Chapter Four
“Heeeey, diva,” Ke’yoko’s best friend and beautician, Nadia, screamed as Ke’yoko walked into the crowded hair salon. Nadia was a sharp, classy woman. She wore her hair in a Mohawk with the sides shaved. Not everyone could rock this style that she dared to rock. This look had become Nadia’s signature look and on occasion she changed the color. She was tall for a woman, with an athletic build and caramel-colored skin. No one was sure of her real eye color; she’d been rocking green contacts for as long as anyone could remember.
“Heeeeey.” Ke’yoko smiled, giving her best friend a tight hug.
“How come you ain’t at work?” Nadia asked.
“Don’t get it twisted. That ain’t my job. I’m just fillin’ in until the neighbor’s daughter start tomorrow, but I’m on my way in. I just wanted to stop by and see you before I go in!” Ke’yoko replied.
“Bitch, that purse is bad! Let me get it,” Nadia said.
“It matches my outfit, but you can have it,” Ke’yoko said.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Nadia said as the rest of her staff and clients enviously eyed the expensive purse. “What you gettin’ done to your hair tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. I’ma let you do you.”
“I just got this new product in. Come tell me what you think,” Nadia said, leading Ke’yoko back to her office.
Nadia and Ke’yoko had a friendship that went all the way back to high school. In school Nadia had believed in getting money any way she knew how. She would sleep with anyone if the price was right, male or female; it made no difference as long as her pockets were filled with money. She had the best of everything as a result. Ke’yoko, being raised in such a strict home, was instantly attracted to Nadia and her free-spirited ways, hoeish or not. Nadia was a ward of the state and was in and out of different foster homes. She lived life with no restrictions or boundaries. The more Ke’yoko’s father attempted to place restrictions on her the more attractive Nadia’s free lifestyle became and the more she was drawn to it. The girls became inseparable.
Ke’yoko had met Ja’Rel through Nadia and Bo. Ke’yoko was an observer and paid attention to everything. She wasn’t sleeping to the fact that Ja’Rel and Bo kept money, and not just average amounts of it, either. Ke’yoko wanted more than the pocket change Ja’Rel was handing her and began watching his every move. Unbeknownst to him, Ke’yoko learned how to weigh, cook, cut up, package, and distribute all by watching him and Bo. Ke’yoko decided to bring Nadia in on her idea to make money in ways different from lying on her back. Nadia was down for whatever and agreed to help Ke’yoko however she needed. Nadia also agreed to keep this business deal between her and Ke’yoko and never mention it to Bo or Ja’Rel. Nadia grew from ho to hustler, and together Ke’yoko and Nadia secretly began to build their own empire.
“Oh, lord, you about to experiment on my hair,” Ke’yoko said as she followed Nadia.
“That bitch thinks she’s all that,” said Connie, one of the stylists, once Ke’yoko and Nadia were out of earshot.
“She sho’ll do. Every time she comes in here she thinks she own this bitch,” Dana, another stylist, added. “I don’t know why Nadia always let her into her office but not nobody else. Shit, she ain’t special.”
“They be actin’ like they on some top-notch secret shit when they in Nadia’s office,” another stylist added.
“Maybe they bumpin’ tacos,” Connie’s client interjected while laughing, making some of the other clients laugh too.
“Maybe they are,” Connie and Dana both said, laughing.
“Here they come,” Deon, another stylist, whispered as Nadia and Ke’yoko came out of the office laughing.
“A’iiiight, girl, I’ll call you later. I gotta get to work before the boss man gets to blowin’ up my phone,” Ke’yoko said.
“I seen that purse at the outlet in Lodi,” Connie said with a smirk as Ke’yoko walked past her.
Both Nadia and Ke’yoko looked at Connie like she was crazy.
“You know what, I’m not gon’ even entertain you today, Connie. If you want some entertainment, I heard the circus will be in town this weekend.” Ke’yoko dug in her purse and pulled out a hundred dollar bill and tossed it at Connie, hitting her in the chest with it. “Here, buy yourself some tickets to it.” Ke’yoko then turned and headed toward the door.
Connie’s face was beet red, knowing Ke’yoko had used class to put her in her place in front of the entire shop.
“Bye, girl,” Nadia said, laughing.
“Deuces,” Ke’yoko said, throwing up her two fingers and heading out the door.
Nadia looked over at Connie, shook her head, and smiled. Connie’s ol’ jealous ass stayed getting put in her place.
* * *
Ke’yoko pulled up in front of the shop and looked around the empty parking lot. “I wonder how come nobody is here yet,” she said as she gathered her things and got out of the car. She walked up to the door, unlocked it, and walked in. She set her coffee and purse down on her desk and looked up at the TV on the wall.
“These niggas leavin’ TVs on and shit like they pay bills here,” she said aloud.
“Brian ‘Bo’ Thompson was found dead in the Walmart parking lot early this morning from an apparent gunshot wound to the head.”
Ke’yoko looked up at the news and shook her head as Ja’Rel’s best friend’s picture flashed across the screen.
“The Cleveland police chief said there are no witnesses at this time; however, they believe they were able to lift some DNA from the body that may provide them with more leads. More news at ten,” the newscaster continued.
“Sucks to be you,” Ke’yoko said to the TV before grabbing the remote, turning it off, and getting herself settled. She never did like Bo. He was too sneaky for her, plus she knew he played a huge part in hooking her husband up with so many different females.
It was a busy Thursday. Ke’yoko had been sending the drivers out on calls all morning. If business kept booming like it was, she and Ja’Rel would be living in Turks and Caicos in no time.
“Barnes Pest Control,” Ke’yoko said, answering the phone.
“Do you guys get rid of bedbugs?” the caller asked.
Naw, dumbass, we clean carpet! I could have sworn the sign outside said PEST CONTROL. “Yes, we do.”
“Oh, that’s great! I saw like fifteen hundred in my son’s room. How soon can someone come out and do an inspection?” the caller asked.
Fifteen hundred? What you do, count ’em? Ke’yoko smiled. “I’ll write up the ticket and if we have anyone available I’ll send them out right away,” Ke’yoko said.
“Good. I need an inspection like ASAP.”
“Okay. I’ll see what I can do,” she said before gathering all of the caller’s information.
Ke’yoko called Mitch’s cell phone to see if he could take the bedbug call.
“Mitch speakin’.”
“Hey, Mitch, this is Ke’yoko,” she said.
“Hey, boss lady. What’s goin’ on?”
“I got a bedbug call on Chapelside.”
“Okay. What’s the address? And did they say around how many bedbugs they got?” Mitch asked.
“He said it’s like fifteen hundred in his son’s room,” she replied before giving Mitch the address.
“Cool, I’m on my way ova’ there.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem,” Mitch said before ending his call, grabbing his Glock .42 from underneath the seat, and heading over to Chapelside.
It was closing time and Ke’yoko hadn’t seen or heard from Ja’Rel the entire day. She had tried calling his phone several times, but it was going straight to voice mail. Her first thought was he was laid up with some nasty-ass ho, and the more she called and got no answer, the more she wanted to close up shop and go looking for his ass. Ja’Rel was lucky that calls were coming in nonstop or she would have. Ke’yoko decided to handle her lying, cheating husband when she got home.
Ka’yah barely came to the shop anymore, it seemed like, and Ke’yoko was always having to fill in. She was so damn glad that Tamika would be starting work tomorrow and she wouldn’t need to do this mess anymore.
Ke’yoko tallied all the tickets up for the last time, gathered up her things, locked up the shop, and hurried to her car, jumping in and speeding off, heading home.