by Sephiri J
I walked away from Bo, but I was still thinking about her. She was a cute ass chick, and even though she tried to act like she didn’t want anything to do with me, I knew she was feeling me heavy. I was low key excited about spending time with her tonight. My phone buzzed in my pants, and I glanced at it to see that Bo had sent me the text with her address. I couldn’t help but chuckle. She was playing hard to get, and it was cute. But I knew once we spent some time together, that little game she was on would be done real quick.
I saw that I had another text, and I jumped to my inbox to see who it was from. I sucked my teeth when I saw my ex, Gisselle, was the one who texted me.
Gisselle: City are you at the convention? I wanna see you.
“Shit,” I said and put my phone back in my pocket. She was the last person I was trying to see.
We’d broke up a little while ago because she’d caught madd feelings and started acting like a fucking psycho. From jump, I’d told her I wasn’t trying to do no serious shit. She was a cool chick, bad as fuck, a body she paid for, but her surgeon did her right. But I wasn’t trying to wife her or no shit. She wasn’t the wifing type. She didn’t do much but lay around and take pics. And those pics kept her paid because she had an Instagram with about 400,000 followers, so companies paid her to advertise.
She had a condo on Brickell that I used to help her pay for, and whenever we fucked, I’d have her ass climbing the walls in her spot, but she didn’t give me nothing more than good pussy and a fun time. When I told her I wasn’t feeling the shit we had going on no more, she went crazy, talking about she loved me and wanted to have my kids. I deaded that real quick, but she wasn’t getting the message, even though I had told her in her face multiple times. I wasn’t tryna embarrass her in front of people, but if she kept this up, I wouldn’t have a choice.
I left the message on Read and didn’t answer. If she knew what was good for her, she wouldn’t come looking for me either. I strode back to the section where my booth was at and saw a line of people waiting to get tatted. As I approached, a couple of the girls started saying my name.
“What’s up?” I said, walking up to one of them and giving her a hug.
“Oh my god, can I get a picture?” she asked, cheesing hard.
“For sure,” I said as two other girls came over to us and eyed me like a snack. I took a couple pictures for the Gram while more people came over to be around us and chill.
“We heard you were going to be here, and we had to slide by and come see you,” one of the girls who looked like she wanted to swallow me whole said.
She was a short, Spanish girl with long, wavy, black hair. She slid her hand down the back of my shirt and jeans as she spoke. I looked down at her and took a step back.
“You real close, shorty, and I don’t know you like that. But thanks for steppin’ through,” I said.
“I want to get to know you. Can we kick it after you leave?” she asked and stepped close to me again. She leaned up to me to say something else, but when she opened her mouth, her breath was hot as fuck.
I cut her off before she could say shit else. “Don’t even start no shit. You smelling like you been on an onion diet. Got my eyes out here waterin’ like a motherfucker. You might want to go kick it in a bathroom with some mouthwash before you hurt yourself,” I said.
She stepped back from me with her eyes wide, and her hand flew up to her mouth to cover it. Her friend snickered but stepped up to me too and slipped something in my pocket.
“I’m Tisha, get at me if you’re bored,” she said before she walked away with the Spanish girl who was looking down at the ground with her hand still over her mouth.
I pulled the note the second girl dropped in my pocket and looked at her scribbled phone number on it. Crumpling it up I threw the paper on the ground. These bitches out here were wild and went for what they wanted with no hesitation. But I was good on those two, especially the one who smelled like something crawled into her stomach and died.
I took a couple other pictures with some more fans before Marcus walked up to me.
“What’s happenin’,” I said when he approached.
He’d fucked up the other day, but I was over it. Marcus and I went way back, so it would take a lot more than a slip up for me to stop fuckin’ with him.
“We been doin’ these tatts back to back,” he said. “Got a lot of word out about the shop.”
I nodded because that’s what I wanted to hear.
“I think we should throw an anniversary party,” Marcus said, and I looked at him. He looked back at me. “What you think? We goin’ on three years in two weeks, and we got so many people who ride with you and ride for the shop. We could throw a big ass party and charge at the door. We’d make madd money plus get more publicity for the shop.”
I stroked my chin as I thought about the idea. I liked it.
“I’m with it. Tati got connects with different bloggers, so we can get them all out there too,” I said as I thought about it.
“Fuck yeah. Plus, you know that girl Bo who I tatted the other day, she a photographer. I probably could get her to come out and take shots for us,” he said with a grin on his face.
I turned to him and frowned. I could tell he was looking for more than just pictures from Bo, and I wasn’t feelin’ that.
“Ease up on that, bruh,” I said then turned back to look out at the rest of the convention center.
He turned to me with his eyebrow raised. “Ease up?”
“Yeah, nigga. She not your type.”
“And what type is she exactly?” he asked me with a whole ass attitude in his voice.
I turned to him and looked him in the eye. “Not yours, bruh. So, chill off her.”
He looked at me like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t, which was probably in his best interest. I didn’t know Bo like that, but something about her made me want to know her, and I wasn’t about to have my nigga thinking he had a chance with a bitch I was feeling.
I looked away from him and got even more annoyed when I spotted Rigs about forty feet across from my booth. He was talking to some reporter. As I looked at him, our eyes met. I frowned at him, but I wasn’t about to start no shit out here. Nigga got the message I gave him and acted accordingly, which was all I needed at the end of the day. He turned away from me first and kept talking to the reporter. As long as he stayed on his side of this big ass place, I was good.
“City!” I heard a voice behind me say. “Did you get my text? I’ve been looking all over for you?”
I turned and breathed out in exasperation when I saw Gisselle standing behind me. She was cheesing up at me like she found her long lost love. Dressed in a body fitting Chanel dress, she looked good as fuck, I couldn’t lie. Her hair was laid, and she was wearing stilettos and looking a little overdressed. But she had a lot of niggas’ attention who were standing around. That’s usually how it was with her, though. I turned to her as I looked her up and down.
“Hey,” she said, smiling hard at me.
“What’s up?” I asked and buried my hands in my pockets.
“I texted you, did you get it?” she asked while smoothing her hands down the front of her dress.
I couldn’t lie and say my dick didn’t jump when she did that. Dhe was a pretty ass girl.
“Yeah, I been busy, though,” I said, looking away from her and turning slightly. She took two steps to the side to get back into my line of vision. I looked back at her.
“Oh, okay. I just wanted to see you. It’s been a minute, and I saw your name on the line up of artists who were going to be here,” she said. “Hey Marcus.” She leaned to her right to wave at Marcus.
He nodded at her. “Sup, Gisselle.”
“So…” she said, turning back to me and taking a step up. She traced her index finger down my sleeve. I looked at her hand on me, but I didn’t stop her. “The shop has been doing real good, huh? I’m happy for you.”
She paused like she wanted me to ackno
wledge her compliment. I nodded.
“Yup,” I said while looking out at the crowd.
She took a step up closer to me, and I could smell the Gucci perfume she was wearing. She pressed her tits into my arm. “I missed you. It’s been a while since we hung out. I know things with us ended weird, but I think we need to talk. You have time for me later?”
I shrugged at her. “Nah, I got plans.”
“Oh,” she said, and I heard the disappointment in her voice. “Okay, well maybe tomorrow? Or the next day. I’m pretty much open.”
I shook my head. This was the shit that was pathetic to me. She was way too desperate and needy. The fuck she think I want with a bitch who was available every minute of every day as soon as I said jump?
“I don’t have a photoshoot until next weekend, so you just let me know. Maybe I can come by the house?” she said.
I looked down at her like she was crazy. Even though we had a situation that was more serious than any other girl I’d messed with in a while, she’d still never made it to the crib. So, for her to think that now I’d be up for her coming to my house when she’d never in life come over before, that made me know she was on some other shit.
“Gisselle, I been told you we don’t have nothing else to talk about,” I said annoyed, and shrugging her off of me then taking a step to the left.
She looked up at me and pouted.
“You been supposed to be over me. I’m not even thinking about you anymore. What more you want me to say to you?” I said while shaking my head. I wasn’t trying to hurt her feeling because I did care about her at one time, but she was doing too much right now.
“I just thought…” she said, but I cut her off.
“Don’t think, you wasn’t really too good at it. Just listen to what I said and take it. Then you can keep standing there and look cute,” I said.
“You think I look cute, babe?” she said all excited, and I sighed in exasperation.
Turning to a table that was a few feet away, I hopped on top of it.
“Aye! Let me get your attention for a quick minute,” I yelled out into the crowd.
I was done with Gisselle and had more important things to do today. which included getting back to focusing on my shop and this convention.
People started turning around to look at me, and a couple girls yelled my name back to me all excited to see me standing in front of them.
“My shop, City Ink, has been down here on the beach for going on three years now, and a lot of y’all niggas been rockin with me since day one,” I started. People clapped and started hollering when I said that. I chuckled. “We the best out here, I don’t give a fuck, and we celebratin’ our third anniversary big in two weeks. I wanna see every one of y’all motherfuckers out with us when we go in. My people are gonna put up location and what not on our IG. Anybody who knows me knows when I party, it’s some shit you never gonna forget. So, I’m letting you know first, find a sitter for them kids and come out to turn up with me and my crew. This my city, and I’m takin’ over,” I said before everyone started hollering some more.
People looked really excited about the announcement, and I grinned. Throwing an anniversary party was a good idea that Marcus came up with, and I knew it was gonna be a party that would top anything I’d ever thrown before. Looking out into the crowd, I saw Bo standing off to the side watching me. I caught her eye and winked. She looked down at her feet as she tried not to smile. I hopped off the table, and a bunch of people came up to ask me about the party and book appointments. I didn’t see Gisselle anywhere, which was good enough for me, but I knew her. She was gone now, but she wouldn’t stay gone for long.
13
Bo
I looked at Dontrell standing in front of me with his smug bitch beside him hanging on to his arm.
“Bo, you can’t answer your phone when I call?” he asked again.
I didn’t know why he was pretending to look concerned like he gave a fuck about me. And, to be honest, all I wanted to do was smack that smug grin off his girl’s face.
I turned back to him and folded my arms in front of my chest. “I saw you called, but we have nothing to talk about, so I didn’t answer.”
He sighed and looked at the ground. “Look, I know you think I’m the worst kind of human being right now, but it’s not how you think. I wanted to explain what happened to you, so we can at least be friends.”
I cocked my head to the side because I couldn’t have heard what I thought I just heard. In what lifetime did he think we could ever be friends?
“Excuse you? Dontrell, you are so entitled. Why would we ever be friends when you did me so dirty with this rat looking bitch?” I said and pointed at Nichole, who was standing beside him looking bored.
“Bo, you don’t need to do all that, seriously?” Dontrell said and wiped his hand down his face.
I felt my heart jump because I really cared about this man. And he was looking so handsome in front of me but had the nerve to be with this girl he cheated on me with and approaching me like everything was all fine.
Nichole sighed really loud and rolled her eyes. “Babe, are you done here?”
He looked down at her and then back at me. “If you want us to talk so we can clear the air, you know my number,” he said. “I don’t want to fight with you, and I’m sorry things went down the way they did. I’m sorry I hurt you, but it just wasn’t working out for us.”
I felt sick to my stomach as he spoke because he was so nonchalant about the whole thing. Meanwhile, my entire heart felt like it had been ripped out of my chest. How could I have been in love with this man for so long? He obviously never really gave a fuck about me.
“Listen, Dontrell,” I said and stepped up to him. I felt hot all over, and I wanted over everything to scratch his eyeballs out, but I wasn’t about to make a scene at this place where I was actually getting paid money. “You fucked up in the worst way cheating on me with this bitch. I don’t even care about the fact that you went with a bird who can’t do shit for you but bend over and suck your dick. What makes me know you’re nothing but a fuck boy is that you pretended all this time to be really down for me, knowing you were living a lie. You wasted my time and played with my heart, and that shit makes you evil as fuck. You have me fucked up if you think I would ever be friends with you after this. You could be on fire in the streets, and I wouldn’t even piss on you. When you see me ever again, just look the other way and keep it moving. I haven’t thought about you since the day I left your dog ass at the altar.”
He chuckled as I said that and shook his head. “That was always your problem, Bo. You wanna act like you’re so big and bad, but you out here taking pictures for a couple hundred dollars. You needed me. Why you think I had to step out of our relationship? You’re too fucking stubborn and say whatever comes to your mind instead of acting like a lady and being classy. My girl would never speak the way you do, and I told you a lot of times that you need to tone all that down. But, good luck with that. You could have had everything with me, but you went and fucked it up.”
I felt my eyes begin to sting as he said that because I was so angry. He always made me feel that I was too much because I wanted my independence, and I had my own mind, and said what I was thinking with no hesitation. And for him to throw that back at me like that was the reason he cheated on me and lied, I was so angry.
“Anyway, enjoy yourself,” he said then pulled on Nichole’s hand and walked away.
It took everything in me not to run up on him and punch him in the face. But I kept saying to myself that the last thing I wanted was to get dragged out of there because that would mess up my money. I refused to let him have that much power over me.
“Aye! Let me get your attention for a quick minute,” I heard someone say really loud, and I looked up to see City standing on a table in front of his booth.
I stepped a little closer, curious to hear what he had to say. City was the complete opposite of Dontrell. Dontrell was arrogant
and condescending. City was cocky as fuck too, but in a different way. When I spoke to him, he never made me feel like he was better than me, or smarter than me, or my opinion didn’t matter. Plus, even though our interactions had only been a few, and the way we met was crazy, I had this intense sexual pull toward him. I couldn’t help it.
I was actually excited about seeing him later tonight, even though I knew I was going to hold him at arm’s length because my heart wasn’t ready for a whole other nigga. But I could already tell that being around him would be a lot of fun. I listened to his announcement about the anniversary party he was throwing at his shop in a couple weeks. The crowd seemed real hype, and I could already see the women clamoring around him to get his attention. I knew the rumors about him that he had a lot of women, or at least that there were a lot of women who wanted him. And I could see why because he had this swag that made your panties wet. Maybe I’d hit up Sade and see if she was down to go.
When he was done talking, he looked over at me and winked. I couldn’t help the smile that formed, but I looked down, so he wouldn’t see. I swear I wasn’t about to make him think he had me or something. We were going to be just friends for now until I figured out what I wanted to do.
I picked up my camera that was dangling around my neck and made my way to the next booth, so I could keep snapping these pictures. I’d introduced myself to a lot of tattoo shop managers and exchanged cards, even booking a couple photo sessions so far. Forcing myself to forget Dontrell’s words, I tried instead to think about myself and what I wanted for my future. As long as I could get my photography off the ground, I didn’t want to worry about anything else.
Later that night
Standing in front of the mirror, I looked myself over one more time from head to toe. I was wearing black skinny jeans with nude stilettos and an off-the-shoulder red and tan blouse. My legs looked juicy in the cut of those jeans, and my boobs were sitting up right in this blouse. I had my hair swooped up in a ponytail, and I was wearing diamond studs my dad bought me for my birthday last year.
