Side Chic 4 (Forever Ratchet)

by La'Tonya West

  “No Nisey…please don’t call the police!” Lala begged. “Please…put the phone away. I don’t want any more police coming to my house today. All I need is for us fighting or that someone had a gun in the house with the kids to get back to that social worker and she will sure as hell be in here trying to snatch my kids. She’s already trying to play me like I’m an unfit mother.”

  “Are you crazy? That motherfucka just beat your ass and pulled a gun on you!” Nisey told her. “All of that because you made a mistake? He has no right to blame you for this shit and neither does that bitch!”

  “I have every right to blame her and you too!” I let her know. “You mean to tell me neither one of y’all grown asses second guessed leaving my kids with him!” Nisey didn’t respond. I guess her ignorant ass realized that I had a point.

  “Tre, just leave. All I want for you to do is leave!” Lala cried. I could see that her lip was busted and swollen. “I won’t call the police...I promise. Please just leave.”

  “I will leave but not without my kids.”

  “You are not taking my babies!” She tried to sound stern but she was still too shaken up and probably too afraid of what I might do to her ass if she didn’t back the fuck up.

  “Watch me!” I jerked away from Tyson and walked past Lala and Nisey. My eyes were fixed on Nisey hoping that she would act like she was about to swing but she didn’t she just ice grilled me. I think the part of her brain that worked properly was telling her not to fuck with me because she might lose her life over some shit that wasn’t even her business. I went into the girl’s room and turned on the light. I picked Lola up out of her bed and then walked over and scooped Laila up. I didn’t give a damn about their clothes. I’d buy them some more. I turned to walk out of the room but Lala stood blocking the doorway. She looked up at me with hurt filled eyes, tears steadily streaming down her face.

  “Why are you doing this?” She asked her voice was hoarse. “I can’t allow you to take my babies.” She shook her head. “I can’t…”

  “You don’t have a choice, these are my kids too.” I replied coldly. All of the crying that she was doing didn’t faze me one bit. Fuck her tears. “It’s getting late and we have a long ride head of us.”

  “Tre, please…”

  “Please my ass…now move.” I snapped. “Right now, I don’t trust your judgment so they are going to stay with me for a while. You can see them anytime that you want but as far as them staying here…nah…that’s not happening. Ain’t no telling what other type of niggas you will have around them. I can’t afford for no shit like this to happen again. Maybe you should consider moving back to Boykins because that is the only way I am going to allow you to have them back.”

  “Will you please stop acting like I meant for this to happen?”

  “It could’ve been avoided.” I replied. “Now move or I will move you. I am not about to stand here and go back and forth with you.”

  Wearing a look of exhaustion and defeat she moved back out of the way. “Tre, you are dead wrong for this.”

  “I’ll be that.” I replied over my shoulder. “Think about what I said, if you want them back. You will have to move back to Boykins because they will not be coming back here.” She followed me down the hallway begging and pleading but it only fell on deaf ears. “Where are their car seats?”

  “Tre…don’t”

  “Bitch tell me where their car seats are!” I said through clenched teeth. This shit ain’t up for discussion!”

  “Lala please give him the car seats and their diaper bags.” Tyson told her. “I know you don’t want him to take them but as you can see there is no reasoning with him tonight. Give him a little time to cool off and then y’all can talk but that isn’t going to happen tonight.”

  She looked defeated. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I swear…I didn’t.”

  “I believe you.” He told her.

  “That’s nice but where in the fuck is the car seats?” I barked becoming agitated with Tyson playing like he was Dr. Phil or some shit!

  “They are in my car, it’s unlocked.” Lala told me and then hung her head and walked out of the room. I heard her bedroom door closed. Nisey looked at me and rolled her eyes before walking out. She went down the hall to check on her, I assume because I heard a door close a few seconds later. I gathered all of the things that I needed for the girls and then we left. The drive back was quiet, I assumed that Tyson was feeling some kind of way about how I’d handled things but I truly didn’t give a damn.

  Mina

  I stood working on my client’s hair and thinking about the brief conversation that Tre and I had just had. He’d called me a few minutes ago asking if I could do something to the twin’s hair for him. At first I’d been confused because I knew that Quan and Shaun didn’t have any hair and to my knowledge the girls were in Danville with their mama. Apparently something really serious had gone down in Danville the day before because Tre now had the girl’s with him. I’d asked him what was going on but he’d just said he didn’t want to talk about it so I hadn’t pressed the issue any further. Instead, I’d agreed to stop by his house and do the girl’s hair for him when I got off work.

  “Why are you so quiet over there Mina?” Nelle asked looking up from her client’s hair. “Ever since you got off the phone you have been quiet and looking into space. You lookin’ like somebody just told you some real ish.” She laughed.

  “Nah, I am just trying to figure out what is going on with Tre and his babymama, girl.” I rolled my eyes thinking to myself how there was always something going on with either Lala or Kisha. I tried my best not to say anything and stay in my lane but those two bitches irked my nerves to the point of no return always blowing up Tre’s phone day and night. He swore up and down that they were always calling about something pertaining to the kids but I wasn’t believing that shit. Granted, Mello was locked up but even if he wasn’t I couldn’t see why I would need to call him constantly about our daughter. I mean, Lala and Kisha were both ridiculous with it. Lala called if the girls took a piss or shit because she claimed that she didn’t want Tre to miss out on anything. And Kisha always seem to need something for the boys. I am all for a man taking care of his kids and I have to say that Tre was one of the best dad’s that I’ve ever seen but in my opinion Kisha needed to get up off of her lazy ass and get a fucking job and stop depending on Tre for everything. Shit they were her kids too.

  “What do you mean, you are trying to figure out what is going on with Tre and his babymama?” Nelle continued to pry. “And which babymama are you talking about anyways?”

  “Lala. She called Tre yesterday while the two of us were at my crib chillin’ and talking. I have no idea what the call was about but I did make out that she was upset and crying. Then again she and Kisha always are crying with their super dramatic asses.” I replied rolling my eyes. “Whatever she said was going on must’ve been serious because he jumped up like there was a fire somewhere and all but ran out of the house but then again when it comes to either one of them, that’s how he always react.”

  “So he still hasn’t bothered to tell you what happened?”

  “Nah but he called me just now and asked if I could stop by after I get off from work and do something to the girl’s hair for him.” I reached over and picked up a few Bobbie pins so that I could pin up my client’s hair. “Girrrl…whatever happened in Danville must’ve been really bad for him to bring the girl’s back. And his exact words were, ‘I need you to do something to their hair that will last for a while because I am going to have them for a minute and I don’t know shit about no hair and neither does my mama.’ That tells me that Lala didn’t come back with them.”

  “Hmmmm…child some shit done went down and I am going to need for you to get all of the details so that you can fill me in tomorrow.”

  I burst out laughing. “Girl, you are a hot mess but you know that I am. I can’t wait to get off, go over to his house and find out the scoop.
”

  “Y’all both need Jesus.” Mia gave her two cents as she gathered her things. She picked up her pocketbook and slung it over her shoulder. “There could be something seriously wrong and y’all two chickens can’t wait to hear what it is so y’all can gossip about it.” She sucked her teeth. “That’s why I try my best to keep my business to myself because y’all will spread anybody’s business.”

  “Child, what crawled up your ass and has you all in a funk?” Nelle asked looking at Mia confused. Mia didn’t reply so she looked over at me and mouthed. “What’s her problem?”

  I just shrugged my shoulders and continued to work on my client’s hair. Mia really hadn’t had much for me to do since the whole incident with Corey. I was so afraid that she might say something to Nelle that I didn’t bother to press the issue about the change in her attitude towards me. I just let things be because I didn’t want to piss her off and there be a big mess. I knew that she wouldn’t hesitate to tell Nelle how she’d caught me eyeing Corey.

  After gathering all of her belongings, Mia said good bye to everyone and headed for the door but Nelle stopped her just before she made it out the door.

  “Are you good cuzzo?” Nelle asked her. “Why are you leaving?”

  “I’m good.” Mia assured with her hand on the door knob. “I have a doctor’s appointment in forty-five minutes, that’s why I’m leaving.”

  “Oh alright. Well call me later and let me know how everything went.” Nelle smiled. “Are you sure everything is good? You look annoyed. I know you aren’t that upset over a lil gossip.”

  Mia waved Nelle off and gave her what looked to be a forced smile. “Nah, I’m not upset at all. It doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

  “Oh alright.”

  “I’ll call you later.” With that she left.

  “Is it just me or has Mia been acting a little different lately?” Nelle asked once Mia was gone. “I mean, she always seem to have an attitude about something.”

  “To be honest, I really haven’t paid her that much attention.” I lied knowing that Mia’s attitude had definitely changed and also knowing the reason for it. “Girl, there has been so much going on with Tre and I that I haven’t paid attention to much other than the mess that we have going on.”

  “Hmph, well I don’t see how in the world you could miss how she has been acting. It’s like she’s mad with the world about something. She definitely hasn’t been herself lately.” Nelle continued on about Mia. The look on her face told that she was really concerned about what was going on with her. “Maybe I should try talking to her? I don’t like to see my fam like that.”

  When she mentioned talking to her my heart skipped a beat. All I could think about was Mia telling her about the little Corey situation. “Nah maybe you should just give her a little time and see if she will come to you about whatever it is that is bothering her.” She gave me a strange look so I explained. “I’m just saying, she just said that she doesn’t like telling us her business because we love to gossip. If you go to her and ask her what is going on. She may feel like you are only trying to be nosey so that you can spread her business.”

  Nelle smacked her lips. “Mia knows that I would never do anything foul like that. Yeah, I heard what she said but at the end of the day, I know that she knows that I would never spread her business around. I don’t cross my fam.” She shook her head, her micros swaying back and forth. “Nah, that ain’t how I get down.”

  “You know that, I know that.” I told her. “And Mia should know that but obviously she believes that you would. She did say ‘y’all spread everybody’s business.’ She didn’t just say me.”

  “I don’t care what she said. She knows that I wouldn’t do that. Hell, I’ve never done it before. She just said that mess because of whatever she has going on.”

  “Maybe…but don’t say that I didn’t warn you.” I was tired of talking about Mia so I changed the subject. “So how are things with you and my favorite cousin-in-law?” I pried. Even after the incident with Mia catching me eyeing Corey, I still had it bad for him. He was one of those people that you wonder what it would be like to be with them at least once. I wanted so badly to be with Corey just one time. I’d been admiring him from afar for years now and to be very honest I was tired of just looking, lusting and wondering. I wanted to find out what it was about him that had Nelle so in love that whenever he walked into a room her entire face lit up and just the mention of his name caused her lips to spread into a smile that nearly touched both ears. And I definitely couldn’t forget how he’d driven the white chic that he’d met in DC so crazy that she’d tried to kill Nelle and his mama. It didn’t make things any better having to see his fine ass nearly every day. That only made it worse.

  “Things with Corey and I aren’t too good right now but I am not letting it get to me. We will be alright.” She sighed moving one of her braids back out of her face. “My baby is seriously pissed at me. We had a pretty heated argument this morning.” She gave a little pouty face, poking out her lips.

  That got my attention. Since everything that had gone down with Amy, the two of them rarely argued. That situation actually appeared to have worked in their favor because they had become inseparable and almost like some hood love fairy-tale.

  “Mad at you, for what?” I pried with raised brows, waiting for her response. I’d even stopped working on my client’s hair. I didn’t want to miss a word of what she’d done to piss him off.

  “Girl to be honest, he’s mad for nothing really.” She sucked her teeth and then went on to explain. “For the past month or so, he has been putting in a lot of overtime at work. I understand that we have a child and we need the money but by the time he comes home he’s tired and doesn’t have any energy to spend time with me or Korey for that matter. Most of the time, I’ve already put her to bed by the time that he comes in. He comes in, takes a shower, eats and goes straight to bed.”

  I wanted to slap the shit out of her for getting my hopes up for nothing! I’d thought that she was about to tell me that he was back up to his old bullshit, dealing with other bitches or something. Something that would give me some hope but instead here she was telling me about him working overtime and not spending enough time with her needy ass. Reflexively, I rolled my eyes up in my head at how petty she was.

  “What?” She asked with her hand propped up on her hip.

  “Huh?”

  “Huh nothing, I saw that.” She let me know wearing a bothered expression. I hadn’t been aware at the time that she’d seen my reaction but now I was well aware of the fact that she’d seen me. “Well…why did you roll your eyes up in your head?” She wanted to know.

  I didn’t bother looking up at her. Instead I busied myself with my client’s hair. “Nelle…” I started. “Truthfully, I feel like you are being kind of petty and acting all needy. You are reminding me of Kisha a little bit.” I teased laughing, hoping to lighten the mood a little because I could tell that I’d struck a nerve. I glanced over at her to see if she was laughing or if she’d even cracked a smile but I saw that she hadn’t. “All I’m saying is, you have what you wanted, which was for Corey to stop running the streets and chasing bitches. He’s not doing any of that anymore. That man worships the ground that you walk on and here you are showing him that still isn’t enough by getting upset with him for working overtime to provide for his family. Shit like that is what pushes men back out into the streets.”

  “I am not saying that I don’t appreciate the changes that he’s made.” She let out a frustrated breath and threw up her hands. “I’m just simply saying that he needs to have some balance. I am all for working and getting money but at the same time he needs to make time for his wife and child.”

  “I hear you and I get what you are saying but you may want to be a little careful of how you complain about it to him because he may feel like you are not fully seeing the effort that he is putting forth in trying to be the man that you wanted so desperately for him to
be. He may be feeling like regardless of what he does you still have a complaint. That’s just my opinion.” Even though the shit I was telling her was some real shit, I honestly could’ve care less about her pathetic issues. I really hoped that all of her nagging and whining would push Corey away and right into another woman’s bed, preferably mines.

  “I appreciate your advice, Mina.” She sounded deflated. I knew how much she and Corey arguing affected her. I studied the sad expression on her face. She looked almost like she wanted to cry. I smiled inwardly at her misery.

  “Y’all will be fine.” I said trying to sound sincere. I finished with my client’s hair and then got started on my next client. The rest of the day seemed to drag by and Nelle was no company at all. Talking about her and Corey’s issues had killed the chipper mood that she’d been in earlier. A few times, I tried to get her to talk but not because I was trying to make her feel better but because I was bored. It didn’t work though. She was too in her feelings. I started thinking to myself that maybe it was time to hire a few new people. Things weren’t like they were before when I’d first opened the salon. Back then, Nelle, Mia and I got a long and we used to have so much fun at work together. Now, I only tolerated Nelle because she had no idea that I really didn’t care to be around her at all. And Mia…well to be honest, the two of us were pretty cool until she decided to stick her nose where it didn’t belong. In my opinion, she shouldn’t have been concerned about me lusting after Corey. Her only concern should’ve been Ron but she and Nelle had always been the tightest of us three so I guess she felt like she was doing the right thing by calling herself checking me about Corey.

  At the end of the day, Nelle and I cleaned up the shop in silence. The only noise that could be heard was the constant back to back ringing of my phone, which was starting to annoy me because Mello had been calling me back to back almost the entire evening. I didn’t feel like being bothered with him. He knew that I was at work and that Simya was nowhere around. I felt like the only time that he and I needed to speak was when it concerned her. I wasn’t about to spend precious time on the phone with him chopping it up like shit was sweet between us because it wasn’t. He hadn’t ever wanted to talk to me before he’d gotten locked up or when we were together. He’d never had the decency to sit and talk. All he’d wanted to do was argue and fight. So why should I waste my time on the phone talking to him? I’d made up my mind that we were done completely and there would be no more chances. I liked having my freedom and being able to live my life without all of the constant physical and verbal abuse. No one should have to live that way and I wasn’t about to live that way anymore.