Renee Page 9

  Seconds later Mr. Banks stepped inside the bathroom. “What the hell is taking y’all so long?”

  Julian was towering over Psych, and Renee was sitting in the same spot, her arms wrapped around her bent legs.

  “What the fuck happened in here?” Mr. Banks scratched his head, his mouth open.

  “This bitch ass—” Julian began, but Renee cut him short.

  Renee knew what it looked like, knew what Julian thought. And she had to correct him. She had to let him know that she hadn’t been violated again. “He tried. He tried to rape me, but Julian stopped him.”

  Mr. Banks examined an unconscious Psych. “I knew that piece of shit was a rapist.” He shook his head after noticing the underwear on the floor and the tears glistening on Renee’s cheeks. “Get out of here, you two.”

  “Nope. You get out of here, and take Renee. I’m not done with him.”

  “Leave, Julian! I got this!”

  Julian got in Mr. Banks’s face. “What the fuck are you going to do?”

  Mr. Banks pulled a partially smoked blunt out of his pocket and tossed it a few feet from Psych, then took a baggie with half a pound of weed out of his pocket and placed it inside one the pockets of Psych’s pants, which were around his feet.

  “I seen Mr. Phillips on the cameras walk inside the girls’ bathroom. By the time I made it up here, I found him smoking weed. Once caught, he became irate and attacked me, so I knocked him on his ass. It was self-defense.”

  “What about cameras in here?” Julian questioned.

  “There are no cameras in the bathrooms, and the rest of the cameras in this school are shitty. For the past week, they’ve been erasing footage simultaneously. By the time you’re out of this building, I’m sure there will be nothing to show for the past hour. Now leave.”

  Julian ran over their alibi once in his head. “I owe you.”

  The memory of this event was as detailed as if it had transpired yesterday. Renee had repressed this nightmare for so long, she had forgotten that years after her almost rape, Psych was murdered, and Mr. Banks retired early and moved to LA, where he bought his own beach house. She had asked no questions about their fate. She had just buried their existence deep inside. Renee left the terrace doors open, got back in an empty bed, wrapped herself in her blanket, and forced herself to think of anything but her life.

  Chapter 12

  Jared was at war with his emotions. Sex with Renee had given him a high he had never before experienced, and he wanted it to go on forever, but witnessing her nearly being sexually assaulted had ruined any inkling of happiness they had enjoyed just moments before. Once back in her bedroom, Jared had tried to initiate a hug and a kiss, the only way, other than murder, he could come up with to show his support. However, Renee had gone back into her shell and had denied him of any sort of skin-to-skin contact. The minute she was back inside her bedroom, she had rattled off strict instructions on how she wanted Slice’s body handled, then had retreated to her terrace.

  Jared had wanted to cover Renee with his body and make her forget all that transpired and tugged on her soul. Yet he had pushed away the urge to lose himself inside her once more, and instead he’d made the necessary calls, one of which to Lyfe. Jared’s desire in life was to stay at Renee’s side all day and then spend the night with her in her bed, with her in his arms. But Lyfe appeared at the house like a bat out of hell, his aggression and protective nature on ten, so Jared crowding Renee didn’t seem like the answer, no matter how much he wanted to pin her against the terrace railing and have round two.

  An early morning drink was not ideal. However, it was the perfect way for Jared to celebrate the accomplishment of bedding the woman his heart belonged, while also giving her some space. Around ten o’clock, Jared headed out to a bar he backed financially. In preparation for opening, the bar’s floor was being mopped, tables were being wiped down, and chairs were being taken down off the tables. Strolling over to his favorite table, located at the far end of the bar, Jared received constant greetings from the workers. He took a seat and basked in the solitude. Nobody gave him a menu. Instead, one of the employees immediately came over with a tray holding two shots and one beer and placed the drinks in front of him. Jared took a shot, then moved on to a take sip of his beer. When the drinks were finished, the bar’s new bartender cleared the table and then placed more drinks on it.

  “Take a break and have a drink with me.” Jared gestured to the chair across from him. Jared was a loner, but that morning he was feeling social.

  “Thanks, boss man, but I’m on the clock. Roy would have my ass.”

  “If you want to get technical, I’m Roy’s boss, and I run this shit, so sit your ass down, Gomez.”

  Hesitant but appreciative of a break after coming to the bar straight after his second job, Gomez took a load off and welcomed the relief given to his feet. Jared slid a shot over to him and held his in the air. The older gentleman followed suit.

  “To great sex!” Jared’s voice danced from the bar to the dance floor, a hard chuckle not far behind.

  “Oh, so that’s what this is.” Gomez kicked back the brown liquid. “I remember those days, but I don’t miss those days.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jared moved on to his beer.

  At that moment the bar manager began doing a walk-through, the loud sound of kitten heels announcing her arrival before she physically made her presence known to Jared. When she did appear at the end of the bar, her Botox-filled face strained to smile at Jared.

  “Dena, bring over some shots and join us!”

  “This early?” Dena meant for her eyebrows to rise, but nothing happened. Dena might have been unable to move her face, but she was sure it was just about to happen after she saw the look Jared gave her.

  Changing her tune, she rushed to fetch the drinks. “You got it!”

  Before all the shots were placed on the table, Jared scooped one up and emptied the glass. He had a dire need to celebrate, and to forget what Slice could have done to Renee.

  Gomez and Dena, who sat down at the table, did not touch a shot.

  “Gomez, what, are you gay or something?” Tipsy, Jared slid another shot over to Gomez. Then he slammed one down in front of Dena, his eyes telling her, “Drink.”

  Both employees did what was expected of them.

  Gomez shook his head. “Nope. It’s just that the best sex I ever had was with the woman who screwed me over. After a while, not even the sex could keep me around.”

  Jared glided another shot over to his manager. “What she do?”

  “She didn’t love me. I loved her, but she didn’t love me. Turned out the reason she even dealt with me was for the sex. Eventually, she stopped dealing with me altogether and got back with this dude she was on and off with.” Reliving the events responsible for leaving him a lonely old man, with no woman or kids, Gomez took another shot.

  “You, my friend, are what we call a booty call.” Dena laughed behind her comment and took the last shot. She rubbed the back of her neck and batted her false eyelashes at Jared.

  You have to be kidding me. This uptight broad is a lightweight? Jared thought.

  “That’s exactly what I was. I loved that girl with everything I had. Never had a relationship sense.”

  Jared observed the graying man and saw in his eyes when he spoke about his ex the same type of love he felt for Renee. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Gomez replied. “I just hope your woman is in it for the right reasons, young blood.”

  “Without a doubt.”

  “You sure about that?” Dena asked. Neither man noticed she had left the table and had returned with three more shots of vodka. She hadn’t bother to sit back down. She stood there and downed one of the shots.

  “I’m positive,” Jared slurred.

  Gomez held his glass high for a solo toast. “Then, to great sex!” The older man got up and swayed to the right a little.

  “You okay, ol
d man?” Jared said, still slurring.

  “I’m better than okay, young blood!” Gomez said. He had a little pep in his step as he left the table.

  Once she was alone with Jared, Dena leaned her elbows on the table, placing her cleavage in Jared’s face. “Let’s go in the back real quick. I bet I can make you forget all about her.” Dena tried smiling, but it looked more like a frown.

  Jared’s phone went off a second later, interrupting the conversation, and he looked down and saw a picture of Janae on the screen. He pressed IGNORE.

  “That’s her?” Dena licked her lips.

  “No.” Jared finished his beer and his last shot. He got up, and as he walked by Dena, he told her, “Get back to work.”

  Jared wasn’t heading home just yet. He now had the need to celebrate elsewhere, but he just didn’t know where.

  * * *

  Jared opened his eyes, and Janae was staring right at him. Seeing her eyeballs so close to his face made Jared jump back, and he almost fell off the bed.

  “What the hell? What are you doing?” he muttered.

  “Where were you last night? Coming home after the sun rises isn’t cool. Who is she, Jared?”

  Jared sat up while shaking his head. Every day that passed reminded him how much this relationship wasn’t working. If he came home ten minutes late, he was cheating. If he had to go into work on his day off or had to work longer than usual, he was cheating. Janae wasn’t the woman he’d met. She had transformed into this needy, overprotective monster. She was suffocating him. When he met her, he’d thought she was the one, but now he saw that she wasn’t. After spending the night before with Renee, he’d realized that she was the one.

  “Don’t start, Janae. You know where I was.”

  “Yeah, that’s what you always say, but I know there’s more to it than you’re letting on. Just be honest, Jared. Be a man about it.”

  With his back turned to her, Jared got out of bed and started laughing. When he stood up, Janae saw her sister, Leslie, standing behind him, with her arms crossed, shaking her head at her. Jared couldn’t control his laughter. Janae truly thought that by telling him to be a man, he would oblige and tell her anything she wanted to know, just to prove that he was an adult. He knew better than that. He stared at her and thought of all the mean things he could say to her, just to hurt her feelings.

  He thought about coming clean and telling her everything. I don’t do maintenance at an office building, and I don’t have parents who feed me with a silver spoon. The truth is, I work for a rich, powerful woman who pushes coke, and guess what? I’m madly in love with her, and last night I slept with her, and it was the best sex I’ve ever had. Jared laughed harder, picturing the look on Janae’s face if he actually said that to her. Once he turned around to face her, he thought against it. She’s not even worth it. Jared shook his head one last time and walked to the bathroom.

  As soon as he turned to walk away, Leslie suddenly vanished. Janae placed her hands on her face for a brief second. She shook her head and quickly bounced up off the bed. She knew Jared was preparing for one of his disappearing acts, and this time she wasn’t having it.

  “Oh, no, no, no. Don’t leave.”

  Jared turned to see what nonsense Janae was talking now. She was out of bed, completely dressed, and was now bending down and putting her sneakers on. After she finished, she walked over to the closet and pulled out her oversize Puma duffel bag.

  “I’m the one who’s leaving,” she announced. She started packing, stuffing her bag with shirts, pants, bras, and panties. She didn’t bother folding anything. She was a woman on a mission.

  Jared shook his head, a faint smile across his face. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m leaving. There’s some things I have to take care of. I’ll be back soon, and when I do get back, I expect the ho you have on the side to be gone.”

  After placing one more outfit in her bag, she looked at Jared and saw Leslie standing behind him, clapping her hands. Her ever so memorable smile decorated her face. Ever since Janae had gotten involved with Jared, she’d completely ignored a major responsibility, which was to avenge her sister’s death. She had told herself that moving with Jared to Brooklyn was a great move, because that was where Renee had taken Leslie’s life and where Renee’s family still resided. She knew it was only a matter of time until Renee returned home, and if she didn’t, her family would pay for her absence.

  The more Janae had fallen for Jared, the more she’d forgotten about finding Renee. Eventually, the hunt for Renee had come to a complete halt, and she’d started concentrating on Jared’s whereabouts. She had become obsessed with why he was always coming home late, and she wanted to know why his infatuation with her had decreased drastically. Jared was a distraction. Janae truly believed that if the relationship had been going fine, she would have continued to ignore her mission to find Renee, just because she would have remained on cloud nine. That was a major problem.

  After putting off her hunt for Renee, Janae had started to see Leslie. Every time she appeared, Leslie was not happy. She’d show up when Janae least expected it. The first time she saw her, Janae was in the shower, crying over Jared. When she stepped out, Leslie was standing there, with her arms tightly folded across her chest, eyes lowered. Janae screamed and immediately stepped back, then fell back into the tub. Then there was the time Janae stayed up waiting for Jared to come home, juggling ideas on how she could find and get rid of his mistress. While she was lost in thought, she looked up at the bedroom doorway and saw Leslie standing there, giving her an icy look while shaking her head in disappointment.

  After constantly seeing her sister, Janae realized the cause of her appearances. Whenever she was preoccupied with Jared, and thus neglecting the search for Leslie’s killer, her sister would appear to remind Janae what she had to do. Finally, Janae got the hint and stopped being scared whenever she saw her sister. The previous night, it hit her how she had been neglecting her sister for Jared, and it broke her heart. She lay there for hours on end, deciding that the best thing to do would be to leave for a while and find Renee. Afterward, she’d come back to Jared and give him 100 percent of herself, since she would not have to devote any more time and energy to her sister.

  All Janae had was Jared. She had no one else. And she’d be damned if some girl took him away from her. That was why she had come to the conclusion that after she got rid of Renee, she’d find Jared’s mistress and get rid of her too. When she told Jared she was leaving to take care of business, it was the first time she’d seen Leslie smile. Janae had a feeling it’d be the last time she saw Leslie. Seeing her sister smile made Janae smile, something she hadn’t really done in months.

  “Do me a favor. Come back by midnight,” Jared told her.

  Janae didn’t look up at Jared. She just continued to pack, throwing additional items in the bag. “No can do. I’ll be back as soon as I take care of things.”

  “No, I don’t mean that,” Jared said in a cold tone. “Is that bag all you’re taking?”

  Janae still didn’t look up. “Yes. I don’t need to take every little thing when I’ll be back.”

  “Come back by midnight,” he repeated.

  Janae’s face tightened, her top lip twitched, and then she rolled both lips into her mouth so Jared wouldn’t see. “I told you, Jared, I can’t. I’ll be back when I can.” She heaved the large duffel bag over her shoulder and walked toward the door.

  “If you want your stuff, you’ll come back tonight.”

  Janae stopped, her back facing him. “What are you talking about?”

  Jared walked over to her. She could feel his breath on her neck. “I want you out,” he whispered in her ear. His breath was cold, and his voice chilling. “Your things will be on their way to Goodwill if you’re not back by midnight. Your choice.”

  Janae’s blood boiled. This girl really has turned him against me.

  She nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll return for my things,
but know this isn’t over. After I take care of what I need to, I’ll take care of your slut. Then, once that’s over with, I’m coming back here, and we will be together.” Janae never faced Jared the entire time she spoke.

  She would never admit it, but having Jared break up with her would destroy her. She refused to accept that they were over.

  Just like I’ll take care of Renee, I’ll take care of her.

  When all was said and done, Janae left, and the hunt began.

  Chapter 13

  Last night the liquor had got the best of Waves. He’d got so drunk that one of Renee’s street soldiers had had to drive him to his mother’s house in Brooklyn. He lived in Staten Island, but at the time, he hadn’t been able to remember his address and had been able to recite only his mother’s, so Mommy’s house was where he’d gone.

  The next morning, he woke up and plopped himself down on the floor in front of his mother’s sixty-inch flat-screen, which he had bought for her living room, and played his sister’s PlayStation 4. Even though he was suffering from nausea and a headache, he was still in a good mood because of the money he knew he would be coming into. Jared had told him that if he did everything he was told correctly, there would be a bonus in it for him.

  He smiled while pressing various buttons to release a fireball in the Street Fighter game. As soon as You Win! flashed on the screen, a high yellow, red-haired female who was younger than Waves walked into the room and sat on the couch. Her eyes were puffy, and her skin appeared to be clammy.

  Waves glanced at her, then quickly turned his attention back to the game and laughed. “I got the same sickness,” he told her.

  She looked at him, confused, with one eyebrow raised.

  “You know what I’m talking about. The bug going around that causes you to throw up, have headaches, and that makes the whole room spin.”

  “What are you talking about?” the girl asked, her frustration apparent in her voice. She now had a hand on her forehead. “What bug?”