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“Okay, why the fuck you let me go with some random ass nigga last night? That shit was not safe and because of that, I’m never going out with you again.”

“The nigga booked a suite at the same hotel I was at. He was solid and he was feeling you. He was with you all night. Even caught him swerving a few bitches just to chill with you. So how was it?” She smiled as she flopped down on my sofa.

“Shit I don’t know. Don’t even know the nigga name. That shit won’t happen again though. You know that ain’t me. The last thing I want is a nigga to think I’m some cheap-ass bitch that gets drunk and fuck for a nice hotel suite.”

“At least you got laid. Maybe you’ll loosen up some. He didn’t appear to be the normal dope boy type. You need to calm your ass down and stop taking shit so serious. It’s just alcohol and dick.”

I waved her off and went back to my bed. She was so carefree and all I could think about is keeping her safe. She hung with too many people that she just wanted to live her life according to how she portrayed on her social media. I had to admit she had a few checks rolling in and she lived in a nice ass spot in Buckhead. As her big sister, it still bothered me that she lived the way she did. She was grown and I had my own issues. I just needed to learn to let go.

The next day I was up and ready to head out the door for work. I made sure that Merci had somewhere to sleep when she didn’t feel like going home. She had stuff all over my living room. That was one of the major issues she had. She lived like a damn pig, and I was very clean. I always reminded myself that I was five years older than her and she still had a lot of maturing to do.

“Merci, get up so you can make it to work on time,” I opened the curtains.

“My first client ain’t until noon.”

“That’s why your ass don’t see a lot of clients in a day, you start too damn late in the day.”

“Bitch most of my clients just as hood as me and you. They ass don’t get up until noon. Let me run my shit and you run yours, hoe.”

“Lock my house up and put the alarm on when you leave. Oh, and wash your ass. You smell like a latex glove, bitch.” Merci threw her pillow at me as I closed the door.

I locked her in the house and climbed in my car. At the age of twenty-eight, I was more established than most girls my age. Because I was so low key, I didn’t have to deal with as much hate as Merci did. I had hate from the local barbers, who were men. I didn’t take the shit serious because most of them hated me in public but was sliding in my DM’s trying to get some training or work for me. I learned to live with it. One thing my baby daddy taught me was learn how to handle muthafuckas that sneaky. I smiled with their ass and everything, but they couldn’t step foot in my shop.

I had a no gun policy in my shop due to the death of my son and baby daddy, but I had a few shooters that wasn’t letting shit go down in my business. They never left me alone when I worked late and they were probably already at the shop waiting on me to open up. I had to thank my daddy for making sure me and Merci had men around us that protected us with their life. I parked my car on the side of my building and grabbed my purse.

The long drive I took from my house to College Park gave me to time to get my mind together for the day. On an average, I cut about fourteen heads. I could do more, but I had to do store runs and make sure my shop was always up to par for state. We also did a lot of jiving and playing around in the shop. I believed in having a good time with my people, it was only after I got home that my life slapped me in the face.

The junkies were already out roaming the streets for their next hit. My mama hated that I opened a shop in one ofthe roughest parts of Atlanta. This was my daddy’s stomping ground, and I felt safe.

“Jack, why you ain’t swept up this shit in front of the door? You must don’t want these twenty dollars I got for you?”

“Twenty dollas? Shiddd, I’ll sweep this shit up with my hand for that twenty. Move, let me go get the broom.”

I hated that I was contributing to his habit, but I rather see him every day with a broom in his hand and he get his money from me than to do something crazy for his drugs. I made sure he ate and had some fresh clothes. I brought all Khi clothes to the shop when I moved. They were falling off Jack but at least he was clean majority of the time.

“When you get done, come inside and see me.”

“Fa sho.”

Jack was Khi’s uncle. I used to fuss at him for providing his uncle with drugs but he said he wanted him to get it from him so he can make sure he didn’t overdose off the synthetic shit the other niggas were selling. I nodded at my cousin across the street before walking in the shop. It was only nine in the morning, but he didn’t play about getting his bread. He was one of the ones that made sure nothing happened to me and Merci. I flipped the open sign around and got my station ready.

Fifteen minutes later, the barbershop was live and jumping. It was in this very spot, that I felt freedom and at home. The feel of the clippers vibrating in my hand. The smell of alcohol and shaving cream was the highlight of my day.

“Man, y’all seem them muthafuckas talking shit ‘bout LeBron doing too much at his son game?” Perc, my protégé said.

“Man, I know if my damn daddy was LeBron, I would love for him to warm up with us. That’s the problem with folks. They try to find some shit wrong with everything. Let that man be who he is. Our boys need to see black fathers being hands-on,” I said as I shaped up one of my clients.

“You said some shit then. I don’t even fuck with my daddy because he be on some bitch nigga shit,” Perc said, making us busted out laughing.

“I think that if he was doing too much, Savannah would let his ass know. She’s a sister from the hood and I can tell she don’t mind telling him. I just want them to leave him the fuck alone and let him do what he do,” I added.

My sister dragged her ass in thirty minutes later than what she said. I tried to teach her to be at the shop at least an hour before her client. Time management just wasn’t her best thing. I noticed Perc had stop talking and watched her as she walked by. They were close but both denied fucking. Merci said she didn’t see him like that, but I knew her better than she thought I did. Perc was a wild ass dude. He was dark as fuck, almost resembling the color of midnight. He had dreads that he kept short enough to put up in a band with the tips were colored a sandy red. His mouth was grilled out and he was the only one that was brave enough to carry his gun in my shop.

“What you was saying, Perc?” I asked trying to get his attention.

“Shit, what was I saying? Oh, I was just agreeing with what you said, ‘bout Bronny and LeBron.”

I shook my head at him. Whatever him and Merci had going on, they needed to put a stop to the shit because Merci wasn’t about to settle down and neither was Perc. The way his baby mama popped up at the shop all the time, he wouldn’t be able to be with anyone without her breaking the shit up. As long as I had breath in my body, my sister would not mess up her pretty face to fight an ugly bitch.