Page 3 of No Remedy for Love

“Thank you, boo. You know you’re my person. I really needed that.” Remi wiped her eyes and exhaled as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

“Yes, you did. Now, let’s get the ball rolling honey. We have a lot of work to do.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Remi had a lot on her plate but she was up for the challenge. Thankfully, their lawyer took care of the legalities for all of the real estate that Reid had and it was all successfully transferred in Remi’s name. She didn’t know the first thing about being a landlord but she was gonna do her best.

Two days later, Remi laid her father to rest with a service fit for the king that he was. Tracy was right; Reid was well loved by so many. His service was held at the Reid Recreation Center, one of the many places that he founded and funded for the kids in the community. As huge as the building was, it still wasn’t big enough for the hundreds of people who came out to pay their last respects to the man who was considered a hood legend in his own right.

“Honey, if looks could kill, mama would be burying you right next to Reid,” Tracy whispered while grabbing Remi by the arm.

Remi had been getting pulled in a million different directions and she didn’t know if she was coming or going. She didn’t even wanna do a repast for her father but her granny wasn’t trying to hear it. She talked about it so much that Ferris and some of the men in the neighborhood made it happen. Once again, the community came together and provided more than enough of everything that was needed, and Remi was grateful. The same hall that was used for the funeral was then transformed to resemble a hall for the repast.

“Why you say that?” Remi didn’t want to start looking around to see who was watching her and make it seem too obvious.

“Bitch, Maverick ain’t take his eyes off of you yet.”

“Girl, I’m not even going there with Mav no more. We had our time together and it’s over. He’s a family man now. Tell Kiva that she can rest easy. He’s all hers.”

Kiva was Remi and Tracy’s backup hairstylist when their regular girl wasn’t available. She was also Maverick’s on and off again girlfriend. They all grew up together in the hood, but Remi was more of a tomboy. Kiva was a girly girl, so Mav turned to her when it was time to choose a girlfriend.

“May the best bitch win.” Tracy snapped her fingers for emphasis as she walked away.

“She already did.” Remi followed behind Tracy with Maverick’s eyes following her.

Maverick licked his lips unconsciously as he watched Remi walk away. The years away from the hood had been good to her and she had really filled out her grown woman body nicely. Remi’s features were the kind that women in Hollywood paid top dollar for. Her high cheekbones and full lips almost made her look like a thicker version of Teyana Taylor with a rounder face. She sometimes rocked her short hair exactly the same unless she grew it out into a bad ass asymmetrical bob. Her skin was flawless and so were her beautiful white teeth. Remi had long ago ditched the jeans and kicks for a softer, more feminine look. The same look that had Mav and so many others looking at her as more than just one of the homies on the block.

Back in the day, Remi was who they called to beat down other bitches who they had problems with in the hood. She was a tomboy and had hands like a grown ass man. She was known for knocking hoes out and they knew not to fuck with her. It was nothing to see her posted up on the block with the dope boys, but they had mad respect for her. Most of them worked for her pops and her step brothers would have bodied anybody who didn’t.

Back then, it was Kiva who caught Mav’s eye. She too was always posted up on the block doing somebody’s hair or just hanging with her girls. She and Maverick had a lot in common because he loved to cut hair just as much as she liked to style it. About a year after they made things official, Kiva decided to go to cosmetology school in Atlanta where her father lived. Her plan was actually to move there but she changed her mind once she graduated. Mav ended up making the move with her and became a licensed barber in the process. It was him who wanted to move back to New Orleans, and Kiva followed her man. There were a lot of times when she regretted that decision because her and Maverick’s relationship was never the same.

Upon returning to The Big Easy, as New Orleans was often called, Mav noticed that a lot of things had changed, with Remi being one of them. Remedy was no longer the tomboy who hung on the block with the dope boys. She’d ditched the baggy clothes and kicks for heels and dresses. She had blossomed into a beautiful young woman with a body that should have never been hidden under jeans. Mav was intrigued and it wasn’t long before he was saying goodbye to Kiva and hello to Remi.

He and Remi became a thing and he fell head over heels in love with her. Things with them were good for a while until she announced that she was moving to Arizona with her father. Mav was hurt but he understood why she had to go. He wanted to go with her, but she swore that she wasn’t gonna be living there very long. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a lie but, still, he couldn’t see himself walking away.

They tried to make the long distance thing work and, for a while, it did. Before long, the visits got shorter until they stopped altogether. Remi had her father and school to worry about, and Mav didn’t feel like he was on her list of priorities. He’d already made up his mind to tell Remi how he was feeling but he never got the chance. Remi ended things with him, and he hadn’t seen her for years until now.

Common sense told Mav to stay away after everything that happened before but he wasn’t thinking with the right head. He almost lost his freedom over Remedy and he’d made more enemies than he could count. As much as he loved her, Remi sometimes had a wandering eye. One of the niggas that they grew up with in the hood had a cousin who visited New Orleans from Cali, and Remi was the first thing to catch his eye. Apparently, she was just as interested and they started messing around soon after his first visit.

Before long, he started coming more and staying longer until Mav caught wind of what was going on. He confronted the other man and things got ugly. He made some comments about Remi that Mav wasn’t feeling, mainly because he knew they were true. He and Mav boxed it out, and Mav had him on the ground napping once it was over. He thought it was over until the other man got killed the following night. Of course, Mav’s name came up and he was questioned multiple times. Thankfully, he and Remi went out that night with a few of their friends and he had an airtight alibi.

Still, the man’s family didn’t want to hear it. They assumed that Mav had paid someone to do his dirty work, but his hands were really clean. The nigga didn’t even live in New Orleans, so Mav wasn’t all that pressed to have him killed. He felt as though he proved his point enough when he beat his ass. Apparently, somebody tried to rob him and his cousin, and he resisted. Nobody was ever caught but his cousin and other family members still thought that Mav was behind it. No more blood had been shed since then, but Mav stayed strapped just in case. Now, years later, the woman at the forefront of the beef was back.

A lot had changed since she’d been gone, but he was sure that she knew about them all. After all, Tracy was like a hood news reporter and she kept Remi in the loop. Mav and Kiva got back together a few months after Remi left and they started a life together. Although they weren’t married, they had a son and business together. MK’s barber and beauty salon was their investment and it was proving to be a good one. Mav’s barbershop was up front and Kiva’s salon was in the back. Both businesses were thriving and so was their relationship. He was only hoping that it stayed that way.

Mav downed the last of his beer before walking away to find the woman who once held his heart in the palm of her hand, not knowing that he too was being watched.

“It’s cool. We all used to be friends, so I’m not pressed about him talking to her. I’ve never been an insecure bitch,” Kiva said to her sister, Kerri, who was standing there instigating.

They both saw the way that Mav looked at Remi when she walked by. They also saw when he walked away a short time later and went in the same direction that she disappeared to. Still, none of that was enough to make Kiva embarrass herself by causing a scene or checking her man.

“Alright bitch, she broke y’all up once before. You must be in the mood for a remix.”

As much as Kiva loved her big sister, Kerri was probably one of the messiest bitches that she knew. And it was even worse because she had three grown daughters who were just as messy.

“She didn’t do a muthafucking thing. Mav walked away from our relationship. I was with that nigga, not Remi.”

Unlike her sister and most of her friends, Kiva was never in denial when it came to her relationship with Maverick. Granted, they were young when they got together, but she never used that as an excuse. She never let him use it as an excuse either, even though he always tried. Things with her and Mav started out great. They were likeminded and had some of the same goals.

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