Seneca State University - Sophomore Year - The Beginning

Chapter 21. That Thug Life

Tyrese knew it would happen one day, he just didn't think it would happen today and on campus. The rival gang members had caught him alone and off-guard and kicked him in his back while he was smoking weed behind a building. They'd jumped him as soon as he'd gone down. All of this, because he'd fucked one of their sisters whom he hadn't even known was part of their gang until later.

There were ten of them, all muscular and tattooed like him with their gang symbols. It took five of them to bring him down and they were still having a hard time trying to keep him down. Tyrese wasn't a punk, he'd fight them until they knocked him out or worse. And then suddenly, the fists punching him in his face and the feet kicking him in his back and ribs, stopped.

Coughing and cursing could be heard, gagging too. He forced his beaten body to turn on his back so he could see what had stopped them. A slim, fragile and feminine figure stood between him and then. Her long black hair whipped over her shoulders and blew in the wind. Her legs were apart, standing in front of him in a protective and defensive manner. He knew who it was before he saw her face.

Cathy...

Standing there holding what looked like mace and spraying the hell out of those bastards. The white dress she had on whipped around her legs in the wind and for a moment, just a split second, Tyrese thought he saw angel wings on her back. Maybe it was the trick of the sun light or the concussion he knew he had, playing tricks on him.

They ran to get away from her, at least most of them did, the others only backed a few steps away and then began reaching in their pockets.

"Cathy!" Tyrese tried to yell her name out of fear for her life but it only came out as a hoarse whisper. Not again...not again! Another innocent was about to die because of him! And then he was going to die right along with her once Brent found out.

He grabbed her ankle trying to somehow pull her out of the way. Cathy, distracted, look down at him. And that's when they heard the gun shot. "No!" he yelled as she fell on top of him. "Cathy! Cathy! No!" He panicked and wrapped his arms around her rolling her until his body was on top of hers, sheltering her from the bullets, but nothing else happened.

"Get off her Tyrese!" Brent's enraged voice sounded like thunder.

He was going to die today and not by the hands of the rival gang, but by Brent's. Brent pushed him away and lifted Cathy in his arms. "Look at me! Tell me you're ok? Are you hurt?" he heard Brent yelling at Cathy.

"No," came the softest sweetest voice he'd ever heard in his life. Oh god, he was so glad to hear that voice. He hadn't cared if he died, it wouldn't have mattered. But if anything had happened to her, he would have died inside. He was sure Brent felt the same way if not worse. He watched him hold her close refusing to put her down.

"What the hell were you thinking? They could have killed you! Don't ever fucking do that to me again!" Brent's voice broke as he held her tightly against him.

Faze ran to her brother and helped him sit up. "Are you ok? Damn they got you good?! Can you walk?"

"She's alive," Tyrese told her and sighed in relief before passing out.

Cathy had never seen Brent so angry. She could practically feel the rage coming off of him. All that intensity focused on her was too much. They were in the clinic, the entire group waiting to hear the outcome of Tyrese.

"They could have killed you. They almost did had we not got there in time. Thank God, Tyrese had already pushed the alert button on his phone for us. Anything could have happened...what the hell is wrong with you?!" He looked like he wanted to shake some sense in her.