Still thicker than water (18 page)

“
Happy New Year!” She screamed, but was immediately frozen, mouth open and all.

“
Happy New Year, kid.”

Chauncey stood at the door, with gifts in his hand and looking oh so edible. He was dressed in all black – black jeans, black thermal, black leather jacket, his smooth black skin and black waves and goatee, Sasha took it all in.

“
What are you…?” Sasha couldn’t even talk. He kissed her on the cheek softly.

“
Where’s Bri, she sleep?” He asked, as he made his way into the house, past her. No invitation needed.

Sasha glanced at his Burgundy 2010 Bentley Mulsanne parked out front before closing the door.

His flashy ass!
She thought, but they were two of a kind. And she was envious.

“
Babe, Tatum said to call her back,” Mike screamed, walking toward the hallway to meet Sasha, but was greeted by a tall and cocky Chauncey.

“
Babe? Aw, I knew you liked me,” Chauncey joked, making his way into the living room. Mike was taken aback.

Chauncey examined the house and nodded in slight approval, as Mike fumed.

“
This is cute Sash, real
cute.
”

Sasha knew Chauncey was being an asshole. Anytime he said cute, he meant small.

Like when she used to punch him with all of her might and not do shit. That was cute. It was like they had their own secret language.

“
Yeah, thanks. I’ll take that. Cute fits me just fine,” she shot back. She was standing there with her sexy smirk on, in her spandex tights and small v-neck tee shirt. Her hair was wild in a messy bun and she thought she looked horrendous. But Chauncey thought she looked sexy as hell.

“
Where’s my daughter, princess?”

“
She’s sleeping. I just put her to bed,” Mike answered for her. Sasha looked at Mike hesitantly; Aubrey had just been awake with them. She had taken a late nap and was not even sleepy a second ago. Chauncey turned to him.

“
So,
you’re
princess now, huh? I’m babe… you’re princess…we really got some kinda connection going on here, huh Mike?”

Mike rolled his eyes at Chauncey’s mockery while Sasha intervened.

“
Let me go see if she’s still up.”

Sasha left the living room and made her way up the stairs, while Chauncey watched her ass, and while Mike watched Chauncey, watch her ass. Once she was upstairs, Chauncey turned to Mike, who was standing there, nostrils flaring with his arms crossed.

“
What up, Mike…you remember me, right?” Chauncey used to see Mike around the hospital when Sasha used to work there, and Chauncey used to pick her up. “Damn, last time I seen you, you were pushing gurneys…you still a nurse?”

Chauncey was being condescending but Mike was prepared to get back with him.

“
Nah, actually, I’m a doctor. I have a career, with benefits. Sasha doesn’t have to work, or lift a finger,” Mike bragged while Chauncey chuckled at his pompous attitude.

“
Oh, that aint nothing new, playboy. She been living like that…See, that car you driving now, I wrote the manual on that… Put them first miles on it and everything,” Chauncey boasted, referring to Sasha as if she were a car. Mike snickered.

“
Yeah, you may have, but that’s
my
whip now… I take care of the engine… the tune-ups… and the bodywork. And you know it need bodywork like a mothafucka,” Mike quipped.

Chauncey’s jaw flinched at Mike innuendos to him and Sasha’s sex life.

“
Yeah, a little more bodywork than you can handle,” Chauncey shot back, knowing that Mike was not laying it down how he should be. “But you just remember, if you get one little scratch, I mean a dent, a nick, anything on that bitch… then we got problems, nigga.”

Mike didn’t take kindly to Chauncey’s threats and he knew he should just leave it alone, but he wasn’t going to let Chauncey get the best of him.

“
Oh you aint got to worry about that, Chauncey. See, I keep that shit in the garage, aint nobody driving that but me.”

“
That’s cool,” Chauncey nodded. “But you got to know that shit’s on lease anyway. Best believe it’s coming back to its rightful owner.”

Chauncey had a cold and promising glare in his eye and Mike was getting pissed now.

“
How you figure, when I got the papers on it?” Mike pointed at his wedding band and threw their marriage in Chauncey’s face, sure that he had won. Chauncey chuckled at Mike’s cocky smirk as Sasha and Aubrey came downstairs.

“
Daddy!” Aubrey screamed excitedly, interrupting the ego battle, and running up to Chauncey.

“
Yeah Mike, you might got them papers, for now… But I got the insurance,” Chauncey said, referring to Aubrey, as he picked her up and shot Mike a wink. “What’s up, princess? Happy New Year, pretty girl.”

Mike was livid as he watched them.

“
What ya’ll talking about?” Sasha asked, completely oblivious to what was going on.

“
Cars,” Chauncey casually answered, because Mike was too angry to initially respond. He finally snapped out of it.

“
Yeah babe, Chauncey was just admiring my new Benz in the driveway.”

Chauncey shot Mike a challenging look.

“
Yeah I was,” he added, still holding Aubrey. “I was just telling Mikey here that it’s pretty as hell… but it’s a lot of maintenance. He may wanna downgrade…or go crazy trying to keep up with it.”

Chauncey smirked reading Mike’s anger.

“
That’s what I was saying,” Sasha agreed, glad that they were getting along. “You might wanna listen to Chauncey babe, he used to have one just like it.”

Mike glared at Sasha hard before storming off, as Chauncey laughed quietly to himself. Sasha had no idea that she had added fuel to the fire.

“
Oh my god, what did I say?” Sasha asked, confused.

Chauncey shrugged and she shook her head.

“
I think he’s sensitive about his car,” she added.

“
Yeah, maybe…Mr. Sensitivity, Ralph Tresvant ass nigga,” Chauncey joked, as Sasha playfully punched him.

“
Stop it.”

She turned to him and watched as Aubrey nestled up close to his neck. This was supposed to be her family, but he ruined it.

“
So, this is it? You’re home now?”

He looked at her dotingly.

“
I am, I’m home kid.” He was so happy to say it too.

“
And you’re gonna be here…in Atlanta?” Sasha asked, but she was scared to hear the answer. How would she deal with him being so close?

“
Yeah…as long as you two are in Atlanta, then I’m in Atlanta.”

Sasha thought of the conversation she had with Jayde earlier as she posed her next question.

“
And what are you gonna do…you know, for money? I see the Bentley outside, you must not be planning on living on a budget?” Sasha was trying her best to find out if he was still going to be hustling, without sounding like she cared.

Chauncey walked over and sat down on the couch, holding Aubrey in his lap. She was getting sleepy. He knew what Sasha was trying to ask and he thought of the best way to answer.

“
Well, I got a couple of things lined up.” He summed it up like that. Sasha gritted her teeth, clearly upset. She wondered if he would ever give it up.

“
Yeah well, just remember…you got a little girl to look out for,” she drawled in her southern accent.

He nodded, loving her voice and the way her accent came out the more upset she became.

“
I got two girls to look out for,” he added, matter of factly.

Sasha rolled her eyes, although she was flattered.

“
You don’t have to worry about me…if that’s what you mean. I don’t need looking out for.”

Chauncey looked at her dismissively.

“
Yeah aight, and who gonna look out for you…Mr. Softee? You think I’m gonna bank on that? C’mon ma.”

Sasha could hear Mike’s footsteps stomping around upstairs and she knew he was mad. She folded her arms across her chest and knew it was time for Chaunc to leave, although she knew Aubrey, nor her, really wanted to see him go.

“
Okay Chaunc, I think we should ‘to be continue’ this reunion. It’s late, and Bri-Bri had a long day.” Sasha yawned herself, knowing that she had a long one too.

Chauncey looked up at her and wished he was going upstairs with her to put Aubrey to bed, and then putting Sasha to bed, in a totally different way.

“
Alright, hand me those bags right there.” He pointed to the large black bags that he had come with, containing individually wrapped presents.

“
Yay,” Aubrey screamed, waking right up as Sasha handed him the bags.

Sasha sat on the arm of the couch as Chauncey and Aubrey tore into all of her gifts from him. He had gotten Aubrey too many clothes to name, a pair of Gucci sneakers, a new baby Parka, a pair of diamond stud earrings, computerized learning games, DVDs, books, and her favorite, a huge black Princess doll. Aubrey stood up to hug the doll, which stood taller than her, and Sasha smiled.

She looked down and saw Chauncey holding a small box in his hand.

“
I know you aint think I forgot you.”

Sasha looked him in the eyes and cautiously took the box, which obviously contained jewelry. She tore into the paper and flipped open the box.

“
Oh my god,” she whispered.

She covered her mouth with her left hand as she studied the beauty of the Lorraine Schwartz diamond necklace. She had wanted it so bad, and there was a waiting list for it at Bergdorf’s in New York. She couldn’t even fathom how Chauncey had done it.

Sasha looked up and saw Mike standing there, grilling her. She hadn’t even noticed him come back downstairs, she was so enthralled in the splendor of her present. But one look at him, and she knew she couldn’t accept the $45,000 gift. At least not without a year’s worth of fighting.

But oh, how hard this would be. Sasha was a material girl at heart. And diamonds were her weakness, every princess needed her diamonds. But still…

“
I can’t…I can’t take it Chauncey.” He looked in her eyes and could see how bad she wanted it and his face dropped in disappointment. Mike felt a slight twinge of satisfaction.

“
Let me walk you to the door,” she added, getting up.

Chauncey hugged and kissed Aubrey goodbye, and she made him hug the doll too.

“
I gotta hug the doll too?” He asked her as she laughed.

“
Yes Daddy,” she said. “And kiss.”

Chauncey gave the doll a big, long hug, and a kiss, and then he hugged and kissed Aubrey again. Sasha walked out to the hallway and Mike went back upstairs when he was sure that Chauncey was on his way out.

“
Happy New Year Chauncey…welcome home,” Sasha told him once they were on the front porch.

Chauncey leaned over and kissed her on the forehead softly. She shook her head, trying to break his spell.

“
Chauncey, you can’t be doing this…and you can’t come all late like this. What if Aubrey was sleep, a normal day she would have been.”

He looked at her with a smile.

“
Then I would’ve watched her sleep…like I used to watch you.”

They locked eyes for a second and Sasha’s heart raced, and then Chauncey made his way down the walkway.

“
Goodnight, kid.”

That night as Sasha put Aubrey to bed, she couldn’t get the evening with Chauncey out of her mind. She tried to think of other things as she looked at her sleeping angel.

She looked over at the huge doll that Aubrey had insisted on laying in the bed with her.
This thing is bigger than her.

As Sasha kissed her baby goodnight, and made her way out of the room, she caught an intense glare from the doll’s neck. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked closer and noticed the princess doll was wearing the Lorraine Schwartz necklace that Chauncey had bought for her.

Oh my god
.

She couldn’t deny how excited she was as she removed the necklace and clutched it close in her hand. It was so beautiful.

“
Thank you Chauncey,” she said out loud.

And then she made her way to bed, with her husband.

“
Are you nervous?”

Tatum looked over at her lawyer with an uneasy smile but didn’t respond.