Chapter 6 #2
“This shit is wild,” she huffs as she examines Sunjiya’s face.
“You look just like her. I mean everything. I…I just can’t believe this.
” Her posture straightens then she sighs again but her eyes don’t leave Sunjiya’s face.
“Are you fucking with me?” she asks again, still struggling to believe what she’s hearing.
After sitting in the chair next to Honey, Sunjiya responds. “I’m not. I’m really not her but I need to find her. We really think she’s in trouble.”
In the cut, still by the door, Akeem locks in on them. He’s laser focused on Honey’s demeanor, her reactions, and most importantly, her words. She obviously knows Tanjaya.
“She is,” Honey finally admits. “You even sound like her,” she adds. “It’s going to take some time and tequila to fully process this twin shit.”
“We’re identical.”
“But she never mentioned you. Never. I thought she grew up in the foster system,” Honey says.
“She did. We both did. We were separated for the first fifteen years of our lives.”
“Shit,” Honey sighs. “My bad. This is just blowing me. We’ve been friends for two years and I didn’t have a fucking clue.”
“She’s been here?” Sunjiya asks.
“Yeah. A lot. Her nigga brought her here the first time,” Honey replies.
“Marcelin?” Sunjiya asks.
“Yeah, that fuck ass nigga. You met him?” Honey asks and Sunjiya just shakes her head but Akeem answers.
“I have,” he says and Honey’s eyes dart toward him then back to Sunjiya.
“And you’re not one of his men? You don’t work for him?” Honey questions skeptically.
“Not like that,” Sunjiya answers before he can. “Marcelin hired him to find her but he found me instead. Now he’s helping me find her.”
“For Marcelin?” Honey snaps. “You’re finding her for him, right?”
“Nah,” he says, then steps closer to make sure she hears him loud and clear.
Without hesitation or mincing his words, he emphatically states, “I took the job blindly, but once I found out how he handles women, shit changed. I don’t work for men like him.
I’m here to find Tanjaya and help her, then I’m gonna handle him. ”
“I hope you kill his black hearted ass,” she spits.
“That’s the plan,” he admits. “Do you know where she would go?”
Honey sighs then tilts her head contemplatively.
After running through her thoughts, she straightens and looks at Sunjiya.
“I just know she wanted to be far, far away from him. That nigga beat the shit out her, pimped her out, and treated her like shit, all the fucking while saying he loved her. I hate him and hope she really got away ’cause he was gonna,” she says while shaking her head, then abruptly stops, dreading finishing her words.
“Gonna what?” Sunjiya asks, although everything in her knows the rest. If a man would hit a woman, he would kill her.
Honey closes her eyes and utters, “He was gonna kill her.” She shrugs then shakes her head. “He tried before and almost succeeded,” she says and a boulder forms in Sunjiya’s throat that she struggles to swallow.
Three loud and rapid knocks on the door break the intensity in the room and pulls all of their attention.
Honey’s words linger in the air but she stands and steps toward the door.
If she doesn’t, Lil Mike will for sure barge in, thinking there’s a problem because the standard hour in the room is up.
“You good?” Lil Mike asks.
“We need more time,” she says. There’s so much more she needs to tell them. Plus, she wants to speak to Sunjiya alone. Honey’s spirit is uneasy and she still isn’t convinced that Sunjiya isn’t Tanjaya doing whatever she needs to stay away from Marcelin.
“Not tonight. Ano wants you back on the floor now. Some ballers from the league just pulled up out back and he wants his baddest out here,” he says resolutely.
“Five minutes, please,” she pleads, taking a chance. When Ano calls, she comes; just like every bitch in here. He has no problem replacing any of them and her money is too damn good to risk that.
When Lil Mike merely mean mugs her and doesn’t respond, Akeem turns to face him.
Some things and some men don’t need words to decipher them.
The way a man carries himself, walks with no fear, and gives eye contact sans any intimidation speaks volumes.
Lil Mike picked that shit up on Akeem as soon as he was in his space.
Real recognizes real. So when Akeem interjects and speaks, Lil Mike finally responds.
“We need five more minutes,” Akeem says.
“Three,” Lil Mike concedes, but on his terms, then closes the door. He has to save face with Honey. The girls depend on him and fear him at the same damn time. He has to maintain that conundrum in order to maintain the status quo back here.
Honey rushes back to Sunjiya. “I have to go but I’m off at four. I gotta get my baby but we can talk tomorrow. After ten though. A bitch gotta get some sleep.”
“Where can we find you?” Akeem asks.
No one knows where Honey lays her damn head, no one, especially niggas who come in here and fucking strangers. Even if he is truly here to help Tan, Honey doesn’t know him from Adam. Her address isn’t an option.
“Hit me tomorrow and we can link up,” she says while holding her hand out to Sunjiya.
“Give me your phone, I’ll add my number.
” Another knock sounds on the door so Honey wiggles her fingers for Sunjiya to hurry.
She really has to get out of the room and back on the floor.
Thankfully, Sunjiya quickly gives her the phone.
In less than ten seconds, Honey adds her contact.
“We gotta get outta here before he brings his big ass in here,” she says before throwing her arms around Sunjiya.
Her embrace is tight and filled with love.
“I didn’t hug her the last time we saw each other.
When you find her, give this hug and my love,” she whispers before releasing Sunjiya and scurrying to the door.
This time Akeem opens it and the three walk out. Akeem turns to gauge Sunjiya and Honey takes off, practically running in her six-inch heels. Sunjiya has a blank expression, stunned, standing in place, not moving. Just when Akeem reaches back to coax her, Lil Mike speaks.
“Ay. Man. I really need y’all to leave from back here,” he says with less bass than normal. Honey is gone and he’s not trying to start shit with Akeem. It’s clear that Lil Mike’s size and deep ass voice doesn’t faze Akeem. Unlike most men Lil Mike encounters, Akeem sees past his obvious size.
Without even acknowledging Lil Mike, Akeem leads her out of the private section into the main area of the club. In the hour they were with Honey, the club somehow got more crowded. The little space to move around somewhat comfortably dissipated and everyone is shoulder to shoulder.
Sunjiya leans in and somberly whispers to Akeem, “We can leave.”
“You sure? We can see if someone else might know her,” he asks for confirmation. Honey was a great lead and start, but she’s only a start. If Tanjaya has been here on multiple occasions, there’s a chance maybe someone else knows her and can provide more valuable information.
“Yeah, I’m sure. We’re talking to her in the morning. I’m tired and that was a lot.”
“Bet, we can leave,” he concedes. I’ll just come back later and see what I can see.
They make their way through the congested floor.
Sunjiya spots Honey in the back left corner of the club, seductively shaking her ass in front of a man and her top is now open.
She quickly nods at Sunjiya then smiles before turning back to her customer.
When they make it to the car, Akeem studies her face and tries to gauge her now obviously changed mood.
“I need a drink,” she says as soon as he starts the car.
“And probably some food,” he adds because she’s already had a drink on an empty stomach. He noticed; he notices everything about her.
“We can eat but I need liquor,” she says while scrolling her cell.
“I might have to get a bottle in there. It’s after ten,” Akeem says.
“They sell it till midnight here and a Max Liquor ten miles from here,” she says before holding up her screen so he can see.
“And food?”
“A few drive-thrus are nearby,” she says.
She presses directions on her phone and the navigation directs them to the store. Honey’s words stick in her mind, so she rides in silence, thankful he doesn’t disturb her quiet.
Less than ten minutes later, they turn into a small plaza surrounded by few fast-food spots. Akeem places the car in park and leaves the engine running.
“What do you want?” he asks as he unbuckles his seatbelt.
“I can get out,” she responds.
“I got it. Tequila, right?”
“Yes,” is all she offers, no specific brand. It’s been a trying past few days, and at this point, any tequila will do.
Akeem nods then exits the car. Two older gentlemen loiter around the entrance, and out of respect, he greets them before walking in.
The small store is basic, three aisles and one drink cooler stocked with chilled chaser options and a few boxes of cigars, which Akeem finds strange.
There’s also a freezer box next to it stocked with white twenty ounce cups filled with ice.
Akeem grabs two ice cups from the freezer, two cans from the cooler, one cranberry and the other pineapple, then heads to the register.
The more expensive, top shelf liquors are shelved behind it.
He chooses Patrón and all his items are totaled and bagged.
As soon as he’s back in the car, he hands the bag to her for inspection and approval.
Not only does she approve, she pours herself a drink, bypassing the juices.
She pours the equivalent of two shots over the ice and half is down her throat before the ice stops crackling from the introduction of the liquid spirit.
“We definitely need food,” he comments before driving off.