Thicker Than Water (12 page)

On the left side of the truck there was another feeling going on, and it felt good. Tatum was on cloud nine. Everything with Ree was going so good that Tatum was scared that something major was going to come and fuck everything up. Or if not that, somebody was going to pimp-slap her and wake her up from the dream she was in. 

Last night he had taken her to one of the best hotels in the city.  But instead of having a usual suite, they were escorted to the roof where a candlelit dinner was set. Tatum walked to the ledge and looked out at the city, and everything seemed so small and unimportant. It was as if they were, no she was, the only big thing. That’s how Ree made her feel, like she was the only big thing in his life. The set up was breathtaking, a round table with a white tablecloth and two long pillared candles surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of rose petals. 

After they ate they made love, right on the roof and Tatum actually cried. She couldn’t believe it, but she cried.  It was a feeling she had never felt before. After he dropped her off, he had to hurry home to pack for his flight to Jamaica, but he talked to her the whole time, all the way until the pilot made the announcement that his cell phone must be turned off.  Tatum was convinced, this was it. 

Oh my god, he sounds so good!

“Please, aint no dudes gonna be there, except for Sasha’s boyfriend Chauncey and my brother Chris. I wish some dudes was gonna be there.” 

Tatum waited for him to laugh at that but he remained quiet.  He had almost forgotten that Chaunc and that nigga Chris was in such a close circle within Tatum. He didn’t like it.

“Hello, you were supposed to laugh at that,” Tatum reminded him after a period of silence.

“My bad Ms. Lady, I’m just actually about to meet with this guy, and um, I think I see him coming. I’ll call you later okay?”

They laughed and then they hung up, both smiling to themselves and both feeling like they wanted to say something else, but it was too soon, and they were too scared.

Once everybody started arriving at the barbecue it was on.  Black folks everywhere; drinking, laughing, story telling, card playing, and tearing up some food. And if you know a black barbecue, you know that the majority of the food is not cooked on the grill. It was fried chicken, barbecue chicken, macaroni and cheese, ziti, potato salad, tuna salad, all kinds of rices, and somebody even had the nerve to bring a pot of collard greens, it was like a summer Thanksgiving. 

Neli sat next to Tatum eyeing Chauncey and Sasha and their very public display of affection. She watched as Sasha made his plate, she watched as he kissed her on her forehead, she watched as she sat on his lap and fed him her “infamous macaroni and cheese” and everyone looked on like they were the perfect couple. Neli just sat there and watched, until…

“Sasha you looking a little thick there girl! What’s going on there?” One of her cousins proclaimed as Sasha rolled her eyes. Tatum jumped right in.

“Yeah Sash you been eating everything that comes ya way.”

“Shut up Tatum!” Sasha laughed. 

Neli could not even take the thought of the insinuations of Sasha being pregnant. She would have just died, so Neli said the first thing that came to her mind, and the craziest.

“Well if you are pregnant, then I guess we’ll be pregnant together!” Silence. Tatum’s eyes bulged out of her head.  Sasha put her hand over her mouth. But nothing could match the look that Chauncey had. If looks could kill, Neli would have died a thousand deaths. Chauncey felt the adrenaline going through his body as he began gnawing on the inside of his cheek, as he totally forgot about his food and let his plate fall to the ground. 

“Baby, ya food, what’s wrong with you?” Sasha asked, completely unaware of what had just happened. 

Neli regretted the words the minute they came out of her mouth. Not only had she just told a huge lie to her friends, she knew this would be impossible to play off. She would have to pile lies on top of lies, would she say she had an abortion? Miscarriage? What kind of lie would she tell?  Then on top of that, the look that Chauncey was giving her right now told her that she had started something that she didn’t want to finish.  You just don’t want to be in that position with Chaunc, and she especially didn’t, she loved him. 

Oh well,
Neli thought to herself,
it’s just something I’ll have to wiggle my way out of
, and as she looked around at the faces of people, she caught a glare from Kim that gave her the assumption that she had been found out. 

However on Kim’s side of the fence, it’s not that she knew what was going on. But Kim knew that something was not right, and all that she could think of was why. She thought of the rumor that her brother had come to her about, and she thought about how Neli had been acting hella funny since they got here. Kim knew Neli was lying, and bigger than that, Kim knew that Neli was on her period.

Chris was laid up with a young chick from around the way, when he got a phone call from Neli. She sounded a little out of it, and Chris was worried about her. He couldn’t lie to himself; he was really starting to feel her. 

Ever since the night in the hotel, when he was supposed to be marrying his daughters’ mother, he couldn’t get out if his mind the way Neli had put it down on him. She was so freaky, and so beautiful, and he loved her good girl attitude. He was really feeling her and he understood why Chauncey couldn’t leave her alone, even when she didn’t want him anymore. Or at least that was the story that Neli had fed him.

“Who is that?” The young hoodrat said, as Chris slapped her lightly and got up so Neli wouldn’t hear her. 

Neli heard her well and clear, but she didn’t care.  She knew Chris was fucking that young ass girl, but she was far from intimidated by a 16 year old and even more far from actually caring about Chris. 

Even though he was Tatum’s brother, he was not attractive at all. It’s like he took all of the bad genes while Tatum took the good. Neli had done a couple of lines of coke and was feeling a little crazy, her mind was racing and she was trying to balance out her high. She was taking coke to bring her up, and drinking heavy to bring her back down. She was destroying herself, destroying her beauty, destroying her mind, destroying her soul. 

“Neli, baby, what’s up?”

“Nothing.” She was slurring her words. “Listen Chris, I really need to talk to you. I don’t know what to do. Chauncey won’t leave me alone, man. He keeps calling, coming by, I’m getting scared baby.” 

Chris’ blood was boiling. He hated the way Chauncey took advantage of Neli, after that night at the hotel, when Neli told Chris that she was really drunk and high, and that’s why she had sex with them. According to Neli, Chauncey kept calling her, telling her that he would tell everybody if she didn’t keep fucking him. Chris thought that was fucked up, but he didn’t say anything because that was his man, and before Neli told him her side of the story, Chauncey had been acting like Neli was the crazy one. Yeah right! Chris knew that nigga was crazy anyway.

“Neli, don’t worry about it. It’s good that you stopped fucking wit that nigga, and if he tries to tell Sash, then I got ya back. It’ll be you and me ma.”

“How? How, Chris! We don’t have anything. How do you expect me to just be with you, you can’t even get out of your sister’s house? The nigga I’m with now has a house!  He has everything to take care of me, why would I leave him for you?” She insulted him continuously, and it made him want her more.

“I got money ma, how many times am I gonna tell you?  The money me and Chaunc got.”  Neli cut him off and used this opportunity to go for the kill.

“What money? You and Chauncey don’t have any money.  Chauncey told me
he
has money stashed, but he said that’s his money and you just work for
him
. Can’t you see Chris, you just a pawn nigga.” 

Neli smiled to herself knowing that she was lying through her teeth, and knowing that Chris was eating it all up. Chris thought to himself about how Chauncey had been leaving him out of a lot of shit. Having meetings with Ree and E that he couldn’t attend and making a lot of moves with people he didn’t know. Maybe he was just a pawn, and he was the one that should be running everything! At least that’s what he felt.

“Listen ma, you don’t worry about any of that. I got money, I got you. You just stay away from that crazy mothafucka. I told you ma you should’ve never even got with that nigga, I’m the nigga you need to be seeing.”

Chris thought a lot about what Neli was saying and at the same time he thought about Chauncey. That had been his right hand man since childhood and he thought he knew him. He remembered the vow they took to always put money over bitches. But Chauncey did break that vow when he started catching feelings for Sasha. Chris knew Chaunc, and he knew Chaunc would put Sasha over him any day, at least that’s the way it appeared. 

He decided at that moment that he would start looking out for self and keeping an eye on Chauncey. If that nigga thought he was a pawn, he was about to show him that the streets aint a chess game, cause in this game anybody could be the king. 

Neli realized that Chris was quiet and in thought and she knew her manipulation was working. Once she could turn Chris against Chauncey, she could use him deeply in her revenge against her enemy, not Chauncey, but Sasha. Now all she needed was the perfect opportunity to pit her plot, and really get this shit jumping. He was about to be her pawn.

Chapter 9 - Clarity

Sasha was washing dishes in her apartment when she heard the keys jingling in the door. She knew that her baby was back.  She kept her attention focused on her task trying to hide the wide smile on her face, she was so happy to have him back in her life, although they had a long overdue talk that needed to take place soon. 

Sasha wanted to know why he left her in the first place. She decided to hold off on the convo as he wrapped his strong arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

“Hey baby, did you get the bread?” She asked sweetly.

“Mmm. Hmmm...,” he answered, but really wasn’t thinking about bread at all. He was just thinking about laying her down for the night. However his mental fantasy was put on hold by Sasha’s next question.

Sasha thought for a minute but didn’t express her wonder. Last she knew Neli was not having sex with him, especially unprotected. She knew Neli fucked mad dudes from the hood, but she couldn’t imagine who the daddy could be.
Maybe it is Ray.

“Hmm.” She let that sound out and continued her task, pissing Chauncey off because he had no idea what that sound meant. He sat on the couch, kicked off his Tims, and dialed E to check on some money. He wanted to get into Sash before he had to run back out, but she definitely changed his whole mood.

“Well isn’t this a pleasant surprise. So what’s up Chauncey, a bitch can’t get a hello...it’s all good, I’ll get that ass when child support time comes. When you gonna tell Sasha, huh?” Neli threatened.

Chauncey remained silent but chewed on the inside of his cheek. He was furious.

“See Chaunc, it didn’t have to be like this. It still doesn’t. Just say the word, and we can be cool. All you gotta say is yes, and I’ll have everything ready for you. You can come over tonight and you can fuck me any way you want. Just say it baby. Just say yes. I need you, just say yes and I’ll stop.”