Page 4 of Pulse of True Soulmates
Before anyone had a chance to blink, Jordan was on Troy’s ass. There was no competition between the two because Jordan was a wrestler in high school and college. Erin’s loud ass jumped off the bed, screaming. “Stop, stop! Jordan, stop!”
“Girl, shut the fuck up!” Fatima yelled. “Matter fact! Since you want to make jokes about Aeon’s pass outs, let me make you pass out!” Like a cheetah, she jumped over Jordan and Troy’s fight to tag Erin dead in her face.
Scott stood off to the side with the creepiest smile. Aeon thought he would have jumped in by now since he’d given her fifteen hundred dollars too. Nothing in the room was broken yet.
In her mind, Aeon told everyone to stop, but it didn’t come out of her mouth. Both of them deserved their asses beat. The betrayal from both of them was bigger than the cheating. For Aeon, it was the disrespect to her house. For Jordan, it was the disrespect to his and Troy’s long-time friendship.
Aeon stood there and watched two relationships and friendships go up in smoke. Her head began to hurt with the increase of her heart rate, and her vision blurred.This is too much.Her heart couldn’t take this nor could her POTS. With a final look and shake of her head, Aeon walked out of the room.To hell with it all.
SOME YEARS LATER . . .
“Man,I’m trying to tell you, Ty. The dating pool has piranhas in it,” I fussed. “Y’all married niggas are blessed that y’all found y’all forever.”
I had just finished getting my locs retwisted, and now I was sitting in my barber Tiberius’s seat to get a lineup. It wasSaturday, so the shop was packed like it usually was. Everyone laughed at my expense. My best friend, Julian, laughed the hardest.
I met Julian when my family moved from Orlando, Florida, to Charlotte, North Carolina, when I was fourteen years old. Two flat tires was the best way to describe our relationship. We also attended the same college, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, NCA&T.Aggie Pride.He’d seen me through all the crazy female shit that I’d been through.
“Why do you think I snatched Jesika’s ass up when I did? There was no damn way I was lettin’ her slip through my fingers,” Julian said with conviction. My boy met his wife when we were juniors in college and married her six months after we graduated. They’d been married almost eleven years now.
Tiberius nodded. “Fuck yeah. Shit, my situation was a little different, but once I knew she was the one, I locked Leydi’s ass down.” He pointed at his best friend who sat in the seat next to him. “Hell, this nigga trapped the fuck out his wife.” The entire shop laughed.
“First, I didn’t trap her. Santorini did. All I did was take my girl on a month-long vacation. It ain’t my fault her janky birth control was old or some shit,” Derrick, my cousin and Tiberius’s half-brother, said with a wave of his hand. “All that matters is that I got my wife and we’re happy.”
I heard what he was saying. At thirty-four, I wanted that shit for myself. My parents, Declan Sr. and Princetta, had been married so long that I didn’t even know how long. I wasn’t even sure of their damn ages.
“I told your ass to stop fucking with our customers. You already know bitches come in there to get tats and dick,” Julian kidded. “I thought you learned when that girl came in there and had a tantrum on our floor.”
I sucked my teeth. “Look, at the end of the day, I never lead these females on. I make it known that I’m looking for my wife; therefore, from the first conversation we are in an evaluation period as they should be too. I’m not going to waste my time. Now, if a female comes at me on some fuck me shit, then I let them know that’s all it will be. It’s not like I’m out here just slinging monster dick.”
A few weeks ago, this chick that commissioned me for a custom tattoo straight up told me that she wanted tosee what that dick do. I told her up front that if we fucked, it would never be more than just a fuck. I wouldn’t catch feelings eventually, so she shouldn’t expect that or try too hard to get me to catch feelings. She claimed that she wasn’t on some relationship shit. Her exact words were,I’m for the streets right now, and I’m fine with that.After I finished her tattoo, she paid me the six hundred dollars that I charged her and sucked my dick. We met up a few times after that to fuck, then I cut her off when she asked me to take her on a date.
That crossed a ho boundary for me. Just fucking meant just that, just fucking. I expressed that I didn’t feel comfortable with our sexual relationship any longer. She told me that she was tired of my dick anyway. I wasn’t offended in the least because the way her ass screamed and hollered during sex said differently.
The next day, she started with the text messages. Since we didn’t communicate outside of when to meet up and weren’t having sex any longer, I didn’t respond and promptly blocked her. Fast forward to the next week and this girl was laid out on the floor of my tattoo shop, kicking and yelling like a three-year-old child. I couldn’t tell you what she said because I left her there on the floor by herself. I didn’t entertain my four-year-old godson, Aiden, when he threw a tantrum. There was no way that I would entertain it from a grown ass woman, so I called themboys and told them to trespass her ass. My father taught me that you didn’t argue with crazy women; you let the police do that.
“Man, Declan, you know good and well these females out here will lie just to get the dick, get addicted, then want it for themselves. I found my wife fresh out of prison, so I didn’t have to be subjected to that bullshit,” Tiberius pointed out. He served five years for killing his mother’s boyfriend.
I was tired of the subject. “Derrick, when you and your wife coming to get your new piece? I’ve been waiting on y’all.”
When I was twenty-five, I decided to use my BA in visual art design to open a very unique tattoo business. It wasn’t just a tattoo shop; it was a lounge.Ink Vibingwas the place to get a fire ass tattoo, amazing food, drinks, and vibes. The tattoo portion of the business was upstairs in the loft area. The lounge portion was downstairs. There were nights that we had live bands, spoken word, silent book clubs, speed dating, and anything else that kept our spot live.
We made most of our money on the nights that were catered to the Hispanic community. I brought in a band, a special cook, and it was a whole vibe. I spoke fluent Spanish since I had a number of Spanish speaking customers. The third year of business, I met my goal of making a profit of over three hundred thousand dollars for the year. Four years ago, I opened the second lounge,Ink Vibing Again, with Julian as the co-owner. He was also a tattoo artist. We also co-owned a graphic design firm.
“Man, you know your ass be booked and busy. I’m trying to get in where I fit in.” He did have a point about how busy I was. Both lounges were open six days a week. I spent four days in the main lounge and two in the secondary location.
Tiberius was finished with my lineup, so I turned the seat in his direction. “Cuz, stop playing with me. Let me know when y’all want to come, and I’ll clear my books for y’all.”
“Shit, you ain’t said nothing but a word. Mama Bug got my babies this weekend, so we’ll be there tomorrow. I’m going to call Iesha to see what time she wants to go and text you tonight,” he let me know.
After I told him that was cool, I stood from the seat to pay Ty. “Alright, let me get out of here. Y’all know it’s my mama’s reup day.”
“Aye, tell Auntie I’m gonna come over tomorrow to get a cake. I’m gonna Cash App her the money because I already know Iesha’s greedy as is going to try to eat all my cake,” Derrick said. He and his wife had the funniest relationship. Their love language was talking shit to each other. At their wedding, a part of their vows was to always get on each other’s nerves.
I did my rounds of goodbyes, then left. I had a few appointments later, so I needed to make this quick. Unfortunately, there was no ‘quick’ with Princetta Phillips.
“Derrick sent me money for a black forest cake. Is Iesha pregnant again?” my mother asked. She moved to the next cabinet to look at her inventory in her store that was added to the kitchen.
My mother was the neighborhood’s snack and cake lady. When we lived in Orlando, it was the same thing. The kids in the neighborhood loved her and so did the parents. On report card days, she made these goodie bags that had chips, candy, a sandwich, a drink, a slice of cake, and money depending on what their grades looked like. She’d had parents come to her to thank her because their kids made cautious efforts to not get in trouble and get good grades.
