Side Chic 4 (Forever Ratchet) by La'Tonya West Page A

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.
    When Nelle and I were done, I locked up and headed to Tre’s house. On my way, I smoked a half blunt that I’d left in my ashtray that morning. I knew that I was going to need something in order to deal with those crying ass babies of his. Lala had made a mess of them. They were way too spoiled. All they did was cry…like their whiny ass mama. I knew that my nerves couldn’t take it. So I decided to prepare myself before I got there. When I’d finished smoking, I rolled down the window in an attempt to air out my hair and clothes. Then I cleaned my hands with hand sanitizer. I didn’t want Tre to smell the scent of weed on me because that would definitely start an argument and I didn’t feel like arguing with him.
                  I arrived at his house and noticed Kisha’s car parked in the driveway. “Seriously?” I asked aloud, rolling my eyes and turning off the ignition. “What in the fuck is this nearly crippled bitch doing here?” I got out of the car and hit the door lock on my keychain. I held my keys in my hand as I made my way to the door, fingering the pepper spray that was attached to my keychain. Kisha and I hadn’t been in the same space much since I’d been seeing Tre but I knew that she didn’t really care for me and that she was feeling some kind of way about my being with him. Though she hadn’t said anything to me directly, she’d said things to other people in town, who’d come right back to me and told every word that she’d said. She didn’t have to like me or the fact that I was with Tre but if she tried