I Never Said I Was a Good Girl (2 page)

Chapter 3: Havoc

I sit in the café across from this bitch little nail shop, wondering if she realizes yet that I am not playing with her. It’s okay if she doesn’t though because I am going to tear her life apart slowly and painfully until I decide it is time for me to take her life from her. After what she did and all of the drama she’s caused, I have to make her pay the ultimate price, with her life, which is what I told her before she hung up on me.

She is over there in her fancy new shop prancing around in her purple jumpsuit and heels, acting like she is such the good girl and business woman. Well, she won’t look like that when I get finished with her.

It took me a while to figure out how I was going to make her pay and honestly I am still putting things in place for the big day but I’m happy with what I’ve done so far. I put the plan in motion this morning with the first phone call.

I was shocked at how easy today’s social media made it for me to find out where Brazille was. I was able to get where she lives, where she went to school, her salon location , who her friends are and recreational activities all online. Honestly Brazille spoon fed me a lot of the details I personally needed. This thought made me grin from ear to ear. It was now time for me to start reaping the benefits of a job well done. Brazille was going to be surprised at all the information I had on her.

I decided to make a morning of the “Brazille English Show”, so I ordered a bacon and egg croissant sandwich and a large black coffee.

As I looked into the salon it looks as though my little phone call swallowed up all the serenity that was previously in the shop because it now appeared that Brazille and her nosey best friend were having a disagreement. If I had to guess I would say that Chyna was riding Brazille about the phone call, in the way that only Chyna can. Brazille, being the stubborn-independent-I-can-handle-anything bitch she has always been, will most likely refuse to open up. It’s actually one of the things that I’m counting on.

I see Chyna walk away and go back to putting the polishes on the wall. Brazille turns and stares out her big picture window straight into the café. At first I thought she was looking at me so I froze. This would ruin everything. Just as I began to panic I saw her dab her eyes with a Kleenex. I let out a deep breath as I realize she was just standing there crying and trying to collect herself. ‘Ah bitch you have a heart now?’ I chuckle at the thought of her crying, a sight I had never seen. However, it is too late for the tears my dear.

After a few minutes it appears that Brazille takes a big breath and turns around, drops the Kleenex in the trash can near the first nail station and goes back to hanging pictures.

I have to admit the salon was coming along quite nicely but I really hadn’t expected anything less from her. She did love for things to appear perfect, especially if they weren’t.

After Chyna finishes filling the L shaped glass case with what seems like thousands of big and little jars, boxes and what I assumed were other supplies she turns around and says something to Brazille. Brazille then points to the back of the salon. Once Chyna disappears into the back I think of how gratifying it would feel to be a sniper so I could shoot Brazille right between her big round beautiful lying eyes and watch her crumple to the carpet. I can just picture her taking her last breath as she lay there dying, the big red blood stain soaking into her new expensive carpet. I snap out of my daydream when I realize that would be doing her a favor because it would be over too quick. The people I represent and I need this to be up close and personal. She definitely has to suffer. I sat for I don’t know how long, enjoying the view from the café window and my breakfast, until a delivery truck from some new upscale bakery, Tiny Cakes, pulls up and blocks my once perfect view into the salon. I look at my watch and see that I only have thirty minutes to get to my appointment.

I stand up gather my trash and drop it in the trash can next to the door. I hate to miss the rest of the show but I have to remember the finale is going to be well worth this small sacrifice.

‘Goodbye for now Brazille. See you soon.’ 

Chapter 4: The Grand Opening

As I accept the delivery from Tiny Cakes Bakery, I begin to get butterflies in my stomach again realizing that I have less than an hour before the salon is scheduled to open its doors to the public. I don’t really get a chance to let the feeling take over because my receptionist arrives. I say
“Good morning Amber”,
as I sign the invoice for the cupcakes.

“Good morning Ms. English. Are you ready for Showtime?” she asks smiling.

“I feel confident Amber and I know that today is going to be epic,” I reply. “Well, I hate to throw you right in the fire but I need you to get this espresso machine going and put the cupcakes on the lazy Susan in the middle of this table.”

“No problem, Ms. English. That’s what I am here for.”
Amber says with a bright smile and her grey eyes twinkling as she goes to get the coffee going.

I turn towards the back of the salon and notice that Chyna has not come back out front yet.

“Chyna! Chyna!”
I finally see her turn the corner.

“What girl?”
Chyna says with this disgusted look on her face as if I truly interrupted something that was more important than me and this salon at the moment.

“Oh wow! That is rude. Did I disturb you?” I say, sarcasm on fleek.

“No. I’m sorry. I am just so aggravated with myself and Joaquin right now. I knew I shouldn’t…”
She stops mid-sentence as she notices Amber setting up the cupcakes.
“Who is that white girl
up at the front table with the white silk blouse and charcoal grey slacks? With Brook Shields blond hair at that?”
she asks, eyebrow rising.

“Well, Ms. Attitude, that is why I was calling you out here, I wanted to introduce you to my receptionist, Amber, the one that I’ve been telling you about.”

We walked up to the front and I introduce the two.
“Chyna Spencer this is Amber Merced. Amber this is my best friend Chyna.”

The two ladies shake hands and exchange pleasantries. “
Nice to meet you Amber, I’ve heard a lot of good things about you from Brazille
,” Chyna said.

“
Well, I’m flattered. Hopefully I don’t give her any reason to change her
mind. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well Ms. Spencer
,” Amber replied smiling.

I hear the bell as the doors open and look up to see my nail techs coming through the door: KaTasha, David and Kenya. I give quick introductions all around and tell the techs to get settled in and to set up their stations.

“
Ok guys I’m glad everyone is here and I hope that you’re all ready to work! We have thirty minutes until we officially start Showtime, so let’s be ready
,” I tell them. I grab my purse and make-up kit and head for the Ladies room.

“
Excuse me for a few minutes team; I need to go to the restroom to freshen up my makeup. I need this face beat when the customers start coming in
!” I say.

“
Girl, you look fine as wine, you better be back out here quick fast and in a hurry
,” David yelled laughing.

I go into the bathroom, lock the door turn the facet water on full blast and just stand in front of the mirror and cry. The phone calls I received this morning scared the mess out of me. I had no clue who it was and what they wanted then and I haven’t been able to figure anything out since. They were using some type of app or device to change the sound of their voice so I couldn’t even tell if they were male or female. The only thing that I do know is that they seem to mean business and they say that they want me dead.

I stare at myself in the mirror, watching the tears roll down. ‘
I don’t know what I am going to do
,’ I think to myself, as I try to regain some semblance of control. ‘
But I know that I can’t tell anyone. I have to keep it to myself until I come up with some ideas as to how to stop them or at least figure out what’s going on. Besides, who would believe me?
’

‘
Brazille, you have worked too hard to get to this day, to let some idiot ruin it. Now fix your face beautiful, and enjoy your day. Can you imagine how happy your mother would be to see you like this
?’ It’s that thought that really gets me going. I grab a washcloth from under the sink, get foundation, blush, eyeliner, mascara and lipstick out of my case and wash my face and redo my makeup. When I’m back to fabulous, I hear the techs calling my name as I close the bathroom door behind me.

“
Here I come guys! Let’s do this
,” I yell and clap my hands.

I walk out front just as Chyna is opening the door for our first client. The phone begins to ring as well and I feel the dread start so seep back in. I am so relieved that Amber is here to answer it. She is a pro at it too.

“Thank you for calling Polished By Brazille. Hold please.”
She presses the hold button and places the receiver back on the hook as she begins to greet the client who is just coming through the door,
“Good morning thank you for choosing Polished By Brazille today. My name is Amber. Who will have the pleasure of polishing you today?” she asks.

The slender female, about five feet ten inches tall, excitedly approaches the receptionist desk, where Amber is now standing, and says
“I came all the way from Augusta to have Brazille polish me.”

“Wow. That is so sweet! Thank you for making the trip! Hi, I am Brazille. What’s your name?”
I ask as I step in and shake her hand.

“Hey I’m Ashley. I am SO excited to FINALLY have the pleasure of YOU doing my nails!
I follow you on Instagram and your work is AMAAAAZING! Ijust love love LOVE what you have done with the salon by the way.”

“
Thank you Ashley I am very pleased to meet you. Come on over to my station so I can get you polished
.”

As we approach my station which is in the back right next to the fish tank Ashley says “
Oh WOW! I have NEVER seen a station like this! You weren’t playing with the décor in this shop, girl!”

I smile and say
“No I wasn’t,”
as I walk around my oversized U-shaped glass nail station and take a seat in my luxurious dark purple chair with my name embroidered in gold on the back of it.

I get started on Ashley who wants a full set of extra-long stiletto shaped nails adorned with Swarovski crystals. As I begin to file her nails and two female clients walk in, followed by an extremely well-built, handsome man with a deep chocolate complexion. Damn, I love me some chocolate! The first female client walks over to David station and Kenya takes the second female after Amber greets them.

I can’t hear what is being said between this gorgeous six foot man and Ashley because Usher’s ‘I Don’t Mind’ starts blaring through the tiny but powerful speakers mounted on the walls. I watch as he makes his way over to the waiting area where Chyna is sitting engrossed in what looks like texting, very vigorous, very angry texting. She’s so deep into her phone that she doesn’t even see him walk up. I nearly fall out of my seat when I saw him reach over and rub her leg to get her attention. She looks up and smiles so big I thought the top of her head was going to end up on my new cream carpet. She jumps up, ass and breasts jiggling, and gives him a hug. Once I see that, I figure he must be someone she was trying to get to know so she could move on from Joaquin, which would be a good thing. I have to lick my lips myself, tuning out Ashley’s banter as I take one last look at that fine chocolate replica of Morris Chestnut. His smile, his dark eyes, his perfect white teeth just has me mesmerized. No man has grabbed my attention like this in more than five years.

I am placing the last form on Ashley’s pinky finger when I see Chyna and Mr. Chocolate coming my way. I smile and make eye contact with Mr. Chocolate who licks his lips like he’s LL Cool J and that is when I realize how wet I am. I take in a deep breath just as Chyna says “
Brazille I would like for you to meet Omari. Omari, this is Brazille my best friend and all-time favorite cosmetologist
.”

We quickly shake hands so that I can continue working on Ashley and I try my best to make it seem like I am not impressed, even though I feel my nipples hardening just from the scent of his cologne.

“Brazille, Omari is the CEO of Hidden Stars Records. He wants to discuss doing business with you,”
Chyna tells me.

“Well, Omari I am pleased to meet you and I am definitely always down for new business adventures so here is my card. Send me a text or an e-mail whenever you have time so we can set up a meeting.”

His strong hand reaches out to grab the card from me and I notice how well manicured and clean his nails are and as a nail professional that is definitely a turn on! As he takes the card, his fingers lightly touch mine and I swear I almost have an orgasm sitting right there. I snatch my hand back and gather my thoughts
“I look forward to hearing from you,”
I say just to have something to say.

“The pleasure is all mine Brazille,” Omari replies. “Talk to you soon.”

The rest of the day flies by; business was off the hook. I have to end up making Chyna help Amber with the serving of the clients because the waiting area became so packed. I was so happy to see that a lot of my old clients had stopped in to support. One of my old regular customers, Rachelle, was one of them. Plus we knew a lot of the same people from back in the day, although I have outgrown most of them. Everywhere that I’ve worked, she found me and come to me for her nails. She came in today and got her nails hooked up! I was so busy she had to wait two and a half hours before I could get to her, but she has always been loyal like that so I wasn’t surprised. Plus she had Chyna to talk to and show her around while she waited.

When it was
her turn we hug and I say
, “Rachelle I am so glad you came in!”

“Now B you know I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! I am certainly going to be a regular again now that you are in a stationary shop so close to me.”

We both sit down and I begin preparing to slay her nails.
“So what are you getting done today lady?”
I ask, my mind already running through possible designs.

“I think I want to have them medium length and oval shaped. And that’s about all I’m sure of,”
Rachelle laughed.

“Do you have a particular color in mind?”

“You know what… not really. I will leave that up to you.”

“Girl, this is why you are my favorite client cause I was hoping you would say that,” I tell her smiling. “I just got in this new Louboutin polish I have been itching to try out and I know you are just the bitch to rock it!”

“What? You copped that Louboutin?! Now you got me too excited! POLISH ME UP!” she said, relaxing in her chair.

I begin shaping her nails and she says
“Guess who had the nerve to text me last week?”

“Oh no! Every time you come up with that ‘guess’ shit, it is some bullshit that follows”
shaking my
head I guess
“Jamal?”
I ask
,
he was a guy she had dated for about a second, until she found out she was one of many.

“Uh Jesus no THANK YOU,”
she replies as
her eyes roll so far back that her eyelashes start to twitch and look like butterflies caught in a spider’s web.

“Look if you want these nails right you will just pour the tea so I can sip it,”
I chuckle.

“Zürich.”
I see her trying her best to keep her face neutral, waiting for my reaction.

That caught me so off guard that I stopped filing mid stroke and looked Rachelle in her face for a good thirty seconds before I said
“Please tell me this is a late April fool’s joke?”

“Girl nope. He called trying to get all in your business. He was asking me if I could do him a favor and get you to talk to him,” she said shaking her head. “It was the saddest thing I witnessed in a long time.”

“What…. Did…. You….. Tell….. Him?”
I asked with much hesitation because Rachelle was my girl and all, but she was no refrigerator when it came to keeping anything to herself.

“Not a DAMN thing except that you were happy and doing well,”
Rachelle says trying her level best to look innocent.

“Are you SURE! ABSOLUTELY SURE that you didn’t let anything slip?”
I ask. I swear it is just one thing after another today. And after this morning the last thing that I need is Zurich poking his nose in my business.

“B, I got YOU! You KNOW I messes with you the long way and the strong way! I didn’t tell him nothing, nothing at all. You’re good,”
she says.

“Well just to give you a little tea he has been texting me as well. When he calls I never answer; but I will entertain him through a text every once in a while just to try and see where his head is at and what he may be up too.”

“I am not shocked girl his hope will NEVER die,”
she says while letting out a heartfelt giggle.