Too Salty: Ain't a Damn Thang Changed (Part 6) (13 page)

Pastor G was on the phone with Stacy when Laurie awoke throwing up. “Baby, let me call you back.” Before Stacy could reply, he added, “As a matter of fact, I will be there before they release you.  I love you.”

Stacy was finally being released from the hospital and she was ecstatic. She couldn’t wait to see Jazz and spend time with her fiancé before she checked herself into rehab.  Stacy told him that she couldn’t wait to see him and to call when he was on his way. They said I love and hung up.

Laurie heard the man’s voice. He sounded a bit older
, but, most of all, disrespectful. So what, she was just a booty call from the club? How dare he have the nerve to talk to another female in her presence was what she thought, but she was too damn sick to speak on it. Pastor G got up from the chair that he sat on and walked over to the small table near the door.

Big Man
watched as G opened a pack of BC Powder, and then a bottle of soda water.
This nigga is too nice
, thought Big Man as he walked away from the window over to Laurie’s purse. He frowned at the stench of vomit smell. Holding his breath, he walked back over to the window, pulled Laurie’s cell from her purse, and dropped the purse on the floor.

“Oh
, my God, I am dying,” Laurie cried as she walked back over to the bed and laid on it. She took the pillow and put it over her head. It smelled like cigarettes, so she tossed it off of her. “Look, I don’t know who you are and I don’t care. All I wanna know is if I drove my own car.”

“Nope
, we brought you,” Big Man replied.

‘We?’  Laurie tried to sit up
, but her stomach didn’t like that. She jumped from the bed and started vomiting again.  Big Man got agitated. All that throwing up and shit, he thought was nasty. He looked at Pastor G and he seemed too damn patient.

“Look I’m going need you to pull that shit together. Call your moms. As a matter of fact, what’s the passcode
? I’ll call her myself.” He walked over to the AC and turned it on. “What is the fucking password, girl?” Big Man’s voice boomed through the motel room.

Laurie finally moved her hair from her face
, and when she looked up and saw Big Man and Pastor G, she thought she saw ghost. She’d known Pastor G but Big Man, she looked at him.  “You’re the guy from court!”

~ Dena ~

Dena Kenslow laid across the California king size
d bed dead to the world. She was so out of it that she never heard her cell ringing.  In order for Laurie to get in touch with her, she had to call Rosa.

Big Man
and Pastor G warned that if she told Rosa what was going on, she wouldn’t live to tell the story again. Pastor G wasn’t intimidating. Jazz had always said good things about him, even Diesel. But, the big guy looked like he was true to his word. When Rosa asked her what was the emergency, she lied and told her that she was having an emergency breakdown and she needed her mother.

“Oh
, baby, where are you? I can come to you, come home.” Rosa loved the Kenslow family with all her heart.

“No, Rosa
, please, just tell me where my mother is.” Laurie looked at Big Man. The way he looked at her scared her. Because Pastor G was there, she kind of didn’t think that she would die, but if Ken could kill her brother, then maybe she would die. “Please, Rosa, where is she?”

“She is at the W. I will go up there now. I don’t know why she isn’t answering.” Rosa frowned when she thought of the reason M
rs. K hadn’t checked on baby Amanda or answered Laurie’s call. She knew her reason had come from her being with Calvin. It was his birthday and she and him were so call getting away. As she always did, Mrs. K gave her the location just in case there was an emergency. She only was in downtown L.A., which was a good thing because she didn’t have to drive far. “I will stay on the phone with you, Laurie, just hold tight and don’t do anything foolish.” Although Laurie was strong minded like her mom, Rosa prayed that the girl’s depression wouldn’t drive her to suicide.

“No
, just tell her to call my phone.” Laurie sniffled. “I love you, Rosa. Kiss baby Amanda for me.”

“No
, don’t talk like…” Laurie hung up before Rosa could finish her sentence.

****

Rosa rushed into the
five star hotel with baby Amanda on her hip. It was so unlike anyone apart of the Kenslow family stepping out the way Rosa and baby Amanda were dressed. Rosa had on a pair workout paints, a long shirt, and running shoes. Baby Amanda only had on a diaper and a shirt with a blanket wrapped around her. People stared at her, maybe wondering what she was doing there, being that it looked like she was a Target shopper with no class.

The hotel reception saw the
tall and thick Latino lady dressed like she’d come from the gym with the biracial, blue eyed baby on her hip, and tried to walk away before she had to help her.  Rosa scrunched her eyes. She knew that wasn’t who she thought it was. Without paying attention, she accidently bumped into an African American woman who was on the arms of a white man.

“Ughhh
, excuse the help,” she heard her say.

Rosa turned around and with her free hand
, gave her the bird. Quickly, she continued to make her way to the front desk. “Lupe?” Rosa hollered at the girl who tried to avoid helping her. 

Lupe heard her name, she then recognized the voice.
OMG,
thought Lupe. It was her aunt. She didn’t want to acknowledge her, but she knew if she didn’t she would be more embarrassed than she already was.  Lupe turned around.

Rosa thought she looked pretty. Her long
, blond hair looked healthy. Her face was blemish free. The green contacts she wore looked natural, but those boobs read fake all over them. Rosa looked at her name tag. It read,
Elizabeth
. Rosa shook her head. Lupe was still in denial about who she was. Ever since Rosa’s sister sent her to that private school and kept her around all those rich, white folks, Lupe had been ashamed of who she really was, a Hispanic lady.

“What brings you to the W today?”
her niece asked.

“Look, I have an emergency. I need you to tell me what room Dena Kenslow is in.” Rosa took a deep breath. “Her daughter. You remember Laurie
, is having a crisis and I am afraid of what she is going to do to herself.”

Lupe looked around to see if anyone was listening. She leaned over the counter
. “I cannot do that. That is private information. Tell Laurie to take chill pill.” Lupe never liked Laurie. She felt that she was a selfish, rich kid who didn’t appreciate her worth. She didn’t understand why Laurie always wanted to hang in the hood with ghetto people when she had wealthy, rich friends who would love to hang with her.

“Where is the manager
?” Rosa looked around. She didn’t have time to play with Lupe’s wanna be, stuck up ass.

“My manager will not only tell you the same thing
, but have you escorted out of here. Now, please. Go. Laurie can handle herself.”

“W
here is the manager? I need to speak to the manager and now!” Rosa was getting pissed off. Baby Amanda saw how upset her Rosa had become, and she poked her lip out and started whining.

“OMG… You’re embarrassing me, you’re going to get me fired.” Lupe type
d the name in the computer. She saw that Mrs. K was in the presidential suite on the thirty sixth floor.  She slid Rosa the key and whispered the room number. “If I get fired, it’s your fault.”

“If you get fired
, I will pay you a year’s salary.” She took the key from her, kissed baby Amanda, and hurried toward the elevator.

Lupe watched with thoughts of contacting her aunt. She wondered just how much money she had. She was thinking about getting a brazilin butt lift.

When Rosa made it to the room, she knocked first. She didn’t want to walk in on Calvin and Mrs. K like Laurie said she had. “Mrs. K, it’s me, Rosa.” She waited a few seconds before knocking again. Rosa slid the keycard across the slot on the door. She watched as it turned green and then pushed the door open. “Mrs. K, Mrs. K, it’s me and baby Amanda.” She slowly walked inside. “There is an emergency.”

“What is it that you want from my family?” Laurie directed her question to Pastor G.

“I want an innocent man free.”

“Or else,” Big Man added.

Laurie swallowed the lump in her throat when she looked at him. She knew what or else meant and she wasn’t about to play like she didn’t. The hangover had her head still hurt and
her stomach nauseas. She darted her eyes over at the soda water and BC Powder. “Can I have that?” She pointed at the table.  Pastor G told her to go ahead. Laurie slowly got up from the bed. She opened the BC Powder and upon looking at the white substance, she thought she better not.
They may have replaced the aspirin with dope
. She didn’t even want the soda water because it was open. Pastor G saw the expression of doubt on her face, and chuckled when she walked back over and sat on the bed.
Rosa, hurry up and call
, she thought, looking at the men who had kidnapped her.

****

When Rosa walked into the living room, the suite was quiet. She looked around and it looked as if no one ever stepped foot in there. “Mrs. K,” she continued to call out. By the time she made it to the entrance of the bedroom, she figured that they may have stepped out. She put baby Amanda down and pulled her cell from her purse. As she dialed Mrs. K’s number, she walked in the room. Baby Amanda was right behind her. She placed the phone to her ear and it began ringing, and just as she turned the corner of the bedroom she saw Mrs. K laid out across the bed, butt naked and snoring loudly. She turned to look behind her to make sure no one else was there. Her eyes then scanned around the entire room.

“M
rs. K?” She called out her name and shook her. “Mrs. K?” She shook her harder. It took her a good minute of hard shaking before Mrs. K moved a little bit. “You need to wake up now. It’s Laurie, she is having an emergency.” She slapped her face. Dena opened her eyes and closed them again. “Wake up, wake up” Rosa shook her.

Dena got pissed, she sat up in the bed
. “What the hell are you doing here?” Dena looked over toward the nightstand. “Amanda, get away. Rosa, get her.” Dena jumped up from the bed. By then, Rosa had turned around.

“That is a no
, no, no, no.” Rosa ran over to baby Amanda and snatched her up. She looked back at Dena, who was now standing right behind her.

“Did she touch that? Check her hands.” Dena was nervous.

“Oh, my God, you need to be ashamed of yourself. This baby could have killed herself. OMG, please, tell me you are not that stupid.”

Dena ignored Rosa. She grabbed her grandbaby
’s hands and examined them. She kissed each one of her little hands before walking over to the stand, grabbing the plate of cocaine, and walking into the bathroom. Before Rosa knew it, tears streamed down her face.  “Rosa, you still haven’t told me what the hell you are doing here,” Dena yelled from the bathroom. She scooped up the cocaine with her pinky finger and put it in her nose. Instantly, her nose burned. She closed her eyes and let the drug do its job.

I can’t believe she allowed that sick fucker to turn her on something she despised
. Rosa was appalled, but at that moment Dena wasn’t important. Laurie was.  With Amanda still on her hip, she pulled her cell out and dialed Laurie’s number. She then walked over to the bathroom door. She placed the call on speaker.  Dena heard it ring and wondered who in the hell was she calling.

“Rosa
, did you find my mother?” Dena heard her daughter’s voice. She hurried and snatched the door open.

“You better not
,” she mouthed to Rosa.

“Your mother is right here. She can hear you.”

“I thought I told you seventy two hours? Did you think I was playing?” Both Rosa and Dena were shocked at the voice they heard.

“Mommy
, please, I am scared. Mommy, please …” Laurie began to cry.

“You better not hurt her, you better not hurt her
!” Dena was frantic.

“Bitch
, you better make it do what it do and ASAP,” Big Man ordered. Dena didn’t know who was speaking, but she now knew that Pastor G wasn’t alone and he had her daughter.

“Don’t hurt her. I will take care of this. Laurie
, baby.”  The phone went dead.

“What is going on
?” Rosa asked as Dena ran off to get dressed.

“I will tell you in the car. I gotta save her
,” she cried. 

M
rs. K was so busy enjoying life with her man, she had totally forgot about Ken and the fact that she was ordered to call off her dogs. The drugs took over her mind and quick.

****

It was the night she had asked Calvin to leave after seeing the plate of drugs on the nightstand. After seeing him walk away
, she decided that she didn’t really want him to leave. For one, she was feeling him and may even had start to love him. And, two, the way she reacted toward Calvin was how she reacted toward her last husband and deceased son. If she put Calvin out and something happened to him, she didn’t think she would be able to live with herself and that was why she begged him to stay.