Thicker Than Water (13 page)

Chauncey felt his blood boiling literally.
Who the fuck does this bitch think she is threatening me? I don’t take threats… nigga, bitch, period!

“Ay yo Sash! Phone!” He screamed, completely ignoring her desperate attempts. Sasha jogged into the living room and grabbed the cordless. 

“Hurry up baby I got E on the other line.” 

Sasha nodded and continued talking to Neli about nothing. Chauncey just sat on the couch and studied her facial expression. She seemed happy and she was so beautiful. Chauncey just looked her up and down and thought of how he couldn’t let her go again. He knew some other nigga would be happy to wife that, and he couldn’t believe he was lucky enough to still have her heart even after he left.

He came up behind her while she was laughing and began tonguing her neck and massaging her breasts through her shirt. She started giggling and lightly moaning at the same time.

“Chauncey stop. You see I’m on the phone,” she whined in a light sexy tone. 

It drove him crazy; it drove Neli crazy as well. He didn’t care, he continued to play with her in every way he could as she continued to push his hands away and laugh.

“Girl, this boy won’t leave me alone. Can I call you back?” Sasha asked, while cheesing. Shit she was hot now. 

Neli didn’t even answer, she just hung up the phone, fuming. That struck something with Sasha, but she figured she would address that later. It didn’t go unnoticed however.

“Baby, do you know she just hung up on me?’ Sasha turned to Chauncey.

“Fuck her,” Chauncey dismissed nonchalantly while unbuckling Sasha’s jeans. Sasha still was upset however, but that anger slowly faded with every lick of Chauncey’s tongue taking her to ecstasy. She laid back on the dining room table and enjoyed every bit of pleasure that he gave her. Mmmmmm………

 “Oh hell yeah, we are in that bitch Tatum! I need to get an outfit and we gonna shut that mothafucka down!” Kim was ecstatic; referring to the verbal invite Tatum had just received via voicemail from Ree for one of his huge parties. 

Ree’s parties were exclusive, always packed with the biggest ballers and hustlers, and always carrying a hidden agenda. Ree just wanted to take a look at everybody that was doing it in the field; it was his way of listening to the streets.

Plus he wanted to give his army a little break, they all had been in grind mode.  And what good is making the money if you can’t enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Tatum just looked at her friend and smiled, she knew she had a crazy ass friend, and she loved her. She thought for a minute if she even felt like attending. Up until this point she had spent time with Ree on the personal, and now to see him around his people would only verify the image she was trying to deny, Ree was a hustler. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he was a boss. How would he act? Would she see a side to him that she never seen before? Would he have other females there that he fucked or fucks? Tatum felt dizzy with questions. It was no denying the fact that she was starting to catch some serious feelings for him. The man had her dazed and crazed. She listened to his message again to try to dissect exactly what he said.

Hey Tatum. How you Ms. Lady? I’m just calling ‘cause I’m heading back into the states soon and I wanted to see you. I got a little thing coming up in the city, I want you and your girls to come thru. I’d love to show you off, nah mean. Well get back at me, the party is Saturday, so clear ya day. And don’t pick out nothing to wear, ‘cause I want you in something I never seen before, we can go shopping. Respect baby.

Tatum creamed as she listened, smiling like it was her birthday.

“Girl, stop listening to that damn message and help me decide where I’m gonna get my shit from. Is it like Cavalli dress party or like True Religion and stiletto party?” Kim asked, with her hands on her hips. 

Tatum ignored her. She had her own thoughts in her head. She was wondering what was up for the night. Ree had left her that message at like 12 in the afternoon but her phone was dead all day. So now here it was at like 10 p.m. and she wasn’t sure what time he would be in tonight. That’s when her doorbell rang.

“Who is it?” She screamed. No answer. 

She peered through the peephole to see who it was and was shocked by the face that was there. It was her ex-boyfriend Ty. She opened the door slightly but not all the way, with a look on her face that read
‘what?’

“Oh where Kim at? What up Kim!” He screamed, trying to push past her into the house, he had obviously had a little to drink.  Tatum began pushing him back out the door letting him know that he was not invited in. He stunk like Hennessy, and she was not feeling him, but his dumb ass kept ignoring her gestures and pushing her hands away. He was getting on her nerves.

“Look Ty, just leave alright, damn.”

“C’mon Tay, you know a nigga miss you, I miss that banging ass pussy too.”

That was it! Tatum was done. And just as she was trying to slam the door while he was pushing against it, a black Benz pulled up and Ree stepped out nonchalantly. He walked up the stairs as if Ty wasn’t even there, and addressed Tatum.

“W’sup baby, How you?”

Ty looked at Ree for explanation and Ree looked at Ty with a look that was unrecognizable to him. It read something like
‘yeah nigga, you don’t want that problem.
’

Tatum hugged Ree and turned to Ty.

“Ty this is Ree, Ree this is Ty. And Ty was just leaving.”

Ree began walking in the house after giving Ty a nod, figuring that Tatum had that all under control. Just when Ree was inside and Tatum began closing the door, Ty had to fuck up and say it.

“Oh this dread muhfuka can just walk in here like he live here? I know you giving him some pussy! Fuck you bitch!”

Tatum stood mouth open about to go buckwild on that ass, but she didn’t have a chance to. Ree pushed past her and punched Ty in the face so hard that he fell down the stairs, and then he ran down after him and took out his gun and pistol whipped him until his eyes looked like they were rolling back in his head.

“Ree! Oh my god, it’s okay! Please, Ree stop!” Tatum screamed.

Kim just watched mouth open and wishing she had a nigga like that. People began coming out of their houses, young hustlers on the block were looking in admiration, most of them knowing exactly who Ree was.

Tatum continued to try to get him to stop, she had never seen him this upset, and she did not want this drama outside of her house. Ree finally stopped and then took his bloody gun and stuck it back in his waist, wiped the splattered blood from his face, and walked back up the stairs past Kim and back into the house.

Tatum sat at the bottom of the stairs for a minute with her hands on her face. She couldn’t believe that his was happening. It wasn’t that Ty didn’t deserve it, because he was a disrespectful piece of shit, but she had no idea that Ree would react like that. A couple of people around helped Ty up off the ground as Tatum went into her house; she just wanted the madness from outside her door.

“No you listen. Leave! That shit was crazy!” She paused to take a breath and then continued. “You are crazy! I think you should just leave.”

“Tatum. This nigga was out here disrespectin’ you right in front of me. You think I’m not gonna do nothing about that? C’mon now, I’m just being a man. A man is going to protect what he treasures, that’s just the way it is.”

He saw that she wasn’t even trying to hear him, so he just spoke from his heart.

“Tatum, if someone disrespected somebody you loved, you would react too. I know you, Tatum, I know you would.” Tatum felt her head go light.
Did he just say he loved me?

She sighed long enough to take in everything.  She was definitely feeling the same way about him.  But she did not need any kind of drama in her life, she had seen enough.

“Ree, you gotta go. I’m sorry.” Tatum said it but didn’t mean it. She couldn’t even look at him; she just walked up the stairs and went into her bedroom. Ree watched her leave the room but didn’t say anything; he just picked up his cell phone off of the table, and left the gift he had brought back for her. He gave a nod to Kim as he walked out the door.

Once inside his car, he ran his hands down his face and sat in the silence for a minute. He couldn’t drive off, not just yet. 
What the fuck am I doing? I can’t be out here acting like this, starting petty beef with petty niggas over a chick.
  But what he felt at that moment seeing someone disrespect her, it was stronger than any rage he had ever felt before, it was a different motivation.

He couldn’t even think right for a minute, so he sat there and lit up the rest of his blunt. Then he picked up his phone and dialed a long distance call to Jamaica to the only man that he knew was more gruesome and deadly than he was, the only man that may be able to talk some sense into him. After three rings, the other end finally answered. Ree spoke.

“Pop. I fucked up. I’m in love.”

Tatum sat on her bed feeling so confused. She wanted to cry but she was too strong for that.  She wanted to smile but something was holding her back from doing that. More importantly and bigger than everything, she wanted to go after him. She had watched him outside of her window, sit in his car for about 10 minutes before he pulled off. She didn’t want him to leave and she didn’t want it to be over. If she had her way, he would just have a different occupation, live a different lifestyle, and stay the way he was with her, all the time. 

But that’s not life, and that’s not the way it works. Tatum knew the fact was that people are who they are, you either have to accept that or move on. But what was she going to do? She knew one thing, she was hungry. She went downstairs to Kim who was sitting on the couch taking in all that had just happened, and sending Blair another text message.

“Kim, you hungry? You wanna go get something to eat?’

“Shit girl, why not? I aint got nothing better to do.”

Kim obviously was referring to the fact that Blair was still ignoring her. As Tatum was putting on her shoes, she took notice of the baby blue box sitting on her living room table, wrapped up with a bow. Her heart felt heavy and she fought back showing her emotions. She missed him already.

Tatum picked up the box and unwrapped the bow slowly. Then she lifted the lid and covered her mouth with her left hand.  It was a beautiful platinum necklace with three rings hanging from it; the rings were completely covered with rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. It was hot, like a rainbow of stones, and Kim was all in it.

“Unh-Unh Tay! Oh my God I cannot believe how banging that shit is!”

Kim picked up her cell phone to give Neli the scoop as if it was bought for her.  Tatum just stared at it, until she noticed the script inside the box. It read:
For the diamond who never wears diamonds.
  He paid attention to her, she loved that.

She had no idea what to do, she didn’t want to call him. She had just kicked him out of her house. So she closed the box and put it down and grabbed her purse.

“Let’s go eat.”

Sasha was lying in her sheets watching Chauncey put on his jeans, he was getting ready to go back out. Her phone rang and she answered in a mellow drawl.

“Hello.”

“Girl, let me tell you what happened.” It was Tatum. 

She ran down the whole shebang to Sasha from the message, to the fight, to the necklace. By the time Tatum finished, Sasha’s mouth hung open. She didn’t know what to tell Tatum. That was her best friend. She wanted her to be happy, but she also didn’t want her to get caught up, and she had learned from eavesdropping on Chauncey’s calls, that Ree was that nigga, the boss of the bosses. She actually was planning on telling Tatum when she talked to her. Sasha just kept it real general in front of Chauncey.

“Ree is a trip. Girl what are you gonna do?”

Chauncey just looked at Sasha wondering what happened with Ree. He threw on his tee and kissed Sasha on the cheek, on his way back out there, into the streets, doing whatever it was that he did. After Chauncey was out the door, Sasha proceeded.

“Listen Tay, I don’t know if you knew this or not, but Ree is a boss nigga, like on some King of New York shit.”

Tatum laughed, she knew Sasha was an exaggerator. 

“I mean Sash, I know the boy is paid, and I had a feeling he wasn’t legal, so it really isn’t a shock that he may run some shit, but don’t you think you taking it a little overboard?  Just a little,” Tatum cracked.

“Tatum, the nigga is no joke. Listen I heard Chauncey, L, and E talking about how he planning on taking over all these other cities, and L was saying how he already got his whole area on lock and they even was talking about how crazy he was, how he just kill people like at the drop of a dime. Well L was doing most of the talking, but he was really talking about Ree like he is just that crazy mofo!”

Tatum knew Sasha was not this persistent unless she was telling the truth, so if she’s saying this; this is exactly what she heard.

“But Sash how do they all know all of this?” Tatum asked, feeling a little weird.