Chapter 1 #2
Disappointment set in when he grabbed my ass and slammed his lips onto mine.
My arms betrayed me when they wrapped around his neck.
Orion Westin was one of God’s perfect creations in the physical aspect.
He took exceptional care of himself, and it showed.
On the rare occasions that I took a hair client, there was always at least one loose lip, thrush mouth bitch that wanted to discuss Orion.
He deepened the kiss for a second before he pulled back. “Let me go. I have some business to handle.”
He loosened his hold, moved to kiss Bridgette, then smoothly walked out the door. Once he was gone, my attention turned to Bridgette who demanded I feed her with her eat, eat requests. “Okay, little girl, I’m coming.”
“Alright, baby girl! We have one more to check on before we meet your Nana for lunch,” I told Bridgette as I strapped her into her car seat in the back of my SUV.
The corners of my lips reached for my cheeks at her excitement.
She loved her Nana Norma. When Euri and Bruqlyn announced their pregnancy, Norma and Grant decided that it was time to lay roots again because they wanted to be close to their grandbaby.
I adored their relationship with Bruqlyn.
It reminded me of my relationship with Brandon, Aaron, and Karla.
It had been pure joy having them and Majesty in our lives. Norma was high-key my best friend.
I checked on my business Braid The Way at least twice a week.
My beauty supply, braid shop had stood the test of time.
Now over thirty years later, I had four locations in Charlotte, one in the North, South, East, and West. Now that I was a trusted brand, I was able to get the Asians out of my stores as employees to fully staff it with people that looked like me.
I always kept my flagship store for last when it came to checkups.
My East location was my baby and the only braid shop that I worked out of if I booked appointments.
This location embodied everything about my brand from early photos of myself, stylists, and customers.
The architecture of the store was one of a kind.
I also stocked exclusive products at this store such as my exclusive brand of braiding hair.
I sold the brand in all my locations, but my flagship store had the exclusive Marsha color blends.
Once a year, I blocked off a month and took braid appointments.
The thing was that I had a cap on how many heads I did a day and week, which was dependent on the service requested.
When the client booked, they understood that I would plug them in based on what worked for my schedule, to maximize efficiency.
They also agreed with the terms that if they canceled for any reason outside of a list of set acceptable reasons, they would lose their 50 percent deposit and never be able to book with me again.
People who never experienced my services didn’t understand my strict rules.
With my services, the client was provided with a hair spa treatment and massage while they got their hair washed.
They had access to my full line of hair.
I braided in a private room with a full bar, and lunch was provided if the service took longer than four hours.
I didn’t provide a service. I provided an experience.
“Hey, Ms. Marsha. Hey, Bridgette,” Jasmine greeted when I walked into the store. She was the sweetest baby. She worked in the store three days a week and took braid appointments for the rest of the week.
The braid shop was closed on Sundays. Jasmine made fourteen dollars an hour when she worked in the front, and I discounted her booth rent by 60 percent. She was fresh out of cosmetology school and was actively building her clientele.
“Hey, baby. You doing good today?” I asked her. After we talked for a few minutes and Bridgette knocked over half the shit on the counter, I went to the back.
It was a full house like I knew it would be.
My eyes scanned the salon and fell on a weak bitch.
This bitch! I really should ban this ho, but I didn’t want to control the stylists’ clientele.
As long as she didn’t cause a bunch of shit here, then we wouldn’t have a problem.
I could handle a smart mouth here and there, but if I pulled the get the fuck out trigger, it would be a wrap for her.
Everyone in the shop greeted us. There were hairstylists, braiders, and shampoo girls.
When a braider was hired, it was in their contract that they had to offer shampoo services, and hair was to always be included unless the client wanted to use a different brand that we did not carry.
That was a rarity. If a stylist did not want to wash hair, then they needed to employ a shampoo girl that was paid out of their pocket.
“Hey, y’all! Look who I have with me?” I announced. I didn’t commonly bring Brigette into the actual shop. I normally left her in the day care.
Everyone gushed over my grandbaby. Morgan took her out of my arms. “I swear she is the perfect mix of her mama and daddy. Just so beautiful with her pretty splats.”
Bruqlyn had everyone calling them splats now. At first, it bothered me, but now I saw it as an acceptance technique. “My grandbaby is perfect.”
“She is pretty. Can I hold her?” The entire shop paused at Lisa’s voice. This was her attempt at being funny.
I took a breath, turned toward Lisa, then responded. “No, Lisa, you may not. Thank you for my grandbaby’s compliment though.”
Morgan looked at Lisa with tight eyes since she was her client. Morgan and I had a conversation about Lisa coming here. I made the stipulations very clear when it came to Lisa. Morgan knew that her little client was skating on thin ice, and my heel would be the one to crack it.
Lisa kissed her teeth. “Marsha, you honestly can’t still be in your feelings about us still having the same baby daddy. My child didn’t even survive the birth.”
“Lisa, you need to chill, for real. You’re doing way too much,” Morgan fussed. She knew what would happen if her client didn’t chill.
I took Bridgette from Morgan’s arms. “Lisa, please stop with the tomfoolery. You know like I do that your daughter was not Orion’s child. Why do you want to play with a weak deck.”
Lisa crossed her arms over her chest. Every time I saw this flaky face girl, I wanted to slap Orion’s ass for fucking with her. Outside of me, he made horrible decisions in women. Even if the bitch was just for a fuck, you should still have standards.
“How do you know that my daughter, Oriana, was not Orion’s? Do you have any proof?” she taunted. “If he felt so strongly that our daughter wasn’t his, then why did he console me and attend our daughter’s funeral?”
Marsha, don’t do it. Leave it alone. Just let Morgan know later that she is not welcome here. I was about to take the high road and ignore her until she made a comment about Orion wanting a pristine pussy to have a baby with. Yep, to the graveyard of hell we go.
I told Chelsea to take Bridgette to the day care.
I would need to use a lot of bad language for this shit here.
I had the attention of the entire shop. “Ladies, I want to apologize in advance for the ruckus that this unruly, uncouth woman is causing in my place of business. Normally, I would ignore this hoodlum and just let her stylist know that she is not welcome back. Morgan, Lisa is not welcome back, by the way.”
Morgan gave me a knowing nod before I continued.
“What I want to do is turn this into a teaching moment. I’m going to tell you about the lesson before I administer it.
Ladies, know when enough is enough and to let shit go.
When someone that you have chosen to antagonize is silent, don’t assume that she is weak.
Sometimes they are silent to save your face and feelings. You should take that and let it be.
“Now, Lisa, let me tell you why you should have left me the fuck alone with this whole baby shit. You claimed that Oriana was Orion’s daughter, great.
Every time that he asked you for a paternity test, you denied him.
No one could have anticipated the untimely death of your baby girl.
That was sad, unfortunate, and, I can only imagine, heartbreaking.
I am not a woman that would use a child as a pawn in a petty game, much less a deceased one, but since you did, let me put my checker on the board. ”
Lisa jumped up out of her seat like a dummy. “I am not using my daughter as a pawn, bitch. I loved my daughter.”
“I’m not debating that, but what I do know is sometimes love is not enough to hold someone from using the person they love as a pawn.
Now as I was saying, you refused the test. When Orion got the call from you that your daughter died, he felt bad because he’s a human fucking being.
I mean, when he called me about it, I shed a tear.
I told him to go to you and comfort you because I knew no other man would show up for your ho ass.
” The shop was vested into this life lesson.
Not a head was being attended to while I spoke.
“Now, this is about to go deep, and I wish you would have chilled like Morgan suggested because you could have saved yourself this embarrassment that is about to fall on your head, sweetheart.” She shifted on her feet.
“Don’t look nervous now, Miss Lisa. You caused this, lil dick biter.
Now when your baby girl died, Orion asked if he could spend some time alone with her.
Well, Lisa, that allowed the time for the doctor to draw blood for a paternity test. See, if she was his child, she would have been covered under death benefits from his estate. ”
The murmuring started as it should have. Lisa looked like she wanted to cry because she knew her ass fucked up by fucking with me. I gave her a minute to process all the information that was laid out in front of her while I pulled up something in the files on my phone.
“Lisa, did Orion tell you that he had a vasectomy in his early forties? Yeah, baby girl, he did. See, he had that procedure months after I had my hysterectomy. The only reason he had a vasectomy was, and I quote, ‘Once all chances were gone to put a baby in you, then my soldiers didn’t need fuckin’ guns.
No one else was getting my good enrichment seeds,’ end quote. ” My head tilted to the side.
My phone had the capability to cast on the largest television screen in the salon. I took the moment of silence to use the function. Everyone’s head turned to the screen. Lisa’s mouth dropped a little before a tear fell down her cheek.
“Now, does everyone understand today’s lesson and why you should probably take heed to it?” There was no need for me to explain what was on the screen. All of us knew what paternity test results looked like. We also knew what that zero percent probability of paternity meant too.
Chelsea was the first to speak. “Oh, I will always take heed. There is no way I’m letting anyone embarrass me like this.”
I strutted my fine ass over to Lisa. I tilted my head and got in her face.
In a quiet tone, I said, “Now you know what me and Orion have known for years. See, we let you run with this narrative because what sense did it make pointing out that a deceased little girl was a bastard. You just won’t stop, though, so there you fuckin’ go.
Now get the fuck out of my shop before I take these heels off and beat your ass. ”
Oh, those tears fell at a rapid pace now.
It looked like Morgan was halfway done with her hair.
If she wanted that head done, she would have to get Morgan to come to her or get someone else to do it.
I truly hated to take it there, but you could only take but so much from an idiot without pointing out their idiocracy.
“Marsha, please tell me that girl did not do all of that only to be shamed?” Norma asked in a fit of giggles.
We were at our favorite lunch spot. Bridgette had already eaten and was asleep in her arms. The quickest way to get that baby to sleep was to get her belly full. She was no good on a full stomach.
“Norma, I didn’t want to take it there, I swear I didn’t.
You know that girl has been picking at me for years.
You would think that she would harass Orion, but no, she came for me.
That’s how it is though. I told this nigga years ago that these bitches fuck with him just to get one up on me,” I told her.
“All this bullshit is one of the main reasons I refuse to fuck with Orion now.”
Norma shook her head. “Marsha, you know that’s not fair.
Orion cannot control what these heifers do.
Orion can have as many women as he wants, because you claim you don’t want him.
What do you want him to do? Not mess with anyone until you’re ready to give in to the apologies that he’s given you for years? ”
That was exactly what I wanted. I knew it was unrealistic, but I didn’t care. All I’d ever wanted was to have Orion 100 percent to myself. I couldn’t say that I ever had that. I waved her off. “Orion won’t get another chance to hurt me.”
She shifted Bridgette in her arms to lean forward.
“Marsha, after all these years, do you really think that man wants to hurt you? What I, hell, everyone sees is a man that loves you and has been trying to show you for over three decades.” She laughed when I rolled my eyes.
“Well, shit, if you’re not going to be with him, then I have someone I want you to meet. ”
It was my turn to lean forward. “Well, tell me more. Who is it?”
Before she could answer, my phone vibrated on the table. I took a moment to pick it up. My cheeks rose.
Orion:
Really Marsh! You had to blast those test results in front of the whole shop? Lol
Me:
I told you to control your bitches. She was in there antagonizing me, so I antagonized back.
Orion:
I get it love. Do what you got to do. Thank you for having my back.
Me:
I didn’t have shit. I was doing what you said. I simply bullied the bully.