Bleek sat across from Sasha and Chauncey, next to Tatum, and he couldn’t help but take a quick look at them before he picked up his glass and downed the rest of his Ace.
“Thank you, Sasha!” Tatum yelled with a big laugh as she slapped Ree playfully on the arm. “Now when we fuck everything up, he gonna wish we woulda rehearsed.”
“We got this,” Ree stated confidently.
“Yeah, aight nigga,” Crush joked, seated next to his wife. “This cool ass nigga gonna be sweating bullets come tomorrow! Be careful, Tatum. He might pull a runaway groom on ya ass.”
“Yeah okay!” Tatum said, shooting Ree a daring look.
“He ain’t going nowhere, not with that small country sitting on your finger, girl,” Crush’s wife threw in.
“Word, shawty…that shit is ill. What kinda stone is that?” Bleek spoke up, refilling his champagne glass.
“It’s a natural Russian Alexandrite,” Tatum answered proudly.
“Fuck outta here!” Crush’s wife exclaimed with wide eyes in astonishment. You would’ve thought Tatum said it was made in Heaven itself.
“Yo, I heard about them shits. They said most people will never see one in they life. The 3 karat joints run up in the cool mils,” Bleek spoke smoothly, almost causing Tatum to giggle because he sounded like T.I. or somebody with his country drawl. “…they said the ones that change colors worth ten times a diamond of its same size.”
Tatum smiled and touched her ring slightly before shooting Ree a loving glance. She knew all about the rich and precious history of her stone.
“Yeah…I have one of the rarest. I think…Queen Elizabeth had one. Princess Di. Not too many after her,” she added modestly. “It changes from bright green to magenta in an instant.”
Tatum’s heart raced as she pondered on it for a minute. A regular girl from Newark who used to club with her friends, do hair, and go to community college was sitting on the beaches of Jamaica, with her own street, and one of the rarest stones in the world in her possession. And the man she loved dearly, had given it all to her. That was why she had given Ree this last deal in the game even though she had put up a fight. He had given her so much in return.
“Sash, what time your parents coming in tomorrow?” Tatum asked, changing the subject.
Sasha sipped her champagne and shrugged.
“I don’t know girl, you know Queen Terri and her grand entrances,” Sasha spoke, mocking her mother. “She’s meeting my aunt in Atlanta so she and Aubrey can fly down with them. Was Nikki able to bring the girls?” Sasha added, speaking of Tatum’s nieces and their recovering cocaine-addicted mother.
“Yeah, she said they’d be here in the morning.”
Just then Jayde leaned over and whispered something in Bleek’s ear as everyone’s chatter continued. Bleek swallowed hard but kept a straight face and Sasha looked back and forth between them.
“You straight, J. You over there awfully quiet for the pit-bull in a skirt,” Chauncey teased.
“Maybe she’s got something on her mind,” Sasha added with a raised brow.
Jayde shot her eyes to Sasha and smirked. Something was up with her, Jayde didn’t know what though. However, she was determined to get to the bottom of it. Sasha had avoided her and gave her minimal conversation on the plane and once they landed. And for the few people in the world that Jayde actually gave a fuck about, she didn’t appreciate being given the cold shoulder by them. She’d straighten Sash out, or add her to the list of disposables. “Or maybe she’s proposing marriage to Bleek,” Sasha continued, gulping the rest of her alcohol and darting her eyes away.
“Nooo! Absolutely not,” Jayde professed, raising her hands in protest. “Nothing against you tho’ cutie,” she winked at Bleek. “But people like me, and….marriage. Disaster,” she concluded with a shake of her head. “I wouldn’t do that to someone.”
Her last statement grabbed everyone’s attention, including Respect’s. So much so that he spoke on it.
“What you mean?”
She leaned forward and looked to her left, her eyes passing by Bleek and Tatum and focusing right on the man who had posed the question, the king of the court.
“Well, with all due respect to you and Tatum…I just don’t see it for me. I mean… the life I lead. The type of person that I am, the type of person that I will always be, the things that I will always do…I couldn’t put that on another individual. My lifestyle is not for matrimony,” she told him seriously. “I would only bring a person more pain than love, and that would be selfish. If I ever loved a person enough to want to marry them, the best thing I could ever do for them…is let them go.”
Her words hit like a twenty ton bowling ball knocking down metal pins. You could hear a feather drop on the white beachy sands, that’s how mute it was. Those words went to Ree’s core, but he wasn’t the only one. Everyone had heard it and was in reflection.
“Who the fuck wanna marry your crazy ass anyway?” Chauncey quipped and everyone busted out laughing, happy he had lightened the mood. Jayde smirked and gave a Kanye shrug, but she smiled on the inside because she felt a set of eyes on her and she knew who they belonged to. As everyone began their frivolous conversations again, Jayde slowly panned her gaze over to Respect who already had his stare on her when she reached him. She sighed when he looked away but he remained straight faced and in thought. Mission accomplished, she supposed. She had gotten in his head.
As the evening began to wind down, the girls retreated to one of the guest rooms as the men went to talk in the study.
“Can you believe it?” Sasha asked as she laid on her side, spread out across the King mattress. Tatum sat Indian style at the head of the bed, large fluffy pillows behind her and Jayde was perched on a corner, legs crossed. Crush’s wife, feeling comfortable, but not too familiar, opted for the chaise lounge chair close by.
“I know,” Tatum spoke lowly with a faint smile as she played with her hands. “It’s crazy. It all happened so fast. It seems like he was just proposing…now it’s here. They were even talking about it on the radio. Ain’t that some shit?” Tatum couldn’t help but to laugh. Sasha giggled and Jayde and Marsha gave a chuckle.
“I went to the market the other day and the lady was like ‘yu street girl! Yu Tatum, yu marry Sean Knights!’” She mocked in an island accent. “It’s all everyone seems to be talking about.” Tatum sounded like she was in a state of disbelief and overwhelm. Jayde wanted so desperately to shout ‘oh, shut the fuck up!’
“Well at least you’re getting a break and get to hear about other shit,” Sasha spat. “All I hear about is the master pl-”
Sasha cut herself off and shot a glance at Jayde. She had forgotten that Jayde was there, and very much a part of the street blueprint. “Anyway, it’s just nice they’re talking about you, that’s all. I’d be happy as hell if all these people were talking about me!” Sasha declared as she flipped over on her back and stared at the ceiling.
“We know!” Tatum cracked and they all laughed. Everyone was familiar with Sasha’s narcissistic behavior, even Marsha, and she had just met her eight hours ago.
“So Tatum,” Jayde started with a grin, ready to get the party going. “You gotta be honest girl…can you really be with one man…for the rest of your life!”
Everyone giggled and Tatum did too, just a little less. Jayde continued.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong. I see your character, and you’re not out there. And I know you love Ree. But girllll, one dick? Forever and ever? Whew! More power to you.”
Tatum chuckled and shook her head as everyone continued to laugh.
“Girl, when that dick belongs to a man like Ree…trust me. I’m looking forward to waking up to that for the rest of my life. I’m good,” she replied confidently. It could’ve even been a hint of challenge in her voice if you wanted it to be. Jayde laughed and nodded, but inside she was on fire with desire. Silly Tatum, she thought. Don’t you know not to brag to women about your man’s blessings?
>
“I hear ya girl…I hear ya.”
Crush’s wife spoke up.
“Well, Curtis…I mean Crush…was my first, last, and only. I’ve never been with anyone else.”
Everyone looked to her with wide eyes.
“Really?” Sasha asked, sitting up. “You’ve never stepped out? Never?”
“Nope.”
“Shit, have you?” Jayde butted in, noticing the way Sasha had asked, like it was impossible not to.
Sasha crinkled her brow at her, one for the open question, and two for her own hidden displeasure with Jayde.
“What…? On Chauncey? No! Why would you ask me that?”
Jayde shrugged nonchalantly and Tatum looked on. Jayde was an instigator. She noted that. She also noticed Sasha’s reaction.
Tatum figured to herself that if Sasha ever did decide to cheat on Chauncey, she would probably feel justified by his prior indiscretions and the current lack of attention. But Tatum was a firm believer in if you forgive, then you forgive. Clean slate.
“Anyway,” Sasha snapped, rolling her eyes and directing her attention back to Marsha. “That’s wild! But that’s kinda sweet, too. My first was nothing I could hold onto for the rest of my life though. He was terrible!”
“No, mine was terrible,” Jayde challenged as Sasha rolled over on her back again and cut her eyes for Jayde’s interruption. “His name was Rich. He was so wack. It was the smallest…Oh no,” Jayde said stopping short. “He wasn’t first…Damn, who was first? Oh! Eric…yeah, Eric. He was good. I take that back. I could’ve married that.” They all laughed, hard.
“What about you, Tatum?” Jayde added. “Who was yours?”
Marsha and Jayde looked on as Sasha checked to see if her ends were split. After a few seconds of delay, Sasha turned her head and looked on as well.
Tatum was caught off guard by the question. It was a little too personal to her and she wasn’t expecting it.
“What? Um…I…I don’t know…?” She chuckled. “I don’t…Why?”
“You don’t know?” Jayde repeated in disbelief, holding onto a laugh. Everyone else remained quiet, including Tatum who stared Jayde right in the eyes. After a few seconds, Tatum swallowed hard and looked around the room.
Finally she spoke.
“…My ex. Ty. …He was my first.”
“Wowww,” Jayde responded with a raised eyebrow. “That was intense. What, you still got feelings for him or something?”
Tatum sucked her teeth.
“Hell no!” She shook her head and flung her legs across the bed, preparing to stand up. “Girl, you an instigator like a mothafucka,” Tatum added with a laugh. “I need to take my ass to bed though. We all do.”
Tatum made her way to the door while the other girls stayed behind. Sasha and Marsha would wait for their men so they could separate into two of the six available guest bedrooms. Jayde would stay in this one.
“Night, Pocahantas,” Jayde winked at her. Something in the wink, it was almost sinister. But Tatum brushed it off.
“Night, guys,” she responded generally.
“Night Tay,” Sasha yelled back. “Good night, Tatum,” Marsha added.
Once the door was closed, the girls gradually began their chatter after a minute or so.
“I hope she didn’t leave because of the question I asked?” Jayde feigned concern. “I didn’t think it would be so personal.”
Marsha pressed her lips together a little uncomfortable with speaking on it, especially with not being in their circle.
“Well…maybe something happened to her when she was younger. Maybe it wasn’t a good experience.”
Jayde turned and looked at Sasha with a smirk, who was still staring at the celling but was noticeably quiet.
“Well, bestie,” Jayde posed a little sarcastically. “Did something happen to her? Is that what’s wrong?”
Sasha zoned out, truly hoping that wasn’t what it was. But to be honest, she had no idea why the question affected Tatum the way it did. She did know that Jayde was getting on her last nerve though.
“I don’t know. And to tell the truth…it ain’t none of our business.”
Tatum sat in her bed thinking, towel still wrapped around her from her evening shower. She would be married by this time tomorrow. But that wasn’t what was on her mind. It was the conversation she had just escaped from the middle of with the girls.
She saw the handle of the door turn and it gradually opened, and in stepped a king.
“Niceee,” Ree spoke smoothly, stepping in and finding Tatum in her barely there attire. He smiled deviously, an unlit blunt in his hand.
Tatum smiled back.
“Unh-unh, don’t even think about it. Not before the wedding day. We’re already breaking all of the rules. I’m not even supposed to be seeing you right now. So definitely, absolutely, no sex.”
Ree jerked his head back.
“That’s some bullshit…I never heard of that,” he lied with a smirk.
“Yes you did,” Tatum challenged, standing up and walking over to her ivory bone dresser and pulling out a silk nightgown. The towel barely covered her large ass which poked out like two melons.
“You heard of why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.”
“But I already had the milk,” Ree told her playfully, grabbing a throw pillow off one of the couches they had on the side of their bed and tossing it on the ground. “You buy the cow so no one else gets the milk.”
Tatum smiled at his witty charm and dropped her towel. Then she wiggled into her short gown, knowing Ree’s eyes were on her the whole time.
“Well no one’s getting the milk tonight,” Tatum let him know as she walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Ree took a seat on the pillow on the floor, between her legs.
He rubbed her thigh and turned his face toward the place he wanted to visit tonight.
“What about the cookie?” He whispered in his deep baritone, nibbling on her thigh.
Tatum bit her bottom lip and shivered but then placed her two hands on the side of his head, and turned him face front abruptly against her will.
“No milk. No cookie. Nothing!”
She reached over and grabbed the honey oil from her nightstand and handed it to Ree.
“Hold this.”
This was normal. This was their life. Tightening his dreads while he puffed something and they shared stimulating conversation. A million dollar wedding in less than 24 hours wouldn’t change anything. They hadn’t even had a bachelor and bachelorette party, that’s how untraditional they were doing things.
Ree thought it was all bullshit, a lot of that stuff, plus he had so much going on with the business, eradicating his fugitive status, and the paternity test at the time. He would give Tatum the wedding of her dreams though before he made any of his personal moves. That was important to him. That’s what she deserved.
“You know what I was thinking about before you came in here?” She asked out of the blue.
“I know what I was thinking about before I came in here,” he responded suggestively and she giggled. “But you shut that shit down. Promptly.”
Tatum laughed her laugh.
“Shut up! I’m serious.”
“What’s on your mind, Miss Lady?”
Tatum smiled and closed her eyes. He called her that… and it was like déjà vu’ to when she had met him outside of Mars 2112 in the city years back.
“Mm…Well, I was thinking about…how much…how much I love you. For like…little things. You know?”
Ree rubbed her legs lovingly and thought about how Tatum had to always fight for words when expressing her emotions. He thought he was foreign to love, but his baby was way worse. He hated the things that made her so scared of her emotions. He wished he could erase them.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me…that we don’t know about each other, Ree. But you never…you never asked certain things. You know, about the past…other guys, stuff like that. It’s li
ke the future is what matters with you.” Tatum thought of the conversation she had just had with the girls.
“Because the future is all that matters.” Ree took a pull from his weed laced cigar and stared ahead. “Why…is there something I need to know? Something I should be asking?”
TTW 3 ( Thicker Than Water 3 ) Page 10
