Thicker Than Water (18 page)

The last thing on her mind was sex with Chris, just seeing the money made her desire for Chauncey even more potent. She knew he was the one who had given Chris the money and he was the one who told Chris to take her home so she wouldn’t know where his money was going, it wasn’t Chris’ money, it was Chauncey’s, or so she thought. However she went along with it and thought about how the scenario may actually be an aphrodisiac.

“Mmmm. A half a million dollars? What a turn on daddy.” With that Chris walked over to the mattress, turned the bag upside down, and emptied the money onto the bed, even taking off the rubber bands and spreading it all around for the effect. Now, the power of the pussy will momentarily diagnose amnesia in a nigga because it wasn’t but five minutes and five strokes later when Chris heard doors slamming outside the building. He jumped up quickly, heart beating out of his chest and couldn’t think of what to do first. Hide the money, hide Neli, or put on his drawers.

“Hurry up quick, get dressed!” He demanded, in a harsh whisper.

Neli put on her clothes as fast as she could as Chris threw on his boxers and jeans and opened up the loose floorboards of the wooden ground. He had planned on doing this later and asking Neli to wait in the car, but fuck it, he had to get that money put away.

“Come fucking help me!” He yelled at Neli who began scooping up large armloads of money and throwing it in the floorboards. She was scared too, she could tell Chris was in trouble by his demeanor, and in this business trouble meant death, and there were never witnesses left. By the time they heard keys jingling in the doorway, they were dressed and the money was safely put away. Chris would think of a way to explain taking off the rubber bands later. When the door opened it revealed an angry E looking at Chris and then at Neli, trying to decide what was wrong with this picture.

“Yo E, we ‘bout to be out. I just brought her up here real quick ‘cause she had to go to the bathroom.”

E stared blankly at him and nodded slowly, knowing damn well that he wasn’t supposed to even do that. As Chris and Neli exited, E noticed a hundred dollar bill sticking out of the floorboard.

Chapter 12 - Devotion

It was almost 6 p.m. the next evening when Chauncey finally decided to return E’s message. He and Sasha had spent all of their Sunday sleeping and sexing, and E’s tone didn’t sound like it was urgent at all so Chauncey figured it wasn’t important enough to interrupt his QT with his princess. However, Chauncey was about to find out otherwise. 

He picked up his phone and dialed E, while getting up out the bed and heading into the bathroom. E picked up immediately and filled Chauncey in on what he had been waiting to tell him, as Chauncey stood stone-faced, wondering what the fuck he was going to do. 

After getting all of the info, Chauncey told E how he would handle the situation and walked out into the living room. He had a serious problem on his hands and it had to be dealt with immediately.
Chris was chilling in his car with Neli, smoking a blunt while she sucked him off, when his phone began blowing up. After the fifth time ringing, he decided to see what fool was calling him like this while he was trying to get his nut off.  At first he was scared to pick up at the sight of Chauncey’s number, but then he realized he looked even more suspect and suspicious if he ignored it.  He decided to take the problem head on and deal with it like a man, and although he had fucked up, Chauncey wasn’t the boss nigga, fuck should he be scared of him for?
“Yo,” Chris answered in a blasé tone that suggested he was either unaware or uncaring that there was a problem.  Chauncey paused briefly, a sign to Chris that he was upset, but Chris was wrong, he was fuming!

After digging in his ass and calling Neli every name in the book, which she heard through the phone, Chauncey ordered Chris to drop Neli off immediately and meet up with him at a local pool hall. Chris was literally shaking the entire time driving her home.

The minute Neli got inside and realized that Ray wasn’t home, she picked up the phone and dialed Chauncey. Wrong move.

“Hello,” he answered in an angry tone, unaware of Neli’s home number.

“Chauncey listen, I just wanna say that I won’t say anything about what I saw. I promise, you know I would never do anything to get you into any kind of trouble.”

Chauncey chuckled and cut her off. 

“Nah you aint gonna get me into any trouble, but you gonna get yaself and ya little boyfriend into some serious trouble, and it aint gonna be with me baby,” Chauncey spoke, voice dripping with a threatening calm that chilled Neli and excited her at the same time. She licked her lips and closed her eyes, imagining him and what he must’ve looked like, smelled like, felt like. God she missed him.

“My little boyfriend huh? You jealous?” She asked, praying and hoping that he was.

“Get the fuck outta here! Listen, I told you before don’t fucking call me no more, stop stalking me bitch! Stop fucking wit my mans, stop coming to my spots, and stop sitting all up in my girl face when you know you fucking foul! You just wanna be Sash, but let me put you up on this ma, you could never be Sash, you got that? So stop fucking frontin in her face like you her friend, when you really just an insecure, wack ass little hoe!”

Neli sat mouth open as he went off on her. She built up the courage to retaliate.

“You got some nerve, nigga. How about how you sit up in her face, pretending to be her man, when you fucked me? And you just as much of a hoe as I am.”

Neli realized she was talking to a dial tone and wondered how long she had been doing so. So she hung up the phone, and cried for Chauncey, not even thinking of any trouble she may have gotten herself into.

When Chris pulled up to the pool hall he immediately noticed Chauncey’s 750 sitting in the parking lot, and the story that he had rehearsed ran over and over in his mind. He walked through the small dark lot that only occupied a few cars, and cursed himself for stepping in a mud puddle with his brand new Timberland boots. His matching suede tan jacket was also getting ruined by the light showers that were starting and he thought of an old Biggie song
‘silly nigga wore suede in the rain’
. He made his way into the hall.

Chauncey was chalking up a stick and sipping on a Heineken, appearing to be deep in thought as he powerfully landed a ball in the corner socket. Chris must’ve stood there for a good minute or two, a long minute or two, before Chauncey even acknowledged him. Chauncey thought he had it figured out. He figured Neli was either too scared or too in love to even bother with their business, but just in case, Chris would move the product and money to a different stash house and the team would just not access the Forest Hill property for a while.

He knew it was probably best for him to do it himself, but the way his name and face was so hot at the moment, he needed to stay far away from any of the spots. He also figured that Chris wasn’t dumb or bold enough to fuck up twice. He felt that since Ree had invested so much trust in him and expected him to act as a captain, this was something that he really didn’t need to know. It could be controlled. He wouldn’t let Chris know that though, not yet.

Chauncey took another sip from his beer.

“Let me explain something to you. You gonna go get that fucking money, tonight. You gonna bring it to the other location, alone. Then you are gonna take the keys for both houses, and bring them to me in the morning. You will no longer have access to any safe house in this organization.” Chris looked confused but didn’t speak, and when he finally did it was just a weak ‘I don’t understand’. Chauncey clarified.

“Nigga, you have been officially demoted.”

Chris wrinkled his forehead in disbelief; he was hurt, upset, and sorry at the same time.

“Yo Chaunc man, you my nigga. How you gonna shit on a nigga like this, I gotta eat to,” Chris pleaded, more in a whispering beg than anything.

“Shit on you?” Chauncey asked. “Shit on you!” He repeated a little angrier.

He noticed a small audience from two females at the bar and lowered his voice.

“Nigga you lucky I don’t really shit on you. You talking bout eating, nigga for the shit you did you shouldn’t even be breathing. Go get that fucking money and bring me my muhfucking keys when you through.”

Chris stood still trying to continue the conversation, hoping that this was Chauncey’s anger speaking. He’d expected this to remain a secret between Chaunc, E, and himself. He figured it was just a fuck up that his man, his friend, would excuse. But Chauncey continued to make shot after shot on the pool table and ignored Chris as if he was just a total stranger.

As Chris looked at him, it was as if it wasn’t even his man anymore, he was just another nigga. Shit had definitely changed and there was no going back. Chris walked out slowly and sniffed lightly to hold back tears that he could feel forming.

After Chauncey left the pool hall, he felt bad. He felt really, really bad. Chris was his nigga, and it was evident that their relationship had taken a turn for the worst. This business had a way of turning friends into enemies and enemies into friends, that’s just the way it worked.

Chauncey had never imagined having to do Chris like that, but then again he never imagined Chris blatantly disobeying his orders over some pussy. And Chauncey wasn’t dumb, he knew Chris, and he knew it was all over pussy. He slid down low in the driver seat of his 750 and lit up a cigarette, the taste immediately repulsed him. He threw it out the window and sat back with his face in his hands. It was definitely time for a change. He wasn’t feeling the way he was living. The business, the bitches, the lifestyle, he needed to tone it all down.

The more he tried to justify everything and convince himself that this was the life he was born to lead, he was a natural born hustler, a voice in the back of his head kept telling him otherwise. And that voice was Sasha. He tried to ignore her, telling him to just leave it all alone, and move with her back to Atlanta. She had told him on so many occasions about the booming real estate down there, about how he could buy so many houses and fix them up to sell. Or even how he could buy developments and rent out the spaces, and Chauncey had more than enough money saved up, not to mention that Sasha and her family were wealthy themselves, he knew they would be straight. Her father adored him and had properly invested some of Chauncey’s money into some stocks that he himself was involved in. Everything made sense.

He toyed with the ideas for a little while longer, also thinking of Ree’s offer to give him sole control over his own empire. He didn’t know what to do. He reached in his pocket to get his keys and felt something that he had forgotten was there. He held it in his right hand and knew at that moment what he had to do.

Chauncey walked up the outside stairs to Sasha’s apartment and used his keys to open the door. Automatically he was greeted by the smell of fried chicken and cornbread. The house was dimly lit by the overhead dining room light and a single Yankee Candle burning some sweet scent. Chauncey opened the oven and saw that the cornbread wasn’t quite done; he closed it back and rubbed his hands together anticipating the food. He heard the sound of the shower running and thought of hopping in with her but then thought of something more exciting. He went into his pocket, and felt again for the third time. He then walked into the bedroom seeing that Sasha had laid out her towel on the edge of the bed, and then gave a smirk and walked back out the door.

Sasha jumped out of the shower at the sound of the ringing phone, ringing for a third time in a row.
Who is this that keeps calling? I am in the shower.
She grabbed the phone and smiled at the sight of Chauncey’s number, and sang sweetly into the phone. He still gave her butterflies after all this time.

She reached for her towel, grabbing it quickly, and knocking something onto the ground. She looked down at what had landed at her feet and reached down slowly, dropping the phone, completely forgetting about Chauncey.

She gasped lightly and put her hand over her mouth as she picked up the tiny box that lay open with a flawless six karat princess cut diamond. Being her mother’s daughter, she gently lifted the ring out of its holder and examined its beauty, it was covered with diamonds, even entirely around the thick platinum band, causing the ring to total a gorgeous 8 ¼ karats. It was the most beautiful ring Sasha had ever seen. She heard Chauncey’s voice through the phone and snapped back into reality.

“Hello. Hellooooo,” he repeated.

“Oh my god Chauncey,” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. He smiled to himself, feeling and knowing he was doing the right thing, Sasha was the one.

There was a long silence before either one spoke, both thinking of how they were willing to sacrifice for the other, and how they were willing to give up their lives and start a new one together.