Thicker Than Water

by Takerra, Allen

  Neli then crawled up Chauncey’s bed and began rubbing him through his jeans. He pushed her away a couple of times but she kept going, putting her breasts all in his face and begging to give him head. He didn’t say yes, but to her luck he didn’t protest when she pulled it out and started sucking him off. Chris was hitting her from the back, and after he finished, real quick, she wanted Chauncey. He was so drunk he couldn’t even move but in his mind he knew that it was fucked up when she put the condom on him and rode him like a pony. Chris ended up not marrying his babies’ mother but that night still ended up being something that changed the whole game.

  After that, Neli kept pressing him, begging for it, willing to do any freaky thing that he requested. She let all of his niggas hit and she even let him do a threesome with her and one of her girls from Cali.

  Once it became routine he knew he had to do something about it. Neli started threatening that she would tell Sasha if he didn’t keep fucking with her. Chauncey couldn’t hurt Sasha like that, so he had to let Sasha go. Neli was happy as hell when he did that, thinking that he would be with her, but that wasn’t happening either.

  Truthfully, leaving Sasha was the hardest thing he ever did because she was the only girl that he ever loved, and he loved her hard. He didn’t think he could ever feel that way about anybody. He probably would go crazy if anybody ever hurt her.

  This time when Sasha awoke she was in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors, police, and wait, there was Tatum and Kim. It took a little bit for her to gather her thoughts and remember how she got there. Then she remembered the two guys with the guns.

  “Hey boo, how you feeling?” Tatum asked her warmly, concern in her eyes.

  Sasha sat up and felt a little dizzy so she lay back down.

  “How do I look?” she asked Kim, knowing she’d keep it too real.

  “Same ol’ bougieass bitch, you look fine. They just knocked you in ya head a few times, shit it’ll probably help you,” Kim joked.

  Tatum laughed and then added, “Yeah, maybe they knocked some sense into ya silly ass.” The doctor looked at the girls like they were the most sorry excuses for friends, but Tatum knew Sasha needed laughter in the situation, or she would panic. Sasha got serious for a minute.

  “They didn’t . . . you know?” she asked, scared. She had seen too many movies about girls getting raped, catching diseases, and getting pregnant.

  “No. No,” the doctor reassured her. “They didn’t do anything sexual. They just knocked you unconscious and then fled. A neighbor called the police when he heard one of them say that they thought they had killed you.”

  She was a nice doctor, Sasha thought to herself.

  Sasha told Tatum and Kim all of what happened after she gave her simple statement to the police, which was basically nothing. She knew that, more than likely, these questions and anything she divulged could lead back to Chauncey. She was the girlfriend, well, ex-girlfriend to a well-known dope boy. She wasn’t that naïve. Since Sasha recalled that the guys had been looking for money they thought Sasha possessed, she knew if the cops did an investigation, it would do more harm than good.

  The doctors monitored her all night and the next day Tatum and Kim came to pick her up. Chauncey. Chauncey. The name played in her head like a song.

  What does he have to say about this? Why isn’t he here?

  They climbed into Tatum’s truck and headed to Sasha’s apartment. In the middle of the silence, Sasha asked the inevitable.

  “Did anybody tell Chauncey?”

  Tatum and Kim looked at each other and knew that one of them would have to be the one to give the news that would set that crazy muthafucka off. But neither wanted that position, so they just kept on driving.

  E drove through the Holland Tunnel blasting the latest Rick Ross track. He was feeling good. Him and Chaunc had just dropped a hell of a load off in Brooklyn and were happy to make it back trouble-free.

  Chauncey reclined in the passenger seat, pulling drags off of a cigarette and staring out the window, thoughts filled with Sasha. She was his focus. Whenever he did something wrong, whenever he harmed someone, he just thought of her. He knew that God could never punish him too much because he loved something so pure, so precious. She was his angel.

  Chauncey turned the radio down.

  “Yo E, remember when we went to Miami last summer and we was downtown, you know the day that whole setup shit happened with Papi?” Chauncey asked, taking another pull of his cigarette.

  “Yeah, yeah. Papi thought shit was sweet, I had to splatter that nigga’s brains on the wall. Remember you caught the big nigga right between the eyes and his shit was hanging out the socket!” E got excited, recalling the whole scenario.

  “Yeah, man . . . but remember when we were downtown and we passed that jewelry spot and I said I was gonna come back for that fly-ass ring for Sash. You know, the six-carat joint?”

  E nodded his head yes and Chauncey continued.

  “I should’ve just done that shit, man . . . For real . . . We’d probably have a seed by now and everything.”

  E sat in silence and kept his eyes on the road. He knew this was real for Chaunc. He knew his man was a cutthroat, arrogant, hardheaded nigga, so for him to be coming to him like this must mean he really missed her.

  “Yo Chaunc, you ever thought about just telling her about Neli? Telling her the truth?”

  There was a silence and just when Chauncey was about to respond, his cell phone rang loudly. It was a blocked number. Chauncey ignored the call but ten seconds later it called right back.

  “Who dis?” he asked, better yet demanded.

  “Chauncey.”

  Click. He hung up at the sound of Neli’s voice. Two seconds later it rang again.

  “Stop fucking calling,” he warned her through clenched teeth, frustrated.

  “Wait, I got to tell you something,” she pleaded.

  “What?” he asked annoyed.

  “I can’t tell you over the phone, come meet me somewhere.”

  “Hell no” He hung up and E laughed.

  “Who the fuck was that?” E asked.

  “You know who, fucking looney tune.”

  “Neli? Oh man, I told you to get rid of that bitch.”

  “I’m trying, nigga, why don’t you take her?”

  “I don’t want that crazy bitch!” E yelled, pulling onto Route 1.

  A minute later, the same blocked number called back. E grabbed the phone quickly because Chauncey was looking like he was gonna say something that was gonna make the girl kill herself.

  “Yo,” E stated.

  Chauncey could hear her annoying voice yakking but couldn’t make out what she was saying.

  “Nah, he ain’t here.” More yakking. “Cause he forgot his phone.” Yakking. “He just left!” Yakking. E was making faces doing his hand like a talking mouth but instantly Chauncey noticed the seriousness of E’s expression.

  “Oh word,” E replied his voice dropped a notch from the jesting tone a few seconds prior. “She all right?”

  Chauncey began biting on the inside of his cheek, a sort of nervous habit.

  “Aight, no doubt,” E said, and then hung up with Neli.

  He kept his eyes ahead on the road with a grave look on his face. He appeared worried, a look Chauncey had never seen from E.

  “What happened?” Chauncey asked, scared that the bitch was pregnant or something, or even that Sasha had found out about them. But nothing could prepare him for what was to come. E thought hard about choosing his words. Chauncey was a time bomb and he knew this shit was gonna blow his fucking lid. Fuck it. The shit had E tight too but nothing could match Chauncey’s expected anger.

  “Sasha just got out of the hospital.”

  Chauncey’s face went blank. E couldn’t read him. He figured he went this far so he might as well proceed.

  “Some niggas broke into her crib, they knocked her out—” E didn’t get to finish. In a furious rage Chauncey balled his hand int
o a fist and punched the passenger window, spidering and shattering the glass. E didn’t even flinch—he expected this.

  Silence took over the car as E continued to drive, looking at Chauncey, who now had his head in his hands, was staring down at the car’s carpet. Blood trickled down Chauncey’s arm from his balled fist, but a hospital was out of the question. There was only one place E knew he had to take Chauncey. To Sasha . . .

  Chapter 6

  Desire

  When they pulled up to Sasha’s complex, Chauncey didn’t even wait for the car to stop before he jumped out. I swear on my life, niggas is gonna bleed. Niggas gonna fucking die.

  The thoughts ran through his head back to back like a skipping CD, infuriating him even more. He ran swiftly up the couple of flights of stairs and reached the door only to be greeted by Neli. He pushed her to the side and addressed Kim.

  “Where’s Sash?”

  Before she could answer he pushed her ass to the side, too, and began searching through the rest of the apartment. There were a couple of females there who Kim had come over with, acting like they were there for Sasha but really were just there to be nosy. They didn’t care what had actually happened to her.

  Chauncey glanced around the living room and made eye contact with some of Sasha’s so-called friends. Bitches straight up giving him the fuck-me eye and licking their lips and shit.

  “Sash!” he yelled out.

  “Chauncey!” someone yelled back.

  “Sasha!” he yelled again, heading to the bedroom.

  “No, Chaunc, it’s me,” Tatum said, stepping out from the bedroom. “She’s in here.”

  “Chauncey,” Sasha whimpered when she saw him. She immediately started crying, half because she missed him and was glad that he was there and half because she knew he was most likely going to murder somebody over this situation. Chauncey sat down on the rounded bed that he had spent many nights in, and cradled Sasha in his arms like a child.

  With her face nestled between his neck and shoulder, she found comfort. She let out all of her tears over everything that had happened. The guns in her face, the death threats, the hospital, everything, she let it all out.

  “I’m sorry, princess, I should’ve been here.”

  Sasha didn’t answer. Instead she just thought to herself, Hell yeah, you should’ve. Chauncey kissed her forehead, and rocked her in his arms.

  “Princess, I’m sorry. I fucked up, I should’ve been here.”

  Neli stood at the door, pissed off and hurt. She couldn’t believe how Chauncey just catered to Sasha’s dramatics. She thought that he would at least acknowledge her in some way, but he acted as if she didn’t even exist.

  Get the fuck out of here, Neli thought to herself, but soon was hearing it out loud.

  “You hear me, get the fuck out of here!” Chauncey screamed at everyone, including Neli. The only person who he didn’t scream at was Tatum. He stormed out into the living room.

  “Get out! Get the fuck out!”

  Everyone jumped up quickly. They knew Chauncey said what he meant and meant what he said. They also had projected that he was going to flip when he found out what happened to Sasha, so this was not a surprise.

  As everybody cleared out, Tatum also headed out after making sure Sasha was fine, followed by E who promised to have names for Chauncey by tomorrow. When he didn’t get a response from Chauncey, he didn’t trip. He didn’t expect one.

  Chauncey locked the door behind E and headed back into the living room. The apartment was just like home to him, he had spent so much time there. And even though Sasha’s parents had money and kept the apartment fully stocked with whatever she needed, Chauncey had purchased most of the furnishings, including the sixty-inch plasma TV hanging on the wall, and the designer furniture which included the King XL rounded bed in which they enjoyed many nights.

  It was quiet, and before he went back into the room to face Sasha, he sat down on the couch to take a moment to think. He took off his tee and placed his head in his hands, wondering who was responsible for this and who would ever think to disrespect him in this way.

  He thought about a lot in those couple of minutes. He hardly ever had time to think. Lately things had been so hectic in the streets, partly because they had to be, and partly because that’s the way he wanted them, to keep his mind off of his chaotic personal life. He thought of how he had been so stupid. He wanted to be with Sasha and he knew he could be, but he was a nigga used to having control. Whenever he put himself in a certain situation that made him feel vulnerable, he had to do something to fuck it up.

  Now it was too late. He couldn’t go back to Sasha after what he had done. Neli would never let that happen. And he couldn’t tell Sasha—he just couldn’t hurt her like that. He just had to let her go.

  Sasha walked out of the bedroom and studied Chauncey in his sexy wifebeater with his dark muscular arms that were once her security blanket. She missed him so much, all those nights she lay in her bed, pretending that her fingers were his. All those nights, wishing that she could have him again. Wishing that she could wake up and he’d be right in that next room, right on that couch like he was now.

  “Hey,” her soft voice quivered.

  Tears formed at her heart and she prayed that they didn’t come to her eyes.

  “Hey,” he answered, looking up at her. Beautiful. “So tell me what happened.”

  She wanted to tell him that one of their names was Rico, but she was too scared that he would leave to go find the guys. She needed him tonight.

  “Please, Chaunc, I don’t want to relive that right now. Can I talk about it in the morning?” She took a pause before she continued; she wanted to choose her words carefully. “You will be here in the morning, right?”

  Chauncey caught her insinuation and took it for what it was. He had every intention of being by her side all through the night.

  “Yeah, I’ll be here, kid. Don’t worry, I ain’t going nowhere.”

  I heard that before, Sasha thought to herself. She walked over to the couch and stood in front of him. He placed his head on her stomach as she rubbed the back of his neck and down to his shoulders. She could feel herself becoming weak as his breath tickled her belly button.

  Next were light kisses along her midriff that made her moan in ecstasy. He stood up and looked into her brown eyes. God he loved her. At that moment he realized that he needed her, she made him whole, and he had to find a way to get back right with her. He looked at the marks on her beautiful face. I’m gonna kill those muthafuckas. She was still the baddest chick he had ever seen, and he’d seen a lot.

  He kissed her with his eyes opened. They kissed slow and soft at first, then hard and passionate. It was as if they were making up for all of those lost kisses over the weeks. They kissed for what seemed like an eternity as his hands reintroduced themselves to every curve of her body. Then he carried his princess into the bedroom and made sweet, sweet love to her, over and over.

  Tatum had planned on going back to Ree’s after leaving Sasha’s. She knew with Chauncey there, Sasha would be more than okay. She thought about how Sasha got herself into this situation, dealing with a hustler. It was nothing that she did wrong, but she just loved the wrong kind of man, and Tatum once upon a time swore she would never get caught up like that.

  But damn, Ree, he was irresistible. Earlier she had gone to his house after class and had fallen asleep immediately. She didn’t realize how tired she had been from working and school, but Ree understood and rubbed her hair as he watched her drift off peacefully.

  Just when she was in a state of calm, she got a phone call about Sasha from Neli and had to leave right away. She told Ree she would call him when she got a chance but now he wasn’t answering. Oh well, she thought.

  Meanwhile, Ree had just gotten off of a phone call with E when he made a connection. Apparently Chauncey couldn’t take that trip to Plainfield tonight that Ree had wanted him to, because something had happened to his girl. And Tatum had left
earlier because of something that happened to her girl. The two girls now came together as being one and the same.

  What blew his mind though was that when Ree told E that he already had found out about what happened to Sasha because he knew her friend Tatum, E told him that the nigga Chris who had come to Ree a couple months ago for a job, was also Tatum’s brother. It’s a small fucking world.

  Now Ree was really starting to dig Tatum but he had become too successful these past years and he didn’t like mixing business with pleasure. Tatum also didn’t know exactly how deep and heavy in the game he was and he wasn’t sure if he wanted her to. She was a strong, educated black woman, and the way they vibed, notorious drug-lord status never came up in the conversation.

  The worst thing was that he wasn’t exactly feeling the nigga, Chris. In Ree’s eyes he was lazy but Ree was still letting him prove himself off the strength of Chauncey. But he could tell that Chris wanted to be the boss, but there was only one boss, and everyone knew who that was. If something ever came out of his suspicions and he had to do away with Chris, then that would be a problem in itself with Tatum. Nonetheless, it was too late to debate getting involved with her; she already had his full attention.

  After seeing that Tatum had called while he was talking to E, he dialed her back to find out how she was doing.

  “You know, I should treat you like you treat me and not pick up the phone,” she sassed with a fake attitude mixed with her signature coolness.

  “C’mon, Ms. Lady, you know I could never intentionally ignore you. I’m just a very busy man, sometimes I get caught up . . . How’s ya friend?”

  “She’s fine, just a little shook up.”

  There was a little silence. Tatum didn’t want to just reinvite herself over. She thought about saying forget it and going home.