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Stepping down from the treadmill I took a moment to catch my breath. I was in the process of working on my summer body and this was my first workout in a long time. I felt good getting back into the grove but I was beyond tired.
"Excuse me." I heard a deep voice say making me look up from my phone as I changed the song I was listening to.
"Sorry, did you want to use it?" I said to the man in front of me as I stepped back from the machine.
I couldn't help but stare at his tall 6'5 figure in front of me. He had rich butterscotch-colored skin and the most beautiful brown eyes. It was his sharp jawline and perfectly toned arms that were covered in tattoos that caught my attention.
"You're good, I just left my phone on there." He pointed towards the iPhone that was sitting on the machine. I didn't even notice it was sitting there the whole time I was using the machine.
"Oh hear you go. I didn't know it was there." I picked it up and handed it to him after I wiped my hand off.
"Nah it's cool, I leave it around here all the time."
"You must come here often then." I laughed not understanding how someone could leave their phone around. My phone was like my baby and if it was out of my sight for thirty seconds I would flip out.
"I'm the co-owner so I'm around here and there. I just lose track of my phone when it gets busy." He said and my eyes widened slightly.
"Oh that's what's up, check you out. I know the feeling though it can get busy as hell when you're running a business."
"What do you do for a living?" He asked me as he leaned against the machine and crossed his arms.
"I own KatzKutz the hair salon and barbershop."
"Oh, that's you down there on fifth street? Your salon be packed all the damn time." He said and I nodded my head with a laugh.
"My niece gets her hair done at your shop all the time and when I pick her up it's always busy."
"Really? What's her name?" I asked him.
"Angel." He said and my mind instantly wandered to the tall light-skinned girl with waist-length hair.
Angel was a regular at the salon and always tipped me well. Overall she was a sweet girl and had been coming to me for years to get her hair done. I always hooked her up because she was a sweet girl and her parents kept my pockets full.
"I know exactly who you're talking about. She always gets the long box braids when she comes in."
"Yeah, that's her." He trailed off before speaking up again. " I didn't get your name."
"Katrina. What's yours?"
"Joshua."
"It's nice to meet you. I'm in here a lot and I never ran into you before."
"I do a lot if the behind-the-scenes work but I might have to come out of my office more now that I know you're a regular." He flirted with me and I raised my eyebrows in return.
"I wouldn't mind it. Maybe you can give me some pointers since you're all strong and everything." I looked down at his muscles that were on full display in his wife-beater
"I got you, let me get your number."
-
"So are you gonna let him have the barber shop again or that's your shit still ?" Tasha asked me as we sat in the salon together.
"I mean he can take over it because initially it was his shop and I've just been maintaining it while he was gone."
"But you don't feel like it's yours in a way? You've been maintaining it for almost seven years." She raised her eyebrows at me and I shrugged my shoulders.
"In a way I do but it's still in his name and I would much rather focus on my salon."
Before he locked up he agreed to put the barber shop in my name as a co-owner because he knew he was going away for a while. I was able to handle all of the legal stuff that came with it and kept it afloat for the time being. I planned on signing it over to him completely so I no longer had to deal with it.
"So you're good with him working next door to you? You know cause y'all don't fuck with each other, right?"
"I mean at the end of the day it's no bad blood between us. I just wanna have a good relationship for Zion," I repeated myself for what felt like the hundredth time.
"I just want to move on from that shit. It will at least be good so we can both see Zion during the day." I shrugged.
"Alright girl, I don't wanna hear anything about it." She mumbled while spinning around in the chair.
"What does that even mean?" I scrunched my face up at her slick comment.
"This just seems like a situation waiting to turn bad. You're trying to move on from him and he's gonna be around you all the time."
"I have moved on from being with him. I have no desire of us being in a relationship but we need to be cordial for the sake of our son."
A lot of people didn't understand how important it was to have a good relationship with your child's parent. I had my moments when I couldn't stand Delon but I would never want our son to see that.
I tried to keep the drama away from him but it didn't help that the people around me had no issue speaking on him constantly.
"Yeah, I guess. You're better than me 'cause I would've said fuck that nigga and his shop." She turned her face up.
"You're a damn clown." I shook my head at her. The sound of the salon door opening caught my attention and I turned around to see someone coming inside. It was a little before closing so I raised my eyebrows and looked over at Tasha.
"Hey, I'm here for an interview." A woman with straight red hair waved shyly as she closed the door behind her.
"Oh, you're Kayla, right?" I asked remembering I talked to her earlier in the week about the braiding position in the shop.
The hiring process at the salon was much different from most salons. I had the person come in with a folder that contained photos of their work and they also had to do hair in front of me on a client of their choice.
They had the option of doing any style they wanted to show me their work was theirs. It was also a chance for them to be creative.
"This is dope. How long have you been braiding?" I asked as I flipped through the images she brought me.
"Since I was sixteen so about nine years now."
After the interview I watched her do about six cornrows on her client's head before I decided to offer her the job. She had a nice vibe to her, was extremely talented and I felt that she could contribute to the salon in a good way .
