Chapter Four
Mya Brown
Atlanta, Georgia - Two Weeks Later
Stepping off of Chris's jet, I immediately placed my glasses over my eyes. It was hot as hell here and I was so uncomfortable. Nothing is worse than being pregnant while it's hot. The way I was dressed right now was terrible. I had on a sports bra and a pair of Chris's briefs. This is the only way I'm comfortable.
If I could walk outside naked I probably would and barefoot.
I just turned five months and I'm counting down the days. I'm due in August and thankfully it's the beginning because I'm turning 30 this year and the last thing I needed was to still be in my six weeks. August 4th my little one will be here. Mariah, Kayla, Eva and Munchie will throwing our gender reveal which is next week after I get finished checking up on my stores.
I can't wait.
Mariah and I climbed in the back seat of the truck that was waiting for us. I was so ready to go lay down. I barely get any sleep lately. My schedule is too crazy. My OB has been on my head about it but with everything being so screwed up with my boutiques, I can't rest.
I've been leaning more towards what Chris suggested about building me a solid team. I just don't know where to start. I would ask him but he's being managed by Ant so I'm not sure he knows what a solid team is.
No tea, no shade.
Thank god my husband is a good business man on his own. I guess that would be my first task when I get back to Los Angeles.
"Girl I can not believe you're out here with your belly just hanging." Mariah said before laughing and rubbing my stomach.
"It's hot." I whined. "Nobody saw me though. I have a jacket to put on."
"Damn boo you have to go through the whole summer. Ima pray for you."
"Just know if I start walking around naked it's because of this."
"Don't nobody wanna see them big boobies flapping around but Chris."
I laughed. "I hope this baby latches. I really wanted to breastfeed Landon but not only could I not produce, he wouldn't latch."
"Little boy been a rebel since birth."
"Yes....excuse me driver can we please stop somewhere for me to get a hot dog."
"Yes ma'am." He responded.
"Bitch I just almost threw the fuck up." Mariah said. "Did you just ask for a fucking hot dog?"
"Yes a hot dog with a bunch of fucking relish! Don't judge me, judge ya mammy hoe."
"Mya that is gross. You a five star bitch eating two dollar hot dogs."
"Girl shut the hell up. I'm a five star bitch that's carrying a baby that wants a damn hot dog. So that's what we're going to eat."
Mariah start flapping her gums but I got distracted by my phone buzzing. It was Ant texting me. I opened up his message and when I saw what was in there, my eyes damn near fell out my head.
"Oh my fucking god." I said while scrolling the pictures of me from a few days ago.
"What?" Mariah asked.
"People are soooo fucking pathetic!"
"What's wrong Mya?"
"Your sorry ass baby daddy is what the fuck is wrong! He's shopping around pictures of me from the day I was at your house!"
"WHAT?! No!" She took my phone and looked at the pictures. "Oh my goodness."
"Is that bitch still here?" I took my phone back and dialed Chris. "Where he at Mariah?"
She looked like she didn't want to say anything.
"Riah I know you not about to sit here and try to protect this weak ass nigga! Where is here?!"
"Calm down, I'll talk to him."
"No, fuck that."
"Hello." Chris answered.
"Baby did Ant text you?"
"I was sleep, I don't know, why?"
"Well he text me and I opened the messages and somebody is trying to sell pictures of me."
"Oh my god. Who?"
"Mariah's stupid ugly ass baby daddy." I looked at her. She rolled her eyes and waved her hand at me. "I need you to find him and beat his ass since he wanna run his mouth."
"Ima handle it."
"Chris I'm serious go beat his ass."
"Man I ain't about to go fight nobody over no damn pictures. The shit was gone come out eventually."
"I know it has to come out eventually but I want it to be on my terms. Nobody knew I was pregnant with Landon until you announced it, why can't it be the same way this time?"
"Baby when you were pregnant with Landon and you were five months you just looked like you gained a little weight, no offense baby but this time you got a stomach."
"Got a stomach? What the fuck do that supposed to mean?"
"You fat bitch." Mariah said causing me to gasp like somebody just died.
"You know what fuck the both of y'all. My stomach is not that big."
"It is and it's probably all the hot dogs you've been eating." She said.
"Let me call you back Chris, I'm about to beat my sister ass." I said before hanging up. "Wait til this car stop."
"Girl shut up. Ima handle Mario. I'm sorry about this."
"Him doing this shit should let you know whatever story he feeding you about not trying to take the kids is some straight bullshit. I hope he doesn't have them right now."
"No, mama does and I was going to let him get them for a few hours each day but after this he can't come near them."
I exhaled while sitting back. "The hardest thing being tied to somebody famous is how your privacy is just nonexistent. I'd pay top dollar to be able to walk outside without a creep following me. I can't even take my son to school or the doctors in peace."
"I feel really bad about this Mya."
"It's not just these pregnancy pics it's everything."
"Mya the minute Chris approached you, I'm sure you knew that nothing in your life would be the same."
"Yeah I did. It can just be overwhelming at times and I just miss living my normal life in Miami sometimes, that's all."
I felt myself getting a little emotional. I don't want anybody to think I regret anything because like I said, I know what I signed up for. It just gets extremely hard at times. The lack of privacy, the judgement, the lies and rumors, the scrutiny, everything just makes you want to snap. Like I have to have a bodyguard when I go certain places now. Like me being here, Chris made two guards come.
But I love my husband, his daughter and the blessings that we've created so I just roll with the punches.
Chris has been trying to get me to meditate more. My anger issues are starting to reappear. Maybe I need a few counseling sessions, it has been a while. I haven't talked to Chris yet about how I'm feeling and that's only because I don't want him to get into his own head and start thinking things.
I just sometimes wish we had normal lives, that's all.
•••
After we got settled in our hotel and I took a nice nap, we got dressed and headed to the boutique. They don't know besides my security who work there, that I'm coming and that's a good thing because I won't have to worry about them pretending to be perfect.
Me and Mariah snuck into the security room and just watched from the surveillance cameras and wrote down everything that was wrong. The biggest issue was cellphones. So many customers were ignored and overlooked because the girls heads were in their phones. One lady got so annoyed, she left.
As the end of the day neared, I made a post that my Atlanta location would be closed for mandatory training. This is taking so much money out of my pockets but things would be worse if I don't do this.
Once everyone was gone and the store was locked up, I made my way up front.
"Hey everybody." I said.
They all quickly turned with eyes wide, shocked to see me. I've never met any of them before. The girls I hired when this store first open are long gone except for the manager here, Robin.
"My sister and I decided to pop in and see how everything has been going. I hate to have to do this but just for my privacy before we begin, I have to have you guys sign an NDA for obvious reasons." I rubbed my stomach.
Like I said I don't know any of these girls but one. I just sign their paychecks. They might try something.
My security guards passed out the papers for them to sign and had to take their phones. Once they were signed, I made everybody get comfortable.
"Before we begin, I want to introduce myself. I'm Mya, I know you know that but still." I laughed. "This is my sister Mariah she's the co owner of my Los Angeles location. We are here because of the reviews my stores have been getting lately. They are not good. I know sometimes you can't trust someone's review but I have to come check because at the end of the day, my name is attached. We've been here since 12 watching you guys to see what was going on. My sister made a list."
Mariah grabbed her notebook. "The main issue is your cellphones. We saw most of you texting instead of looking after the customers. A lady needed help and because everybody was so distracted she left. We saw a few attitudes. Rolling eyes, standing like you don't care. You don't have to be a robot or standing there like you're high off 15 cups of coffee but your energy reflects off the customer."
"Not to cut you off but these customers ain't the easiest to deal with, they have smart mouths, stank attitudes, all of that. We supposed to just take it." One of the girls said and she just so happened to be the main one being rude today.
"Never said that. But rude and nasty customers come with the territory. You'll never work at any kind of customer service job and not across a rude customer. You just gotta know how to keep your cool. And you being nice can sometimes change their mood. If it's too much to handle you can find a way to professionally tell them to fuck off."
"I have terrible anger issues so I know firsthand how hard it is to smile when somebody is being a bitch towards you but you have to bite the bullet. If you don't think you can handle it, I completely understand but I gotta let you go. What other issues Riah?" I said.
"The last thing, don't tell customers we don't have something just because it's not in your store. We have 3 other locations that sell the same stuff most of the time. You can always call and check. That's another way we end up losing revenue. We are not like most Instagram boutiques that have nothing in stock. If you don't have it, somebody else most definitely does. Or you can simply tell them to check on line. Some people may need the item that day and that's when you turn them away because you can't get anything mailed that fast. But that's it Mya."
"So until the end of the week this store will be closed for training. I gotta get this together or I'll have to clean house and start over with a new group of ladies and I honestly don't want to do that because I don't want any of you to lose out over something that I feel can be fixed."
"No offense but, you've been with Chris Brown the last five years, I've never seen you in any of your stores. How can you train us?" The same chick that had the attitude said.
I laughed. "Training lesson number one. Never start a sentence off with no offense because 9/10 it's going to be offense. And number two don't run yo mouth unless you know all the fucking facts. Me being with Chris Brown don't mean nothing. Before him I worked in my own store in Miami day in and day out and during him I ran two stores until I got my sister to help or could no longer do so. I'm not gone teach you something I don't know about."
"Why you explaining yo self?" Mariah said. "If you don't think she knows how to run her business then maybe you shouldn't be here. Would that be a better option for you?"
The girl stayed silent.
I shook my head while grabbing my phone and purse. "Robin, I need all employees here at 10 tomorrow. Anybody who has a problem with it gotta go."
"Okay boo." She came and gave me a hug. "It's nice to see you and congratulations."
"Thank you love. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay."
"Have a nice evening everyone."
Mariah and I headed out to the car and waited for my other security to come out after giving them their things back.
"I hope these bitches don't try to be smart asses because I have no issue slapping the shit out of one of them." Mariah said.
"I'm not playing with none of them. Try me and you getting fired, simple." I exhaled leaning down in the seat and rubbing my stomach. I hope this training is smooth sailing because I don't need none of these hoes stressing me out.
•••
Mariah and I were watching a movie after eating dinner. Well she was watching it, I was busy trying to keep my eyes open.
There was a knock on the door that I was to lazy to get up and answer so Mariah got up.
"Oh hey Travis." She said all flirty. Travis is one of my guards and I can't even lie he's fine as hell.
Oh shit!! I'm about to hook him up with Mariah! Yaaassss Mya play Cupid whew.
"Hey Trav, what's up?" I asked while sitting up.
"We got a problem." He handed me his phone.
It was a girls twitter account.
It was the bitch with the stank ass attitude.
Maaaaaan was my blood boiling.
"Maybe you should just let me handle this training Mya." Mariah said. "I'll bring Kayla. I'm about to tell her to fly out tonight."
"I agree with Mariah, I can see how pissed you are and CB would kill me if something happens to you." Travis said.
"This is some bullshit." I said while getting up. "Fine. You can do the training. Get me a flight back to LA, ain't no point of sitting in this hotel. That's the only thing I'll be able to do since nobody can shut the fuck up."
"No Mya, don't go. I'll be alone." Mariah pouted.
"Um, Travis do you mind keeping my sister company? I'll be back in a few days. I gotta handle some things with Chris."
"No, I don't mind at all." He said.
I looked at her and winked. "Perfect. Ima go pack." I headed to my room and shut the door then sat on the bed. As I stared at the wall, tears just filled my eyes.
All I want and need is just a little privacy.
Is that too much to ask?