Page 39 of No Remedy for Love

“It ain’t none of these hoes that you gotta worry about though. Her sister be everywhere and you need to be morecareful. Being out in the open hugged up with Remi ain’t a good look.”

Mav’s face gave away his secret that he obviously didn’t hide well enough. He knew exactly what Ferris was talking about but he would go to his grave proclaiming his innocence. He didn’t know where Kerri’s annoying ass was but he didn’t see her or anyone else out there that day. She must not have told Kiva because things with them had been good lately. Since he hadn’t been seeing Remi as much, his relationship with Kiva seemed to be back on track. It wasn’t that he didn’t try but Remi was on some other shit.

Ferris stayed out of Remi’s business and she gave him the same courtesy. If nothing else, he knew that his cousin could handle herself in any situation. In his opinion, Mav was dumb as fuck for even trying to get at Remi again. She shitted on him the same way he tried to do Kiva and she was indeed his karma. To him, Remi never did love Mav the same way he loved her. But that, too, was none of his business so he never spoke on it.

“That bitch Kerri must need some dick or something. She be worried about me more than her sister do with her hating ass.”

“Look bruh, that ain’t even none of my business. I just wanted to put you on game so you can be more careful next time,” Ferris replied right as Remi’s car pulled up in the assigned spot.

She didn’t usually come to many events that were hosted at the rec center, so he was surprised to see her there. Mav got excited until he saw the black BMW S100RR with orange and red flames bearing the name Blaze pull up soon after. His jaw clenched in anger when Blaze got off the bike and removed hishelmet. Blaze was a tall muscular nigga with an athletic build. He was eye candy for a lot of women and the ones at the salon were no different. Mav never really gave a damn about what they said about him. He just never assumed that Remi would be one of them to fall under his pretty boy spell.

“What’s up fellas?” Blaze raised his helmet in the air as he spoke to both men and smirked at Mav. He purposely walked up behind Remi and buried his face in her neck as she unlocked the door to the building next to the rec room. Remi giggled unknowingly, as Mav nodded and smirked at the petty gesture. Blaze obviously knew of his and Remi’s history, so he was trying to play with his emotions. Mav was always down for a good game but he always played to win.

Ferris waved and spoke to them both, but Mav didn’t bother. He had a boot in his mouth as he watched Remi and Blaze enter the building. Mav wanted to spazz so bad but he had to be smart about it. Too many people knew Kiva and he didn’t need no more problems at home.

“Man, I know you ain’t outchea beefing with no nigga over Remi.”

Ferris caught on as soon as he saw how close Blaze was standing to his cousin. At one time, Mav had all good things to say about Blaze. Now, it all made sense to him why he despised the other man all of a sudden. It wasn’t that Blaze had done anything wrong. Remi was the issue, but Mav needed to sit that one out. Ferris knew his cousin, and Remi was obviously feeling Blaze. He saw them doing a little flirting at the game but it appeared to be much more than that now. The fact that he was all up on her ass and she was cool with it said a lot. He’d never known Remi to deal with a married nigga before but he couldn’t judge. After all, he was fucking the nigga’s wife.

“The fuck I look like beefing over Remi when I got a girl at home. Me and Remi ain’t even on that type of time no more,” Mav chuckled, hoping that he sounded more convincing than he felt.

“Yeah, I hear you. Let me go see what the fuck she got going on over here.”

Ferris was curious when he saw two work trucks pull up. A few Hispanic men waited in them while one, who he assumed was in charge, got out and went inside. Mav was curious too, so he stood there and waited until his boy came back. He didn’t care how stupid he looked; he used that time to text Remi and tell her how he felt. He didn’t expect her to respond right away but he knew that eventually she would.

Mav waited for about ten more minutes before Ferris came back out of the building.

“What’s good fam? Are we about to have a new business on the block or what?” Mav didn’t even wait for him to speak up before he started asking questions.

“I don’t know what Remi got going on,” Ferris lied. He knew exactly what was up, but it wasn’t his place to repeat anything that he’d heard and he wasn’t. Mav wasn’t gonna like the news anyway so he shouldn’t have even asked.

“The fuck they got going on?” Mav asked to no one in particular.

Both men watched as the men on the trucks started gathering supplies, bringing them into the building. Mav was talking all that shit about putting Blaze out of his shop but he wasn’t gonna have to. Ole boy was making a few moves of his own and was leaving sooner than Mav thought. He had justwritten out the check for them to start the renovations on his new barbershop and they wasted no time getting on it. The building was well maintained so they didn’t have very much to do. They assured him that the work would be completed soon, and Ferris believed them. Hispanics were known to be hard but fast workers, so there was no doubt in his mind that Blaze’s shop would be up and running soon. Unfortunately, Mav had some competition in his love life and, soon, his business too.

Kiva was playing it cool, but she was on a mission. Mav was still on his bullshit but, unlike before, she didn’t call him out on it. She was doing exactly what Nessa told her to do and was peeping shit out. One thing stood out to her above all else and that was the difference in the way Mav seemed to treat Blaze all of a sudden. They were never best friends, but he spoke very highly of him in the past. Now, he looked at him as if he was the grimiest nigga in the shop. She usually didn’t pay attention to what was going on in the barbershop but she was tuned in now.

“Nigga, let me find out you fucking with Remi’s big fine ass. I saw her hop on the back of your bike the other day outside the rec room!” one of the barbers yelled to Blaze when he hungup the phone. He was being petty and calling Remi’s name a lot when they talked.

Mav looked like he wanted to flip some shit over but he had to be cool since his girl was there. Blaze didn’t know how he missed it at first because it was so obvious to him now. Mav was cheating on his girl with Remi and feelings were obviously involved. Just by the way she spoke, he could tell that Remi was in the dark about him and Kiva’s ongoing relationship. She didn’t really hang around that way too much, so somebody would have had to tell her.

“That’s my baby but ain’t nothing official just yet,” Blaze broke the temporary silence and spoke up.

“The fuck you mean! Ain’t you a married nigga? You can’t make shit official with nobody else.”

“Nah nigga, see, now you minding business that ain’t yours.”

“No disrespect fam but Remi is definitely an upgrade.”

Blaze probably should have been offended, but the truth wasn’t always pretty. Reanna fucked her body up and even he couldn’t dispute that. He knew without a doubt that Remi was an upgrade but he still couldn’t let nobody go too far on his wife. He usually didn’t put nobody in his business but he had a method to his madness.

“Not too much my nigga. Keep it cool,” Blaze warned.

“It’s all love fam. No disrespect at all. Nigga got a girl with a wife on the side. I ain’t even mad at you.” Everybody fell out laughing, but Mav’s face turned red with anger.

“Aye, y’all can chop it up with Blaze outside. If you niggas got y’all hair cut already, y’all need to keep it pushing so other people can come through,” Mav spoke up loudly so that the barbers and customers could hear him. Unfortunately, everyone in the salon heard him too, including Kiva.

“Damn bruh, ain’t nobody even waiting to get up in this bitch. You been on one lately. Is you cool?” The barber who was talking with Blaze wasn’t in the mood for one of Mav’s impromptu mood swings. He was cool one minute and spazzing out the next. The shit was getting annoying and he didn’t know what was up with the sudden change.

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