Page 17 of Kassir and Rebel (D-Ville Projects #2)

Kassir

“Oh shit! You’re here before opening. What’s up?” Niecy says slyly when I enter the shop.

It’s only nine and we open at ten. My barbers will all start falling in around nine-thirty but Niecy is always here by eight. I’m rarely here, usually just a few hours two, maybe three, days a week. Unlike me, she loves the extra alone time to make sure the shop is ready for the upcoming day.

“I just need to holla at you,” I say as I slide into the chair at the first station. She’s standing in front of hers, brushing her clippers, but when I sit, she follows and slides into her chair. “I need a chair for a new barber.”

“Unless you know something I don’t, we have nine chairs and all nine are occupied.”

“Tomorrow is Joel’s last day,” I state firmly.

We hired Joel about two months ago. That nigga was straight during his interview and cut but he ain’t been right since.

I have a thing with timeliness, especially when it’s concerning my time and my money.

He was late on his first damn day and has already missed two shifts.

Even if Leem didn’t need a spot for Yah, Joel was about to get the boot.

He had only been spared because Niecy saw some potential in him.

“I can talk to him,” she pleads but when I shoot her a look, she raises her hands in surrender. “Okay. I’ll put the word out and post an ad on?—”

“I already got his replacement. It’s handled.”

“Who is he?” she asks with raised eyebrows.

“She,” I stress. “And her name is Yahzi. She’s actually Suleem’s girl.”

“I’ve heard of her and not because of who’s she’s fucking.

Sis is cold with the clippers. It’s only a few of us bad chicks and we hear about each other.

It’s about time too. We need more estrogen up in here.

I’ll clean his station up and have it ready for her.

When is she starting?” she asks excitedly.

“Probably this week but I’ll let you know. You need anything else?” I ask, then stand.

Time is tight. I have a few things to handle before I take Rebel out this evening. After four days of hopping around, her ankle is finally straight and her greedy ass wants me to feed her. After this, my next stop is my mom. According to her, it’s been too many days since my last visit.

“Just your final approval of the supply order. I left a copy of it on your desk.”

“Bet. I’ll go sign it now.” As I trek to my small back office, I scan each station to make sure everything is in order.

It’s just routine though because Niecy does her damn job.

I spot the order on my desk as soon as I open the door.

It takes me less than five minutes to look it over, approve, then sign.

She’ll work with our vendors and arrange the deliveries.

When I walk back out front, she’s back to standing at her station.

“Don’t work too hard,” I say as I head out.

“Like I know how to not work hard,” she utters behind me.

In the parking lot, I spot Makai getting out of his ride. I nod, but instead of nodding back, he yells out, “Kassir. Ay. Wait up.” He drops whatever was in his hands back into his car, slams the door, then sprints over to me. A little winded, he says, “Thanks for waiting.”

“You good, fam?” I ask.

“I’m straight but I don’t know about you once I tell you this shit,” he says.

“Spill it.”

“The streets is talking. Mano,” he begins and I hold my damn breath.

This lil nigga.

“Mano been all up and through Bedford Homes. He’s been trying to cop from Ralph’s bitch ass. Word is that Ralph was going to sell to him too but only prepackaged shit. That stomped on Bedford shit would be in our neighborhood,” he says and I swear I feel the veins in my neck bulging.

Mano is proof positive that everybody ain’t gang. He damn sho’ ain’t. This is one decision Leem and I made that I regret more and more each day. Mano crossed the line and violated when he approached me in front of my son but this shit here is unforgiveable.

“’Preciate you schooling me.”

“Of course. I swear that lil nigga ain’t nothing like Roman. DP don’t run through his damn veins,” Makai says while shaking his head.

“Roman was a G,” I utter before walking off. I hit Saleem as soon as I’m in my ride. Apparently, he just heard the same shit too. Bruh sounds as heated as I am. “DP just ain’t for him.”

“At all,” Leem agrees.

“We did what we promised Roman. What happens next is all on Mano.”

“Real shit,” he says before ending the call.

Mano’s older brother Roman was one of the realest niggas.

He repped DP until his last breath, real shit, and he left here with two requests: take care of his seed, RJ, and watch out for his little brother, Mano.

Leem and I honored that shit too. RJ is straight but Mano is on some other shit.

We have given this nigga chance after chance but it’s clear that his loyalty to us doesn’t match our loyalty to his brother and that’s a problem. A real fucking problem.

While shaking my head in disbelief, I start my ride and head to my moms. I debate stopping for some grub but say fuck it.

If she hasn’t cooked, she definitely will when I roll up.

Since the drive to my moms from the shop is about twenty minutes, I wake up Rebel.

Hearing her voice ought to calm my ass down ’bout this Mano situation.

“Baby, what time is it?” she groans in her sexy ass ,sleepy voice.

“Almost ten.”

“And you at your mom’s already?”

“Nah. On my way though.”

“I told you to call me once you get there before you leave so I can sleep in.”

“You did, bae, but I needed to hear your voice,” I tell her and I can hear shuffling in the bed.

“Why? Is everything with her okay?” she asked with too much concern, so I quickly put her at ease.

“She’s straight; it’s just some DP shit.”

“As long as Serious doesn’t come out, then I’m good.”

“I’m not him anymore,” I assure her. I’ve come along his way since she’s been gone and I have no plans of turning back. Mano will be dealt with, but he’ll be dealt with by Kassir, not Serious. Kassir will spare his life but Serious wouldn’t have.

“Good.” There are a few minutes of silence between us before she speaks again. “Since you got me all up, where are you taking me to dinner tonight?”

“Wherever you wanna go,” I admit.

“Nah. Try again; you have to win me back. I want a real ass date.”

“Win you back? Yo’ pretty ass lips on my dick last night made me think I already won you.”

“Goodbye, Kassir!” she snaps before ending the call, but the laughter in her voice lets me know we’re cool.

When I reach my moms, I pull in behind her BMW. Her sprinkler system is on so I have to maneuver around it to reach her front door. Before using my key, I rap on her door twice. She’s walking up to it right as I walk in.

“Buenos días, mijo!” she greets me, her smile taking up her entire little round face.

“Good morning,” I respond and she frowns, hating to hear me speak English in her house.

“Only because I missed you, mijo.” She tsks before lightly slapping my cheek.

“You missed me?” I tease.

“You know I did and where’s my baby?”

“With Linnea. I get him tomorrow.”

“I’m going to get him next week. I need to spend some time with him before he goes to kindergarten. At least one of my boys will speak Spanish.”

“You know I’m fluent.”

“I can’t tell.” She cuts her eyes then turns toward the kitchen.

“Have you eaten? I just cooked some carimanolas.” I gladly follow her because not only am I hungry, carimanolas are my favorite.

It’s a fritter made with yuca. She fills hers with spicy chicken and cheese.

“And thanks for mi café. My box came last weekend,” she says, referring to the only coffee she will drink, Panamanian coffee, Geisha. I have it delivered to her monthly.

She walks to the stove and I wash my hands at the kitchen sink. Before sitting down at the kitchen table, I trek to the fridge and grab a bottle of OJ. She places a plate filled with three carimanolas in front of me then pours her coffee. She drinks it black, nothing but coffee in her cup.

“Gracias,” I say and she smiles.

“Are you going to eat with that in your mouth?” she scoffs. “You have such pretty teeth. I don’t know why you wear that anyway.”

“It’s a part of me.”

“If it was, you couldn’t take it off.” Just to make her happy, I stand from the table and go into the bathroom to remove my grill. When I walk back into the kitchen, she smiles. “Gracias, mi amor. Now, tell me why I haven’t seen you in a few weeks.”

“Rebel came home,” I tell her and she lifts her head from her cup.

“And she hasn’t been by to see me?” she says, disappointed. My moms loves Rebel, probably more than me at times. When we broke up, I was on her shit list for months. She wore my ass out with every curse word in Spanish she knows. “How long is she staying?”

“Forever,” I admit. Her plane ticket says she leaves next week but I can’t let that shit happen. She’s back with me and her going back to Miami isn’t an option for me.

“Forever? Did she say forever or you? Mijo, no woman wants a man that will hurt her heart. Rebel is a good girl. She has a life in Miami. If you can’t love her the right way, let her go back there.”

“Ma, I told you I had to do what I did back then.”

“Will you have to do that again?”

“No and, real shit, I should have made a different choice then.”

“I’m glad you understand that now,” she says, then stands. “Eat. I’m going to fry more carimanolas for my girl. You take them to her and tell her to come see me.”

As she walks to her stove, my mom looks over her shoulder then shakes her head at me. She really is team Rebel. Two hours later, I left with a plate full of her fritters for Rebel and Miss Chandra.

As soon as I open the door, Kassan rushes over to Rebel and hugs her. The same spell her fine ass cast over me, she must have cast on him too. The entire ride back to the crib, he asked if she was going to be with us today. I think his lil ass has a crush on her.