Thicker Than Water (21 page)

Neli opened the door with a smile on her face as a confused Sasha looked at her.

“Neli?” She asked, very confused about what was going on. She didn’t get the picture until a naked Chauncey wrapped in a towel emerged from the bathroom. Chauncey did a double take and landed on Sasha’s hurt eyes and he felt his heart in his throat. He was gonna kill Neli!

He reached for her, but it was too late, Sash was already punching her violently and banging her head against the motel wall. Chauncey at first looked on in shock, he had never seen Sasha like this before, but he finally broke in and tried to separate them, just wanting the whole situation under control so he could talk to Sasha.

Sasha was able to get a few more hits in, while Neli got none, before they were both on different sides of the room breathing heavily. Chauncey turned to Sasha while the room fell silent.

Sasha couldn’t even think fast enough. Where? When? How long? Why? Was this really happening to her? Her heart pained so much, she never imagined feeling anything like this, it was the complete opposite of the joy she felt when he had proposed.

Chauncey felt worse than he’d ever imagined, it wasn’t long before he felt warm tears on his cheeks. He never cried, never.

“Sasha, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry baby,” he pleaded in almost a whisper.

He went to put his arms around her, but she just pushed him away and flailed her arms wildly, forcing him to keep a distance. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to take her pain; it hurt him so much that he couldn’t. Sasha sat on the bed trying to breathe. She just wanted to breathe, but she couldn’t at least she felt like she couldn’t. Her heart hurt, her head pounded, her stomach. Her stomach. Her baby. Their baby. She looked up at Chauncey in his face and cried even more. Her dream, he was her dream. And he wasn’t shit. She spoke between cries.

“And you know what else Chauncey? Fuck this bastard baby inside of me, because I don’t want
anything
that is a part of you. I’m not having your baby, and I’m not marrying your sorry ass. I hate you, I hate you so much and I just want you to stay the fuck away from me.”

She started out the room and he went to follow her, but she turned around with a look in her eyes that showed she had lost all respect for him. Anything he ever saw when she looked at him, all that love, all that admiration, she used to look at him as if he were a king. But now, it was all gone. She looked at him as if he meant nothing. He stopped in his tracks and let her walk out the door, taking his whole future with her.

By the time Tatum made out what Sasha was telling her, she had both legs in her sweatpants, her hair wrapped tight in a bun and Vaseline all over her face, heading out of Ree’s door with no explanation. She jumped in her truck and sped all the way to The Belmar Motor Lodge. Of course by the time she got there, neither Chauncey’s nor Neli’s car could be spotted.

It wasn’t that they weren’t there, but there were so many cops cars and even an ambulance present that she couldn’t quite make out anything else. She got out to head up to the room, just to double check that Neli wasn’t still there, friend or no friend, she was gonna dig in that ass! However a familiar face made her forget her train of thought.

The police pushed her back with all of the other onlookers as they brought Chauncey out of the hotel lobby in handcuffs, wearing only boxers and covered with blood. Tatum stared mouth open as they made eye contact, both wanting to wake up out of this bad nightmare. Tatum pushed passed several officers and came to one that looked less occupied.

Tatum wasn’t sure. She was hoping the guy. Although she hated Neli at this moment, she didn’t wish death on her, just an ass whooping.

Tatum covered her mouth to keep her Chicken Alfredo from coming up out of her throat onto the two officers that stood before her.

“Officer is she… Is she dead?”

The officer turned to her.

“She’s on her way to St. James Hospital, she is unconscious. She has been severely beaten and truthfully gorgeous, she’s in really bad shape.”

The officer told her this while giving her a lustful eye. To Tatum, it was unreal how men could be sometimes, even calling her gorgeous while her friend was on her deathbed made her want to punch this dude in the face.

Tatum called Ree and told him everything she knew so far and then she called Sasha and told her she would come to get her, she didn’t want her to be alone right now.

She filled Sasha in on everything as she drove towards the hospital, knowing that Sasha could really not give a fuck about Neli right now, but Tatum had to at least make sure the girl wasn’t dead. Then she could beat her ass.

Sasha nodded and sat down not knowing what to feel. Was she hurt? Did she deserve to be? She had only had her heart broken; Neli had two broken legs, a broken ribcage, a broken arm, and a fractured skull? Did that add up? Was she sorry for her? Was she happy? She didn’t know what to feel.

Ree walked outside to make a call to E and Deets so they could check up on Chauncey, find out the charges and his bail. He was frustrated and heated, not to mention worried, Chauncey was his main runner, and he had warned him about these bitches. He thought that he was smarter than this.

Ray showed up next, distraught and hysterical. At that moment he was probably the one who had the most love for Neli. They all sat in the waiting area in silence.

Ree walked back in and took a seat next to Tatum. He put his arm around her as she rested her head on his shoulder. In about an hour tops, her trail of events had went from making love to Ree, to preparing to fuck Neli up, to now praying on her life and hoping Chauncey was okay. Not to mention the hurt girl sitting next to her.

Sasha sat thinking that if she would’ve just talked to Chauncey and heard him out, maybe he wouldn’t have went crazy on Neli like that? But then again, she did set him up.
Maybe that’s what she had coming to her.

Breaking her thoughts, two guys walked into the hospital that Sasha immediately recognized. They were Deets and E, Chauncey’s boys. They walked over to where Tatum and Ree were and Deets began giving the run down.

“Yo, they talking bout they don’t know right now. If she don’t make it, its 1st degree murder straight up, if she does, attempted. Either way, no bail.”

Ree dropped his head and took a deep breath, contemplating his next move. Before he could answer, Deets continued.

“Yo Ree, I was thinking since the nigga Chris was fucking wit shorty, maybe he’ll show up here. Then we can get him.”

Ree jumped up before he could say anymore and grabbed Deets by his collar and drug him outside where E followed. When he returned, Tatum was looking at him as if she was due an explanation. He sat down and tried to ignore her but Tatum being Tatum, she beat around no bushes, she asked him.

“Ree, what’s he talking about? My brother, Chris? What does he mean
get him
?”

Ree didn’t answer he just looked straight ahead thinking of how getting involved personally with someone close to business was a move he knew he shouldn’t have made.
Shit!
He thought.

“Ree… Answer me!” She raised her voice. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up firmly, but careful not to hurt her. At first she stubbornly resisted, but after a while she stood up. He led her outside not saying a word. Once outside, he explained.

He told her all about the robbery, leaving out the part about putting a price on his head. He just made it seem like he needed to find him to find out if he had his money. Tatum wasn’t dumb though. She knew how the game worked. She felt tears building in her eyes and throat and she tried to force them back. Her voice cracked as she spoke.

“Ree listen. Just believe me. My brother wouldn’t steal from you. Please don’t hurt him, Ree. And don’t lie to me either, I know you’re gonna hurt him. But please believe me.”

He turned and looked down the street, trying to turn on his cold water inside that he was so used to. She grabbed his face and turned him to face her.

“Ree believe me! He wouldn’t do that, can’t you just believe me?”

He looked long and hard at her and knew that Tatum was too smart to fool. He knew that she knew what had to happen. And here she was trying to save her brother’s life, asking him to take his trust for her and make a decision based on that. A decision that would demean him as a leader and erase all of the respect that he was built on. He looked at her and took a deep breath, and Tatum could have sworn his beautiful brown eyes turned black right before her.

“That’s not enough Tatum.”

And with that he turned and walked away. Tatum fell to the ground and wept, she wept for the first time that day, and she wept for it all.

Chapter 15 - Fear

When word got to Chris about what had happened to Neli, he broke down. Over all the bullshit that had happened, he truly cared about her. In many ways they were exactly alike; both unsure of themselves, unsure of their place, therefore using their insecurities to make selfish decisions that usually put them in bad predicaments. Two young black souls lost. Well, that was the way Chris looked at it.

He hated Chauncey at that moment, a man that he thought of as his brother, he hated him. The worst part of everything was that he couldn’t go see her. He knew that going to see her could ultimately end in his death; he knew that Ree and all of his henchmen would expect him to show up at the hospital. But he had to see his girl. He decided to use one of the girls that he was seeing to help him get into the hospital.

He would go early in the morning when the hospital was least likely being watched. The young girl had a cousin who worked there on the morning shift who would allow him in before visiting hours. He lied and told the young girl that Penelope Daniels was a friend of the family. He would be in and out before actual visiting hours, which is when he figured the place would most likely be cased by Ree’s team.

The next morning Chris showered in the tiny project bathroom of the tiny project apartment which his young girl, her mother, her brothers, and their kids all occupied. He dressed in his same clothes that he had been wearing since he fled the safe house and he smoked about three cigarettes in the car as his young girl drove slowly to the hospital.

“You can’t drive no faster than that?” Chris snapped.

“Nigga, I don’t even have my license, leave me alone. And don’t think I don’t know that you used to fuck with this girl. You lucky you be breaking me off right, shit.”

Chris just looked at her and continued to smoke his cigarette, thinking of what kind of condition Neli was in.

Tatum hadn’t heard from Ree since she left the hospital last night. Everyone had left once they found out that Neli was going to be okay. She was still in bad condition, but she was going to make it. Once they found that out, they left. Tatum and Kim really didn’t need to see her, she wouldn’t have known they were there anyway, and Sasha damn sure did want to, so Ray stayed, alone.

Tatum sat up in her bed wondering where her brother was, if he was okay. She hadn’t seen him in days and her nieces had been from her house, to Ree’s to Sasha’s. Now she realized that he was hiding, but was he going to do this forever? Would she be left taking care of her nieces? Or even worse, would they be left with no parents in this cruel world like her?

The thought of the man she loved taking the life of the only family she had left was too much for Tatum to deal with. She lay in her bed as tears began soaking up her pillow, then her bedroom door creaked open and two miniature silhouettes appeared in the doorway, their faces bright with the morning sun.

“Hey babies,” she said, smiling at them.

They climbed in her bed with her and got under her blanket. The air conditioner kept a chill in Tatum’s bedroom that made you want to stay in the blankets all day.

“Where’s Ree?” Chanel asked. Tatum thought of how she should’ve been asking where’s daddy but instead was asking of the man who they had spent the last week with, the man who potentially may be their father’s killer.