TTW 3 ( Thicker Than Water 3 )

by Takerra, Allen

  “These mothafuckas here.” Jayde sucked her teeth and tossed the handgun onto the couch.

  A few seconds later, a woman walked through the door and Tatum wondered what the hell was going on.

  “She’s fine,” the woman said pointing at Sasha. They immediately took their weapons off of Sasha.

  “That’s her,” Sasha mumbled, pointing at Jayde with disgust in her eyes.

  The officers sneered at Jayde and two approached her, one roughly pulled her arms behind her back and cuffing her.

  “Jayde Dupree. Let’s see if you could wiggle out of this,” he chuckled, tightening the metal bracelets.

  Jayde smirked and rolled her eyes.

  “Please. She had her gun on me. This was self-defense.”

  Another officer stepped up and smacked her across the face.

  He was one of the ones that had been waiting to do that forever.

  “Murder isn’t self-defense… Jayde Dupree, you are under arrest for the murder of Penelope Daniels…. You have the right to remain silent…anything you say or do can be used against you in the court of law…”

  Tatum looked up at Sasha and the Asian girl and wondered what was going on.

  Neli?

  Sasha threw her a half smile.

  ‘Long story,’ she mouthed.

  Shaking her head, Tatum chuckled in amazement. Jayde had killed Neli? Tatum sat up but didn’t stand; she was so sore, weak, and exhausted. She hadn’t been in a fight since Kim fucked Mamagirl from Renner’s, baby father….and that was like five years ago.

  “You have nothing on me!” Jayde shouted cockily. “I’ll be out in an hour and you know it.”

  Adrianna stepped up and pulled out a tape recorder from her purse. She glared at Jayde and hit play with pride, like she’d been waiting forever to do so…

  “I’ll tell her, I’ll stop you Jayde. I’ll get through to Tatum! She’ll listen, and then Ree won’t even come near your evil ass!”

  Neli’s voice spoke, filling the room and silencing everyone. Jayde spoke right after.

  “You know Neli, I think we’re done here. And I’m feeling a little like it’s judgment day or something. Your wicked ways have finally caught up to you, mama.”

  “Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!”

  The sounds of gunshots echoed off of the tape.

  Jayde looked at the young inspector gadget knock off and laughed as Adriana pressed stop.

  “So it’s you. I knew I should’ve dusted you Jackie Chan.” She grinned and licked her lips. “Get my lawyers,” she spoke to no one directly. Jayde knew tape or no tape; she had the courts on lock.

  She allowed the officers to escort her out and her heels clicked as if she were walking the runway. Always a bad bitch, never anything less… she thought.

  “I’m so sorry, Tay. Are you alright?” Sasha dropped down to the floor to her best friend, her sister after Jayde was well out of the mansion. “All of this time I’ve been caught up in my shit, and she’s been here…and I feel so fucked up!” Sasha began crying profusely.

  “Adrianna kept trying to tell me and I wouldn’t listen. And all this time, she was after Ree… and after you.”

  Tatum reached up and embraced Sasha and the two hugged for longer than they ever had. The love between them almost palpable.

  “Ohhh brown bitch, it’s okay. You didn’t know…no one did.” The two held each other so tight, faces in each other’s hair, arms providing a blanket of love and ease to one another as they cried.

  “I love you, black bitch,” Sasha barely managed to mumble through her weeping. “I was gonna kill her ass…I swear I was.” Sasha giggled with tears flowing down her eyes. She pulled away and looked into Tatum’s wet eyes. Tatum laughed.

  “Shit, I know you were. You ran up on her like you was Salt or somebody…on some real Foxy Brown stuff.”

  Sasha laughed and continued to cry as she nodded, now giggling hysterically.

  “I was gonna show her gangsta, Tay. I really was. I was gonna smoke her ass.”

  Tatum cracked up and the two looked like two giggly little girls. Adrianna even couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Yo, nobody says smoked anymore, Sash.”

  “Nobody but me. Wit’ my corny self.”

  They continued to laugh and reached for another hug.

  “Ah, I love you, baby,” Tatum told her so sincerely. Tatum backed up after a minute or so and pointed to Sasha’s chest. “You…are right…here,” she spoke pointing to her heart. “Always.”

  Her voice cracked and a tear trickled down her face. Leaving Sasha behind would be the hardest thing she’d ever have to do. But she had to. Sasha knew in her heart from the declaration that Tatum was going back to Jamaica, and she didn’t blame her at all.

  “I know,” she whispered.

  Just when Tatum thought she felt all the relief that she needed, Ree came rushing through the doorway, Crush in tow with him.

  His face dropped when he saw the damage to the house, the police, the whole scene. His eyes darted around the room and when they laid onto Tatum, he sighed in reprieve and nodded, assuring himself he could calm down.

  Rushing over to her, he knelt down. Sasha smiled at the two and stood, winking at Tatum as she stepped away.

  ‘I love you, girl,’ she mouthed.

  Ree examined Tatum with apprehension.

  “Tatum, what happened? Are you okay? Huh? You alright?” His eyes scanned over her. A few bruises and bumps spotted, he became angry.

  “I’m okay, Ree. I’m okay… Jayde…she…” Tatum wasn’t sure how to sum it up. She ran her hands through her hair and shrugged. “She tried to kill me.”

  Ree looked around the room, spotted the officers still surveying the scene, talking, asking Adrianna questions. He took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe this shit.

  “Where is she now?” He asked calmly.

  Tatum blew out air and raised her eyebrows as if to say ‘you’ll never believe this’.

  “Well…they just arrested her…for the murder of Neli.”

  Ree squinted and jerked his head slightly in surprise. That threw him for a loop, but Neli wasn’t his focus.

  “Are you hurt anywhere? Did she hurt you?”

  Tears that were in the process of drying relined Tatum’s eyes as she thought of the reality.

  “Not physically, no… She…she killed our babies, Ree. She smothered Taye in his incubator and she laced my food with clomid, forcing the early labor. Doctor…” Tatum’s voice cracked as Ree looked on, taking it all in and trying not to go crazy. “Doctor…Patel….said I…I may not be able to carry children…ever.” Tatum’s face twisted in pain on that revelation. A young, black officer that was standing nearby overheard and interrupted.

  “Don’t worry ma’am. I know it may not be a consolation, but I’m gonna make sure she dies in prison,” he assured, wanting to do everything in his power to make sure Jayde got life and nothing less. She had been at the top of his list for years.

  Tatum knew Jayde’s connections. She wondered if that was even possible. She chuckled lightly.

  “Can you make that a promise?” She asked, looking up at him.

  Ree held her chin and brought her eyes to his own.

  “I can.”

  “Everything is calculated from now on…You’re a boss, move accordingly.” – Respect, Still Thicker than Water

  -17-

  “I don’t give a fuck what you have to do! As much money as I pay you people, get me a bail. And get it now!” Jayde yelled furiously into the phone at her lawyer and then slammed it down, almost breaking it, not caring for a response.

  “Hey! Dupree! Knock it off!” One of the fat female guards yelled obnoxiously, over-stuffing Cheetos in her mouth. Jayde started the corridor, shooting her a glare.

  “Aw, go shave your snatch, animal bitch.”

  Prison was a new scene for Jayde, but the two weeks she’d been there had been smooth so far. Most people knew her from the streets, and they respected
her, thus being why as she traveled back to her cell, a Mexican woman handed her a carton of cigarettes on the strength. Everyone wanted in with her, they wanted to get paid with her when and if they ever made it out.

  “Gracias,” Jayde mumbled and shot her a wink. Her long hair braided in two Pippy-Long-Stocking plats.

  “De nada.”

  Jayde made her way to her cell and blew out air in aggravation. All of her connections, all of her money, she didn’t expect to do two hours in jail let alone two weeks. She even had gotten Ree out in less time than that. Granted, this was murder, but she was Jayde Dupree. They had better get to work.

  With little to do in the stone walls, Jayde decided to catch up on some beauty rest. Prison would not and could not stop her bad ass show. Plopping down on the lower cot, she pressed play on her CD player, and closed her eyes. Her cell had more than the mere basic amenities. Someone had anonymously sent her plenty of leisure items like a CD player, music, books, shampoo, underwear, and things of that nature along with plenty of money on her “books”. She knew it somehow came from her father.

  “Dupree! New cellmate!”

  Jayde sucked her teeth without even opening her eyes. She was told that she would absolutely not have to share her cell. That was one thing she thought her money had at least bought her.

  “You got to be fucking kidding me,” she huffed aloud, hearing the barred door clink open.

  “What? Ya ghat a problem wit’ roomates, gyal?”

  Jayde opened her eyes and glared at the girl, or whatever, letting her know that she was not to be fucked with, talked to, or approached in any manner, regardless of the pretty face.

  A fucking island bitch…

  “Hey, ya ghat a problem wit’ me takin’ de bottom bunk…you sleep on de top,” the girl had the audacity to suggest.

  Jayde looked at the big black gorilla looking bitch like she had lost all but a bit of her mind.

  “Yeah I got a fucking problem with that! Get your ass on the top.”

  The girl smirked, but threw her folded sheet and pillow package on the top bunk with no contest. The guards announced lights out in five minutes.

  “So…what cha do ta get in here, Jayde?”

  Jayde rolled her eyes and scowled.

  “I killed someone… A big gorilla looking bitch, in fact.”

  The woman chuckled and began taking off her shoes, obviously preparing for bed and learning that Jayde was far from social. She stripped down to her underwear and a t-shirt and climbed up on the top bunk quietly.

  “Lights out!” another guard yelled and then disappeared out of sight.

  Immediately the prison went dark. There were small lights from the hall and light illuminating from the tiny windows, but that was about it.

  Jayde sighed, looking forward to some sleep. Maybe the lights out would signal a ‘shut the fuck up’ for the big bitch with the mouth. In the morning, Jayde would chew her attorneys out so they could chew the court out so they could get her the fuck out of here.

  “Goodnight, Jayde,” the big affectionate gorilla sang to her.

  The hard sucking of her teeth was Jayde’s reply. She closed her eyes and seemed to have a vision in the darkness behind her lids within seconds.

  Jayde…Jayde…Goodnight, Jayde… Whatcha do ta get in here, Jayde?

  Wait…I never told her my name…? The guard only called me Dupree…

  Jayde eyes shot open in alarm, immediately on the defense and she found the girl no longer out of view on the top bunk, but now standing right next to her bed with an evil scowl. She felt like she was in a scene of a horror movie just looking at this girl’s mug.

  “Who the fuck sent you?” Jayde hissed, trying to sound confident while her heart pounded in fear. Her body tensed and she swallowed the smallest amount of saliva that had managed to creep into her dry mouth. She debated calling for the guards but wondered if it’d matter. If it was who she thought it was, no one would come.

  Of course…the accent... how could I be so dumb?

  “Did you brush ya teeth?” The girl asked calmy, giving Jayde another foretaste at her accent with a nasty smirk growing on her ugly face.

  Jayde’s pride went out of the window at the realization that she may be at her life’s end.

  “Guard! Guard!” She yelled, sitting up in the bed. The girl snickered and stepped closer.

  “Here, ya can use my toothbrush.” Without any warning, the girl took the makeshift shank formed out of her toothbrush straight to Jayde’s throat with force. She stabbed her swiftly and deeply, like she was trained for it.

  “Arghhhhhhhhhh…!” Jayde began to gargle on her own blood as the woman repeatedly stabbed her over and over in the neck. Jayde could only bring her hands to her throat, trying to block more punctures, trying to stop the bleeding, trying to fight for her life. There was no use.

  “P-p-pl-pleaseee,” Jayde whispered raspily, holding her throat with her eyes wide, trying to make her way off of the bed weakly. The woman took one final look at her and with no mercy, brought the shank down one final time, deep into her neck, pushing it in as far as it could go and twisting it until she heard Jayde gasp her last cold breath. She grimaced down at Jayde, who was obviously dead and eyes frozen open in terror, glowing even in the dark. They say you deserved it if you die with your eyes open...

  She took her bloody tool and wiped it on her t-shirt and with absolutely no remorse she spit on Jayde’s corpse.

  “Maybe in yah next lifetime…yah gwan learn tah Respect.”

  And then she climbed back on the top bunk and went to sleep.

  Crush pulled the Maybach up to the small dock and marina in Cabbage Key, located off of the Florida Keys islands. The place was remote, almost seeming deserted and Tatum looked around at the barren exterior in curiosity.

  “And why are we coming here again, babe?”

  Ree turned and looked at her and then let out a delayed smile. He pinched her chin with love.

  “I just need to say goodbye to a friend. Then we can be on our way.”

  Tatum figured she knew who the friend was, but she didn’t press the issue. Some things she’d rather not know, she had learned that the hard way.

  “Okay,” she whispered with a small smile.

  Ree exited the vehicle with ease and Tatum watched him the entire time. Even as he walked toward the small boat house in the distance, he seemed to control movement itself. She was in love with him, she knew she’d made the right decision in her heart to stay by his side.

  “You ready to get back to the islands?” Crush asked, interrupting her thoughts. Tatum smiled wide at him and nodded.

  “Oh yeah…most definitely. What about you? You excited about living in Jamaica? …You know you gonna be singing one loveee, one lifeee, come to Jamaica and feellll alrighttttt,” Tatum joked and Crush cracked up laughing.

  “Seriously,” she started. “I used to sing that song all the time when I first moved there.”

  Crush chuckled some more and slowed his laugh to respond.

  “Of course… Me, Marsha, the kids…we can’t wait. Starting over, you know what I mean? And I know it’s a new start for you. What’s the first thing you gonna do when you get back?”

  Tatum thought about it and then grinned.

  “Well…I’m gonna get these hot air balloons going and make that money. I know that much!”

  Crush nodded with a smile.

  “Yo, tell me about that shit. Respect was telling me it’s some money in that but I couldn’t believe it.”

  “Well…it’s these hot air balloons right? And we have twenty of them…,” Tatum started, enthralled in telling the story exactly how Ree had told her. In the meantime, Ree had entered the boathouse.

  “Respect! What a pleasant surprise. I would ask what do I owe this honor but I’m afraid I already know.”

  Ree smirked and nodded, studying Mickel in his white linen pants and top looking like he’d shed ten years. He was looking happy, young, alive…reall
y alive. He motioned his hand for Ree to join him in the small living room which was adorned with straw furniture. The boathouse was modest, there were little amenities, but it looked like the perfect vacation getaway. Like a little piece of paradise.