by N'Tyse
Rene didn’t respond. She couldn’t. There were already too many other things crowding her mind.
“So where we headed to now? Wanna catch a movie or something?” Shun unlocked the car doors, and the boys all climbed in the backseat.
Rene placed all the shopping bags in the trunk, then got in the car. “Can’t do a movie. I have to meet up with someone tonight,” she told Shun dryly.
Shun didn’t remember Rene mentioning having other plans, but she let it go. “Oh, okay. Well,” her face instantly lit up with glee remembering her latest encounter at the mall, “let me tell you about Carl,” she smiled widely.
“Mama gotta new boyfriend,” one of the boys snickered from the backseat.
Shun looked in her mirror to see which of the four made the remark. She knew it had to be one of the youngest. She gave them a “don’t make me pull this car over and beat your ass” look that they understood all too well. They quickly straightened their act and turned down the volume on their ears like they were trained to do when adults were speaking.
Shun drove the Buick down Town East Boulevard, heading for the freeway. She pulled onto the 635 ramp, losing herself in the traffic of holiday shoppers and angry drivers with road rage who tested her sanity. For a second, Carl crossed her mind. She found herself weighing the possibilities, and she couldn’t stop smiling.
* * *
Rene was still in her own world. That little bit of excitement and bubbly momentum she had earlier today had crawled back in its shell. She was back to a reality that she had become quite familiar with—being alone.
Shun caught Rene gazing out of her window, clearly in deep thought. She decided to keep her exciting news to herself for the time being because the most important thing right now was finding out what was wrong with her friend. Everything else could wait.
15
“Are you okay,” Deja asked Sand, who was staring up at the rotating ceiling fan as if it were some cool new invention she had never seen before. She looked so good to Deja lying there in just a wife beater and boxer shorts, but Deja would not be distracted. She wasn’t going for the silent treatment this time. Sand had gotten away with that once before, but not today, not if she could help it.
“Yeah, I’m cool,” Sand lied. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she might have been wanted for murder. If anything Chyna told her about Jasmine being in her and Rene’s apartment that day was true, then she knew, without a doubt, that she was a prime suspect. Chyna told Sand that if she had not shown up at her door before Rene that day, Jasmine would have executed her plans to tell Rene who she was and how she and Sand had been together. What Sand had once believed to be a lie was now starting to feel like the truth. Maybe Chyna did prevent her from being found out. Maybe she did take care of her problem for her. But none of it mattered anymore because she and Rene were done.
While Sand was forced to fathom the inevitable, there was nothing that could deny her the reminder of the current situation that had escalated from all of this. She was hauling around half a million dollars that she was sure belonged to Chyna. And that was the least of her worries because no matter how hard she tried, Rene still managed to squeeze into her mental space, pushing aside all of the above, and provoking those ill thoughts Sand found herself having of her. Like at this moment, she wanted to find Rene, strangle the hell out of her, and demand to know if she meant to hurt her the way she had. That’s all she wanted, all she felt she deserved—a fucking explanation.
Sand would have taken a bullet for Rene at the drop of a dime. She would have done just about anything to keep her out of harm’s way. With all that security and protection she was providing for Rene, she should have been making sure her own shit was guarded because now she was the one feeling like she’d been shot in the heart. And once again, Deja was ready to save her.
Sand should have felt bad for messing around with Deja, but the truth was, she didn’t. Instead, she wanted to believe that she was getting even, especially after what Rene had done to her. But deep down, Sand knew that she was only fooling herself. Rene had not only cheated on her with a man, but she had gotten pregnant by dude, and there wasn’t shit she could do that would top that level of betrayal.
“So you’re cool?” Deja asked, repeating what Sand had just told her. She twisted her mouth. She knew Sand was lying when she answered so quickly. She wasn’t cool, not at all. There was something bothering her since the moment she walked through her door, and Deja could see it all over her face. “Sand, I want to ask you something, and it’s up to you if you want to answer,” Deja said, turning fully over and onto her right side. The flannel sheets were pulled close to her chest, the smell of their sex still clinging to them.
Sand nodded, then turned only her head to face Deja. “Shoot for it, ma.”
Deja was nervous all over again, but she had to fight it. This was the moment she’d been waiting for. She tried not to think about it, but it kept tugging at her, pulling her away from what she knew was the truth. Sand was innocent. But she needed to validate that by hearing it from her own mouth. She readied herself for what she was about to say. Her voice fell hoarse before she could get the words to come out. She cleared her throat. “Have you killed anybody?”
Sand’s heart stopped. She didn’t see that one coming. “Come on now, Deja.” She reached for her hand. “I know you really don’t know a whole lot about me,” she said, seeing how Deja’s eyes lost their attention, and then eventually found their way back, “but trust me, I’m not a killer.” She sensed a whirlwind of doubt from Deja. “I’m telling you the truth.” She used her index finger to gently lift Deja’s chin. “You gotta believe me, ma. I didn’t kill that girl.” She took another breather. “Please don’t tell me you think I did that shit!”
With watering eyes, Deja said, “I want to believe you. I’ve just been hearing things, and then that day I went and picked you up from that bar . . . and the cops pulling us over . . . I mean, what was that all about?”
Sand had to think back to months ago. “Deja, those weren’t cops. I mean, they weren’t real cops.”
Deja gave Sand a mixed expression. “What do you mean? I saw them. They were right there,” she began easing her hands back down to her side.
Sand raised completely up. “You saw them put me in a car and drive the hell away. If they were real cops, do you think I’d be sitting here beside you right now? Naw, ’cause I’d be in somebody’s jail cell vomiting molded bologna and stale-ass bread!”
Deja shook her head. She knew what she saw, and she saw it with her own two eyes.
“Look, ma. I’m telling you that I was set up.” Sand stood to her feet and started getting dressed.
“Set up? By who?” Deja was trying her best to grasp every bit of information she was hearing.
Sand sat back down on the edge of the bed, lifting the bag that would explain all this shit in a way that she couldn’t. She was about to prove to Deja exactly what type of people she was really dealing with, along with the danger they were capable of causing. She began unzipping the bag.
Deja waited expressionless for Sand to show her whatever it was she needed to see. Suddenly, Sand looked nauseated. Deja didn’t know what was wrong, but she knew judging by the look on Sand’s face that something was definitely wrong.
Sand broke out in a sweat as she pulled out the blanket Deja had given Ty to sleep with, along with the marble orbs that decorated Deja’s bar and cocktail table. There was also a short scribbled note from Ty.
I can’t go back to that house. I’m sorry, Sand. I need this money to get out of town. Nothing personal.
Ty
Sand crumbled the letter into her hand, snatched open the guest room door, and found exactly what she knew she’d find—an empty room.
Deja chased behind her, dragging the sheet along with her. “What’s going on? Where did your friend go?”
“Fuck!” Sand yelled, ready to put a hole in the wall. “I can’t believe thi
s shit! That bitch just ran off with all the fucking money.”
“What money?” Deja asked, clueless.
Sand ignored her. Her head was spinning. “I’m good as dead,” she mumbled to herself but loud enough for Deja to hear.
“What have you gotten yourself into?”
“How the fuck am I gonna replace half a million dollars?” Sand spat.
Deja’s mouth hung open, and her fixated eyes bucked in disbelief. “What were you doing with that kind of money? Wait, is that the only reason you came here?”
“Not right now, Deja. Now ain’t the time,” Sand warned.
* * *
Ty had waited until she could hear Sand and Deja in the midst of making love. Then she tiptoed into the bedroom, undetected. She eased the heavy bag from right under their noses, and then silently eased out of the doorway, cracking the door just a little. She tiptoed back into the living room, over by the couch and quietly unzipped the bag. It was all there. Safe and sound. She pulled the pillowcase off the pillow and loaded all the money into it. Then she took the letter she’d written, folded it, and laid it at the bottom of the bag for them to find later—much later. Long after she was gone.
Ty had wrapped every single orb and statue that she spotted, including the six that decorated the bar, inside of the blanket to add weight to the bag. Then just the way she had before, she glided back into the room and placed the bag in its exact spot. She walked out the front door with half a million dollars in a floral pink and green pillowcase. She walked until she came to a Laundromat, then went right inside, took a seat on one of the benches, and contemplated her next move. She observed everyone and everything surrounding her. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. After a few minutes, she walked over to the pay phone and pressed 0 for an operator, with the packed pillowcase right beside her.
“I need to make a collect call.”
“Yes, and your name?”
“Tylesha.”
“The number you would like to place the call to?”
Ty rattled off the phone number.
“Hold please.”
Ty waited patiently.
“Ma’am your call has been accepted. You have a good day.”
“Hello! Hello! Tylesha, baby, is that you?” It was her mother on the other end of the line.
Ty’s hands shook nervously. She hadn’t spoken to her mother in months. “It’s me, Mama,” Ty answered painfully.
“Are you all right? Where are you, baby? Please let me come and get you,” her mother pleaded.
“I can’t tell you that right now. But I wanted you to know that I’m okay. I just needed some time away, that’s all,” Ty spoke softly into the phone.
“Baby, whatever’s going on with you, we can get through together. I just want you to come back home. It’s been three months,” her mother cried. “I can’t . . . oh, God. Just please come home.” She knew why her daughter ran away. She always knew. She just didn’t want to accept it. “I believed you,” she admitted finally. The pain in her voice was still present. “I confronted him about it, and he left.” She stopped to catch her breath. She couldn’t even say her husband’s name right now. “But he doesn’t matter because all I want is my baby back home,” she said through the tears that flowed down her cheeks.
Ty sniffed. “Mama, don’t cry. Please.” The tears pooling in her eyes began to sting. She tried blinking them away only to encourage their stay. “Mama, don’t.”
“Tylesha, just please come home. I’m begging you. Your brother has been driving up and down the streets all time of night and morning looking for you. None of us knew where you were. You’ve got us all worried sick, including Mama. And you know how your grandmother’s congestive heart condition is.”
Ty was still frozen in disbelief. “Trent’s here?” she managed to ask.
Her mother choked back her tears before she could resume. “He was worried to death about you, Tylesha. You could have been in danger, for all we knew. You could have been dead. Anything.”
“Does he know about Mason?” Ty asked. She was afraid that if her big brother knew, it would only make the situation worse.
“No. He doesn’t know. I don’t think we should—”
Ty finished for her. “We won’t tell him.” There was a silent agreement between them. Ty struggled to keep a dry face because she didn’t want to attract any attention. “I’m coming home, Mama. Let me just work out a couple of things first,” she promised her mother, sadness floating in her voice.
“All right, baby.” She sniffed. “Mama loves you.”
“I love you too.” Seconds later, the call was disconnected, and all Ty could hear was a dial tone. She flung the bag back over her shoulder and walked right out of the laundromat. She had to figure out a way to get out of this mess, and she only knew one person that could help her. She just hoped like hell she hadn’t already screwed up.
* * *
“This shit is getting crazy!” Sand yelled. “I was chilling in my own little world before all of this drama took over.”
Deja watched Sand pace back and forth. She didn’t know what to do to get her to stop, so she just sat on the edge of the sofa and waited for the storm to pass. Her head fell into her hands. After listening to Sand fill her in on all that was going on, she didn’t know what else there was to say or do. All she knew was that she needed to say something.
“What if we called her and explained to her what happened?” No sooner than Deja finished that sentence did she realize what she had suggested.
“Call? Explain?” Sand drew her entire body back. “Ain’t no calling and explaining to this bitch. I don’t think you following me, Deja. When I say Chyna is bad news—she bad news! This ho got the whole damn city on payroll,” she enlightened. “I already told you how she set me up. Now she blackmailing me. I make the wrong move, and my ass going down for murder. Ain’t no talking out of this shit. The only talking she gon’ wanna do is with one of these.” She flashed the gun that she had discreetly tucked under her shirt.
“I’m going to help you get out of this. Just calm down and let’s think for a second.” Deja pointed beside her. “Sit. And please don’t show me that gun again. I’m terrified of those things,” she admitted.
Sand was furious. She had it in her right mind to hop in any one of those cars in the driveway and go after Ty. She didn’t know what she would do once she laid eyes on her, but she knew it wasn’t going to be anything pretty. She never should have trusted her. Ty had been gaming her all along. She should have dropped her ass off at the emergency room and rolled out like she started to do in the first place, then none of this would be happening.
Sand finally sat down and tried to calm her nerves. Deja placed her hand on top of Sand’s and began to rub her ever so softly.
“It’s all going to be okay. I promise we’ll get through this together,” Deja reassured.
Sand listened to her comforting words closely. Deja had included herself in her drama. She pulled her arm away. “No. Listen to me.” She lifted Deja’s chin. “I need you to keep holding down my club. You the only one I know I can count on to do that,” she told her.
Earlier, right after their first round of sex, Deja brought Sand up to speed about everything that had happened since they last saw each other. She told her how she had been overseeing Sandrene’s and how she tried finding Rene so that she could have Sand’s car towed to the address on her insurance card. But when she went over there to the apartment, the new tenant who lived there informed her that no one had lived there by that name. So Deja had the car towed to her place. She told Sand about the two instances she had seen Rene. Once at the barbershop, and then at the gym. She purposely left out the times she had followed Rene. Just like last night when she had seen Rene with a woman. The two of them were standing on a railroad track so close that they were only inches from kissing. Deja realized then that Rene was having an affair. But she couldn’t bring herself to deliver more bad news. Sand was dealing with enoug
h.
“Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do,” Deja offered.
“How much you say you put up for me?”
“Almost sixty grand,” Deja answered.
“Damn,” Sand practically whispered. The idea she had was blown out of the water. Sixty Gs was a long way off from half a mil. “I’m fucked. Man, ain’t no other way up outta this shit.” She stood to her feet. “Look, I gotta go. I ain’t gon’ figure shit out sitting ’round here.”
Deja jumped up. “Wait. Where you going? What are you gon’ do?” Sand brushed past her, nearly knocking her back on her ass. She watched Sand head for the door, then turn around one last time.
“Look, I’ll call you when I can. Right now, I gotta bounce. Just handle that business for me.” Sand twisted on her baseball cap.
“How are you gonna call? You don’t even have my number,” Deja shot out.
“That’s why you gon’ give it to me.” Sand patted down her jeans while Deja scurried around the living room, searching for pen and paper. Sand double-checked for her wallet. “If all else fails, I know Nessa knows how to get in touch with you.”
Deja power-walked over to where Sand stood. “Here. No need for that. Don’t lose this.”
Sand accepted the piece of paper into her hands along with a gold house key. “What’s this for?”
Deja stared up at her and the warmth hovering around them made her feel something special. “Just in case you need to come back. For anything,” she added.
Sand folded the paper around the key and slipped it into her pocket. She’d battle those questions later.
“Sand, I really do—”
Ding, ding, ding.
She looked Deja over. “You expectin’ somebody?” Her guard immediately went up, and she placed her hands over her piece.
Deja quietly shook her head, but her face said otherwise. She rushed to the door, hoping like hell it wasn’t Toni again. If it was, how was she going to explain the unexplainable? She hesitantly tiptoed to the peephole and zoomed in on her visitor. When she got a good look at the blue-blond spiked hair, black eye, and a figure not far from anorexic, she unlocked and swung open her door. Sand, right behind her, came lunging forward.