely in old age, never knowing what love in the romantic sense felt like.
But being ruthless to these niggas was safer than exposing my heart to them.