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“ S tupid ass bitch,” I hit my steering wheel as I rushed back to get on the highway.

I didn’t give a fuck how she got home. She was back in Georgia and that’s all I cared about.

How dare she tell me my baby daddy was at a bitch house the day he got murdered.

She never mentioned it before but I had a clue that he was cheating again by the way he argued with me before he left.

When Khi would cheat, he wanted a reason not to feel guilty so he’ll pick an argument and then blame me once he got caught cheating.

If Merci was holding that in, it was a lot more that she was withholding.

I’ll never find out though. In order for her to make any more money off of me, she had to apologize.

Since she been on this earth all I did was make sure she was straight.

I couldn’t prevent the shit her biological father did but if I could have, I would’ve.

The tears stung my eyes thinking about how I was faithful to a nigga and he had my baby at a bitch house.

It was like as soon as the tears started flowing, Lucky called my phone.

“Y’all straight?” His voice full of concern.

I wiped my tears and clear my throat before I spoke.

“Yeah, we got another hour or so to go but we’re good,” I lied.

“You sure? You don’t sound like you good.”

“Yes, just tired. We’re fine.”

“You need to take the morning and rest. You just drove over ten hours. Wish you would have let me drive you.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. Me staying home is only going to make me bored. And I’m not ready for my sister to be all in my business as we’re still in the dating phase. She’ll be digging all in your background. If it’s anything to know about you, I rather it come from you.”

“I fuck with it. I’ll send you some lunch and then I’ll see you tomorrow tonight.”

“Okay.”

Here it was four in the morning and he was calling to check on us.

I called him when I got on the road and he begged to come with me but I told him I was going to fine.

It was some female shit and he didn’t need to get involved.

He just wanted to make sure I was safe and I was glad that he called.

Tonight was my last night feeling like I wasn’t supposed to be happy.

Lucky made me happy and I was no longer going to hide it.

When I made it home all I had time to do was shower and walk back out the door to make it to the shop.

Perc was already there cutting which was a surprise to me.

He would never take his first client this early in the morning.

Usually, he had to smoke a blunt and bullshit around before he settled down for the day.

I spoke and went back to my office to fix me some coffee.

Flopping down in my chair, I leaned my head back on my chair and closed my eyes when a notification came through my phone.

It wasn’t abnormal to get messages on Instagram from niggas and potential clients so I checked it to make sure I wasn’t passing up any money.

“Aye, you got somebody up here to see you,” Perc said. “I told em’ you just got here and to come back. You want me to handle it?”

“Nah, I’m coming.” I looked at the message and got up to see who it was.

“I just messaged you because I wasn’t sure if you were here,” a bright skinned woman said as soon as I appeared.

“And you are?”

“I’m Tela and this is my son Wale.”

“Oh, you’re coming to get his haircut? I don’t have any spots today but I believe I can get him in tomorrow,” I looked at my appointment book on my phone.

“No, I was coming to talk to you about helping me with my son.”

This wasn’t out of the normal either. I helped plenty of single mothers but this bitch had a nice pair of shoes on and so did the kid. I wasn’t about to go for the sad single mother story today. I had a lot of personal shit going on.

“Can you explain what you mean.” Perc was all ears and so was my cousin sitting in the corner.

“Can we talk in private. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“You good?” My cousin asked. I gave him a nod before escorting the woman to my office with her son.

“What’s the problem?” I asked, sitting behind my desk.

“Since Khi been dead I been taking care of our son on my own and it’s getting harder to take care of him. Someone told me that you loved him and you’ll help.”

“Wait a damn minute. You coming to me like I’m the side bitch. I was Khi’s woman and I was the one who buried him. Where were you? How old is he?”

“He’s seven.”

My heart started racing and my breathing changed. I had to hold it together so she wouldn’t think I was some weak ass bitch.

“Khi lived with me for a long time. When he would leave, he said he was out working but he was always there with us during the day. He took him to school and everything. I didn’t find out about you and your son until after he died. He always made it seem like it was just me,” Tela explained.

“I can’t help you and I would leave if I was you.”

“I know that Khi left you some money. I did some research on you and I know you have money. If Khi were alive, he would make sure of it our son was straight. You got everything and my son deserves some of it.”

“I hate to inform you; I make my own fucking money. Khi ain’t leave me shit ‘cause he didn’t have a muthafuckin’ thing.

I found that out when I tried to bury him.

I guess all of them days he spent with y’all he was supposed to be out making money but he was playing a husband role with no fucking plan.

I hate to be this mean but you gotta look somewhere else.

Perhaps get a job to keep up with whatever fantasy he gave you. ”

She sat there for a moment before grabbing her son’s hand and walking out.

Today was turning out worse than I thought.

If I didn’t get away from the city soon, I was going to explode.

How dare this bitch come sit in my face and tell me what she thinks she deserves.

Shit, I deserved all my fucking time I put into our relationship back.

Ain’t no telling how many kids his ass got.

“Who was that?” Perc asked.

“Nobody important. What your books looking like today? I may need some of your help so I can go home.”

“I got you. You don’t look good.”

“I’m tired as fuck. Fucking ‘round with my sister last night.”

“Yeah, she called me fo’ day this morning but I didn’t answer. She aight?”

“That ain’t my business to tell. Just call her back and she’ll tell you.”

I could tell that Perc cared about my sister.

If you asked me, I thought he was perfect for her, but I just didn’t want them being involved and working for me.

The tension was thick when they weren’t speaking and that’s what I was trying to avoid.

I got my ass up to walk into the barbershop so I could get my day started.

I was working off a wing and a prayer because my energy was gone.

Lucky sent a text for me to meet him down the road for lunch.

I confirmed and started on my first head.

Right before lunch, I cleaned up my section and sanitized my combs and shit when Lexus walked in with her and Perc’s daughter.

She was the prettiest little girl I had ever laid eyes on but her mama was bat shit crazy.

Perc didn’t have anyone in the chair because usually at lunchtime I wanted all the workers to rest and grab something to eat.

Our days of working through lunch was over.

I never got in their business so I kept cleaning up.

She sat their daughter down in the waiting area and walked up to Perc’s station.

“Lexus don’t come in this woman shop on no bullshit. Damn sho’ not ‘round my baby.”

Lexus punched Perc in his mouth so hard that his head snapped back and blood leaked on his shirt.

I didn’t have a chance to get to him fast enough before he punched her right back in the face and knocked her out cold.

Their daughter instantly started crying at the top of her lungs.

It was sad to know that no matter what Perc did, Lexus was always going to be violent and she always made sure to drag their daughter in it.

“I done told this bitch ‘bout putting her fucking hands on me. I’mma kill her ass as soon as she gets her dumb ass up.”

“Perc, your baby is screaming to the top of her lungs. Go see about her while I try to get this bitch up off my floor. Y’all gon’ have me late for my damn lunch date with this shit.”

My cousin was so used to their shit that he just went and leaned Lexus up on the wall while I went to get some water. I wasn’t leaving until she was out of my shop. Whatever beef she had with Perc, they could take that shit out the door.

“Aye, this my last warning for you bitch. If you walk in here again and put your hands on him, I’m calling the police on your ass.

Now get this water and take your ass home.

This should be a lesson ‘bout putting your hands on a nigga. Who raised y’all hoes anyway?

” I asked, forcing the water in her hand.

After taking a few sips, she was able to get up off the floor. She was still a little dizzy because she was looking around before her eyes focused.

“Give me my fucking baby,” she snatched their daughter up off the sofa.

“Bitch, I’ll break your fucking neck grabbing my baby arm like that.”

“I bet you won’t see her again.”

Perc charged at her but I stepped in. “Don’t threaten a man with his child. Get your muthafuckin’ ass on before I beat the fuck outta you,” I told her. She didn’t say another word as she walked out the door.

“Look at my goddamn lip,” Perc said looking in the mirror.

“You gotta put a stop to her. She’s going to hurt you or you gon’ hurt her.”

“I got something for her ass. Don’t even worry ‘bout it.”

I cleaned myself up and headed up the road to meet Lucky. My appetite was gone but I just wanted to be around Lucky at this point. He was already waiting for me when I arrived.

“You look tired as fuck.”

“I am. You have no idea how my day as went.”

“You wanna talk about it while we eat?”

It was a small little pizza joint that had a nice eating area outside. We grabbed a slice of pizza, something to drink and went and sat outside.

“I’ll just tell you what had me late. You know my wild barber I told you about. His baby mama showed up and punched his ass dead in the mouth. She always shows up and show out but I was not expecting her to punch him and neither was he because he was sitting in his barber chair.”

“Damn, that shit ‘bout sound like my lil’ brother and his baby mama.”

“Enough of that. What we doing tonight?”

“Nothing. We just chillin’ ‘cause you need to get some sleep. I’mma just rub your back until you fall asleep. What you want something else?”

“I like what you got in mind. Life is so hectic for me right now that I could probably sleep for days.”

I loved the sex with Lucky because it was nasty and passionate. What I didn’t want was our shit to be based off of that so tonight, I was going to let him do just what he said he was going to do.

“How is the apartment complex coming?”

“We finally got the papers signed and we about to start renovations tomorrow. After this project is done, I want to take you somewhere so we can celebrate.”

“Hold that thought,” I told him as I answered my phone.

“Y’all alright down there?” I asked Perc.

“The police here searching through your shit talkin’ bout drugs. You need to get back here asap, bruh.”

“I’m up the road. I’m on my way now.”

“What's going on?”

“The police searching my shit about some drugs.”

“Let’s go.” He dropped everything.

Lucky followed me back to the shop in his car.

It was about seven police cars in front of my shop.

The block had never been so damn empty. When I walked in, Perc and my cousin was in cuffs along with a few of the other barbers that didn’t go to lunch.

My place was tore up and they were still pulling shit out.

“Perc what the fuck going on?” I asked as soon as I walked in the door.

“Perc?” Lucky said.

“You know him?” I asked Lucky.

“Man, this my lil’ brother. What the fuck he doin’ here?” Lucky looked at the both of us.

“He cut hair. This is the dude I be talking about.”

“Wait…you fuckin’ wit’ my brother?” Perc asked.

“When the fuck you started cutting hair?” Lucky asked Perc.

I let them hash that shit out while I went to go find the muthafucka in charge and ask for the warrant.

My office was a mess. They were going through my paperwork and digging through the supply closet. They even trashed my staff breakroom.