by Saundra
“I know, Ma. I thought about that already. All Monica does is denies the fact that Rich has touched her. Not once has she admitted it. But like I told her, she has Imani to think about. So regardless, if she wants to keep him safe, it ain’t gone happen. He has been warned.”
“I agree. I want them both away from him. I mean, as much as I want to keep your dad out of prison for beating the hell of Rich or worse, I will not stand back and allow him to push Monica around. Now she may be in love or blind to his bullshit, but we are not.”
“Like I said, Ma, don’t you worry about anything. It will be okay. Tell her about the shopping and make sure she understands that she will be going. So unless she wants to see me act a fool, she betta control Rich.”
“Will do. Now can we get my hair beat so I won’t be late meeting your sister?” Ma sat down in my chair and I prepped her to be styled. Two hours later, she was looking in the mirror admiring the big curls that I had put in her head. And it all belonged to her, no Brazilian hair anywhere. Like I said, the lady was fabulous. It would be no question to anyone when she walked out of this salon that her hair was indeed snatched and I would be to blame.
Chapter 34
I was finally heading home from the salon. The entire day had been crazy busy. It seemed like all of our clients had scheduled an appointment today, for whatever reason. I had done seven sew-ins myself and that didn’t include the other four heads I colored, cut, and styled. Trina did double the clients I did, including some braids. Secretly, I prayed for her because she looked as though she might pass out on the way to her car. Poor Nora said she had arched so many eyebrows that she didn’t care if she saw another one in her life.
But as tired as we were, we had tag-teamed it and all of our clients were happy. That made it worth it. But for now, I could not wait to get home to shower and slide into bed. That was going to be the highlight of my day. I hit the interstate en route to my house and thanked God that traffic was light. I would be home in twenty minutes. Talk about small miracles. The radio was on Sirius XM channel 47. When Tamar’s “All the Way Home” came on, I turned up the volume and started to relax to the lyrics.
Then my stupid cell phone started to ring. “Ugh, can I ever catch a break,” I said aloud. Someone always had to bother me when I was in calm mode. Damn. Instead of looking at the caller ID, I hit talk. Before I could say hello I heard crying. At first I didn’t catch the voice.
“Who is this?” I asked, trying to level the phone on my shoulder. I needed to plug the phone into my car phone speakers. Once I connected the cord, I heard the whimper again.
“I’m sorry, so sorry. Please forgive me.”
The voice was a whimper, but it was clear. I knew exactly who it was. “Rochelle,” I said.
“Yes, it’s me. Mya, I am so sorry for how I have behaved. I am such a horrible mother, daughter, and friend.” She continued to cry as she accused herself.
“Rochelle, what is wrong? Are you okay?”
Her well-being was my only concern at this point. For whatever reason, she had decided to call me and I was glad for it. I thought nothing of her past mistakes.
“I’m okay. I’m fine, or at least I will be once I get myself back together,” she sniffed. “I did it. I left Kalil.”
That was music to my ears. I wanted to scream “thank God” but I contained myself. I just wanted to listen because she needed someone to do that. And she had called the right person, her best friend. But as I listened, I thought I heard what sounded like traffic in the background.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at a tire lube place sitting outside on the curb in the parking lot. I don’t have my car.”
I knew right then that that asshole Kalil was somehow involved and on some bullshit. But I would find out more about that later. Right now, I had to find my friend and make sure she was safe.
“What’s the address?”
As Rochelle told me the address, I typed it into my GPS. I put my foot on the gas pedal and stabbed out at top speed. The address that she had given me was not far from Kalil’s house. The neighborhood was not bad, but it was dark outside. Being a woman and alone at night was not good in any part of Detroit.
As I pulled into the Tire Lube Express parking lot, I saw a scared Rochelle sitting alone on the sidewalk with her knees up to her chest. I had never seen her so vulnerable. As soon as she noticed my Mercedes stop, she stood up and walked over. I hit the button to unlock the doors and Rochelle climbed inside.
“What happened? Why you are out here alone?” I knew what the answer was, but I wanted to hear her say it.
“That fucking Kalil! I have been telling him for the last couple of days that I was thinking about going home. I told him that I could not do it no more. I needed to be with my baby. At first he acted like it was cool, but then I told him I couldn’t be with him once I left and we needed to go our separate ways. I mean, it was no love there anyway. He was just my escape from reality. I thought we were good. But when I got up today and said I’m leaving, suddenly I couldn’t find the keys to my truck. I mean I searched that damn house high and low for four hours, still no keys. I guess he thought that would keep me there. But no, I said fuck him and I was going to leave anyway. Then he gone try to block the door and push me. Now, Mya, you know I’m crazy. I went ham on his ass. Right now, he got a busted lip and nose. And I broke up about five thousand dollars’ worth of shit. Watches, some hand-crafted lamps he had . . .” She shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing. “I been told him don’t ever fuck with me.” Rochelle could be ruthless when she was mad. If he didn’t believe her then, I bet he did now.
“Well, don’t worry, you can get your truck back.”
“I know. I already called the tow guy, Pete, over at Hall’s Garage. You remember him, don’t you? He was Li’l Lo’s uncle. He on his way over there now to pick it up. I will get the key, locks, and ignition changed by the dealership. I don’t know why Kalil just would not let me leave. I told him that I had to detox, that weed shit is not for me. I was smoking from the time I got up until I went to bed.”
“Oh, so you only smoked weed with him?” This was good news. I was afraid he had her on that white. I was glad to be wrong.
“Hell, yeah! What did you think I was smoking?”
“I was worried because I heard he sold that white and that he was on that shit, too. So I thought that’s what he had you on, especially with the changes in your behavior.” I had to keep it one hundred.
“No, Mya, I only smoked weed and drank hard liquor. That’s why I was always out of it. The more I wanted to stop smoking, the more he encouraged it. But I was tired of being high out of my mind because when I closed my eyes, all I could see was Tiny. My baby needs me, Mya.” She started to cry again.
“I know, but don’t worry, you made the first big step.” I reached over and embraced her and tears flooded my face as well.
“And Mya . . . Oh, my God! I am so sorry for how I treated you. The things I said to you were just awful. I was just hurt and you were the only person I felt that I could blame. I’m sorry. I love you and I know you were only trying to be there for me.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about that right now. I know you were trying to grieve. The hardest part for me was walking away and staying away. But I prayed and they didn’t go unanswered, you are here now.” I wiped tears. “Now, I’m going to take you home with me for the night, get you a good hot bath, and into bed. Then tomorrow you can go get Tiny and go home.”
“All that sounds like a plan to me,” she agreed.
Throwing the car in drive, I slowly pulled out of the parking lot; now I was homeward bound.
As tired as I was, I could not believe how my day had ended. Never in a million years did I think I would be getting a call from Rochelle tonight. But here she was in my car headed to my home with a plan already laid out to get her daughter back and clean up her act. Mrs. Wynita would be ecstatic.
Chapter 35
&nbs
p; The next few weeks were great for everyone, Rochelle especially. She was now receiving therapy to help deal with the losses of Li’l Lo and Todd. She admitted that she felt like every male in her life left her in death, including her father, who had been dead for years now, and she just had not dealt with it. But she was doing well in her sessions. Mrs. Wynita had also joined her in therapy. They wanted to make their mother and daughter relationship stronger. Rochelle and Tiny were back at home and getting back into their daily routine. Our friendship was back to normal, too. We finally sat down and talked through it all. She forgave me for not telling her about my involvement with Squeeze, which ultimately led to Todd being gunned down years later. Even though the bullet was meant for me, she agreed that Todd being shot was out of my control.
She was back at work at the salon and all the girls were happy. We were back to our old ways, having fun and loving it. Rochelle apologized to Nora for the way she had cursed her out and treated her and Nora happily accepted. She understood completely that Rochelle was a totally different person back then. Now they were cool as a fan. They stayed at each other’s booths talking up hair ideas. I playfully threatened them about slick trying to become besties.
We were at the salon enjoying ourselves for a bit before we opened the doors. Nobody had an appointment for like two hours, so we shut the doors and pigged out on the pizza that I had ordered for our lunch.
The new application to the hair show in New York had arrived the day before, so Trina and Rochelle were busy filling it out. I couldn’t help but think that it was fate that the opportunity to apply had come around again. We missed it the first time around, but because of some screwups they reissued applications for contestants to sign up. And it could not have come at a better time, since Rochelle was back.
“We ’bout to go back to New York and kill ’em,” Rochelle boasted.
“No doubt!” Trina cheered her on.
“I got some new styles in mind that I been workin’ on. Them bitches betta slide back.” Rochelle loved to talk trash. I laughed.
“I’m ready. They already know they in for it so we gotta go in and lay it out.”
“Yep and afterwards . . . turn up, turn up!” Trina chanted.
“I know, right. Man, it went down last year. Nora, I’m tellin’ you, you gone enjoy it.”
Nora was all teeth. She was ready to go.
“Nora, like I said earlier, I want you to focus on the makeup. I promise they won’t know what hit them. Our A game gone be super stupid.”
I could not wait. They think we beat them last year. This year, we were simply going to blow minds and break the hearts of the competitors.
“Pam, you can go ahead and book the rooms. You know we’re staying at the best, the Ritz.”
They already knew that room and board was on me. Heck, the whole trip was on me. The only thing they needed money for was shopping; everything else I funded. All they had to do was worry about doing hair, winning, and having a good time.
My cell phone started ringing. It was Monica telling me that she was outside. As I got up to unlock the door for her, I noticed how full I was. I had eaten four slices of supreme pizza.
“Dang, Mya, what took so long?” she complained, just to give me a hard time.
“I couldn’t walk fast. My stomach is about to burst from all that pizza.” I rubbed my stomach and squinted my face to show how uncomfortable I felt.
“That is what you get for being greedy.”
“Oh, shut up. We all in the back.” I pointed and Monica headed in that direction.
“What’s up, Rochelle?” Monica spoke and headed straight to Rochelle and they hugged each other tight. It had been a minute since they had talked or been able to hang out.
“I swear, every time I see you, you are more grown up,” Rochelle commented. “Mya, you remember when she was nothing but a bugaboo always tryin’ to hang around us and give us no space?”
“Yep, I remember.” I laughed. “Ugh, I used to want to just lock her in the room.”
“Forget both of you. Ain’t nobody wanted to hang around y’all,” Monica teased. “That’s why I turned out the good kid because I stayed out of you two’s company.”
“Ha, ha,” I giggled.
“It’s good to have you back, though, Rochelle. We missed you,” Monica said sincerely.
“I missed you all, too. Now I’m back and ready to give all of you the business,” Rochelle joked. “I already know it ain’t been turnt up around here since I been gone.”
“So what, are you calling me boring?” I jumped up. “ ’Cause I’m always turnt up! Turn down for what!”
“Now you all know her definition of turn up in here.” Rochelle grinned.
“Yep, put the inventory away,” Pam chimed in, and we all laughed.
“Whatever, haters.” I laughed.
“Well, look, why don’t we all go out to the club and celebrate Rochelle being back,” Monica suggested.
I thought her idea was on point. We needed a ladies’ night out.
“I’m game,” Trina replied.
“Me too. It’s been a minute since I been out with my girls. I miss the hell out of it. Oh, and wait . . . now when did you start clubbing, little Ms. Monica?” Rochelle put her hands on her hips.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you that Li’l Miss over here is a clubaholic now. She can’t stop, won’t stop. I told you that she dates Rich, that new guy that owns the Ripple Turn now,” I reminded Rochelle.
“Yeah, you told me about that. Hmmm, well, I guess if your man owns a club, you have to be all up and through there.” Rochelle snapped her fingers and we all laughed.
“You betta know it. Let them females know he’s taken. ’Cause they be on him,” Monica chimed. I liked to see my sister happy, but I wanted to say another female could have his ass. But I chilled.
Saturday night was club night and we all showed up. It was me, Rochelle, Trina, Pam, Nora, Monica, Hood, Rich, and Hood’s crew. We were ready to turn up and that’s just what we did from the moment we hit the door. Rich pulled me aside when I first got there to apologize if he had offended me in any type of way and to assure me that he loved Monica. I told him that it wasn’t the right time for that type of conversation, because I came to enjoy myself and celebrate my girl Rochelle.
Future’s “Neva End” blasted out of the speakers and Hood pulled me to the dance floor. We were moving to the beat and really enjoying ourselves. I was glad that his spirits were up. Whatever business he attended to in Florida had worked out. It had to do with his missing money that Lonzo had been taking to Miami to clean up. He got it back, but he also locked in on another project. There was always tons of money to be made and Hood made sure he made it. I didn’t care about money, but his success and loyalty made him happy. But only because it secured his family future. So I did my best to respect that. Hood held me tight and kept his face buried in the crease of my neck. That was one of his favorite places to be when we were close.
“I love you so much,” he said as kissed me softly on my neck, then cheek. Those kisses led to my lips and the kiss was so passionate a tear ran down my cheek.
“I love you, too,” I mouthed when our kiss unfortunately ended. The song ended and we went back over to our friends.
“Dang, Mya, all that kissin’, y’all may as well get naked,” Rochelle joked as we sat down, and the girls started laughing.
“Shut up with your nosy self.” I blushed. “Y’all ready to go hard? Let’s get on the Jell-O shots,” I shouted.
“I’m with that,” Monica chimed in. “Bartender, Jell-O shots all around!”
When I saw another bartender headed to Hood’s table with that Don Julio, I knew it was over. Those Don Julio shots would put him down for the night. But I know my husband, his motto is “go hard or go home.” He looked at me and winked. He knew exactly what I was thinking.
We were on one after we tossed back a few Jell-O shots. The dance floor became our mission and the DJ didn’t let us
down because Yo Gotti’s “Act Right” came on.
“That’s my shit!” Trina yelled and started twirling her hips.
I knew she was krunk because she didn’t dance much. We were doing our thang on the VIP dance floor when Rochelle looked down and saw Kalil. I was so engrossed in the dance and song I almost missed him.
“Look.” Rochelle tapped me on the shoulder and pointed down.
I followed her finger and there he was with his eyes glued to VIP and Rochelle. I knew he didn’t want to start anything because his ass was not crazy, but I also didn’t want Rochelle to go ham on him because she still felt some type of way about him taking the keys to her truck.
“Rochelle, just ignore him,” I encouraged, praying that she listened to me because it did not take much for her to pop off.
She rolled her eyes in his direction then turned back to me with a huge grin. “Oh, trust me. I plan to. I wouldn’t give his burnt-out ass the satisfaction.”
Just then Rich, out of all people, walked up to Kalil and shook hands with him. Now that surprised me. I had no idea that they knew each other.
“Hmmph, you know they cool, right?” Rochelle added.
Shaking my head, I replied, “I guess now I do.”
Not that I gave a fuck, but sometimes you never know who knows who.
“Yeah, he came by the house once.” Rochelle glared at Rich and Kalil.
That made me wonder if Monica knew they were cool, but I doubted it. Something like that she would have mentioned. I looked over at her and she was still dancing, smiling, and enjoying herself. I had to check it out, though.
“Monica!” I had to yell her name over the music. She looked up and I waved her over.
I pointed down in the direction of Kalil and Rich, who were still chatting it up. Monica followed my hand gesture with her eyes.
“You never told me that Rich knew Kalil.”
Monica, who was still moving to the beat, shrugged her shoulders. “That is because I didn’t know. Besides, Rich knows a lot of people because of this club.”
