Honor Thy Thug (26 page)

I pulled out my hammer as I inspected the rest of the suite. No one seemed to be there. One bedroom door was open, and the other one was closed. I put my ear to the door and didn’t hear anything. I eased it open inch by inch as I peered in. The bed was unmade, covers on the floor. I heard sniffling.
Tasha?
The drapes were closed, so I reached for the light switch. What I saw caused my heart to sink and made my knees weak. I slid my hammer back into my waist. Tasha was crouched in a corner, naked. She was twisting her hair with her finger and was mumbling incoherently. She acted as if I wasn’t standing there.

“Tasha, why are you down there?” She didn’t say anything. I looked closely at the bed, and it was obvious that somebody had been fucking. My stomach flipped.

“Tasha!” I yelled. “Why are you down there?”

“No. No, I didn’t.” She kept mumbling as her eyes opened and closed.

I opened the closet, and there was fresh linen on the top shelf.
I didn’t want to touch anything in the room. I grabbed a blanket and snapped it open. I went over to Tasha, who was shivering, and went to put the blanket around her. She started swinging at me.

“I said no, Kyron! I want you to leave, you said you would leave. Who do you think you are? Get away from me! I hate you! I’m a ho, remember?”

I grabbed her hand and then went for my phone. I dialed 911; I told them where I was, what room, and that my wife had been . . . raped. I dropped the phone and bent down in front of Tasha.

“Tasha, it’s me, Trae. Look at me.” I tried to hold her face as her head kept falling to the side. “I love you, baby. You’re shivering. Let me wrap this blanket around you. It’s okay, baby. It’s me, Trae.”

“Trae?” She cocked her head and looked at me as if it finally registered who I was.

“It’s me, Trae. Your husband. I’m here, baby.”

“Trae?” She started to cry. “You gotta keep loving me. I didn’t do anything,” she said as she started to drift. She closed her eyes and then reopened them. “I didn’t. I didn’t let him kiss me. I told him . . . no.”

“It’s okay, baby. I love you. I love you more than anything. Stay with me, baby.” I patted her face, and her eyes began to flutter.

“I didn’t. I swear to God. Do you believe me?”

“I believe you, baby.”

“I want to go home,” she said as the tears streamed down her face.

“I’ma take you home. Let me get you off the floor, baby.” I wrapped the blanket around her and pulled her onto my lap, but she wouldn’t stop crying. I held her in my arms, and we sat in the corner until I heard the knock at the door.
That muthafucka
is going to feel my wrath.
I couldn’t get it through my thick skull that the nigga would stoop this low.

As soon as I left Trae, I called Kendrick. I had been hanging out with him ever since I left Kyron in the room. I didn’t know and didn’t want to know if Kyron was in there, and I definitely wasn’t going to stick around to find out.

“Kendrick!”

“What’s up?”

“Trae just got here.”

“Trae just got where?”

“Here at the hotel. Is Kyron with you, or is he still with Tasha?” I held my breath.

“Nah, he went back to get Mari from the hotel room.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Mari? You mean he had his bitch with him the whole time? Then what did he want with Tasha?” When he didn’t say anything, I said, “Y’all niggas ain’t shit!” I hung up. I had lost my appetite and decided to head back to the villa and face the music. If I was lucky enough, they would be in the room with the door shut, fucking, and I could pack my shit and sneak off to the airport.

When I saw the EMS workers, a stretcher, and then Five-O rush through the lobby, I knew something had gone down. I waited for everybody to pass me before I trudged over to the villa.

When I turned the corner, all of the workers were by my door. As I got closer, I saw that they were, in fact, at our spot. “What happened?” I asked no one in particular. I pushed my
way through the workers but was stopped by one of the police officers.

“You can’t come in here, ma’am.”

“I’m staying here. My sister is in there!” I proceeded to move forward.

“Parker, this is the other guest right here,” he yelled out.

“Let her in,” Parker said.

“Oh, my God! What happened? Tasha?” They were laying my sister on a stretcher.

I looked at Trae, and he mouthed the words,
You are going to pay
. I knew at that moment I was fucked.

“Ma’am, we need to talk to you,” one of the officers said. I was immediately whisked into the extra bedroom.

The past few days, weeks, months . . . I didn’t know time anymore. Everything was a blur. I swear, if it wasn’t for Trae being the man I fell in love with, I would be in the loony bin. He got me through this. Kyron had put a date-rape drug into my glass of wine. The after effects seemed more harmful than anything. I could hardly remember shit. I was having cold and hot flashes and constant headaches. I did know that they issued a warrant for Kyron’s arrest. Trae wouldn’t allow me to press charges against Trina, because he said he had plans for her. Just the thought of him doing something to my sister sank my stomach.

Back at home, when the limo turned onto our street, Trae and I both noticed the unmarked black-tinted Chevys. I snuggled up closer to Trae, not wanting to get out of the car. “They must be here to question me about Vegas,” I remarked.

“Nah, that’s not Vegas police. And Cali police don’t have jurisdiction over Vegas. I believe they are here for me. Remember, I lost the protection of the Li organization.”

I leaned away from him and shot him daggers. “I know you’re not saying what I think you’re saying?”

“I’m sure that they’re not here for a social visit.”

“Baby, don’t let them take you away. Can’t you call the Dons? Somebody? Trae, I need you here with me.” I felt as if I was having a panic attack, and I grabbed onto him.

“I’ll be home as soon as I can.” He tried to reassure me, but I wasn’t going for it. I held him tighter.

I broke down and cried. “Please, baby. Do something. Don’t let them take you.” I pleaded with him. This couldn’t be happening.

“Tasha, I wish I had that power.” We pulled into the driveway, and Angel was coming down the stairs, followed by Kyra and then Kay. “See, you won’t be by yourself. Angel and Kyra will be here with you. Tasha, pull yourself together. You know I can’t do what I’ve got to do if I’m worrying about you.”

I swear, I was trying to get myself together, but I couldn’t. I did not want Trae to leave me. He rolled down the window, and Angel stuck her hand out.

“Tasha, come on. The kids are out back, and Kaylin needs to talk to Trae.”

This was real. I fucked up. If I lose Trae, Charli will have gotten the last laugh.

My girls’ lives seemed to be crumbling all around me. Kaylin and I traveled from New York to Georgia, Georgia to Cali, back to
New York, back to Cali, handling one crisis after the next. Trae called, and I was thankful that Kaylin and I could be there to offer support. The only bright spot was my excitement for Kyra, who was now pregnant by Rick. She actually seemed happy. And no one has seen her out preaching with her Bible. But now this.

In regards to Jaz and Faheem, since Jaz went out on some rah-rah shit killing spree, they now had to up and move. Faheem said that she had to find a new house, a new school, the whole nine. But come to find out, she wasn’t the hitman she thought she was. Faheem was like the puppet master, handling his business, using Jaz to set it all up. She was high up there with her drama, but I still thought Tasha and Trae outdid everyone else. Tasha putting the pit bulls on Trae’s Chinese mistress. Now that shit was . . . priceless. And those unmarked cars that were out there all day parked in front of Trae’s house, they were for him. I believed that he was about to do some real time. From what I was able to gather, he wanted Don Carlos to step in, but since he switched teams, I didn’t know if that was going to happen.

And Kyron committing rape? He had lost his fuckin’ mind. But I could say this, it was good that they were picking Trae up, because according to Kaylin, he was at the point of no return. He was going to get Kyron. Hell, I wanted to get him my damn self.

“Baby, we’re gonna be all right. Trust me,” Trae was telling Tasha. I had to make her get out of the car, because Trae and Kaylin still had to talk while they had the chance. Even though it was almost eighty degrees, she was shivering.

After about twenty minutes, the detectives were getting out of their cars, with their guns and badges drawn.

We finally were back home in New York after spending almost a week out there in Cali making sure that Tasha was all right. We knew all of the particulars in regards to them holding Trae without a bond. He really pissed off the Li organization and now wanted me to go talk to Don Carlos. I had no idea how that would go, because I didn’t know the relationship between the two organizations, the Li organization being Asian and Don Carlos being Latino. For real, I couldn’t imagine them having anything in common or anything to beef about for that matter. However, Trae was my nigga, and we went hard for each other all of the time. But for now, he was going to have to sit tight.

My first order of business was to catch up with my brother Kyron. Of course, I went to his apartment, and he wasn’t there. I slid by Kendrick’s; no one was there, either. En route to Kendra’s, I changed my mind. I knew he wouldn’t be there, and she would
only alert him that I was looking for him. Then it hit me.
Swing by Mari’s
. She lived all the way up near Poughkeepsie, New York, in this suburb called Cooperstown. I didn’t care. My gut was telling me that’s where he was. Plus, I needed the drive so that I could clear my head.

I drove for about an hour and a half before pulling into Mari’s driveway. I didn’t see Kyron’s car, but that didn’t mean anything. She had a four-car garage in the back of her beautiful two-story brick home perched up on a hill. A perfect place to hide.

I deaded the engine and got out. Even the air was different up top. I made my way up the winding cement stairs and rang the doorbell. When I rang it again, the curtains moved, and then I heard the locks being opened.

“Kaylin! What a surprise.” Mari gleamed as she opened the screen door. Then she frowned. “Is everything all right?”

“I’m looking for my brother. Is he here?”

“Yeah, we’ve been here since we arrived back from our trip to Vegas.”

“Oh, you went to Vegas? What y’all do, elope without telling anybody?”

She started laughing. “Yeah, right. You know your brother isn’t trying to elope with anybody but some money and the streets. Follow me, we are just chilling in the den, watching the game.”

It smelled like she was cooking enchiladas. I followed her through the house. The Spanish artwork and décor were dominant. The ceilings were high, and they matched the marble floors. That was kinda dope. I had never seen that before.

“Looks like you remodeled it since the last time I was here.”

“Yes, that was a long, long, long time ago, brother.”

“Yeah, you forget that you are always out of the country. What I’ma do? Come over to an empty house?”

She laughed. “Do you like it?” She spun around slowly on her tippy-toes.

“It’s nice. Real nice.”

“Kay, don’t just say that to be nice. I want the truth.” Her hands were on her hips as she glared at me.

“Seriously, I like it. After I talk to my brother, can I get the grand tour?”

“Definitely.” She beamed.

We walked down the stairs into the den. No marble there, only plush white carpet. “I guess you want me to strip now.”

“Ha ha ha. No, just lose the boots,” Mari told me. And she stood there until I took them off.

Kyron was sitting in a big leather recliner. “Uh-oh! Look who took the drive way out here. Something tells me this ain’t a social call. Can Mari get you something to eat? Something to drink?”

“Nah, I’m good.” I watched as Mari disappeared up the steps.

My brother didn’t even bother to get up and greet me. “Have a seat. What’s up?” He got straight to it.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out. You know you have an arrest warrant for rape?”

“Rape?” He started laughing. “I know you ain’t falling for that bullshit.”

“Not if Tasha wasn’t involved.”

“Here you go. Whose side are you on, bruh?”

“When it comes to family, I’m on the right side, and Tasha is family.”

“Man, get outta here with that bullshit. Tasha ain’t blood, nigga.
You keep forgetting who I am, Kay. I got work to do. Nigga, I’m untouchable. You better talk to Don Carlos.”

“Does Don Carlos know that you are going around raping the wife of one of the family members?”

“What I do is my business. Not the Don’s and definitely not yours. And Trae is a traitor. He jumped ship, remember? Don Carlos ain’t tryna hear that shit.”

“Rape, Kyron. What about the rape?”

“I didn’t rape her.”

“What do you call it, then?”

“You got me fucked up, bruh.”

“What do you call slippin’ a date rape drug into somebody’s drink and fucking her?” I stood up, ready to punch my brother in the face.

“You can see yourself out. And as long as you stay faithful to that traitor-ass nigga, we ain’t got shit between us,” Kyron said, not even bothering to look up. “Whatever we had between us, we lost it a long time ago. From this day forward, you are dead to me.”

“Fine, nigga. Just know that I ain’t through dealing with you.”

“See yourself out.”

I put my boots back on and looked over at my brother. His eyes were glued to the game. I was not finished with him. I reached the top of the stairs, and Mari was standing there with tears in her eyes. Apparently, she hadn’t made it too far and was eavesdropping. I tried to force a smile. “I’m outta here, Ma. I’ll take that tour another time. I’ll let myself out.” She didn’t say a word to me. Instead, she headed for Kyron.

“Kyron, what the fuck is your brother talking about?”