Page 43 of Don't Kross Me
“What’s good? I’m Kross.” He took her hand in his as he introduced himself.
Raejah had seen some good-looking men in the city, but no one came close to Kross. He had a handsome voice, a voice that could make any woman’s knees buckle, and it was clear just by the way he carried himself that his money ran long. In the midst of the handshake with Kross, she turned her head and mouthed “He’s fine as fuck” to Remedy, who just shook her head at her.
“Nice to meet you, Kross. You one of Rem’s clients or something?” Raejah continued to dig since she knew she wouldn’t get any tea from Remedy.
“Something like that.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’mma let y’all finish up. Aye, Remedy. I’ll wait for you in the back.”
“Cool. I’ll be right there.”
Kross took a seat in the office and occupied his time by scrolling through his phone. She was midway through the cut she was doing for Raejah’s son, so he didn’t expect to be waiting long. As soon as he was out of earshot, Raejah leaned in toward Remedy with a giddy smile on her face.
“You think he single?” she whispered, referring to Kross.
Remedy stale faced Raejah and shook her head. “Girl, I don’t know what that man has going on. Why you ain’t ask him yourself?”
“‘Cause, bitch, I ain’t wanna come off too thirsty.”
Too late for that,Remedy thought, but she, of course, kept that to herself.
“Rae, I don’t know much about the man besides how he wants his hair cut. Anything besides that, you’re gonna have to go talk to him.”
She knew Raejah didn’t have the courage to go spark up conversation with Kross again to shoot her shot. As much as she wanted to, she didn’t want to call dibs on Kross because as far as Raejah knew, she was happy with Tone. Plus, the poor girl couldn’t hold water. The last thing Remedy needed was Raejah’s loudmouth ass bringing Kross up around Melo and Ava and it getting back to Tone. If not calling dibs on Kross caused Raejah to snatch him up, then so be it. She had way too much drama in her life to be sneaking around with him anyway.
“If niggas like that rolling through here at this time of night, then I’m just gonna start scheduling Mason’s appointments thislate all the time. Ain’t that right, Toot?” she jested while doing a silly little dance, prompting Mason to laugh.
His little baby laughter was so infectious, Remedy couldn’t help but to join in. “Uhn uhn, bitch. I love my Toot, but this a one-time thing. These hands stop cutting after seven.” She shook her head.
With more jokes from Raejah, she managed to wrap up baby Mason’s fresh cut. As much as Raejah insisted on paying, Remedy declined and sent her and Mason off with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. A breath of relief dispelled out of her now that she was finally finished with cutting hair after the long day she had. Between juggling her now consistent clientele and handling the drops for Kross, she was stretched thin for the day. She couldn’t wait to get home, run herself a bath, and just enjoy some peace, especially since Tone left for Chicago. He didn’t even bother notifying her that he left. She had to find out through the Ring camera notification she got on her phone when he wheeled a carryon to his Hellcat before pulling off.
Before heading into the office where Kross was waiting for her, she decided to clean up for the night so she would have an easy start tomorrow morning. Because he had her waiting for damn near three hours after closing, she assumed he wouldn’t mind waiting for her. After cleaning up, she made sure to wash her hands before heading to the office to chop it up with Kross.
“About damn time,” he murmured just as she did when he came in.
“Boy, bye! You had me waiting around for three hours.”
“That wasn’t really my fault. You heard your girl. That traffic out there was bad.”
She waved him off as she went to the safe and unlocked it. He sent her four drops today, wanting to ease her into things so she wouldn’t get flustered. From the safe, she retrieved the stacks of money she ran through the money counter prior to him arrivingat the shop. One by one, Remedy sat the stacks of money down on the desk before him. A pleased and satisfied smirk graced his lips as he reached over and grabbed the last stack she sat down.
“It’s all there?” He raised a brow at her.
Remedy rolled her eyes. “Nigga, what you think?”
To her dismay, he started up the money counter and began running the stacks through it to ensure the paper wasn’t shorted. He wasn’t putting shit past nobody, especially a shawty with a pretty face and a fat ass. They were the ones you had to worry about the most, so he wasn’t satisfied until he ensured the entire $80,000 was accounted for.
“See, you steady playing me like I’m gone run off on you.” She shook her head.
“Shawty, I can’t let that pretty face cloud my judgment. I don’t put shit past nobody.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip to suppress the smile that wanted to grace her face at the compliment he smoothly threw at her. Understanding his reasoning, she decided to cut him some slack. She had to earn his trust; nothing was attainable overnight.
Once he counted up his profit, he packed it in the duffle bag he came with earlier that morning. Remedy watched him as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out two stacks of blue hundreds and handed them to her.
With a smirk now casting her face, she fingered through the money before sitting it aside without bothering to count it. A chuckle seeped out of Kross once he noticed she didn’t count up her pay.
“You trust me that much?” He raised a brow.
Remedy shook her head as she took a seat on the desk right in front of him. “I just know you not crazy, so you wouldn’t even put your life at risk like that.”
