1
“You’re up next,” East announced, briefly giving his attention to the slim-thick, brown beauty across the shop looking like she wanted to be anywhere but there.
He did a once over of the little shorty in her lap, eyes glued to what he assumed was her phone because it was covered in a bright pink case.
Assuming he was speaking to her, Joi found the man’s eyes and checked for clarity. When he offered a nod, she stood, lifting Nick from her lap, and headed over to the open chair.
East turned his back to tidy his station as they approached but watched the two through the mirror, only turning when they reached him. Always one step ahead, East lowered the booster seat he kept on hand into his chair, gauging that the little boy was only about four or five and would sit too low without it. Once he had it in place, he spoke.
“What’s good, little man? You getting a cut?”
Nick smiled at East and nodded while Joi lifted the small boy into the chair, grunting because he was a bit heavy for her. Sheremembered his small size as a baby, and even a toddler, but now he was a solid kid she had no business lifting.
Once he was situated, East draped the boy with a cape then gave his attention to who he assumed was the small child’s mother. They didn’t share any features—the child was very light with eyes that were almost transparent—but she had him there to get a cut, so they had some type of association.Maybe shorty likes white dudes. She apparently had no interest in him and hadn’t smiled once that he noticed. Not that he cared, but the observation that she hadn’t given East a second look couldn’t be missed.
“This your little G?”
“No,” Joi answered dryly without realizing it.
Joi now had possession of her phone again and was tapping through her man’s InstaStory, not concerned with the barber addressing her. Nick was her godson, and she loved him like her own, but her mood was sour because of the call she received from her boyfriend on the way to the shop, so she wasn’t in the best mood. Either way, this man didn’t need to know her relation to Nick; he only needed to cut his hair.
“Family?” East tried again. It wasn’t like him to have issues getting a woman to smile, but this one right here didn’t give anything. He accepted it as a challenge.
“Something like that.”
East chuckled arrogantly then looked down at the boy to examine his head. He had already assumed she wouldn’t be much help with direction on his cut.
“What’s your name, little man?”
“Nicolas Foster and I’m four.” He smiled proudly at East then dropped his eyes. “Is it gonna hurt? It hurt last time because he cut me with those.” Nick pointed to the clippers that sat on East’s station, causing East to briefly give them his attention before it was back on Nick.
“Four, so you’re holding things down then.” East extended a closed fist to Nick, which he eagerly met. “And he didn’t know what he was doing. I don’t cut people. This is my sh… I’m good at what I do,” East corrected, understanding he was addressing a kid. “You like the cut you had last time or you want something different? Something fly that will make the little girls hand over all their candy?”
“Something fly,” Nick repeated, beaming, then followed up with, “But my mommy gives me candy. As much as I want.”
East chuckled and tilted his head. “That’s what’s up.”
“Don’t do anything crazy. You might want to stick with what he has.”
She speaks.
“It will be what he has, just better because I’m doing it.”
Joi looked at East, really seeing him for the first time. She was instantly taken aback by how handsome he was, but she had other things on her mind, like her cheating—well,maybe he was cheating—boyfriend.She just had a gut feeling he was up to something.
“Fine, just don’t do too much.”
Here she goes with that dry ass tone again.East peered at the woman, trying to figure her out, but then just said fuck it and spoke his mind. It was rare for him not to, so today would be no different.
“Ay, who fucked up your day? Because you need to take that dry ass tone to them and drop it with me.” East’s brows dipped in as he looked at the woman, almost daring her to come back at him with another rude ass response. She was pretty, body was tight, even if it was on the slim side, but that attitude was not the move or anything he felt like tolerating at the moment. So far, the day had been pretty chill, and his energy was in a good place. She wasn’t about to fuck with that.
“Excuse me.” Joi’s face expressed every bit of annoyance she felt behind the way he had just spoken to her. What was wrong with this man?
“Nah, excuseyou. You gonna move so I can handle this cut or what?”
Joi’s eyes stretched wide and her mouth hung open.What the hell,she thought.
“You don’t have to be so rude. That’s extremely unprofessional.”
