TTW 3 ( Thicker Than Water 3 )

by Takerra, Allen

  Ree followed Mickel and took a seat at the small couch perpendicular to the chair Mickel sat in. He looked him directly in the eyes and let out a small sigh.

  “You know what I’m going to say, old man.”

  Mickel shook his head and grinned.

  “You’re going to say that you’ll recruit all new people, get this plan going, be the head of it like I always wanted you to be, and make us a whole lot of money, correct?”

  Ree chuckled and pulled out a pre-rolled blunt. He lifted it, asking if he could light it with no words spoken. Mickel nodded and Ree pulled out his lighter, putting flame to the tip. He inhaled and after a few seconds, he released his words with the disposable smoke.

  “It’s not happening, old man. I’m gone. I don’t want to stick around and find anyone else. I don’t want to stick around and do it myself. I don’t even want to do the first run. It’s over. I came to tell you that in person.”

  Mickel seemed disappointed but in reality, he knew. After Chauncey, and then after Jayde getting arrested, he knew that it was over. Maybe the master plan was never supposed to come into play. Maybe brilliant drug schemes like that only happened in the movies and the books.

  Mickel nodded at Ree and took in a deep breath.

  “I understand. Not that I don’t regret the way everything happened, I know we could’ve made a lot of money. But it is over, because I have too much to risk trying to do it myself. Plus both families are not comfortable with all of this heat… so much has occurred. And for what it’s worth Respect, I apologize for…you know…Jayde. And I know how you normally would have handled that. I appreciate what you did…for me…because she is my child, and I do love her, as I do all of my children. How is Tatum? Do you know if she will be able to… still have children?”

  Ree’s response was a mellow shrug as he took another pull from the blunt and put his eyes toward the floor. He didn’t want to talk about that. He felt so many things at that time and he knew he had accomplished what he’d come to...almost. And just because one knows what they are supposed to do, it doesn’t make it easier. Ree felt conflicted.

  Just as Ree was in the brink of contemplation, Mickel’s cell phone, which sat on the table between them, began to vibrate with an incoming call. Both men looked down, but Mickel was the one to recognize it.

  “Ah, it’s from the lawyers. It must be word of Jayde.” He caught his excitement and looked to Ree in empathy. “I’m sorry Respect…is this…is this uncomfortable. I can take this in the other room.”

  Mickel knew it had to be hard for Ree, especially the type of man that he was, to let Jayde breathe after what she had done. He knew if Respect wanted to, he could have had Jayde touched in prison.

  Ree took another toke of the blunt because he knew that Mickel was about to find out that he in fact did have Jayde touched in prison. He hoped he would understand, but deep down, he knew he would not.

  “No…you can take the call. I’m heading out.” He gave Mickel a handshake and brought him into a half manly embrace. And when Mickel was close, Ree whispered to him.

  “Hey, old man…one more thing.”

  “Yeah?” Mickel asked, seeming concerned, feeling Ree’s off energy, with his cell phone still vibrating in his hand. Ree stared him right in the eyes and then brought his mouth to Mickel’s ear in privacy, placing his hand behind Mickel’s head.

  “I’m sorry.” Before Mickel’s eyebrows could fully furrow, Ree brought his 45 against Mickel’s cheek and sent a bullet straight through his skull, the silencer muzzling the sound but nothing preventing the blood and brain matter that splattered onto the table.

  Mickel dropped to the ground instantaneously, with his face still wearing a look of confusion, hurt, and pain. Ree stepped and stood over him, emptying two more bullets into his chest, staining his white linen shirt red and putting him out of his misery. Kneeling down with his elbows on his knees, Ree then brought his hand over Mickel’s face while wearing regret all in his own and he gently closed Mickel’s eyes.

  He had loved the man like a second father, and many would deem him heartless for what he had done, but he knew him and his family would never be at peace if he didn’t kill Mickel first. Once Mickel found out about Jayde, he would war, and Ree couldn’t afford that, not with Tatum in the picture. He would surely kill Respect, or try to, and Tatum, and anyone else he wished. They had the same mentality.

  Ree let out a sigh and took one final look at Mickel, wishing it didn’t have to end like this. He saw the vibrating start on his cell phone again and he thought of the only positive, which was that he killed Mickel before he would have to hear the heart breaking news of his daughter’s murder.

  Ree turned to head out with a heavy heart but was halted by a voice.

  “Respect, what are you doing here…”

  He spun around and Sasha’s mother Terri stood holding a white china tea pot, wearing her own white linen set.

  “Where is Mick…?”

  She scanned the area looking for her love and when her eyes finally covered every corner of the room and landed on his dead body, she dropped her mouth into an O of horror and dropped the tea pot, sending glass crashing and shattering everywhere. No words would or could come out at first. Not after all of this, after all they had been through. Finally her thoughts met her vocal chords and she screamed out in pain. They were wearing white because it was their wedding day. Although it wouldn’t have been very legal since she was technically still married, it would have valued in their heart.

  “Whyyy!!! Respect, whyyyy!!!” Terri cried out in deep agony as she looked up at Ree with tear filled eyes. “How could you? How could you kill him! He loved you!” She dropped down to Mickel’s body and cradled his head in her lap, crying abundantly, and Ree looked down at her in remorse.

  Why did she have to be here? He couldn’t help but wonder.

  Ree sighed, feeling terrible, and without another thought he raised his gun and sent a bullet straight through Terri’s forehead, killing her instantly.

  Callous? Maybe. Necessary? Absolutely.

  Let her live and live his own life wondering and worrying, nope the game didn’t work like that. She was the absolute definition of wrong place, wrong time. He took a deep breath and stepped outside, knowing in his heart, he had done what he had to do.

  “So we going home now?” Tatum asked, smiling brightly at him like a little girl on Christmas Day as Ree slid back into the car. He was thankful that he hadn’t gotten any blood on him, but he was always careful to try not to. He knew all about killing, down to the angles you would shoot someone to kill them slower, faster, not leave blood on you, not leaving blood anywhere.

  Ree glanced over at her and smiled, knowing that everything he did, in some prism had been directly related to his love for, and his need to protect, his Queen. Ever since he’d spotted her outside of the club in New York, she’d become a focal point in his world. He had told her he’d die for her, and he meant that. He had told himself that he’d kill for her, and he proved that.

  “Yeah…yeah we going home now.”

  Tatum leaned over and fell into his strength as he wrapped one arm around her and directed Crush to the jet. Their fingers intertwined with ease.

  The two of them had been through a lot, so much, too much… but in the end their love had survived.

  Tatum wondered if it could survive one more thing, something she thought she wanted to forget but found herself just needing one more answer to. It was now or never. Let it out or let it go. Tatum’s mind danced back and forth between overindulgence and ignorance as her stomach churned and spewed up word vomit.

  “Ree?” Her voice sang lowly, almost shocking herself for beginning to pose the question.

  “What up?” He spoke lowly, gazing out of the window and unknowingly thinking of the past ten or so minutes that had just occurred, the two murders he had just committed. He knew unlike the others, he’d never forget this one.

  Tatum looked up at his face and
made the decision that no matter what the answer was to this question, she would have to live with it. It wouldn’t change any of the choices that she’d made…but she had to know.

  “Did you…did you kill my brother?”

  Ree crinkled his brows and instantly looked down at her. Crush peered through the rearview and swerved, almost hitting a curb. What?

  Not only was Ree thrown off by her brashness, the calmness in her voice when she asked and the eye contact she held, he had thought she already knew the answer to that. Then he thought about the words she had overheard from Jayde.

  What if Tatum knew you were responsible for her brother’s death?

  Responsible…not the one who killed him…

  “Did you…did you actually…pull the trigger?” Tears filled Tatum’s eyes as she held them on Ree’s. “Were you the one who actually took his life? Just tell me the truth…I need to know…”

  Yes. That’s what Ree wanted to say. Does it make a difference?

  But then he started to think about the reasons of why he wanted to say that. Would it be for his own conscious, for his own run of karma to jot down that he’d always followed the honesty policy? Or was there, in situations when you loved someone so much that you’d do anything not to see them hurt, was there such a thing in those instances…as a good lie?

  If there was anything that Tatum had done enough, it was hurt. Everyone knew that. He would have no more of that.

  So with the straightest face and the most sincere tone, Ree brushed his fingers across her sweet cheek and answered her with what he knew was the right answer…

  “No.”

  Tatum studied him for a moment and then let out a shaky and visible sigh of relief. Ree could literally see a weight lifted off of her. He would not torture her for the rest of her life, letting her know she loved a man who took her brother’s life with his hands, even if she really did know the truth in her heart. He would not be so cruel to admit it. He would sacrifice his conscious for hers.

  Tatum pulled in closer to him and Ree cocooned her in his arms. Crush looked through the rearview and nodded with a half-smile, and everything seemed to finally be at peace.

  And just as they reached the jet and Ree and Tatum shared a sweet kiss, her cell phone rang interrupting the moment. She answered in her serene state.

  “Hello…”

  She was greeted by a woman.

  “Hi… is this Tatum Mosley?”

  Ree helped Tatum out of the car and closed the door behind her while Tatum focused on her call.

  “This is Tatum…Tatum Knights…who’s this?” Tatum looked to Ree wearing an expression of confusion as he stared back at her.

  “Hi Tatum, my name is Lilly… and I’m a nurse at Virginia Beach hospital. I’m sorry to bother you…but do you know a Nichole Samuel?”

  Tatum crinkled her brow, knowing that was the government name of her nieces’ mother.

  “Yes…yes, I know her. Is she alright?”

  There was a brief silence followed by a deep breath.

  “Well…no. Unfortunately, Nichole Samuel overdosed… on heroin… and she passed away this afternoon. I’m…I’m sorry. My sincerest condolences. We were told to call you by your nieces…Chanel and Tangee Samuel. They were alone in the house and the grandmother cannot be found. Is there any way that you can come here?”

  Tatum glanced up at Ree, her jaw dropped in shock. She was devastated that the girls had to suffer the loss of a mother like she herself had. However, she couldn’t help feel complete knowing they’d be back with her. Where she felt they always belonged.

  Tatum closed her mouth and swallowed hard.

  “Yes. Tell them…tell them we’re on our way.”

  Tatum ended the call and looked up at Ree still in shock. She truly couldn’t believe it.

  “Ree guess what… that was a nurse from Virginia Beach Hospital. Nikki’s dead…she…she overdosed.” Tatum shook her head in disbelief. “Tangee and Chanel told her to call me.”

  Ree looked down at her and sighed. He immediately wondered how the girls were taking it, he knew they had to get to them. He briefly wondered if anything else could happen. It seemed anything that could shake up their world, had done so. He hoped this was the end.

  Ree grabbed Tatum’s hand and pulled her to him, looking down into her eyes and nodding his head toward the jet.

  “C’mon Miss Lady…let’s go get our girls.”

  Tatum smiled and breathed a deep sigh of reprieve, allowing him to lead the way. And she knew at that moment that they’d seen too much tragedy to ever be a happily ever after. It was damn near impossible. But her, Chanel, Tangee, and Ree, starting over and living a life in sunny beautiful Jamaica…man, they’d be as happily ever after as happy could be. And for everything that had led them to it, and for everything they conquered, and for everything that they knew they deserved… that was more than enough.

  “I guess at least one of us gets the happy ending, huh?”

  – Sasha, Still Thicker than Water

  -Epilogue-

  After the Storm…

  Mickel and Terri’s bodies were found days later by a local. There were no identification leads on the two and no one reported them missing or claimed the bodies. They were buried on the island as a John and Jane Doe next to each other… eternally….

  Chauncey is currently housed at Georgia State Prison where he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Bleek. The possibility of his release is highly unlikely giving he was in violation of his parole at the time of the incident. He accepts no mail from Sasha and declined all of her visits. After the first six months, she stopped trying…

  Sasha moved back to New Jersey, sharing a house with the only father she’d ever known, Bill, and her daughter, Aubrey. Being that her mother had declared she was running away with a new lover, Sasha and Bill had no reason to ever report her missing and thus they remain clueless about her murder. After six months of no response from Chauncey with numerous attempts at apologies, she finally received a letter from him. In reality it was from Georgia State Prison stating Chauncey was requesting DNA testing of Aubrey. After persuasion from her father and Tatum, Sasha reluctantly went through with the test. Despite the fact of Aubrey being his spitting image, she was not his. Sasha now is a nurse at St. Peters Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ and is currently searching the market to buy a house. She called her friend G, who she met on the highway that memorable night…They have a date for him to show her his house next week…

  Jayde’s dead body was found in her cell the next morning. All of her accounts were seized by the state, totaling $7.2 million. She was buried by the state and after trying to locate her family, and finding out that her biological mother Emerald had recently suffered a severe stroke in a mental institute in New Jersey, only two people ended up attending her funeral. It was the brother she’d never met…Julez Payne and his girlfriend, Jordin….

  Tatum and Respect moved back to Jamaica into their old estate. After rebuilding the hotel, they now run the resort along with Tatum’s profitable hot air balloon attraction. Chanel and Tangee returned with them and this time, Ree saw to it that the adoption papers were signed, legal, and legit. The girls are enjoying life in Jamaica and Ree’s father, Leroy, and Crush and his wife both live in homes only miles away. They sometimes all get together for dinner on Sundays.

  Respect arranged for the bodies of baby Taye and baby Tamia to be flown and buried in Jamaica, at a small private gravesite near the estate. After months of considering, Tatum and Ree finally decided to try again for another baby. Ordered to be bed-written for the entire pregnancy, the doctors expect Tatum to make it through the full term of her pregnancy. She is closing in on her seventh month and all seems to be well with their baby boy.

  ***

  The TTW Cast Will Miss Its Loyal Readers!!!

  -“I loved the Thicker than Water series because the characters are real, the story is real…I can visualize so much as spit flying out
the mouths of these characters when they’re arguing and fighting, and that’s as real as it gets…”- Lamartz Brown “Paterson”

  - “I'm in love with RESPECT and he ain't even real! …this series captures the reader and pulls you into the story without your permission and before you know it you’ll be just like the rest of the Takerra Allen fans stalking her for the next installment lol!”