Page 1 of The Love Bully
“Fuck!”Orion knew he fucked up in one of the worst ways. There was no way that he could get out of this situation. He hated that for himself. “This shit can’t be life.”
His homeboy Jet patted him on his back. “Damn, nigga. How you let that shit happen? What you gonna do, man?”
Orion couldn’t formulate his thoughts enough to give an answer. His mind played back to all his interactions with Gia and Kisa. His stupid ass let two women that he knew were on their good bullshit get him caught up. There was no one to blame but himself. “Man, I don’t even know right now. Marsha is going to fuckin’ kill me.”
Jet sucked his teeth. He'd told his friend time and time again to move smart with the shit he did. He never understood whyOrion cheated on Marsha to begin with. Orion and Marsha had been together since they were teenagers. Both of their parents were very hands-off parents, so that allowed the two a lot of time to bond and be together. As soon as Marsha was legal, she moved out of her mother’s house into an apartment with Orion. It’d been them ever since.
“You damn right she is. Your lil honeycomb hideout is about to be your permanent residence,” Jet joked. As much as he joked, he was serious.
Orion’s head drew back. “The hell you say! I’on care what’s going on. Marsha ain’t going nowhere. We’re gonna work this shit out and bounce back stronger than before.”
Yeah, Orion would admit that he messed up. He would even say that he needed to grow up. What would never be said of him was that he wouldn’t be with Marsha. He knew from the first day that he saw her in the hallway of their high school that she would be his end all. Her chocolate drop ass was just what he needed in his life.
Marsha wasn’t an easy woman to pin down. She was a well sought after woman, so Orion had some competition. That meant nothing to him, because a nigga couldn’t compete where they didn’t compare. It took a few months, but once they were locked, they were locked in.
Jet tittered. “I hear you talkin’, my man, but you forgot one thing. Marsha don’t need your ass. She’s out here doing her thing with braiding hair. Orion, her beauty supply, braid shop makes money over money. Yeah, you do your dirt, but this shit is in her face. This shit is different.”
“Man, I gave her the money to start her store,” Orion quipped. That was a fact. He needed a way to wash his money.
Marsha specialized in natural hair care and braids. She attended cosmetology school while she was in high school. While she had been braiding hair since she was fourteen years old,Orion had been slanging dope since he was twelve. The son of a pimp and a hooker, life was rough, but he made it out just fine.
Both of their parents were dead by the things they loved. Marsha’s mother died by the glass dick. Orion’s father died by the hands of one of his whores, and his mother died by the hands of one of her Johns. Their parents’ deaths were double-edged swords. While it was sad, and they grieved, there was also a relief.
Jet took a sip of his drink, put the cup back on the table, then picked up a stack of cash to place in the bill counter. “I get you gave her the money to start it, but she made that shit the success that it is. Your money doesn’t bring in those customers or the stylists that pay booth rent to be there.Braid The Wayis Marsha Turner’s shit.”
Orion knew Jet was right. Marsha was an amazing stylist and businesswoman. At twenty-four, he owned two of his own cash businesses and was a silent partner in Marsha’s business. His other two businesses were her idea.
He waved Jett off. He didn’t want to think about a world where she wouldn’t be in it. He had to think of something before he took his ass home for the night. All he wanted to do was go home, eat dinner with his woman and son, Euri, spend some family time, then blow Marsha’s back out before they went to bed.
Orion and Jet stayed in their stash house for another hour and a half, to finish the money count for the day. He made sure he bought her favorite sweets and flowers before he headed in for the night. This wouldn’t be anything out of the norm for him to do. Yeah, his dick had no discipline, but he loved Marsha and showed his love effortlessly. Unfortunately, two things could be true at the same time. Orion was a fuck boy who loved his woman.
A Few Days Later . . .
Orion didn’t have the nerve. When he got home that night, he just wanted to be happy with his family. He wanted as many days as he could in blissful ignorance. Besides, he needed some more time to get his plan together.
“Daddy!” His toddler son’s voice knocked him out of his daze. He looked down at his son who already resembled him heavily. Euri was Orion’s world.
Orion rubbed his boy’s head. “What’s up, man?” He chuckled when a little Euri said he wanted his mama. “Dang, man. You tired of ya daddy already? We only been together for a few hours.”
Euri went to day care every day since Marsha had a busy schedule during the day. Her braid shop was in the back of her beauty supply store,Braid The Way.She had employees for the store that worked as well as other stylists in the shop. Some days when she wasn’t braiding, she worked in the store.
Her store was one of the few black-owned beauty supply stores in the city. When she first opened, sales were low. That confused her because she assumed people would flock to a black-owned store. It disheartened her that when she hired staff members of another ethnicity, people seemed to trust the store. That vexed her, but she did what she had to do to make sure her business was successful. Marsha used better distributors than her counterparts. She cared about the products that she carried in her store.
Every once in a while, she brought Euri to the shop, but that wasn’t often. She promised herself that if she ever opened a second location, that she would offer childcare for customerswho needed their hair done at a surcharge.Braid The Wayhad a strict no-children policy unless they were being serviced.
Euri glared at his father. He was a mama’s boy, and Orion knew it. Euri loved to be with his daddy if his daddy was with his mama or if his daddy was with his homeboys. The issue with that was that all of Orion’s circle were street niggas who he worked with or that worked for him. Marsha wasn’t having that in any stretch of the imagination. “Alright, let’s get you home. You look like you’re about to knock out anyway.”
Orion wasn’t far from the townhouse that he shared with Marsha and their son. Like he knew he would be, Euri was knocked out in the back seat of the car when he pulled into the driveway. The last thing dad wanted to do was wake his son up. He smiled when he saw Marsha waiting for him at the door, looking good as fuck. “You wore my baby out,” she said after she shook her head.
“You know how your son does,” he replied before he kissed her lips. “You look good as always. How was your day?”
“It was good, baby. Let me put him down, and I’ll come back down so we can talk,” Marsha told Orion before she stepped away. Not before Orion had a chance to smack her ass to pull a flirtatious giggle out of her.
He sat on the couch and laid his head back. His nose was alerted by the smell of food. It didn’t matter how busy her day was, Marsha always had food ready on the stove. “Orion, come here, baby!”
He grabbed a chicken wing from the plate that sat on the counter, then a paper towel. “I’m coming, baby.” He ate his chicken wing as he headed up the stairs.
His feet stopped at the top of the landing. He choked a little on the piece of chicken that he had put into his mouth. Marsha rushed over. “Be careful. You can’t die out here. Euri still needs his daddy,” she said with a chuckle.
