Renee

by Brandie Davis

  Daniel squeezed his daughter in his arms, hoping that he could give her the strength she needed to battle her demons, welcome joy into her life, and live the life she was meant to have. He pulled away from her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “I came to tell you that it’s okay to be happy and let go of what hurts. But, Renee, the snakes aren’t done coming yet. Not everyone is who they appear to be.”

  Renee’s shoulders dropped, the tension leaving her body. “Who? Tell me who?” Renee grabbed her father by his wrist. He still wore the bracelet Sheila had brought him for Father’s Day as a gift from Renee.

  “Keep your eyes open,” he warned.

  Daniel hugged his daughter one last time and turned to walk away, but before he took another step, he looked back at her, his smile brighter than the room’s light.

  “And don’t worry. The baby is with me.”

  Renee stopped breathing, and for the first time, she could see her baby’s face. It was a boy.

  Chapter 38

  Renee’s eyes shot open. Her jaw felt tight, her heart raced, and her face was drenched with tears and sweat. Her dream had been so real, so vivid. A twister made of feelings swirled inside of her. A soft smile touched her lips. The sight of her father had lifted her spirits. During a time when her life was out of order, confusion was in the forefront, and her sanity was out of whack, she needed the comfort and support of a parent, and she had got it. Renee rubbed her eyes, covered her face with her hands, then deeply inhaled and exhaled. Her phone chimed, indicating she had received a text. She exhaled one last time, grabbed her phone, and pulled up several text messages. Before she could read it, she heard heavy breathing in the dark room. Looking up and straight ahead, she detected movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look, and there in a corner of the room sat a figure who was staring back at her. It was too dark to make out who it was. Renee inched her arm closer to her nightstand, where her gun sat.

  “It’s me,” the figure told her, then walked out of the darkness and sat on the end of her bed.

  “What the fuck are you doing in here, Jared?”

  “Watching you sleep. You’re so pretty when you sleep.”

  Renee took a better look at Jared. He was a mess. His hair needed a cut, his beard had grown out, and heavy dark bags hung underneath his eyes. And if Renee was correct, he had worn those same clothes three days in a row.

  This motherfucker done lost his mind.

  “Jared, you’re pulling some stalker-type shit.”

  “We gotta talk, Renee. We . . . we . . . we really need to talk,” Jared stuttered. He inched closer to the middle of the bed and took Renee’s phone out of her hand. “I need your full attention.” He got up, dropped her phone on the TV stand, and then sat back down on the bed. “You have to let go of Julian. You have to be with me. No more games. It’s time we be together.” Although Renee had already seen his left hand begin to shake, he used his right to try to conceal the movement.

  Jared had officially lost his mind. The strong, confident, fearless man Renee once knew wasn’t standing before her now. He was withering away and had mentally checked out. Renee’s eyes shifted back to the nightstand.

  “Renee! I’m not going to hurt you! I just came up here to talk!” Renee had trained this man so well, too well, because he knew her every thought. He plopped back down on the bed and took her hands in his. “I need you Renee. I love you,” he confessed.

  Renee could see the pain in his eyes, and it hurt her. She cared for Jared, but not in the way he cared for her. That night was just sex, nothing more, nothing less. She had no intentions of being with him. She knew that ignoring him and sleeping with him were the wrong things to do, but she didn’t know what else to do. She had slept with one of her workers, the biggest mistake of her life. Renee slipped her hands out of his carefully and with ease.

  “Jared, what happened that night was a mistake. I was hurt and needed an outlet.”

  “That’s not true. If you didn’t love me, you would have slept with someone else, but you chose me. Why are you making things so difficult? Why can’t you see we’re meant to be!” His eyes became enlarged and revealed the red veins on his eyeballs.

  “I’m sorry, Jared, but I don’t want to be with you. That was a one-time thing, a mistake.”

  Renee could literally see Jared falling apart right in front of her. For the first time in her life, she honestly regretted hurting another human being. Her father’s words replayed in her head. You have to live and right your wrongs. Renee knew she had to be honest about how she felt.

  Jared’s face scrunched up. “It’s Julian, isn’t it? You can’t let him go. I feel you . . . I understand, but if you don’t let him go, he’s gonna be resting right beside Slice and Waves.” A drop of saliva sat on the corner of his mouth.

  Renee felt her blood pressure rise. Trying to let him down easy had just gone out the window.

  “Don’t threaten me, Jared. You’ll be a memory before sunrise.”

  “He doesn’t love you like I do.”

  “You’re right. He loves me better.”

  They sat in silence. Their locked eyes at battle, Renee could hear Jared’s hard, labored breathing. He wanted to choke the life out of her. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This was nowhere close to his fantasy. They were supposed to be making love right now as a couple. But instead, he was seeing red.

  “You’re such a bitch,” he spit.

  “Well, thank you.” Renee smiled. He had to come at her a lot harder if he wanted to hurt her. “Now get the fuck out of my face.” Renee wiped the smile off her face so fast, she seemed bipolar.

  Jared rose from her bed, then walked over to the door. Before he left, he told her, “I’ma have fun destroying your world.”

  With that said, he was gone, and they were now enemies.

  Chapter 39

  Jared stormed out of Renee’s room like a bat out of hell. His rage was at an all-time high. He knew that if he didn’t get away from Renee, he’d kill her. Hearing her actually say she didn’t want him caused him the worst pain he’d ever felt. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes, but he wouldn’t allow them. Tears wouldn’t make the situation any better, but revenge would. Jared now wanted to destroy her life. He now wanted her to hurt until she came to her senses and ran into his arms. He’d stop at nothing to have her.

  Jared skipped steps while racing down the stairs. He flung the front door open and was surprised to see a beautiful young woman with short hair standing in front of him. It was almost five in the morning. What was she doing there?

  “What the fuck do you want?” Jared spit. Her presence was forcing him to stay longer at Renee’s than he wanted.

  “For you to get the fuck out of my way.”

  The woman grabbed Jared by his shirt and charged into him. The moment their bodies collided, she shot him. Jared hadn’t noticed she was holding a gun. When he opened the door, he’d focused only on her face. Jared’s eyes shot wide open, and his mouth dropped. Clutching his stomach, he watched his blood seep through his clothes and stain his fingers. Unable to get a word out, he fell to the floor.

  “Y’all make this too easy,” she muttered.

  Page stepped over Jared’s body and made her way toward the stairs, in search of Renee. She was done waiting for the perfect time to strike. She wanted Renee’s head now.

  * * *

  As she stood on her bedroom terrace, for the first time, Renee was reevaluating her life. Having her father come to her in a dream and witnessing how broken Jared was had made her want to rethink it all.

  I can’t keep living like this.

  Renee’s misery had been eating away at her and causing her to miss out on life’s greatest pleasures. For a long time, she’d been content with drowning in a sea of misery. It was all she’d ever known. Looking back, she realized that it had done nothing but weaken her and hinder her from living life.

  The thought that the baby was a boy constantly ran through her mind. Kn
owing her baby’s sex alone caused her to see things in a new light, a light she didn’t mind basking in. As she gazed out at the city’s lights, she allowed herself to get lost in its beauty. Blown away by the possibility of finally being happy, Renee never heard Page sneak up behind her. She never felt her breath on the nape of her neck.

  “Take it all in, because you’ll never see this city again,” Page whispered in her ear.

  Renee didn’t get a chance to turn all the way around before she was struck in the temple with the butt of Page’s gun. Grabbing her head, Renee stumbled to the other side of the terrace. Page followed her and smacked her across the face with the firearm. Renee’s lip busted open, and blood leaked out, painting her face and a square foot of the terrace red. Renee held her face and collapsed. She had no idea who was attacking her. Jared came to her mind, but she quickly rejected that thought, because her attacker’s voice was not a man’s.

  Renee looked up and forced her eyes to adjust and focus on the figure standing over her. Her eyes got big. Her attacker was pointing a gun directly at her head.

  “Say hi to Sheila for me.”

  The second the words left Page’s mouth, it registered with Renee who the attacker was. Renee felt her heart stop, and the aching in her face temporarily disappeared.

  “Page?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. Don’t you love reunions?”

  Renee tried to sit up and rest her back against the railing. But the second she moved, Page stomped down on her leg, and she didn’t stop until she heard something snap. Renee screamed at the top of her lungs.

  “I wouldn’t move if I were you. I’d think you would want to die on your back, like the ho that you are,” Page snarled as the moonlight hit her face.

  Renee didn’t know what was going on, but having her younger sister disrespect her and attack her didn’t sit well with her. “You don’t know what you’re doing. Whoever put you up to this won’t live to see tomorrow. Neither will you, if you don’t put the gun down.” It pained her to threaten the sister she hadn’t seen in years. However, her pride conquered all. Renee had always told herself, if anyone ever pulled a gun out on her, they had better use it. If not, she’d use hers, and she wouldn’t care who stood at the other end of it.

  Page smiled. “You really think you bad, really think you run shit. But I’ll tell you this. You run nothing but your damn mouth. If it wasn’t for you, my father would still be alive right now.” A lone tear danced down Page’s cheek.

  “That’s what this is about? You blame me for your father being dead?”

  “That’s exactly what this is about. First, you fuck him, and then you get him locked up. If it wasn’t for you, he would still be alive! You’re such a dirty bitch!” Page kicked Renee in her face, and blood flew from her mouth into the air.

  Renee fought not to succumb to the pain.

  You have to live and to right your wrongs, Renee thought again.

  “Page, I know this is hard to hear, because he’s your father, and I’m not sure how much our mother told you or what you remember, but Curtis was a horrible person who did a lot of unforgettable things,” she pushed out.

  “And what are you? A saint? I know all about you.”

  “Far from it. I’m many things, but a rapist has never been one of them.”

  Page’s lips dissolved into a tight, thin line. The gun she pointed at Renee was no longer steady but swayed a little from side to side.

  Renee continued. “He raped me, and our mother allowed it.” The truth stabbed Renee so deeply, it overshadowed the physical torment eating away at her. “And because I left you behind with those two monsters, that makes me a monster.” There had always been a need inside of Renee to admit to her sister where she went wrong during her escape for sanity. “Now look at you. We made you into a scared, blinded little girl.”

  It felt good, real good—just as good as when you finally drink a glass of ice-cold water on a sweltering summer day—to Renee to speak her faults.

  “You’re full of shit,” Page smirked. She had regained control of the gun, and her hand no longer moved. Her eyes narrowed and lowered, she growled, “You wanted it. I know you did. I bet you craved to have him inside of you whenever he wasn’t around.”

  Renee shot forward, but the pain in her leg made it impossible for her to stand up. “Fuck you!” she screamed. “That bastard deserved what he got. He raped me countless times! You really think I was going to let him get away with that? Fuck outta here! I’m glad that son of a bitch is worm food. My peoples do good work, don’t they?”

  With a face full of blood, and a swollen eye and mouth, Renee grinned. It felt good to speak ill of the dead. Then, unexpectedly, she screamed, “Checkmate, bitch!” and released a bone-chilling laugh. If she was going to go out, she was going out with a boom!

  “Nah, bitch, fuck you! I’m about to send you to hell, right along with our ho-ass mother. Neither of you bitches deserved my father. And for the record, your ‘people’ didn’t kill Sheila. I did. They did all the prep work for me, though, so thanks.”

  Renee gasped. Her mind was going a mile a minute. What was Page talking about?

  “As much as I hate her, I decided to try to save that slut from your goons, until she fucked up,” Page continued. “The bitch started talking about how I was no match for you, and how you were so fuckin’ special. Well, you bitches can be special together in hell!”

  Page aimed the gun at Renee’s head. This was the moment she’d waited for, and Page would cherish this like a mother cherished her children. She pulled the trigger and watched as Renee’s smile never left her face. She then pulled the trigger again, only to hear the sound of an empty clip.

  What the fuck? Lincoln had only one bullet in this bitch! she thought.

  Page thought about Jared laid out downstairs, and she wanted to turn back the hands of time and take back that bullet.

  Renee lay there laughing like she had front-row seats to Def Comedy Jam. Enraged, Page threw the gun to the side and jumped on top of Renee. She wrapped her hands around Renee’s neck and started squeezing the life out of her.

  “Die, bitch! Die!” she yelled.

  Fighting for air, Renee clawed at Page’s face and hands. With her good leg, she started kicking wildly, but it was no use. She was losing consciousness. As her eyes started to close and her body prepared to shut down due to a lack of oxygen, she felt herself going under.

  Suddenly, Page’s hands released her neck. Air rushed into her lungs, and Renee started to cough violently. She rolled over on her side and struggled to breathe.

  Standing behind Page, Carmen had her left hand wrapped around Page’s neck. The choke hold forced Page to stand still while Carmen pointed Jared’s gun at the side of her head with her right hand.

  Carmen whispered in her ear, “You’re not fucking up my meal ticket.”

  She pulled the trigger and watched as Page’s body dropped. She died instantly. When Page hit the terrace, Carmen’s and Renee’s eyes met. No words were exchanged, although their eyes held a full conversation.

  Chapter 40

  Julian broke into pieces when he walked into Renee’s home. When he saw the bodies and the bloodstains in various places, he thought he’d lost the love of his life. The silence in the house was just as disturbing and ripped at his heart. He and Renee had finally become a couple. He couldn’t lose her. Not now, not ever.

  When he made it upstairs and laid his eyes on her, he felt like he was seeing her for the first time. When they first met, the circumstances were not in the least romantic, but they were life changing. On that day, his heart was born. Now, as he and Renee looked at one another, no words were spoken. Then Julian swooped in, took her in his arms, and held her as tightly as she could handle. Moments later he carried her from the terrace and away from her sisters. Renee stared at Carmen until she was out of sight.

  * * *

  Renee woke up the next day in the hospital. Everything that had taken place the night before was fr
esh in her mind, and the moment she awoke, the reel of that night began replaying in her mind. Julian placed his hand on top of hers when she didn’t turn his way. Last night’s events had a hold on her and wouldn’t let go right away. Finally, the visuals ended, and Renee took his hand in hers, and their fingers intertwined.

  “What happened?” Julian asked.

  Renee tried arranging the thoughts swarming around in her mind before she spoke. “Page tried to kill me, and Carmen saved me. The bitch actually saved me.” Renee snickered, partially unable to wrap her head around that fact.

  Julian tightened his hold on her hand, his silence speaking volumes.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked, sitting up all the way and throwing off the blanket. Now Julian had a better view of her broken leg, her swollen face, and her busted lip. The sight alone crushed his insides.

  “Lincoln warned me about Page. I just didn’t get to her in time,” he said in a low voice.

  “Why didn’t—”

  Julian freed her hand and threw his up, interrupting her. “Let me finish.” He looked at her in all her perfection and imperfection and explained what he should have before. “Page was . . .” He paused, in search of the right word. “Page was disturbed that Lincoln was seeing your mother. That’s how he was able to give me the heads-up that she had plans for you.” The look in his eyes told Renee what she already knew, had already experienced. “I was going to take care of her and the rest of your family, but you already know who got to Curtis and Sheila first.”

  Renee took it all in. She felt the tension inside her chest rise, and she had the feeling that she might lose her mind. Right there in the hospital, she had the urge to scream, kick, throw an adult tantrum, and voice the rage brewing inside of her over these newly discovered, well-kept secrets. Then she thought about it. She had spent too many years being an angry dictator, and honestly, she was tired of the position she played. It had got old, and no growth would come from this lifestyle. She had to let go of the unnecessary anger; it was eating away at her soul.