When love is absent, then there is fear, and in my opinion you should lead your entire life through love -Lauren London.
Lauren POV
"BOY, WE HAD A TIME LASTNIGHTTTT!" I jolted out of my sleep from Tae's loud ass.
As soon as I adjusted my eyes to the daylight peeking behind Onika's living room blinds, I came to the realization that I was lying on the floor of her living room. Two seconds later Tae stood over me.
"Lauren, you got fucked up last night! Ya'll hoes could never keep up with me!"
"Tae shut the fuck up- it's too early." Thembi said on the floor next to me.
"Bitch it's 4pm in the motherfucking day."
"Wait what??? Where are the boys? Where is Nika??"
"Hoe relax they with Ms. Carol and Nika upstairs sleeping."
I got up slowly regretting the decision to turn up last night, my ass was getting too old for this shit. I migrated to the kitchen to make some tea and hopefully try my best to hold something down. I started to make some French toast for myself, then decided on making brunch for everyone instead. After almost an hour the entire island was laid out with scrambled eggs, sausage, cheesy grits and toast.
Tae and Thembi rolled into the kitchen right on time, the only person who was missing was Nika. I climbed up the stairs to wake her up, I knew how she absolutely hated sleeping past nine in the morning. When I walked in the room, she was lying face down in the middle of her bed, still in the tight white dress with her curly tresses sprawled over her.
"Nika, get up it's almost five in evening. I made brunch, your mom has the boys. And we gotta go take Tae and Thembi back to the airport."
She didn't move an inch, which concerned me. So, me being the playful person that I am. I jumped on the bed startling her; she moved around and kissed her teeth.
I started shaking her. "Nika wake up, come on you need to eat something. Last night was so crazy, I don't even remember how we got home."
When she finally turned over, I jumped so far out of the bed I ended up hitting the back of my head on the floor.
"Ay yo what the fuck is your problem?"
I sat up massaging the back of my head, looking at the unfamiliar female. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? AND WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU IN MY BESTFRIEND'S BED!"
Now I was standing up, ready to swing on this bitch. I always told Nika if she wanted to experiment, I should be the first person to do it with.
"You tweaking' shorty—You guys gave me a ride from the club last night."
"Wait what??? Where is Nika?"
"You mean the pretty girl who was wearing the same dress as me?"
"Yes, dumbass where is she???"
"I don't remember her being with us?"
"Wait what... THEMBI! TAE!" I screamed.
Thembi and Tae came bursting into Nika's room some seconds later. Tae face immediately twisted.
"Who the fuck is this?"
I cocked my head to side. "It's what I'm trying to figure out! Where this hell is Onika?"
The girl snapped her neck toward me. "Shorty like I said before, I ain't seen chick with us."
Before I could snap back Tae interjected. "Last time I saw Nika last night she was going to the restroom. Then I saw her in the back of the uber on our way back to the house."
"Are you sure you saw Nika Tae? Or you seen her look alike?" Thembi asked.
"Man, I don't know all of us were fucked up. Excuse me for not scanning ID's when everyone was getting in the car!"
"Ya'll got too much going on." The girl said.
"BITCH YOU NEED TO LEAVE!" Cause I was two seconds away from beating her ass.
She rolled her eyes retrieving her belongings. I followed her all the way to the door. Once it was locked, I went into panic mode. Thembi, Tae and I were all over the house looking for Nika and her phone was repeatedly going to voice mail.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" I felt like I was about to cry.
Thembi grabbed me. "Lauren look at me, look at me, calm down were going to find her. Maybe Ms. Carol knows something."
"I know what? And who's that young lady who just walked out of here?" Ms. Carol said entering the house with Kross and Papa by her side.
"Ms. Carol have you seen Nika this morning?" I asked.
"No, she was asleep in her bed when I left."
Tae clapped his hands together. "So, what had happened was... That wasn't Onika...."
Ms. Carol shook her head from side to side. "Wait-what...I'm confused. Where is my child?"
Thembi scratched the back of her neck. "Shiddddd, that's what we're trying to figure out."
"I don't get it weren't you guys all together? Did she leave with somebody perhaps?"
I shook my head. "Nika wouldn't leave without telling me something."
"I don't care what ya'll do, or how ya'll do it. FIND MY CHILD!" Ms. Carol shouted while ushering the boys into they're playroom.
I grabbed my keys of the counter running into Nika's garage, I could hear Thembi and Tae hot on my trail. We all packed into the car as I sped out heading to the freeway. We drove in complete silence. I was hoping all of this would somehow end up being a misunderstanding and that Nika would be still at the club sleeping somewhere.
My heart was beating in my ears when we pulled up. Tae hopped out saying something to the bouncer while I parked. When I got out the car Tae gave me a head nod signaling that it was okay for us to go inside. Once inside I could not believe how dirty the club looked in the daytime. There were bottles and garbage thrown every there. I made my way around the mess to the upstairs V.I.P are we occupied a few hours prior with no signs of Nika anywhere.
I looked down at Tae who was flirting with the owner in the middle of club. This wasn't the time to be arranging booty calls.
"Yo' do your security cameras work?" I said interrupting they're little moment.
"Yea... Follow me?"
I walked down the stairs following him through some backdoors that led to a long hall. We stopped midway as he pulled out some keys and unlocked a door. We walked into the room which occupied a few monitors, I followed him around the desk as he took a seat.
"Alright so what time frame are we looking at?"
"Probably around 3am that was the last drunk snap I posted." Tae said scrolling through his phone.
"Nah, she was gone before that, take a look." He said pointing at the screen.
"How about 2am then?"
He nodded his heading moving the cursor around. "There she is."
I followed his finger to Nika clumsily walking down the stairs before she disappeared out of the camera's time stamp. He paused it and swung around in his chair to another monitor that showed the entrance to the restrooms. I think we all held our breaths watching Nika barely being able to hold herself up against the wall. Somehow, she made her way inside, my heart was racing as he sped up the footage. Nobody was coming in and out the bathroom for a minute until a tall woman in an all-black two piece slowly made her way inside. I could not see her face from the back, but I could tell by her movements she was trying to be discreet.
Sometime passed before a tall ball headed black guy entered the restroom. When the restroom door opened again the guy came out carrying a passed out Nika bridal style. His face was in full view of the camera.
"Wait pause that—he looks so familiar to me..." I was running through a million scenarios, but I could not pinpoint where I remembered the guy from. About two seconds later the woman who had entered was now walking out in full view of the camera as well.
I felt like the ground shifted below me, I had to hold onto the table in front of me.
Thembi leaned closer to the monitor. "Wait Lauren... Isn't that—the Knowles lady?"
"Bitch I know you fucking lying!" Tae shouted. "We gotta call the cops!"
"And say what exactly!?" I snapped.
"Maybe the ex that beat her ass just kidnapped our friend!"
I kissed my teeth picking up my purse. "I ain't dealing with no fucking cops, I been wanted to put hands on this bitch."
Tae rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Alright then Ms. Paw Patrol, how you gone find her?"
"Bitch don't worry about it!" I turned on my heels making my way out of the room.
I pulled out my phone dialing the only person I knew could help me in this situation. The phone rang for what felt like eternity before she picked.
"LoBear? I never thought I would be expecting a call from you."
"Don't flatter yourself Rihanna...I need your help and I wouldn't be asking but you're the only one who can help me right now."
The line went silent for a second, which made me feel like dumbass for even calling her.
She huffed. "What the hell do you want?"
"I need to know where Beyonce is—it's really important."
"I no longer keep tabs on my ex-wife, last time I heard the bitch is in Atlanta."
'Ex-wife?' I thought. The last time she called me they were still married. I shook my head focusing on the problem at hand- which was finding my best friend.
"Do you have her cell number at least?"
"She changed her number—I'm locked out of every house, the accounts and cannot even see my kids. So, no pretty-face I can't help you."
"Robyn wait—does she have a house here in Atlanta?"
"Somewhere of Tuxedo Road, it's the biggest house on that block you can't miss it."
"Oh- thanks."
"Lauren wait—Ummm if you see my kids... Can you tell that I miss them very much—and as soon as I get on my feet momma's going to come for them." She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.
Before I could answer her, she interjected again. "She's very lucky to have you as a best friend Lobear..." She mumbled something else before the line disconnected.
I couldn't even process the conversation before Thembi, and Tae got all up in my face about calling the cops. This shit was deeper than they really knew--- These past two years Beyonce caused a vengeance to build up in my spirit against her. There was no way I could dish out a good ass whopping with some cops right there. I ignored them getting into my car- at the end of the day they were Nika's friends not mine! I left Tae and Thembi standing their bickering back and forth. My only priority right now was finding my best friend safe.
I sped down the street hopping onto expressway to beat the heavy rush hour traffic. In less than no time I was turning off the exit to Tuxedo Road. 'Boujie' was an understatement for these houses. I became slightly confused trying to decipher which house was bigger than the next. This was harder than Rihanna made it same. I finally came to the end of the block, the biggest house I've ever seen came into view.
I parked one house down and killed my lights, I silently debated how I was going to go about this shit. The walls were tall and wrapped all the way around the house, and there was no telling if guards with guns were behind it. I said fuck it climbing a tree and swinging my body toward the wall. I got a good grip but suddenly I slipped and fell into a realm of complete darkness...
Nicki POV
My eyes shot open by feeling the movement of someone pushing against shoulder. My vision was blurry and the light from the sun welcomed an excruciating headache. I moaned trying to swat away whoever was touching me. How my body felt right now, I needed at least 72 hours to recover.
"Miss..." The light voice nagged with another push of my shoulder.
I looked over confused as to why a young girl no older than ten was standing over me. My eyes caught glimpse of my surroundings. I was inside a California king size canopy bed, in a very upscale bedroom.
I sat up slowly trying my best not to aggravate the continuous headache. "Where-Where am I. And who are you?"
The little girl curled her lips in annoyance. "You're in my house—I should be asking you the questions."
I knew my chin was touching my chest, who the hell was raising this smart tail ass little girl.
I ignored her slowly swinging my legs of the bed only to realize I was only in my bra and underwear. I embarrassingly pulled the covers up, looking around for my clothes. The little girl kept her eyes trained on me; she looked oddly familiar, but I could not remember the correlation.
"Do you know where my clothes are?" I asked looking around the room.
"I think my mom is washing them. She told me to come and check if you were awake."
I rubbed my temples trying my best to massage away the pain. The little girl started saying something, but I blanked out for a second. The door opened and another little girl no less than five came running in.
She smiled and pointed at me. "Princess Tiana is awake."
"Rumi she's not a princess, mommy said it's her 'friend'." The little girl emphasized with air quotations.
I snapped my neck toward her. "I'm sorry who's your mom?"
The smaller toddler jumped on my lap. "Her name is 'BEE-YON-SAY' silly- but mommy told me don't call her that or she'd whoop my ass."
"RUMI! I'm going to tell mommy you're cursing!"
"My other mommy lets me curse!" She argued back.
The two fussed meanwhile I sat there trying to catch my breath. I felt like I was about to puke at any minute.
"Miss are you okay? Rumi go get mom!"
"NO!" I semi-yelled causing them both to jump back. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell—Umm what's your name." I said referring to the taller girl.
"My name is Blue...Are you sure you're okay. You don't look so good and my mom's a doctor she can help you."
'That bitch could kill me.' I thought shaking my head from side to side.
"Blue..." I softly said looking straight at her. An eerie feeling engulfed my body realizing her face, she was the little girl that ran up to Beyonce the day she almost killed me.
"Blue listen to me—I can't let your mom see me."
"But she told me to let her know when you're awake. I've been sitting in here all day waiting for you to wake up. I got tired and woke you up myself." She huffed.
"Blue listen...I need to get out of here without your mom seeing me please." I begged.
She paused and looked down at her sister. "Rumi out."
"But I want princess Tiana to come to my tea party."
"She'll come later, or I'll come- now go." She said practically pushing her younger sister out the room.
She turned back around to me and sighed. "I remember you... Your name is Miss Onika, right?"
"Yea h-how'd you know?"
"My mom talked about you all the time and she showed me pictures. I remembered because I always told her you're so pretty..."
I gulped looking away from Blue.
"I'm not going to ask why you don't want to see her. I know my mommy can be a big meanie' when she wants. And she gets angry...she's been like that a lot lately." Blue walked into what I assumed was a closet and returned with oversized shirt and some shorts.
"I'm going to check to see if she's still in her office, she's been inside meetings all day. I'll come back and tell you when the coast is clear. But we can't use the front entrance because of security. So, I'll help sneak you at the back."
Before Blue walked out the door, she looked up at me. "Oh, and miss, my ass is going to get in a lot of trouble for this. If I ever see you again—ice-cream is on you..K?"
I nodded standing up to quickly change while Blue closed the door behind her. Once I changed, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand. I tried to power it on, but it was dead, I paced the room up and down. I felt like Blue was taking longer than expected, all the 'what if's' started to cloud my mind. I was silently cursing myself for getting into this shitty ass predicament. I let my guard down one time and it got me kidnapped by the one person I've been hiding for the past two years.
The door slightly opened but Blue didn't walk in—I held my breath and got prepared to connect my phone against Beyonce's skull if needed be.
Two seconds later Blue reappeared signaling for me to quietly follow her. I wanted to be apprehensive that she would probably lead me straight to her mom, but I barely had time. I followed her down a long hallway where she led me to some stairs. I took in the ambiance of the place and it definelty screamed her, everything in their looked imported.
"This way..." Blue said pulling me by my hand toward a dark corridor.
We came up to a door and she stopped. "Okay Ms. Onika when you get outside there is going to be an open space between the wall on the left side of the house. When I was younger, I use to slip through it all the time." Blue said opening the door pointing to the wall on the opposite side of the property.
I pulled her into a quick hug. "Blue thank you so much."
She gave me a quick smile, before I left out. It was dark but the full moonlight helped me to see where I was going. I carefully walked behind the pool house, trying my best to stay out of sight of the main house. For some odd reason I felt like I was walking forever, but hope came when I finally seen the wall coming into view. Just like Blue said an opening was in between the two walls that met.
Her voice came from the shadows causing me to stop in my tracks. "Onika..."
I tried to move but the fear that took over my body kept me in my tracks. My blood began to run as cold as the Atlanta's brisk atmosphere against my skin. The goosebumps that perpetrated my skin was due to the panic that echoed through my entire body.
"Onika please...Can you talk to me?"
Another twig broke signifying that she was coming closer than needed be. I quickly spun around taking a step back. And there she was, eyes and skin seemingly glowing in the moonlight. It ached me to admit it—but as ugly as her soul was, she remained the most beautiful woman I ever laid eyes on.
She shook her head, licking her lips nervously. "I-I'm sorry Onika...It's been haunting me every day to tell you that. Believe me I-." She reached out and I jumped back, she kept coming closer basically corning me into the opposite side of my escape plan.
She wasn't going to stop until I said something. "I forgave you Beyonce...But I want nothing to do with you."
She stopped and looked down at the ground in front of her before she looked back up at me. "I could accept that... I just want us to talk about everything. Just come inside out here is cold, I promise you we can talk, and I'll take you home—I don't want to do this here."
"When you had the opportunity to talk to me. You ignored me, you abused me, you RAPED me, you constantly CHEATED on me! You left me to go on trips to live your double life! You never cared about me! You never LOVED ME! You don't do shit like that to people you love!"
"THAT'S NOT TRUE I ALWAYS LOVED YOU! I STILL LOVE YOU!" She screamed.
Now it was my time to scream. "BEYONCE, YOU ALMOST KILLED ME!"
She stepped forward again but this time I didn't move. Her eyes were fixed on me, but I couldn't make out her facial expression.
She reached out her hand to hand as if she was about to touch my face. I slightly moved back but in one quick motion I heard something collide and Beyonce fell forward, almost landing on top of me. I looked down and back up to see Lauren standing there with some kind of 2 x 4 in her hand.
Lauren through the wood into the brushes before dusting herself off. "Bitch I been waiting to do that for two years now!"
"OH MY GOD LAUREN WHAT DID YOU DO??? SHE COULD BE DEAD!"
"NIKA FUCK THIS BITCH, I WISH SHE IS DEAD!"
I crouched down to check Beyonce's pulse, it was still there but thready.
A twig snapped in the distance, before I could look up, I heard Blue shrieked. "MOMMY!" The next thing I know she was hunched over her mom's basically lifeless body.
Lauren pulled my arm "NIKA LET'S GO!" She said dragging me through the space in the wall. I could hear Blue's cries as I Lauren basically drug me down the sloped hill. My heart was aching with pain, not for her but for Blue.
My body literally started shaking, Lauren was running up the sidewalk like the criminal she was. I could barely keep up; I don't know if I was in shock or what. I jogged up the hill where Lauren car was parked. She was already inside rearing up her engine.
"You could move faster like I ain't commit a crime, or you wanna go check on your girlfriend?" Lauren snapped pressing the gas pedal.
"Lauren why did you do that???? And look at your face what happened?"
"My ass slipped and fell off the wall, trying to look for yo' ass! But apparently it looked like I was disrupting yawl's reunion!"
"You don't know what you're talking about...It wasn't like that."
"Oh really? Cause from the looks of it, she was about to lay lips on you. Yet you got me driving up and down Atlanta, falling off 10ft walls and shit. And you having interventions with the woman who nearly killed yo' ass! Why didn't you call or reach out to someone Tanya? You had us worried sick!"
"I don't know maybe my best friend left me in a club bathroom passed out. I woke up with a kid standing over me, I didn't even know where I was Lauren!"
She huffed speeding merging on the freeway.
"Lauren, I think we should go back—you hit her pretty hard."
"Ain't, she hit your ass up pretty hard many times—remember the last time she did she almost killed your ass! Onika don't piss me off right now!"
I rolled my eyes sulking back into the car seat, my mind wandered to Blue. She didn't have to go out her way like that for me. She probably felt betrayed and thought I was a monster and her mom was the victim. It's crazy how fast the titles had turned...