Still thicker than water (38 page)

“
He-hello,” her voice quivered.

“
What’s going on? I thought you were coming back?” Chauncey shot at her, finally getting a hold of her.

“
I was…” She looked over at Mike who held the gun steady. “Did…did Aubrey fall asleep without Pinky?”

“
Yeah…yeah she alright,” Chauncey answered, calming down a little. “But that’s it…you not coming back then?”

Sasha remained silent, trying to send some mind signals through the phone. Mike raised the gun and pressed it hard to her head as she began to breathe quickly, terrified.

“
Um…Uh…I…I’m tired.” She looked at Mike hoping that was it, but he leaned closer and whispered.

“
Tell him!”

A tear fell from her eye as she closed them and continued.

“
I…I wanted to…” Mike pressed the gun forcefully against her temple urging her. “I wanted to...make love…to my husband,” she managed to get out.

Chauncey was stunned into silence and then he retorted.

“
What? What did you just say to me?”

Mike grabbed her hard by the hair, getting angry by her stalling and her difficultly in telling Chauncey this. Sasha knew he meant business and was becoming angry by the look in his eye.

“
Get him off the fucking phone,” he hissed.

“
I said…Chauncey. That I wanted to make love to him,” she said louder. “He’s…he’s my husband…and I love him.”

Chauncey ran his tongue on the inside of his cheek in anger and in hurt. He couldn’t believe this shit.

“
Word?” Chauncey asked, shocked. “You love him, huh?”

Mike didn’t even give her the chance to answer, he simply took the phone and ended the call.

“
You did good, babe,” he complimented her. Sasha cried hard as she tucked her knees up to her chest. She knew now that her chances of Chauncey rescuing her were now cut in half. She looked up at Mike who stared at her in a demented way.

“
Now, take off all of your clothes,” he ordered. And Sasha knew now, the torture had just begun.

The next morning, Sasha awoke to Mike positioning himself on top of her and in between her legs.

“
No,” she moaned, waking up from her coma like sleep. “Mike please, I’m sore…it hurts.”

He ignored her protests and used his right arm to cock her leg up on his shoulder, his left hand, pressing the gun to her face.

“
Please…,” she cried, as he rammed deep in her and she whimpered.

Mike had fucked her a total of twenty times last night, and now this would be twenty-one. Lucky twenty-one she figured he thought.

She blacked out in her mind, envisioning her baby, wondering if she would hold her again. She should’ve never left. She should have stayed with her and Chauncey, forever. Now she feared she may never have the chance.

The good thing about this morning was that it was quick; she figured last night he must have been on some type of drug or Viagra or something.

After he came in her, he made her get up, get showered and dressed. She limped the whole way in pain and he watched her every move.

After she dressed in a sweat suit and sneakers, Mike locked her in the closet while he dressed and when he let her out, he had her breakfast waiting and she noticed bags packed at the front door.

“
Where are we going?” She asked nervously, but he didn’t respond. He just sipped his coffee, with one hand of course, the other one holding his new permanent accessory, the .38.

Just then, the doorbell rang and broke the intensity and fear in the room. Mike jumped up and looked at Sasha as if she had done something wrong, but she just shook her head.

“
Who is that?” He barked.

She shrugged.

“
I don’t know…I swear.”

Mike grabbed her forcefully by her hair, pulling her out of the chair and dragging her to the front door.

Once they approached, Mike looked out of the peephole and sucked his teeth.

“
Fuck!” He whispered, stomping his foot and waving the weapon.

Out of nowhere, he threw Sasha against the wall roughly and pressed the gun to her face.

“
One fucking wrong move, and I swear, even if I go…I’m taking that baby with me, you hear me?”

Sasha could tell by his words that it was Chauncey at the door. She swallowed hard at the thought of something happening to Aubrey.

Mike pushed Sasha up to the door, and stood close behind her, appearing to have his arm lovingly draped around her but really had the gun pressed to her back.

“
Don’t fuck it up for your precious Bri-Bri, Sasha,” Mike warned as Sasha took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

“
Hey,” she said lightly looking at Chauncey standing there. His face wore a blank expression.

“
Hey baby girl,” she addressed Aubrey, a little void of her normal cheer.

Mike stayed close to her and smiled at them both and then kissed Sasha softly on the top of her head.

Chauncey furrowed his eyebrows at Sasha and Mike’s sudden display of affection. He shook his head and wouldn’t look her in the eye. He didn’t know what kind of game she was playing.

“
Bri need some shit from the house,” he coldly stated. “Bring me down some more clothes, her DVDs, and her pink bear.”

Sasha flinched to go, but Mike held her firm and pressed the gun into her back. She pressed her lips together in dread and tried to look at Chauncey, but he would not look at her.

“
Actually, you can go and grab it, Chauncey,” Mike said, opening the door further and positioning their bodies so that he couldn’t see the gun.

Chauncey looked at him strangely and then slowly made his way inside. He studied Sasha, who just looked down at the ground.

Chauncey shook his head in confusion and handed Aubrey to Sasha, and then began to make his way up the stairs.

“
Hi Mommy, I miss you,” Aubrey said sweetly, wrapping her arms around Sasha’s neck.

As soon as he was up the stairs, Mike grabbed Aubrey from Sasha, with her much resistance and then moved the gun to Sasha’s stomach.

“
Stop acting so fucking strange,” he hissed. “When he comes down here, act like your regular ditzy self and tell him we’re going away for a few days, you understand me?”

She didn’t answer, and he began to lift the gun to Aubrey, who just rested her head on Mike trustingly, not knowing what was going on.

“
Mommy, you go bye-bye?” She asked.

Aubrey didn’t miss a beat.

Chauncey began to make his way back down the stairs, and Mike passed Aubrey quickly back to Sasha, and stood behind her back again, gun out, cocked, and ready.

Chauncey had overheard Aubrey and then noticed the bags by the door. As he took Aubrey from Sasha, he used his head to point to the luggage.

“
Going somewhere?” He asked sarcastically.

Sasha feigned a smile through her desperation.

“
Yea…yea, we are. We’re going away…for a few days.”

Chauncey chuckled and ran his hand over his face, not knowing where this was coming from.

“
Where you going? And what about the investigation thing, with Bri?”

Sasha hadn’t expected that question, but Mike was prepared.

“
We’ll be back shortly…we just need some time away. We’ll probably go out camping and hiking, something like that.”

Chauncey squinted, locking eyes with Mike, and then he turned his attention to Sasha. Her face looked void, null, and lost.

He didn’t get it. Was she really feeling guilty, and wanted to get away with Mike?

He shrugged his shoulders and made his way out of the door.

“
Your call kid,” he said behind him, letting her know just what he felt, and his words had more than one meaning. And after he made Bri say goodbye to Sasha, he made his way out of the door.

Sasha screamed on the inside, screamed for him to stop and to turn around, screamed to tell him that she was in danger, but he was gone. The only good thing about it was that Aubrey had made it away safely. She knew that Mike originally wanted to hurt her baby, so getting her safely away from him was a plus to her.

Mike grabbed up the bags with haste, and grabbed up his wife, and then led them to his car. And by the time Chauncey had a realization that something wasn’t right, Mike and Sasha were already on their way to his cabin deep in the Chicopee Woods.

Tatum, Ree, and even Jayde were on their way to Chauncey’s after he had called them and let them know the urgency of them needing to be there.

After Chauncey and Aubrey had left, Aubrey had went on and on about Mike’s toy. Chauncey, too occupied with his deliberation over his situation with Sasha, only half listened. But as they pulled up to the house and he turned around to unhook her car seat, he seen that her fingers were in the shape of a gun.

“
He put it to mommy, his toy…pow pow,” she described.

Chauncey furrowed his eyebrows and it clicked to him.

Deep down inside he knew something was wrong. Sasha would never leave Aubrey for days at a time like this, she barely wanted to leave her for a night. She also hated camping and bullshit like that.

He had let his anger by her saying that she had fucked Mike the night before, cloud his judgment, and now, he was vexed.

“
Thanks for staying with Aubrey Tay,” Chauncey said, standing at the door and waiting for Jayde to pull up. He couldn’t leave until she got there with the info.

“
No problem,” she said desolately. “Just bring my girl home.”

She made her way inside after giving him a somber look.

Ree approached the door, not too far behind her and Chauncey extended his hand. They did the hood handshake and then hugged.

“
It's good seeing you,” Ree said to Chauncey.

“
Nah, it's good seeing
you
, boss,” Chauncey responded. “I got some things I wanna talk to you about, but as you know, I gotta handle something first.”

Ree nodded.

“
Of course…of course. You go handle that, and handle it well,” he instructed, letting him know to be careful and get it done. “I know you said you got this alone, so I’ll be here.”

Chauncey nodded, and then he saw Jayde pulling up. He jogged to meet her halfway, as Ree made his way inside.

“
You got it?” He asked.

“
Yeah, I got it,” she said running up with a paper in her hand. When Chauncey had told her that Mike suggested that they were going camping and hiking, Jayde remembered that Sasha had said that he owned a cabin in the woods. She did her research and came up with an address. “This has to be it.”

“
Okay good looking,” he said, hopping swiftly in his Bentley and speeding out of the driveway. Jayde stood there and watched him leave and she whispered to herself.

“
Kill his ass, Chauncey. Kill him.”

Chapter 22 - Death

Tatum and Jayde were upstairs with Aubrey, while Ree was in Chauncey’s basement making a few phone calls.

‘
I can’t believe this shit,” Tatum muttered. “I’m going crazy trying to figure out what the hell is going on.”

Jayde sighed.

“
I know…it’s like from what Chauncey says, and from what I found out about this chick that was watching Aubrey, it all points to Mike being shady as hell. I hope Chauncey kills that mothafucka,” Jayde added through clenched teeth.

Tatum just looked at her. She wasn’t one to talk venomous but for once, she had to agree with Jayde.

Tatum looked down at Chauncey’s suede bedspread and all she could think of was Sasha.
Please let her be okay.

But she trusted Chauncey, and she trusted his love for Sasha, so she knew that he would bring her back safely.

She felt Jayde’s fingers in her hair and she looked up at her.

“
You have the prettiest hair…you’re fucking gorgeous, bitch,” Jayde laughed.

Tatum chuckled and Jayde plopped back on the bed.

“
Oh my god, I have the biggest headache. It’s like a fucking migraine…all of this crazy shit happening.”

Between Sasha and E and Capo and Bleek, Jayde was feeling the pressure.