“I know that! I never said I didn’t initiate it! I’m just saying why can’t we talk about other things! Why do you have to ignore me? Is it because of that model girl that I’ve been seeing you on Instagram with? You’re back with her?”
She must have found Laine’s page because I hadn’t posted shit in months.
“Yeah, that’s my girl, but it has nothing to do with her. I just don’t want to talk to you when you hit me up. If I want to talk to you, then I will reply or call. I mean, what you want, me to thank you for letting me fuck?” I shrugged, brows furrowed. I was leaned back in the chair, relaxed as fuck, making it obvious that this conversation wasn’t a priority.
After staring at me with her lips parted and her tongue in her cheek like she couldn’t believe the words that had come out of my mouth, she said, “I just feel like the least you could do is check on me once in a while—”
“Hold up, hold up,” I chuckled and waved my hand as I sat up straight. “Check on you? You got the game twisted, baby girl, on the real. I don’t wanna talk about this shit no more.”
“Mischief—”
“Look, I got a girl! If I wanna argue and shit I will do it with her ass, not you. Now either you can get in the booth so we can finish this shit, or I can bounce. But what I’m not gon’ do is sit up here, discussing you being in your feelings because you don’t know how to let a nigga just bust his nut and keep it pushing.”
Neither her pussy nor her head was good enough for me to be sitting up having a debate about her feeling neglected or whatever the fuck she felt.
She abruptly shot up out of the chair and then went into the booth so we could work. About fucking time.
Erynne
“So how long have you been doing hair?” Salana, the owner of the West Hollywood salon I was trying to get a job at asked. The salon was beautiful, located on Melrose, and had a lot of traffic in and out daily. It was one of the only ones that was predominantly black over on this block, so I was lucky to have scored a meeting with Salana.
“For about six years. I started when I was fifteen and in high school.”
“Wow, and how old are you now?”
“I’m 21.”
“Young… okay. And you do have your cosmetology license, correct? Because the only thing you can do here without one is shampoo, and sometimes not even that.”
Laughing I replied, “Yes, I have my license. I’m trained very well, so I can do anything; cut, color, braiding, straightening. I even do natural hair as well.”
“Okay, nice. Do you have any pictures of your work?”
Kady told me she would ask for pictures, and even though I didn’t think she would, I had the ones I took on my phone developed. Thank God I did that.
“Yes, here you go.” I handed over the folder, and she took some time to look through them. Scanning the dingy looking office, I wondered why it looked so old and rusty back here when her shop was big, beautiful, and pristine.
“Wow, Erynne, you’re really versatile.” She squinted her eyes looking at the last picture before she placed it back in the folder. “So I would love to bring you into my salon. You’d be the only girl here who specializes in natural hair, and I think that would bring a lot of business.”
“Yeah, that’s why I studied natural hair, because I’d heard back in Chicago how scarce natural hairstylists were.”
“You are from Chicago. I remember seeing that when looking at the location of your old jobs on your resume. But yes, you are right; there aren’t many natural stylists.” She exhaled and closed the folder I’d handed over. “So, Erynne, if you’d like to come on board, the booth rent is $600 a month.”
Damn!
“Okay, umm, can I get some time to think about it?”
“Oh, yeah, sure you can. How does forty-eight hours sound?”
“That should be more than enough time. Thank you.”
“Well thank you for coming to meet with me. I do hope to bring you in here, Erynne, because like I said, your skills will bring a lot of business. You’ll be making a killing in no time.”
“Okay.”
I followed Salana out and through the salon, admiring how nice everything was. It’d be a dream to work in here, but $600 a month was a lot. It’d be different if I just paid that and nothing else, but I would be paying rent with Laine, Cassie, and Kady, which was a little over $1300 apiece. And yes, that was with the discount from Chaz’s uncle Gordon. The apartment was nice though, and had four bedrooms with three bathrooms in a nice neighborhood.
Leaving the salon, I went to sit in the rental car I’d been using, and just stared out the window. Times like these I regretted leaving my life in Chicago where I was comfortable. Yeah, I hated my job and being controlled by Risk, but at least I was okay. I didn’t worry about money or anything. At this moment, all I had was my latest payout from my job, and the money I’d thankfully saved from my checks and from the big sums Risk would give me here and there. I had about $11,000 total, but that wouldn’t last me long with all these upcoming expenses.
As I backed out of my parking space, my phone rang. I saw it was Chaz, so I quickly hit ignore and peeled down the street.
I decided to stop at Panera Bread for a small sandwich because Laine was gonna cook for us tonight and I wanted to be super hungry when she did. After ordering and picking up my food, I went to sit out front so I could scarf it down.
In the middle of me eating, someone sat across from me. When I looked up I saw it was Cook, one of Risk’s flunkies. He was one of the main ones too, the guy who did a lot of Risk’s dirty work. Whenever there was a problem, I would always hear Risk and Cook talking in Risk’s office, so I knew Cook handled Risk’s problems. By saying that, him being here in my face wasn’t a good sign. Risk had called and texted me a lot, but I blocked him a week ago.
“Hey,” I spoke softly before sipping my iced tea.
“What’s good? I ain’t seen you in a while.”
“Maybe because you live in Chicago and I live here now. Have been for a month now.”
Nodding he said, “Yeah, I know. So look, let’s make this easy. Risk wants you to know that you’re welcome to come home to Chicago, and he won’t make you suffer for what you’ve done.”
“What exactly did I do, Cook?” I folded my arms across my chest and leaned back in my chair. I wanted him to believe that I was unbothered, but really I was scared shitless.
“Come on, Erynne. You left your man in the middle of the night, after he told you that you couldn’t go. You know Risk doesn’t like when people break his rules.”
“My man? Risk is every other bitch’s man, not mine, hence why he took so long to send you to get me. And you’re just gonna have to tell him that I decline his offer. I live here now and I’m not moving back to Chicago.”
“Erynne, don’t make me do some shit I don’t wanna do, ma.”
“You don’t have to listen to him, Cook. You know how he treats me. You think I deserve that?” I whispered harshly.
“Look, I’m gonna be out here for two weeks handling some other affairs for Risk. I will give you some time, but when I get ready to go back, you better be ready too. I would hate to force you.”
“Cook—”
He got up and walked off down the street, hitting a right when he got to the corner.
***
Later that night…
“This spaghetti is bomb as fuck, Laine,” Kady stabbed her plate of food, as she, Cassie, Laine, and I sat in the living room eating. Cassie had her baby girl here, so after Melody ate some spaghetti, we waited for Cassie to put her to bed so we could all eat together.
“Thank you. It’s like my special dish; spaghetti and fried fish.”
“It is. I used to always ask her ass to make this shit back home,” I said, finishing off my plate. Cassie had been quiet tonight. Actually, for the past couple days she hadn’t said much.
“Cassie, are you still with Kordell? I don’t see you with him a lot anymore,” Kady q
uizzed, holding her red cup of juice.
“Yeah, no, it didn’t work out so we decided to break up.”
“Really? You guys seemed perfect together,” Laine frowned.
“Well, we weren’t. And also, I wanted to tell you guys that I may be moving out in a couple months. Melody’s father and I have decided to give our family a try.”
“Cassie, no. What the fuck! You know being with him isn’t safe!” Laine barked angrily, damn near throwing her plate down onto the laminate floor we were all sitting on. “You told me he was cool with co-parenting and it was gonna stay that way.”
“Yeah, well we were doing so well that we decided it was best for Melody to see us together. He proposed.” She set her plate down and reached into her purse to pull out a beautiful ring, before sliding it down onto her finger.
“Cassie—”
“I’m gonna go to bed with Melody. Goodnight ladies.” She cut Laine off and then went to her bedroom, slamming the door behind herself.
“Something ain’t right. She was damn near in love with Kordell, and scared out of her mind of Miles, but now all of sudden she’s getting married?” Laine turned her lip up.
“How about we have a party this weekend, and Laine, you invite Mischief and his brothers. I’ll invite Ishmael, and then a couple of The Models, and some other people,” Kady grinned.
“Kady, I don’t think Cassie is up for a party,” I shook my head.
“She will be when Kordell shows up. Maybe seeing him will change her mind.”
“Sounds fun to me.” Laine nodded.
The three of us planned for a little bit, and then started talking about other shit for a few hours, namely me working at Salana Salon. Laine and Kady were of course telling me to go for it, but I still wasn’t sure with that high ass booth rent. And I didn’t have many clients yet. However, I’d been working on that through social media, and so far, I’d gotten a few people interested. I just didn’t know if it was enough to pay rent for that booth and this apartment.
It was around midnight when I changed into my shorts and top pajama set. I made some tea, and after I downed it, I dozed off in my comfy ass bed, that was courtesy of Risk.
I hadn’t been sleep long at all it seemed before my ringtone blared across my bedroom. I reached for my phone, and when I turned it over, I saw it was Chaz.
“What? Stop calling me.” My lip was turned up in irritation. I was tired of him and his lame ass excuses.
“Open the door.”
“Chaz, I told you—”
“Open the door for me, baby… please.”
Chills ran down my spine at the sound of his voice so sexy and low. I hated the way he made me feel. I didn’t know if this was real or if I was just so inexperienced and didn’t know the difference between simply liking someone, or having really deep feelings for them.
“Fine, bye.”
I hung up and then grabbed my fuzzy socks to put on. I loved this apartment, but what I hated was the laminate flooring. It got so cold at night, that it was a must that you wore socks or house shoes to walk around.
I opened the door to see Chaz looking so fine with his big ass. Standing there at six feet seven, sexy build, luminous curly hair, and deep caramel skin, he resembled a Greek god. He had on gray sweats, a white t-shirt, a silver chain, silver watch, socks, and gray low-top Chucks.
“Come in and be quiet,” I told him. I closed the door behind him, trying not to cum all over myself at the scent of his cologne.
I led him to my bedroom, and then closed the door while he took a seat on my bed to remove his shoes.
“You look sexy, come here.”
“No.” I stayed leaning up against the back of my door, scared to be near him. I knew my body would go against me.
“Erynne.”
“Chaz.”
“Come sit next to me so I can talk to you. I got some shit to tell you and I don’t wanna do it with you all the way over there like you’re scared I’m about to Ike yo’ ass.”
I hesitantly raised myself from the door, and moved towards him. I tried to sit next to him, but he pulled me into his lap instead. Because of his strength, I wasn’t able to remove myself, so I just rested with his strong arms wrapped around my waist.
“Talk.”
“I wanna ask you something first.”
“So ask.” I tried to keep a tone laced with attitude.
“Aye, chill. Just be relaxed for a moment. I don’t need all the neck rolling and shit, Erynne. I get that you’re mad but this ain’t the time for attitude.”
“Ask me the question you want to ask, Chaz.”
“Are you sure that you wanna be with me? Like for real for real. We not gon’ be talking, we not gon’ see where shit goes, none of that. I’m not that type of nigga. If we gon’ be together it’s just gon’ be you and I, and we’re gonna be working on building something. I don’t do temporary situations just for the hell of it. My time is precious and not meant to be wasted on random bitches that I don’t see a future with, or vice versa.”
“Yes, I do want to be with you, but I can’t while you’re married. You said you need time to process, and that’s fine, but I’m not gonna wait around for you to figure it out.”
“Well I’ve already figured it out, and I’m gonna get a divorce. I didn’t know if I wanted one because I didn’t want to feel like I’d failed at this marriage shit, but I can’t sacrifice my happiness because of my pride.”
Smiling, I turned my body so that I was straddling him, and then cupped his face so we could kiss. Once our tongues met, he lifted me up a little to move my loose shorts and then my panties to the side. After brushing his fingers over my clit a little bit, he released himself and brought me down on it.
“Mmm,” I tucked my lips in as I gripped his shoulders and moved up and down.
He removed my top, and then his to expose his sexy chiseled chest and abs. I continued to ride him as he sucked my nipples hungrily, while running his big hands up and down my bare back. The way he filled me up was an indescribable feeling, so after only a little while, I was releasing. He took me off of him and then removed my bottoms and socks, before taking off his bottoms as well. Bringing my body to the edge of the bed, he placed my legs on his shoulders and entered me.
“Ohh, fuck,” I gripped the comforter in my hand as he wound his hips into me, hitting my spot dead on somehow.
He stared down deeply into my eyes as he stroked me, running his hands all over my body like a kid in a candy store.
“You look sexy as hell when I’m deep inside you.” He bent down and grumbled against my lips as he started to beat it up, slapping our bodies together.
I frowned my face, biting down on my lip as he sucked my nipples while pounding me. I was sure everyone in the apartment could hear our skin colliding, and my loud moans. Our skin was sweaty, sliding off one another whenever it made contact. My juices spilled again, and Chaz drilled me hard until we both came together.
If he gave it to Jade as half as good as he gave it to me, I knew she wouldn’t go down without a fight; unless she was crazy.
Chapter Ten: Cassie
I stood in the mirror in the dressing room I had for the day. I’d just gotten done doing a shoot for a skin care line, and I was exhausted. The call time was early as hell at 5am, and I was out all day yesterday with Melody and Miles at Disneyland. I just wanted to go get my baby from my mother, eat, and then go home so I could get some sleep in.
Miles had to catch a flight to go out of town for business tonight, so I would be free from him thankfully. I loved the nights where he was too busy to entertain Melody and I. That’s why I was taking so long to find us a suitable home. The thought of waking up to him every morning made me cringe on the spot.
“Have a good day, Cassie, and thanks again!” one of the photographers called out as I walked by.
“Thank you, same to you.”
Once I got into my car, I quickly cranked it up and sped to my mom’s place in Long B
each. I couldn’t wait to get Melody back. My mother was happy that Melody didn’t live with her anymore, and so was I. My mama loved Melody, but she was a handful and my mom was no spring chicken.
I don’t know how Laine did it, but she convinced Jude to let me move out while still keeping my model contract with him. I didn’t ask too many questions, I was just happy I could now move Melody in with me.
My initial plan was to get my own place once my contract was up, and move Melody in with me then. But now that her dad was back, I’d changed my plan. I knew if I lived alone, he would just move right on in. So living with Laine, Kady, and Erynne was a win win at the moment. I had my child, and I could live separately from Miles.
“Mommy, I drew a picture for our room!” Melody shouted as soon as I entered my mom’s condo. She was holding up a crazy ass picture she drew with her markers.
“Oh my gosh, baby, that’s so good. I can’t wait to hang it up. Do you have more?” I picked her up and kissed her cheek.
She loved that we shared a room, and that made me happy to see her so happy. The bedroom was big enough for both of our beds to fit, along with extra furniture, but Melody still slept in my bed and not hers some nights.
“No, but it won’t take long!”
“Okay, good. Go get your stuff together so we can go home, okay?”
“Okay!”
I placed her to her feet, and she rushed off to pack her stuff up that she’d brought over here. Walking over to where my mom was on the couch, I took a seat next to her, sighed, and closed my eyes.
“I’m proud of you, Cassandra.”
“Huh?”
“I said I’m proud of you. You’ve done a lot to be so young and it makes me feel good to know that I’ve raised someone like you. I mean the lengths you took to protect Melody from Miles are commendable. Most women would have probably given up and stuck by him, or left their child, but not you. I know I’m hard on you sometimes, but it’s only because I get a little jealous occasionally. I was never as strong as you.”
“Thanks, but I’m not that strong.”
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