Scarlett 3

by Tiece

  Scarlett stood in the kitchen alone. She hated having to call Gwen out, but she wasn’t about to put up with none of her shenanigans. She looked toward Anton’s closed room door. She knew that leaving was the last thing that he wanted to do. She just didn’t want him around while she was trying to see what was up with Troy. At that moment, she was wishing that it would be just as easy to get in good with him then magically have his shit appear back in his house. Hopefully, in her mind, that would ease his thoughts on trying to find out who killed Slim.

  What are you thinking about, Scarlett. He’ll never rest until he finds out who killed his cousin.

  No sooner than her thoughts could clear, her phone beeped with an incoming text message. The number wasn’t familiar, but the message was.

  I miss you and need to see you this morning. Same place in Statesboro where we first met up.

  Scarlett smiled, because she and Greg hadn’t hooked up or been in each other’s presence like that since the incident happened in the park. She couldn’t wait to go see him. Quickly, she messaged back.

  Okay. Red

  Can you be here in the next hour?

  “He ain’t wasting no time,” she softly spoke.

  Sure can. On the way. Red

  She walked over and knocked on Anton’s door. “Ant,” she called out.

  “Yeah,” he responded, not really wanting to say much to her at the moment.

  “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Will you clean the kitchen up for me?” She asked.

  “I will,” Gwen said, stepping back inside the house.

  Scarlett turned to face her with a surprised look on her face. “I thought you had left.”

  “I only stepped out on the porch to clear my thoughts.” She said then pushed her hand down in her pocket and pulled out the dub sack of crack. Scarlett frowned as she handed it to her. “I don’t wanna live that life again. I just want y’all to be okay.”

  Scarlett was beyond shocked as she stood there speechless. Gwen had for once put them first. Anton hearing this from the other side of his room opened the door and smiled.

  “And you will be taking your ass off to school like your sister said until we figure out what we’re gonna do about your current situation.” Gwen firmly stated to him.

  “Yes ma’am,” Anton said as he walked over and hugged her. “If you can do what you just did then I can go off to school and get my life together.” He then looked over at Scarlett who was beyond teary eyed as she quietly watched them. “Thanks Sis,” he said.

  “Yeah, well,” she said trying not to get choked up. “I love you. And I,” she paused then looked over at Gwen. “We only want what’s best for you.”

  Gwen nodded her head as confirmation that she was absolutely right and whatever she had to do to keep Slim’s death from hanging over her son’s head; she would.

  “Y’all eat up and clean the kitchen by the time I return. We’ll talk more about this when I come back.” She smiled at Gwen again as she walked into her bedroom to flush the drugs down the toilet, and then she entered back in the kitchen. “Thanks,” she whispered to Gwen then made her exit.

  ____________________

  Scarlett stood outside the room door of the hotel anticipating the moment for Greg to open it. The minute the door opened, she walked in and hugged him. The smell of his Polo Black cologne already had her hypnotized. Greg wrapped his arms around her. He’d missed her just as much as she missed him.

  She backed up a bit to get a look at his fine, Denzel Washington, looking self. Outside of work, he always dressed so clean and proper like a boss as he stood there in a black Armani polo shirt and a pair of dark colored Diesel jeans. He was one sexy older man that could still easily get it from any female, of age. The expensive Movado Bold watch that wrapped around his wrist definitely let her know that he was about his business and the sterling silver Pave black diamond chain was lined with nothing but shiny carats as it hung around his neck.

  “That chain is nice as hell,” she complimented him.

  “Thanks,” he said with a smile, but he couldn’t move from watching her. She was a very beautiful girl to him, standing there in a black simple flowing, long Loveappella Maxi dress and a pair of black Prada ankle strap sandals.

  “You’re looking very good yourself.” He complimented her.

  “Thanks,” she blushed.

  “Good enough to eat,” he added.

  “You would say that,” she said with a smile then entered further in the suite, sitting down on the end of the King sized bed. “You always have to get the best room in the hotel.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Greg said as he sat behind her. He just wanted to be able to feel up against her, touch her, and smell her.

  “How are things on the home front?” Scarlett asked. “Are we good to be able to see each other again without being watched?”

  Greg disappointedly shook his head. “I highly doubt it.” He stated. “I just had to see you.”

  Scarlett looked a little down, because she’d figured that it was going to be awhile before Mrs. Grand got off of his ass. “Well, when I was leaving my house I spotted Nina’s baby’s daddy down to her house and I asked him if I could use his truck for a few hours and he let me. I just wanted to be on the safe side.”

  “There is nothing wrong with that, baby.” He smiled. “He must be good people?” Greg said with an approving nod of the head.

  “Yeah, he’s a good guy. He was going to be occupied, anyway.” She said, thinking that he and Nina was quite cozy with each other before she left.

  Greg went inside his wallet and pulled out a few hundred dollar bills. “Put this in your purse.” He said, handing her the money. “I’m gonna always make sure that you’re straight.”

  Scarlett smiled. “Thanks,” she said then leaned in and kissed his sweet lips smelling of cherry Chap Stick. “You’re a good guy.”

  “I try to be,” he said then stood up and walked over by the table and pulled out a bottle of XO Excellence Remy Martin. He smiled at her. “I know you want some of this.”

  “You know right.” She didn’t care that it was only eleven in the morning. She needed that drink. Greg poured her up a small glass of it then handed it over.

  Scarlett drank from her drink then smiled. “I’ve fallen in love with this drink. I can drink it as is. It makes me feel bossy.” She grinned, taking another sip of the tasty drink without making any frowns.

  “You are something else,” he said, grinning at her. He poured him a drink, and then was caught off guard by the hotel door to their room opening up. “What the Fuck?” He said, rushing over to the door thinking it was a housekeeper.

  “Who the hell is in here with you, Greg?” Mrs. Grand called out as Greg stopped her before she could make it all the way in the room. Scarlett jumped up, spilling her drink all over her dress while trying to hide behind the wall hoping that Mrs. Grand couldn’t see her. She was scared out of her mind as she stood there listening to them tussle.

  “Come out, Bitch! I know you’re in here!” Mrs. Grand screamed out as she fought Greg.

  “You have lost your mind, Felicia!” Greg said, still doing whatever he could to not let her loose. They were on the floor wrestling as she was hitting and biting him, just trying to break free. Finally, he was able to get her on the other side of the hotel room door, hoping that Scarlett would put the main lock on it so she couldn’t get back in.

  As soon as the door shut and she could tell that they were no longer in the room, Scarlett hurried from where she was standing and put the main lock on the door. Her heart was pounding a hundred miles per hour. She had never been as scared in her life as she stood there behind the door holding her chest and breathing heavily.

  “Oh My God, what just happened?” Scarlett pondered aloud, as she paced back and forth in front of the door. She could still hear them out in the hallway as people started showing up to try and stop them.

  Mrs. Grand made her way back to the h
otel room door, beating on it and acting crazy. She had literally lost her mind. “Open this motherfucking door up, bitch!” She shouted nearly out of breath from wrestling with Greg.

  Greg once again grabbed her. “Felicia, you have gone crazy!” He said, literally having to drag her down the hall as she kicked and screamed to get back to that room door.

  “Oh shit,” Scarlett said. “How the hell will I be able to leave this place if she’s stalking it?” She walked over and peeked out of the window as she saw the security officers of the hotel rushing over from the store across the street as if they were alerted that someone had gone mad. “This shit is crazy.” She disappointedly shook her head. The adrenaline was pumping like no other as she peeked just enough out the window to be able to see security trying to calm Mrs. Grand down. Scarlett could see her fussing and pointing at the window of the room like she was trying to tell them that her husband’s mistress was up there.

  Scarlett was shook up by the incident. “Lord, what if this lady makes security come up here and get me. Nooooo, that can’t happen.” She said, thinking about her job and Sheila finding out about her fucking Greg. Mrs. Grand, without a doubt, would lose her mind for real if she knew that it was her.

  About ten minutes later, she could see Greg getting in the car with his wife and pulling out of the hotel parking lot.

  “Thank God,” she said with a small sigh of relief, but she was still afraid to leave just yet. She was also embarrassed, because she knew that people would be trying to see who would come out of that room. She grabbed her cell phone to call Nina, but got no answer as she sat there, hands still shaking. “I gotta leave Greg alone. This is it. I can’t do this shit no more.” She said, feeling like this was a learned lesson for her and she wasn’t going down this path again no matter what Greg had to offer her.

  Chapter 9

  Troy lay stretched out on his bed with his hand propped up under his head. His mind was racing with one thought after another while remembering just a few hours earlier that he’d laid his cousin to rest. He sighed as he watched the colorful fish happily swim through the crystal clear, blue water that reflected from inside the fifty gallon fish tank.

  “If only life was that easy.” He whispered, thinking that all the fish had to do was swim around in a nice big tank of clean water and wait for him to feed them.

  “Knock, knock,” a voice called out from behind the door.

  “Come on in,” Troy called out. His uncle stepped inside the room with a bittersweet smile on his face. He sat down on the end of Troy’s big king sized bed, watching the fish aquarium for a moment.

  “Those lil guys have it easy, huh?”

  Troy softly grinned. “I was just laying here thinking that same thing.” His uncle chuckled a little, but Troy knew that he was just as hurt as him. “How are you feeling, Unc?”

  “I’m doing about as good as expected. What about you? How are you feeling?”

  “I’m hurt,” he admitted. “Slim and I were closer than brothers, but he was also your nephew. I know you’re going through it, too.”

  “I can’t lie, I am.” Unc said. “I know that we weren’t the tightest, but that was because of the poor choices that I made.” He said, thinking back upon their relationship. “But, I raised him just as I raised you. He was more than just a nephew.”

  “You did raise him and he was always grateful for that.” Troy reminded him.

  “Yeah, but sometimes his actions spoke louder than words. He was always upset with me and it took this to happen for me to wanna do better.”

  “Unc, you didn’t have it easy raising us. You’ve dealt with a lot. The little family you had, you lost, but going through those loses brought us closer.” He said, speaking of him and Slim.

  “Only to now lose Slim,” he sadly said. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

  “It won’t.” Troy assured him.

  “I just want you to make better decisions.” Unc said.

  “I am,” Troy responded.

  “Which means that you can’t be a dope boy all of your life,” he stated.

  Troy nodded his head agreeing. “I know.”

  Unc stood up with tears in his eyes. The death of Slim had taken a serious toll on him, but he was being as strong as he could be for Troy. He leaned over and hugged his nephew. “I love you, man.”

  “I love you, too, Unc.” Troy responded. He loved his uncle more than anything in the world and all he wanted was the best for him.

  Unc headed for the door to make his exit then turned around to face his nephew once again. “What happened to the beautiful girl that you met at the grocery store?”

  “I don’t know,” Troy responded. “I was supposed to meet up with her Saturday night, but after viewing Slim’s body that day and finalizing his funeral arrangements, I just wasn’t in the mood for company.”

  “I think company is just what you need.” Unc said. “That was Saturday and now today is Tuesday. I don’t think you should beat around the bush too long if you really like her.”

  “Yeah, but I might not be good company for her.”

  “Nephew,” Unc spoke. “Slim was laid to rest today. He wouldn’t want to see us moping around like this; especially you. He knows you’re the ultimate lady’s man.” He teased. “You need to do something to get over this hump. Call her and quit wasting time.”

  Troy picked up his phone then sat it back down. He looked at his uncle with a depressing shake of the head. “I don’t know.”

  “Call her,” Unc demanded. “This could be good for you. Hell, anything, at this point, is better for you than sitting up in this room moping.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” Troy jokingly said as Unc left the room. Troy thought it about for a few minutes. “What the hell,” he whispered and decided to send his dream girl a message.

  ____________________

  Scarlett lay in Luke’s bed watching TV as he showered in the adjoining bathroom. She was feeling a little out of touch with him as of lately, because it was only just a matter of time when they’d know the paternity test results. She was hoping like hell that the baby wasn’t his, but she didn’t know what to think. Matter of fact, she wished it never crossed her mind. April was a woman that she didn’t want to be fooled with and it was a part of her that hated Luke for still fucking with her.

  She jumped as Luke’s phone vibrated scaring her a little. She looked over at it then ignored it as her thoughts reflected back on having to possibly walk away from the one man that she knew truly cared about her.

  “How do I stay with him knowing that a bitter, conniving ass woman like April is lurking?” She whispered as she questioned herself. If it was possible to stay she would, but there was already so much damage done that fucked with her.

  If she hadn’t gotten pregnant would he have felt the need to come back if he hadn’t fucked up himself? The questions were always never ending in her mind.

  The vibration of his phone went off again. She looked over at the clock on the wall. It was almost twelve at night. “Who the fuck keeps texting him?” She instantly reached over on the nightstand and picked up his phone. She opened up the unread message and frowned.

  Hey boo, are you busy? April

  Five minutes later…

  I guess you are busy. I just wanted to say thanks for coming through earlier today. Oh and the pizza was good. April

  Scarlett could hear the shower water stop. She didn’t care if Luke caught her with his phone since this message made her want to be even more nosey as she continued to scroll to see what else she could peep out.

  I miss you. Tasha

  “Who the fuck is Tasha?” She whispered.

  And she sent this nigga a pussy picture. She quickly thought with an eyebrow raised, joined by a serious distasteful facial expression. “Is he fucking kidding me right now?” She whispered, just as Luke stepped out of the bathroom and looked her right in the face while she was holding up his cell phone.
/>   “So, what did you do today?”

  Luke was totally caught off guard as he stood there with nothing, but a towel wrapped around his waist. “Uh-”

  “Do I need to repeat myself?” Scarlett asked ready to start some shit.

  Luke glanced at the phone in her hand. “I went to April’s.” He confessed already figuring that her needy ass must’ve messaged him from the way Scarlett was acting.

  “And when were you gonna tell me that or were you even gonna mention it if I didn’t?”

  “You need to calm down. You’ve gone from 5 to 75 real quick.” He said, trying to get her to be easy.

  “I’m headed to 175 if you don’t start talking fast.” She said, folding her arms. “I thought you said that you’d tell me anytime she was around, meaning that if you went to her house then you was definitely around her.” She said, feeling a bit jealous.