TTW 3 ( Thicker Than Water 3 )

by Takerra, Allen

  Sasha felt relieved. Finally help! She began walking to his truck but then stopped abruptly after a few steps, about halfway. No, stupid…

  “Can you…just bring it to me...? I’m sorry,” she added not wanting to seem ungrateful. The sun was only peeking now, so his features became shadowy. The cars seemed to be zooming by at rapid speed, no one seeming to care much about them.

  The man turned and looked at her, bit his lip and shook his head in disbelief.

  “My god pretty lady you sure are high maintenance. You treat all good Samaritans like this?”

  Sasha chuckled but didn’t appreciate the comment. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  “It’s not that. I just…” His walking up close to her put her on the defense and cut her words off, her thoughts immediately went to Aubrey.

  “Now see all I was trying to do was be a good, red blooded All- American man. But you here treating me like I’m some psycho killer. I oughta leave you out on the highway.”

  Sasha’s nostrils flared and she turned quickly to walk away.

  “Don’t worry about it, I’ll just wait,” she spoke into the wind in stride but he grabbed her arm, preventing her from walking anymore.

  “So since when you Negro women get to be so unappreciative? You in my country, brown sugar!”

  “Get the hell off of me!” She yelled at him, pushing him. She swung her arm to hit him in the face but he grabbed both arms tight and began pulling her to the tuck.

  “Get off of me! Help! …Are you crazy! I called the cops… they’re on the way to help me!”

  “You ain’t got no phone,” he laughed still pulling her roughly. He was so strong.

  Sasha’s heart beat out of her chest. This couldn’t have been happening to her, it was unreal. She kicked and struggled but he was incredibly strong.

  “Get in the truck!” He demanded, almost having her close to it. He was about ready to knock her out with one punch and really get the party started.

  Just then, a black on black Maserati riding fast but incredibly close to them caught both of their attention. The passenger window was down.

  “Help!”

  The car rode past where they were and Sasha went back to being terrified. They didn’t hear her. But then Sasha saw the bright brake lights as it pulled over quickly, a few feet in front of her car. It had stopped so fast, the dirt from the shoulder kicked up behind it.

  “Yo! You alright?” The driver yelled, stepping out hastily at the same time and walking swiftly to them. Her country attacker released her suddenly and hopped into his ride. Sasha, once free, forgot how he had just dominated her and her anger took over. She kicked and punched at his truck as he rammed the gas.

  “You psycho! I got your license plate!”

  Her hero, now seeing that, ran to them hoping to catch the guy, but the predator’s fear got him out into traffic before he could reach them.

  A few seconds later, the mystery Superman was next to Sasha, breathing heavily from the quick run.

  “You alright, Miss? Did he hurt you?”

  Sasha’s chest heaved up and down in fear, relief, and shock. She shook her head no, barely able to speak.

  “My…my baby. My daughter…” She pointed to her car and began walking.

  “Your baby? He took your baby!” The stranger was immediately irate, standing straight up and looking toward traffic.

  “No,” Sasha smiled slightly to calm him. “No…she’s in the car. Thank you. Thank you for…for stopping.”

  “No doubt,” he spoke blasé like. “Something ain’t look right.”

  Sasha began walking toward her car and he followed.

  “I’m gonna make sure you get in your car and you drive away before I pull off.”

  Sasha smiled and sighed in relief at his kindness and at the sight of Aubrey now sleeping peacefully in her car seat. She faced the stranger.

  “Thank you.” She almost forgot why she pulled over in the first place.

  “Oh, actually….I can’t drive away.”

  “You hurt?” He crinkled his brows, looking her up and down as best as he could in the night.

  “No...I’m out of gas,” she chuckled solemnly. For some reason, he put a sense of calm over her. He really was like a hero. “Can I…can I use your cell phone to call a tow truck?”

  Sasha’s voice began to crack and she knew what was coming but she didn’t want to cry in front of this man, and then he’d think she was crazy and leave her stranded.

  “Yeah, of course. …Here.”

  He handed her the phone. At this time, it was completely dark. And where were the state troopers when you needed them?

  Sasha found a tow truck company and they let her know they were on their way.

  “How long?”

  Sasha sighed.

  “45 minutes,” she mumbled.

  Although she was relieved they were coming, forty five minutes seemed like an eternity, especially since she knew her hero would probably have to leave and she’d be waiting alone.

  “I mean, I can run you to a rest stop and we can get a gas can you know…handle it like that.”

  Sasha took a deep breath and shook her head, leaning against her car.

  “No offense. But after all of that…I’ll just wait for the tow truck.”

  “I feel you. I’ll wait with you.” There was a brief silence and then…

  “Thank you.”

  “No problem.” Another long pause and a few serene moments passed, and then a couple of preliminary rain drops added to the mysterious events. Of course.

  “Why don’t we sit in the car, ma?” Her hero asked, putting his hand out and feeling the rain coming.

  Sasha looked skeptically and he could see it, even in the darkness. He chuckled.

  “I mean, we can sit in yours. Or you can sit, get out the rain. I’ll sit in mine. At least we know yours ain’t going nowhere.”

  Sasha laughed. He was right. He could do less to her in a car that was out of gas than a dark field on the side of the road.

  “No, you can sit in mine. Come on.”

  Sasha walked around to the passenger seat and got in. She then opened the driver’s door for him, signaling with her hand for him to join her.

  “Come on, come sit down.”

  He climbed inside slowly, sliding the seat back. The doors being opened caused for the inside lights to come on, and even in her time of solemn, Sasha noticed how attractive he was. She stared at him while he adjusted the seat. He actually reminded her of Chauncey.

  “There we go,” he spoke in his deep baritone, finding the right position for his tall and chocolate frame as he leaned back and looked over at her.

  “Pink huh?” He spoke about the interior. “I can dig it.”

  Sasha laughed lightly and looked down. Looking at him really did remind her of Chauncey, her own tall, dark, and handsome man who was now gone.

  “That’s your daughter right there?’ He asked lowly, looking back and seeing Aubrey sleeping. “She’s a little dream.”

  Sasha smiled and looked back at her princess.

  “Yeah, that’s my love. She’s my mini me.”

  “I can tell,” he told her. When Sasha looked back to him, he was staring at her.

  “Dig ma, you look real familiar.” His voice was deep but low, as he spoke a few notches down from normal, trying not to wake Aubrey.

  “So do you,” she replied quicker than she expected, in the matched low tone.

  Sasha for some reason, even though she knew she shouldn’t have been thinking of it at this time, wondered if she looked attractive. She knew her jeans hugged her hips and her tank top showed her small waist and perky breasts. But her crying had probably ruined her mascara and her long straightened hair was probably frizzy from the tussling and fret. However he looked dapper and clean in his crisp jeans, black Louis Vuitton sneakers and black V-neck. She also noticed the Presidential Rolex, and the Maserati didn’t miss her. Some women never met a baller in
their lifetime, but Sasha was a magnet for them.

  “You actually remind me of my husb… Well my fianc… Well…my baby’s father.”

  He chuckled lightly, noticing the debate over the formal title.

  “Word? What’s his name?”

  “…Chauncey.”

  Dude stared at her for a while and then snapped his finger and pointed at her.

  “And you’re Sasha.”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  “How you know?” Her country accent peeking when her voice raised an octave. He laughed smoothly.

  “Calm down. I met you before…at a party once. My bad, I’m Gavin. But you can call me G.” He put his hand out.

  Sasha took a deep breath of extra relief. Now she remembered him being an acquaintance of Chauncey’s and she had a new sense of calm. She remembered thinking he was fine when she met him before and now she knew why she could hardly stop looking at him.

  “Okay, I remember,” she smiled, shaking his waiting hand. “Wow, that’s crazy. What a coincidence!”

  He shrugged and looked out of the window at the passing cars.

  “I don’t really believe in coincidences though, ma. I was supposed to stop that crazy mothafucka from causing harm to my man C’s lady. You see, that’s the way the universe works.”

  She swallowed hard and looked down. She wanted to tell him she was no longer C’s lady but she left it alone.

  “So you believe in fate, then,” she stated, rather than asked.

  He looked over at her and smiled a little before nodding.

  “Yeah…yeah I guess I do.”

  “I’m not like you. I can’t just be alone and be alright…I need a man.” – Sasha, Thicker than Water

  -15-

  The bottle turned straight up and Ree parted his lips, allowing the liquid poison to enter his body hoping he’d feel the numbing effect sooner than later. Drinking wasn’t his norm, but neither were any of the events that had occurred in the last few weeks for that matter. Ree needed to wash away something he wasn’t quite sure could be washed. He needed to void any feeling.

  So he turned to the bottle, which had always been his father’s solace. He knew it was what had been Leroy’s crutch at getting over his mother’s death. He wondered if it would help him get over who he needed to.

  Otis Redding’s soulful croon soundtracked the moment unintentionally, filling the space of the office, and Ree’s mind wandered as the music played.

  Pain in my heart…treating me cold…

  Where can my baby be…?

  Lord, no one knows…

  Pain in my heart…just won’t let me sleep…

  Where can my baby be…?

  Lord, where can she be?

  And as the days…as the days are getting tough…

  Said I want you to come back… come back… come back, baby…

  I’ve had enough…

  Ree had to chuckle at the irony of the words as he took another swig of the premium brown liquor.

  “Fuck it,” he tried to mumble, tried to convince himself.

  He knew there was no coming back from what he’d done. There was no sorry, no flowers, no dress fresh off the runway, or no shoe straight from the next season’s catalog that could get him back right with Tatum. It had to be over, he’d destroyed someone that Tatum loved more than him and he knew the moment he pulled the trigger this could be one of the consequences. He had made that decision consciously, as all of his decisions had always been made.

  With the intention of facing the possible circumstances knowingly and readily.

  But there was a feeling, one that he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to live with. Even more than losing her, he never considered how it would feel knowing he had hurt her in such a powerful way.

  It would be easier to let her go, knowing she was happy. But knowing she was somewhere hurting and not being able to amend it, and knowing he was the cause, was worse than Ree could have imagined. He would forever be etched in her mind not as her soul mate, or the man who loved her more than life itself, but as her brother’s murderer.

  “Respect.” Crush’s voice tuned Ree into the moment as the door slowly cracked open.

  “Yeah,” Ree responding, swallowing his liquor.

  He looked up and Crush stood, a blank expression adorning his face. Jayde stood by his side.

  “She’s here,” Crush informed him as if Jayde weren’t standing right there.

  Ree had been expecting her. She had gone and met with the people Chauncey was initially supposed to. She had stepped up to the plate to keep the wheels moving in the operation and smooth them over even after all of the bullshit that had gone down. When Chauncey got into the trouble, the Gonzales family and even the Segovias were on the brink of pulling out. This was why it had been so hard before to put together the master plan, they both rarely took risks.

  Ree threw up his hand, motioning for Jayde to take a seat in the dim lit room. He reached over and turned on his desk lamp and leaned back coolly, taking another long drink. It was so quiet they could hear the crickets on the outside of the mansion.

  Crush stood for a moment, staring at Jayde who now walked up and stood across from Ree in her short, white Thierry Mugler bustier dress, but still not sitting. Her long hair was slicked up into a ponytail showing off those devious green eyes, and her shiny red lips were now curled up in a smirk. Crush didn’t like the broad, there was something about the way she moved.

  “That’ll be all, Crush,” she directed, as if reading his thoughts and feeling his eyes burning into her back.

  “Yo you cool, boss?” Crush narrowed his eyes at Respect.

  Ree’s glassy and low eyes traveled over Jayde and then to Crush.

  “Yeah…yeah I’m good.”

  Crush knew he was fucked up. He knew he’d been fucked up and Crush wished Tatum would walk through that door any moment. He nodded and started out but was halted by Ree’s next words.

  “Still nothing?”

  Crush paused but didn’t turn around. He had never lied to Ree a day in his life, but he had been doing it recently.

  “Nah… We still don’t know where she is. But I’m on it, boss... I’m sure she alright.”

  He knew his loyalty should have been to Ree, but he had formed a recent bond with Tatum, so when she begged him not to tell Ree where she was after he had her followed, he obliged. Not only because he thought she deserved some time alone but also because he felt it would be more beneficial to the situation. Ree loved Tatum but Ree was used to rules, his rules that people followed. Ree didn’t know the rules of love because it was a game he was an amateur at. Crush knew if Ree found out where Tatum was, he’d drag her ass home just out of his basic need for her to be with him, and the type of person that Tatum was, that would only be the end of them. Crush knew if there was any chance that she’d forgive him, it’d have to be on her will and in time. However he did wish that process would speed up.

  “Sure isn’t good enough,” Ree spoke seriously. “I need to know, man. You’re usually on point with this type of thing Crush…what’s up?” Ree cocked his head to the side and studied his old friend.

  Crush sighed and turned around, putting on his most sincere face. He wondered if Ree already knew he was lying.

  He stared at Ree and a few seconds passed. He looked to Jayde and he immediately knew he would definitely either get Tatum home or let Ree know where she was at this point. Something changed, something didn’t feel right.

  “Yeah…you right, boss. I’ll have something for you, don’t worry.”