“Yo boss.”
Ree looked up to the door. He was seated at his mahogany desk in his outsized office, a cigar and top quality herb scattered strategically in front of him.
“Crush, what up…”
Crush stepped inside, his heavy build sliding through the door as he closed it behind him. He walked over and took a seat across from Ree.
“You decided what you gonna do yet?” Crush asked genuinely. He could see the stress on his old friend. He knew Ree, he knew he lived this lifestyle effortlessly, but he also knew that he was at his best when he wasn’t.
“I don’t know, man,” Ree stated, running his hand slowly over his face and leaning back in his seat. “You know, I’m trying to see what Tatum wants, but at this point I think I’m ready to pack this shit up, throw her over my shoulder and just carry her ass back to the island. It’s been nothing but bullshit since we came to Atlanta. I think I’m cursed in the States,” he chuckled.
Crush shared in the chuckle and nodded to himself.
“I think that’s the best, yo. For real. And you know I’m with you the whole way.”
Ree had offered Crush a job with him, whether he stayed in America or moved back to Jamaica after the deal was done. He even offered to purchase Crush and his family their own home in Jamaica as well. Crush was grateful and secretly hoping for that opportunity.
“And everything almost squared up with this thing right? Then you really ain’t got no ties here.”
Ree nodded.
“Yeah. I’m ready, too. I mean this shit was easy, too easy. I couldn’t pass it up. If it was just me, you know, I’d live like this to the grave. But my life is not about me anymore, Crush. And this shit is taking a toll on her.”
Crush understood, and he respected Ree for thinking of Tatum. He liked Tatum a lot and he loved her for Ree.
“Yeah man, you gotta do what’s best for y’all boss. I just went up there, tried to get her to eat. But she wouldn’t. She was crying and shit before I came in there, I can tell… She tried to hide it though.”
Ree remained quiet at Crush’s revelation. He knew Tatum tried to remain strong in appearance to people. The thought of her crying alone stung him. But he knew she would recover.
“She’ll be alright.” He spoke the words, thinking that’d make them true because he ordered them to be. “Once this shit is over, she’ll be alright. It’ll be me and her. That’s it.”
Crush wanted to ask, but didn’t know how to…
“You think…y’all gonna try…like you know, for another seed?”
Ree clenched his jaw but released it, finally lighting up the cigar he’d been rolling.
“No. But whatever happens….happens.” He shrugged. He knew Tatum wasn’t ready for that yet, but he’d be ready whenever she was.
“Truthfully, I just want to finish up here and get shit back to normal. Only problem is…” Ree paused. He rarely discussed his business or concerns of it, but Crush was the one person he felt he could talk about that with.
“…Man, I have to get Manuel on board with the program. He’s down with this first run because it’s me. But he’s skeptical about the next, because it’s Jayde. So he’s at a standstill, the nigga don’t wanna move at all. He doesn’t trust her.”
“I can see why,” Crush huffed, half under his breath but Ree caught it.
“Trust me I feel you. I feel the same exact way. But it’s business,” Ree summed up.
Crush shook his head before adding, “It’s just something about her, boss. Like the bitch ain’t wrapped too tight.”
Ree shrugged.
“She’s stupid. I mean she’s street smart and she’s very calculating, but she moves dumb. She thinks dumb.” Ree laughed lightly. “I can’t believe she’s Mickel’s daughter.” He was looking forward to cutting ties with Jayde as well.
“She’s not a threat though. She talks tougher than she walks,” Ree incorrectly assumed.
“But you don’t trust her either, right?” Crush asked, really not caring for Jayde.
Ree took a long pull from his blunt and blew out smoke smoothly before responding.
“I don’t trust anyone. But to answer your question… No.”
A knock at the door interrupted their conversation.
“What?”
Ree considered it probably was Tatum and rephrased his words.
“Come in.”
The tall and heavy wooden door creaked open and in stepped a bright red stiletto, followed by the other, long legs donned in a Herve Leger dress and those greedy, money green eyes.
“Gentlemen.”
“Who let you in?” Ree asked abruptly. Crush only turned his back to her and faced Ree.
Jayde cut her eyes at him and then addressed Ree.
“Tatum. She was heading out.”
Ree crinkled a brow.
“Tatum was outside?” He couldn’t believe it. Was she coming around? Why hadn’t she come to him?
Jayde shrugged.
“Yeah. She said she was going to feed the horses, see them, brush their hair or some shit,” Jayde informed him dismissively. If she got the chance to replace Tatum in this lavish ass ranch style mansion, the first thing that would go was those fucking horses. Ree and Tatum thought they’d provide the perfect American dream for their twins, both would have their own ponies. But Jayde was not the kind of woman into animals and furry things. Too much love, too much attention off of her, too much upkeep. The only animal she ever owned was her six foot yellow python, Butter. And he was deadly, just like her.
“Someone just called for you. I told them to call back in three minutes and I’d bring you the phone,” she informed him, holding out the cordless.
“I didn’t hear the phone ring.” Ree continued to smoke and squinted at her, mind still on Tatum’s decision to get out and get some air, get moving.
“Well it did. I stopped by the kitchen to grab a water and picked it up. It only rang once.”
“I’m not taking calls.”
“I think it’s urgent.”
“Why you say that?”
“The call was from Jamaica.”
“So why didn’t you bring it to me?”
“I knew you were talking to Crush. Didn’t want to interrupt,” she combatted with a smile. She knew Ree was skeptical of her, she actually enjoyed it. Because the dark side of her understood the dark side of him, the kind that was a thrill seeker and attracted to dangerous and unknown situations, like the streets. It was a gamble, because you didn’t know if the streets would love you back. Jayde was like the streets, she was a dangerous, unknown, and thrilling situation and she knew eventually Ree would be drawn to her.
Tatum was like the straight life, like running the hotel in Jayde’s eyes. Sure, it was nice, simple, pretty, and easy, but it was a boring, guaranteed, sure thing. And bottom line, it just wasn’t for him.
“Where’s your water?”
“What?” Jayde laughed.
“Your water. You said you went to grab a water, where is it?”
“On the kitchen counter,” she laughed some more, showing all of her pretty whites. “Now you’re fucking with me. Why don’t you tell me which part you think I’m lying about so I can convince you it’s the truth,” she spat with confidence. After the two held eye contact for a while, Ree had to chuckle at that but Crush didn’t. Just then the phone rang, an 876 area code signifying a call from Jamaica appeared.
“Yes,” Ree addressed. The calm in his face, the one had just been placed there by the effects of his cannabis and the news of Tatum’s progression gradually began to fade. Crush could tell it was serious.
“When did this happen?”
A long pause followed.
“How is he doing?”
Another pause.
“I’m on my way.”
And then Ree disconnected without another word.
“Yo everything cool boss?”
Ree stared blankly ahead, his thoughts racing a hundred miles
an hour. Finally he spoke.
“The hotel burned down last night. Leroy was inside,” he spoke evenly, talking of his father. “He was pulled out but he’s in the hospital. They said about 80 people died. I have to go.”
Crush couldn’t believe his ears, 80 innocent people, just dead. Lucky Ree’s father had survived, but still, he was shocked. Jayde was not, but she appeared to be.
“Oh my god! You want me to call the jet for you?” Jayde asked sincerely.
Ree couldn’t think straight.
“Uh…yeah.”
“I’ll call it man,” Crush spoke standing up, shooting Jayde a stiff stare and stepping out. Ree went to move out after him.
“Wait. You need me to do anything, Sean?” Jayde asked sweetly, stepping close to him and lightly grabbing his arm when it was just them two left. Ree looked down at her manicured hands gripping his bicep and then back up at her.
“Nah.”
He pulled away from her, swaggering out of the office. A second later he doubled back.
“Hey Jayde?”
‘Yeah,” she answered quickly, turning and staring right in his eyes.
“You can do me one favor.” She smiled at the statement.
“What’s that?” She was more than willing and ready. Ree looked her up and down and then ordered.
“Don’t ever call me Sean again.”
She swallowed hard, as if drinking down her pride, smirked and nodded.
“Got it.”
Ree turned this time and kept walking. He needed to find the woman that did have the privilege to call him that name. He needed to find Tatum.
“She was here, but she left Mr. Knights. In that direction…toward the trees.” That’s what the guy who came daily to tend to the horses, had told him when he went to the stables. Now Ree walked toward the hill where a bunch of weeping willow trees shaded the land. He found Tatum standing at the cliff overlooking the long drop that led to the shallow lake and rocks below. For some reason, the sight made Ree apprehensive.
“What you doing Tatum?”
The sound of his voice made her body jump slightly from being in a trance, thinking she was alone. She stumbled a bit but Ree already had his hands out, steadying her and then pulling her back.
“Why are you standing so close, anyway?” He asked seriously, his voice carrying a hint of worry.
Was she? She couldn’t have been? Nah, not Tatum. She was too strong. But how much could the too strong take before they gave in and became weak?
“I just wanted to see,” she spoke lowly, still gazing out at the dead air, dead air that led to the deadly 100-foot drop.
“Well you can see from back here, baby. That’s dangerous.”
No answer.
“Listen, Crush is calling the jet. We have to go to Jamaica, some shit happened. I’ll explain on the plane.”
“How can you just bounce back?”
“Excuse me?” Ree really hadn’t understood. Her back was still to him, but he squinted his eyes at her. She was still wearing a long silk purple robe tied tight and her hair was dry in wild curls from when he’d washed it but didn’t know how to straighten it or comb it or do any of that shit she did to it to keep it from getting like this. The wind blew through them and the scenery was so serene, but a bit eerie. Tatum repeated herself.
“How…can you…just bounce…back? You act like nothing ever happened? You act like none of this shit happened.”
Ree sighed. This was her first time opening up about her feelings and he knew she questioned his method on handling things, but he couldn’t discuss that now, too much was happening. Re was not used to dealing with this magnitude of emotions, everything for him had always been black or white, life or death, kill or be killed.
“Tatum, I didn’t. Look, we’ll talk about this later. Right now, the hotel has burned down, people are dead Tatum. We have to go…”
“When will you be back?” She asked him. Ree blew out air.
“Tatum, you’re coming with me. Pop was in the hotel…he’s in the hospital.”
That hurt Tatum. She wanted tears to come to her eyes for Pop but they couldn’t. Every single tear her body could possibly produce had soaked her pillow for her babies. But she hadn’t seen Ree cry one. Not one single tear from him. And that infuriated her.
“I don’t care.”
Ree clenched his jaw, gripped his fists then released. She was hurting, but he swore if it was anyone else, he would have pushed them off the fucking cliff.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re saying. So let’s go, put on some fucking clothes, and get on the plane.” He grabbed her roughly by the arm, trying to maintain his composure. Tatum snatched away.
“Don’t fucking curse at me, Ree! I know what the fuck I’m saying. Maybe I don’t give a fuck about your father the way you didn’t give a fuck about our babies! You were talking about fight, and Taye fighting and us fighting for him. But you didn’t fight! You got me fighting this pain, alone. I’m alone! So no, I don’t care! You didn’t care, why should I? You go, I’ll stay. And then if he dies you can go sell more drugs and act like he never existed either-”
Ree gripped her by the back of her head so swiftly, holding the root of her hair firmly and inflicting slight pain. Tatum never saw it coming. She noticed the tightness in his face, the anger. She had gone too far. He tightened his grasp, bringing his face to hers and unblinkingly piercing his black eyes through her. He could see the slight fear in her.
“Tatum…” He spoke through gritted teeth. But he couldn’t say anymore. He just stared at her as the seconds passed.
One second…breathe...just fucking breathe.
Two seconds…relax.
Two more…loosen your grip, she’s scared.
Three more…don’t hurt her...whatever you do, don’t hurt her.
For that one he allowed about ten more to pass before he could feel his patience return.
Ten more seconds…just walk away. That’s what you do, just walk the fuck away.
And after a long glance at her, he did just that.
“Now what?”
“Now what, what?” Jayde questioned with a chuckle, wiping her eyes.
Ree sighed heavily, grabbing his keys and phone off of his office desk. He glanced up once at Jayde who stood by the window, seeming to try to clear her face up.
These fucking women.
“Why are you crying?” Ree feared it was something with Mickel.
“I’m not…crying,” Jayde tittered.
“Why are you upset?” He rephrased. She thinks she’s so fucking tough. But she’s not.
Jayde licked her lips and put on her performance as a vulnerable woman. She thought of Sasha and mimicked her ways.
“I’m not. I mean…I guess so much shit is happening, you know. I’m so worried about Tatum and I feel so bad for you guys. And then…your dad. And then you.”
“Me?” Ree didn’t understand that part. He wondered where the hell Crush was with the jet. He began to scroll through his phone for his number.
“Yeah you,” Jayde countered looking at him as he seemed focused on anything but her. “You know I only try to help sometimes. I know I may come off strong…but you’re crazy hard on me, Mr. Knights. Or Respect…I don’t know what you want me to call you,” she added in a joke. Ree looked at her.
“I’m hard on you? I thought you were a gangster?” He mocked her, placing the phone to his ear as it rang.
TTW 3 ( Thicker Than Water 3 ) Page 25
