Two hours and forty-five minutes later, the four women disembarked the ferry. Pep held onto Tash's hand while the bodyguards took their luggage.
"Yoo, you're breaking my damn bones. Mi nah go run weh." Tash hissed her teeth.
"They don't particularly like Jamaicans over this side so maintain the Amyrian accent." Pep dragged Tash along.
"And me must care why?" Tash rose her voice.
"Well, the women are conniving and the men steal their women" Pep laughed with herself.
"Never ask." Tash grumbled.
Pep immediately stopped and forcefully pulled Tash towards her, "you're still alive, don't push your luck." As quickly as the anger appeared, it disappeared and Pep was back to smiling and parading for her fans.
Tash was pushed into the back of the shiny black Mercedes Benz, tears already welling up in the corner of her eyes.
"Police brutality." Tash mumbled.
"Only the beginning," Pep laughed out. "To the hotel!" Pep patted her bodyguard's shoulder.
Tash's mind was running wild with different scenarios, different beginnings and different endings but not once did she regret her decision to leave home. To Tash's surprise, instead of directly to the hotel as Pep directed, they stopped at a barbershop.
"Why did we stop here?" Pep asked not looking up from her IPhone.
"You gave us an itinerary to follow and the first stop was this barbershop." The masculine presenting bodyguard turned to face Pep.
"Oh." Was all Pep said before pulling the door and dragging Tash behind her.
They stepped into the barbershop, all conversations stopped and all eyes focused onto the four women. Pep stepped off first, with Tash directly on her heels and then her bodyguards followed. Tash didn't know them because this was her first time meeting them. Pep lead them through a back door to a dimly lit hallway until they got to a black, metal door that had an "OPEN" sign on the front.
Pep knocked twice and stood silently, a buzzer sounded and Pep allowed her bodyguards to go ahead of her. Tash was scared for her life, she's never been here before and was definitely not on Pep's good side. A tear slipped down her face as she remembered her plans, get to Mo Bay, check in at the hotel and find a spa.
Wiping the stray tear away from Tash's cheek, Pep wanted to laugh at her obvious fear but she held it in and kept her hard expression.
Tash was able to see inside, it resembled their main house back in St Amrys. The walls were brightly colored with naked portraits hanging beside each other. This seemed to be the waiting area, the coffee tables had PlayBoy magazines, the chairs are white leather, huge potted plants adorned the corners and a large white front desk faced them as soon as they stepped through the door.
"Daddyy!!!!" A tall, white woman in stripper heels and a uniform ran towards Pep.
"Woah, woah, woah.. we ain't ever did that before." Tash stepped in front of Pep. "Why did you think today was the day??" Tash folded her arms across her chest.
The blonde stopped and stared with a confused look on her face, "bitch, fix yuh face." Tash stepped towards her and Pep watched as Pearl took a few steps back.
Pep chuckled and stepped from behind Tash, "Tash, Pearl is one of my girls."
Tash hissed her teeth and mean mugged the scared blonde, a moment ago her own fear was present, which was now replaced with anger and jealousy. "If you're the prima donna of Mo Bay then I wouldn't want to see the bottom tier women." Tash scoffed.
Again, Pep laughed and took another step forward. She dipped her hand into her pocket and took out a coil of money then stretched it towards Tash. "Since I'm here, I'll be doing some business as well. Be back here in three hours." Pep kissed Tash's forehead and walked away further into the room, passing the front desk and left a scared Pearl playing with her fingers wondering what not to do.
Tash grumbled as she turned towards the bodyguards, finally seeing their faces. "Who's coming with me?" Tash asked.
The one who was driving the car, looked towards the other and then looked towards Tash. "My name is Denny and this is Ash." Ash raised her hand.
"My name is Tash." Tash stared blankly at them.
"Geez, all the others said that you're pretty easy to deal with but from you running away to you almost fighting that poor, beautiful woman - hi baby girl," Denny blew a kiss at Pearl, "you seem like a bad apple." Denny shook her head.
"Bredda? You know say Pep a pay yuh fi watch mi head back and not fi ina long talking with me?" Tash screwed her face up.
"What is she saying?" Ash asked.
"Bruh, ion know. Can you talk English?" Denny asked.
"I might just smack the fuck outa both a y'all." Tash was getting frustrated. "Fuck you mean you don't understand me?? Where y'all weird asses from anyways?"
"We're from Guyana." Denny said, "Ash is my cousin."
"Then if yuh tek yuh eye and pass mi, I will tell Pep." Tash felt proud of the little Guyanese dialect she knew.
"You know what, I think we all might be friends here." Denny said in her Guyanese accent. "We're both coming with you."
"Awesome, y'all both cute anyways." Tash smirked and walked back through the iron door.
Denny was flabbergasted to hear Tash say that but Ash returned the smirk while biting her lip. Denny saw Ash's face and said, "hell to the fucking nah, I'm not going to allow you to end up like that Chinese girl."
"Bruh, chill out. That won't happen." Ash rolled her eyes.
Tash didn't hear Denny's comment, she was already far ahead thinking about Ash. Her waves were immaculate and they framed her slender face. Tash knew she could never get her, all she could do was think about it. Before Pep, Tash never saw another masculine presenting woman as attractive, they just existed along with her but now, she had a whole taste and type when it came onto studs. So Tash decided that if she couldn't get her then she'd rebel and she knew the perfect way to do so.
Stepping back into the barbershop, she saw that a chair was empty. She quickly sat in the chair and turned to face the barber. "Are you busy?" She asked.
"Well, not for you." He smiled.
"That's what I like to hear." Tash flashed her braces.
Her hair was out in its usual curly fro, she looked at herself from each angle and then turned towards the door where both Denny and Ash were just entering the barbershop.
"Take it all off." Tash stared into Ash's eyes.
"Are you sure?" The barber asked.
"Never been more sure in my life." Tash winked at Ash then met the barber's gaze. "I want a fade at the back, a lineup or mark up - whatever you guys call it this side of the world - at the front. I think I might just go blonde as well. Just make me happy and you'll be rewarded."
The barber smiled. Denny and Ash stared at each other fretting and Tash had the brightest grin as she put her AirPods in and prepared for her new look.
To cut and fade her hair took forty-five minutes, then to bleach it to the right color before toning took an hour. While Tash was getting a trim, she took the time to count out the money Pep gave her, she knew Mo Bay used the same currency as St Amrys but she didn't know what the cost of living this side was, so she didn't know what 5k could get her.
She took out $500 to pay the barber without asking what his fee was. Tash looked at herself in the mirror and gasped, "oh my god. I love it!" The white scar on her forehead was on display for everyone to see, usually her hair hid it but without it, her biggest flaw was obvious.
Tash took her phone out and opened Snap, she took a video of her hair on the floor and captioned it, 'The big reveal is later on tonight.'
"Let's go, ladies! We have limited amount of time on our hands." Tash snapped her fingers twice and left through the front door.
"Pep is going to kill us!" Denny said.
"Us? I didn't put her in that chair." Ash laughed.
"We basically did! She told us not to let her do any stupid shit! That's stupid shit" Denny groaned.
"I think it's dope." Ash said.
"Thank you, Ash!" Tash smiled at the beautiful bodyguard.
Tash found herself contemplating what to buy, she had everything already back home. She looked into different stores but nothing seemed to get her attention. She passed an area that looked like a strip club and this was where her interest sparked.
"What time does the club open?" Tash asked the bouncer.
"10 PM." The chunky, dark skin guy looked down at Tash.
Tash looked at her watch and it was only 10 minutes pass three. She rolled her eyes and continued on. Passing a store that had lingeries in the front, she knew she would find sex toys there as well. With a wide smile, she buzzed the door and stepped into the cool AC room that smelled like brown sugar candles.
"How can I help, handsome." The store clerk looked Tash up and down with a flirty smile.
Tash was glad she decided to go for an eboy look with her white, long sleeve turtle neck and AC⚡️DC shirt, black shorts and her yellow vans.
"Aren't you hot?" The flirty store clerk stepped closer to her.
Admiring her breasts, Tash stepped closer to her as well and said, "thinking about it, I am."
"Natasha," she giggled and twirled her curly hair between her fingers. "What are you looking for?"
"A vibrator for me and anything for you." Tash winked.
"Eh hem!" Denny cleared her throat.
Ash was trying to keep her laughter in and cleared her throat as well, "with a partner like Pep, I didn't think she would think twice about doing things like this."
"Oh, I see. Beautiful things come in three. Who are they?" Natasha walked up to Denny and Ash.
"My friends." Tash rolled her eyes, upset that the attention was no longer on her.
"She's taken but I'm not." Denny pointed at Tash.
Ash laughed as she moved away from Denny giving her privacy to run her game.
"Why are we in here?" Ash asked Tash once she got beside her.
"I didn't pack anything with me so I want to get a vibrator or something." Tash looked at the dildos in front of her. "Help me choose one?" Tash raised an eyebrow at Ash.
"Uhh, sure." Ash nervously chuckled as she took up a shiny black bullet shaped vibrator , "how about this one?"
"That's too simple." Tash moved onto the next one.
By the time she was through with deciding which one she wanted, Ash shouted, "shit! We have to leave now!!"
Tash quickly paid, left Natasha a tip with her card that had her number on it and left the store with her bodyguards and started walking back towards the barbershop.
"Did you get her number?" Tash asked Denny.
"Yep! And we got back with 5 minutes to spare, let's head to the back." Denny rested her hand on Tash's back guiding her to the back of the shop.
Denny knocked twice at the iron door just like Pep did and waited for the buzz to enter. Tash stepped in behind Denny with Ash following closely behind her. The three women stood lined up facing Pep, Tash noticed the duffle bag in Pep's hand and hardly swallowed the spit that had gathered at the back of her throat.
Pep's eyebrows shot up when she saw Tash's haircut. "WHAT.THE.FUCK.IS.THIS???!?" Pep threw the duffle bag into Denny's chest and quickly grabbed Tash by the shoulder.
"What did you do!?!?" Pep ran her hand over Tash's bald head. "Why didn't you ask me first?"
Tash looked everywhere but at Pep. "Fucking answer me!" Pep started shouting.
"I wanted a different look, I was tired of my hair." Tash finally answered.
"I swear! You make my blood boil." Pep balled her hands into fists beside Tash's face before taking a deep breath and taking her hand.
"You two will be paying for this." Pep glared at Denny and Ash before walking out through the iron doors.
"Nigga! I told you!" Denny groaned.
**
Hey guys!
Not sure if I have any Guyanese readers but I'm talking to this Guyanese girl on IG and she made me know what "eyepass" means and her accent is hilarious 😂
Eyepass means to be disrespectful.
"If you take your eye and pass me"
Caribbean culture 101 w/ daddy Cris ⚡️