Two Weeks Later
The sun beamed down on me, warming my cool skin underneath it's rays. The wind whips around me the smelled of sea water and other earthy essences invading me. The sweet sound of Erykah Badu playing softly in my ears. I readjusted my sunglasses on my face and turned in my lounge chair. Rio De Janerio was such a beautiful place I just wish I didn't have to come here on such harsh circumstances. Every fiber of my being knew this was wrong beyond relief, but I also felt like something just wasn't...right. Bryce would call in every now and again, not as much as I would like though. Each time I did speak to him, he always seemed uneasy and tense.
That worried me even more.
Although, I was trying to make the best of what I had right now. I had all the wonders of Rio at my fingertips and my best friend along the side of me. But why do I feel so defenseless? A cool hand pressed against my bare back causing my to jump upright.
My eyes met with lively green ones. Jay seemed amused by my reaction. "I'm glad you take amusement in scaring me half to death." I said yanking out of my earbuds.
His eyes softened. "It's not my fault you were incoherent Princess." he argued. "I called your name five times."
"I couldn't hear you." I hold up my headphones to emphasize my point.
"I see that now." he stretches his long body across the lounge chair beside me. Propping his arms up behind his head. "So what are we doing to do tonight?"
I groan knowing where this was probably going. Over the past week all of Jay's tactics consisted of drinking till we forgot our names (mainly Jay), stuffing our faces with delicious foreign treats, and going to the beach. It's funny, even though we're millions of miles away from home, trouble still seems to find a way to find us. Or maybe we're the trouble to begin with. Already we had came into contact with the Brazilian policemen, twice. One of those times they tried to arrest Jay for streaking in the middle of the street. And the second was because he tried hitting on a female policemen while he was drunk off his ass.
"How about we keep it low profile today, hm?" I smile. "Oh! How about we go shopping?!"
Jay narrowed his eyes at me. "Sometimes I really think you get me confused for a girl or your gay best friend. I'm not going to keep taking this verbal abuse!"
I laughed lightly as I sat back into the chair. "You're neither."
"No shit." he rolled his eyes. Then suddenly his eyes shifted over behind me causing my turn in my seat to see what he was looking at. Two beautiful Brazilian bombshells were smiling flirtatiously in Jay's direction. Any female would be envious of their natural golden skin and bodies to die for. One was even bold even to wave at him. "How about you make it up to me and be my wingman? You get the one with the short hair, I'll take the brunette."
Jay rubbed his hands together excitedly. "I can see from all the way over here she got back dimples."
I smack his exposed skin causing him to laugh hysterically. "What? I have preferences. You can't blame a man for liking back dimples. Don't knock it till you try it!"
"I'm not into woman you dumbass!" I exclaimed making a few people turn around and stare at us.
A sly smirk appeared on his face. "Like I said," he winked over at the girls. "don't knock it till you try it."
I groan. "You're unbelievable. Besides, you know damn well Chanel will donkey kick your ass if she found out you was fooling around on her."
Jay's eyes flashed with hurt but just as quickly as it appeared it vanished. "Who says I would cheat on her? Yeah I'm a flirt but that's when I'm single. I love beautiful woman and those same beautiful woman love me just as much. But when I'm commit, I'm monogamous. I stay down for my lady. All them other hoes don't mean shit to me." Jay informed. "Chanel and I are still working on things, nothing has been confirmed yet. We want to make sure everything clear so we wouldn't have to go through the same shit we did in the past. Besides our feelings for each other but being a couple again? That one still in the air at this point."
"I'm sorry." I dropped my gaze slightly. "Do you wanna be with Chanel?"
He shrugged. "Of course I do. But I need to know for sure that this time is going to be different between us. I'm not going to go into a relationship with her and we back at square one yet again."
"That's understandable." I sigh. "I'm going to support you in whatever you do." Reaching over I pat his arm comfortingly.
A light smile appeared on his face. "Thanks that means a lot."
"That's what best friends do."
Jay sighed lightly. "So how are you dealing?"
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
He shrugged. "I mean how are you dealing with the whole situation right now. I know it's gotta be a lot on your shoulders right now. I just wanna make sure you're doing okay."
I sigh leaning back in the chair. "Honestly?" he nodded. "I have no idea. I think I've just been suppressing the situation so I don't have to think about it. It's like I've become numb so I don't have to feel how I'm feeling deep inside."
Jay seemed really interested in that. He frowned. "How are you feeling Shay?"
"Hurt? Abandoned, belittled, confused." I shook my head. "Bryce has this tendency to overlook me and think I can't handle myself. I get it, I'm the innocent little Bambi that can't stand on her hind legs. But I mean c'mon now, give me a little credit now. When the fire starts to burn his ass what does he do? Ship me off on the next plane to Rio. This isn't the time for us to be separated. I feel like there's something that I can do. But he wouldn't allow me to because he's worried about me getting hit with the cross fire."
Jay nodded. "You're entitled to your feelings without a doubt. But I think you should take a minute and look at the bigger picture here. Look at shit through Bryce's point of view. Shay face it, you are and probably always be Bambi in our eyes. You're a rookie in our world, an amateur. You nothing about the hardships, the struggles we've all had to go through. You're whole life has been in a little bubble surrounding you. Bryce doing all of this to protect you, to keep you safe."
"Yes I do believe that he should give you a little more credit. But everything that Bryce is doing he's doing for you, Princess. Raymond wants you and I've met that man and he isn't someone to play with. I know some things that he's done in the past and if he has his eyes set on you it isn't a good thing. He might just be baiting Bryce to get a rise out of him. Maybe he's just using you to get to get what he really wants. Raymond wouldn't even think twice to kill you if he had the chance. And knowing Bryce or hell even me- I wouldn't risk that."
I hated to admit it, but Jay was right. He was absolutely right and I was just too blind and selfish to see it. This whole time Bryce was trying to protect me. Even though he told me from his own mouth but maybe it took someone else for it to really click. Maybe I was biting off more than I could chew. Maybe I was trying to psych myself out to think I can handle or take on this by myself but in truth...I can't.
"But there is something you can do." Jay said interrupting my thoughts.
"What?"
"We can try and dig up as much information on Raymond and his crew as much as we can." a mischievous grin appeared on his lips. "C'mon I brought my laptop with me we can start there."
"Alright." I hopped up from the chair and grabbed my cover-up and pulled it over my head. I gathered my iPod, towel and other items and followed behind Jay as we walked up the pathway towards the hotel. I had to admit though, this place was a paradise in it's own. From the vibrant colors plastered along the walls and the beautiful indoor waterfall in the lobby.
We entered the elevator that had a couple of other people already in there. Jay reached over and pressed our room floor and the elevator jolted to life. We both remained silent as the elevator stopped several times, each time people coming in and out of it. Once we finally got to our floor level I nearly ran towards our room. Jay and I were staying in a suite that could probably pass as an apartment. Jay had is own separate room than mine on the other side of the room. Our suite had a living room, kitchen and even it's own balcony out back with a great view of the ocean.
I followed behind Jay into the the suite and we both froze in our steps at the sight in front of us. The living room was completely crashed. The cushions on the couch had been scattered across the room. The refrigerator door had been hanging wide open along with a couple of cabinet and drawers as well.
I slowly made my way into my room of the suite and it was worst than the living room. My sheets had been discarded and thrown across the floor. My mattress was bare and laying lopsided on the box spring. My clothes were everywhere the eye could see. Some of my drawers were even pulled all the way out and laying on the floor.
"Shay!"
Jay's voice came from behind me. "They got you too?"
"How could this happen Jay?" I spun around to see his worried filled face. "Is it possible that they found us?" my mouth ran dry just at the thought.
Jay wrapped his arms around me pulling me into a tight comforting hug. "Don't think like that. We'll get to the bottom of this. But first we gotta clean this place up."
I nodded into his chest. "Guess I'll start in here."
"Yeah it looks like whoever it was trashed you're room the hardest." Jay commented.
I picked up some of my clothes and sighed at one of my ripped blouses. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
Jay remained silent. I picked up my drawers and placed them back into their correct places. I gather up all of my clothes that I possibly could and stuffed them back into my dresser. Jay was fixing my bed quietly, tossing the mattress back on it's box spring. I picked up my sheets from the floor and froze. Sitting there was a black flash drive. I dropped the sheets and bent over to pick up the flash drive.
Hm, I don't remember bring my flashdrive.
"Hey Jay?" I say quietly.
"Yeah?"
"You wouldn't happen to have brought a black flash drive with you, would you?" I ask.
"No..." he trailed off. "Why?"
I turned around to showed him the flash drive in my hand. "Because whoever broke in here must have dropped it."
Jay's eyes widened. "I'll get my laptop."
With that he raced out of the room jumping over the debris oh so gracefully. I slumped down on the bare mattress my eyes glued on the flash drive. It was just a normal flash drive at the end of the day but for some reason I had a strong feeling that this little thing held so much more than a couple of Word documents and PowerPoint's on it. Jay returned no less than a minute later with his laptop in hand. He sat down beside me as he flipped the screen up. He briskly took the flash drive out of my hands and plugged it into the side of the computer. Neither one of us said a word was he clicked away on his computer.
I couldn't bare to look at the screen. Silence filled the room and didn't break until Jay jumped up from the mattress nearly dropping his laptop on the ground. "Jay?! What the hell!" I exclaim and then I finally take in his facial expression. His eyes were wide, alert even and his whole body was tense. I frowned as I stood and walked towards him. "Jay, what is it?"
He shook his head as he repeatedly ran his fingers through his hair. "You need to get Chanel on the phone, now."
"What? Wh-"
"Just do it." his voice held so much finality in it, I had no other choice but to abide by his wishes.
I turned and grabbed my cell phone and dialed Chanel's number quickly. She picked on the third ring. "Shay? What's up girl!" her overly joyful voice boomed through the speaker.
Looking over my shoulder I looked over at Jay who was now leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed. Almost as if he was in deep thought. I guess since I didn't respond, Chanel picked up that something was wrong. "Shay? What's wrong?"
"Um, I'm not sure."
"Did something happen? Where's Jay?"
"He's right here but I think he's going into shock or something."
"Put him on th-"
The phone was jerked out of my hand and I turned around to see Jay silently murmuring to Chanel on the phone. I was beginning to get frustrated due to the fact that it was obvious that whatever was on that flash drive was important. Jay's never the one to keep things hidden, especially with me. Jay nodded and spoke a few more 'okay's' before he handed the phone back to me.
"Hello?" I say trying to sound as calm as possible. "Chanel what's going on?"
"Well..how do I put this." she sighed. "You see Bryce has been looking for something, anything really to take down Raymond for good. And I think we just might have found exactly that."
I frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Jay will go over the details with you. But right now all you need is to pack your things and get your hot yellow ass on the next flight home."
My head was spinning with confusion. "And one more thing Shay, don't tell Bryce you're coming back home. Not yet at least."
Bryce's POV
I stared down at the sheet of paper. My eyes roaming over each and every word, over and over and over again. I've already read it seven times now, and I still wasn't satisfied. I grasped my birth certificate in my hands, crumbling it a little where my hands where. My eyes snapped over at my mother's signature and then to my father's. There, right there was the father that raised me, my father, name bold and italicized. But why didn't I feel any more secure? I sighed out of frustration and tossed the paper away from me.
I just didn't understand.
My eyes snapped over to my phone that was sitting there idle as ever. I frowned once a very cheerful chestnut brown haired girl popped into my mind. All my stress was ease a little just thinking about her. Fuck, did I miss her. Then I thought about it; she hasn't called me all day. Shay usually calls me at least once or twice a day but today I haven't heard a peep from her.
I grasped my phone in my hands and dialed her number in a flash. She picked up on the fifth ring, which was unusual.
"Hello?" her angelic voice rippled through the speaker.
"Hey baby, what are you doing?" I asked as I started to fiddle with the pen in my hand.
"Ur-nothing." Why did she sound so weird? "Hey look Bryce I can't talk right now."
I couldn't help but frown at that. "Oh, oh okay. I'm sorry. Do you want me call back later?" I needed to just talk to her. I just needed to feel like she was here instead of millions of miles away.
"Yeah yeah sure. Matter of fact, I'll call you." she said.
Did she hit me with the 'I'll call you' line?
"Alright?"
"Okay I'll call you soon. Love you!"
With that the line went dead. I removed the phone from my cheek and all I could do was stare at it in shock. What the hell was up with her? Did she have too many mojitos or something? I shook my head and placed the phone back down on the desktop. There was a knock on my door before Marcus emerged from the doorway. In his hand held a thick manila folder. A cheesy little grin was plastered across his face as he placed the folder down in front of me.
"I'm assuming from that stupid look on your face that you got what I asked, right?" I chuckled.
"You damn right." Marcus plopped down in the plush chair in front of me, kicking up his feet in the next chair beside him. "I told you I would, and I did. No problem."
"No one saw you right?" I asked.
"Nope." he replied popping the 'p'.
I nodded as I opened the folder. "Good, good." I reassured.
In the folder held every piece of paperwork tying my father and my mother together. From medical records, the deed to the house, credit cards, everything. Marcus had a man that was good at getting information and just looking through this folder he definitely came through. Page by page, I flipped and scanned through the paper and still not finding what I'm looking for. Until I came across an aged piece of paper. It looked like someone was trying to burn it due to the amount of burn marks on the edges.
In big black bold letters read: DNA Parentage Test Report. My mother's name was neatly placed under the section regarding her and my name was under the child's. My eyes darted to when this report was gathered: 01/19/08. That was just a couple of months before my dad died. I couldn't help but scoff at the title of 'alleged father' and my dad's name right beneath it. As I read further down, it was just a bunch of numbers I didn't understand and medical terms I could careless about.
"What is it Bryce?" Marcus said snapping me out of my little bubble.
I didn't even look up at him. "It's a paternity test." I sighed. "On me."
Marcus sat up quickly in his seat. "You're joking."
My eyes narrowed as I looked at him. "Does it look like I'm joking?"
He rolled his eyes and nodded his head towards the piece of paper. "So what does it say?"
I sighed and prepared myself for what was to come. "It says: 'The alleged father, Vincent B. Kelly, is-"
"Is what?" Marcus cut in.
I tossed the paper in front of him. "The results are burned off."
"What the fuck! But we were so close man." he said looking at the piece of paper in disbelief.
I sank into my chair rubbing my temples repeatedly. "Obviously not close enough."
We both remained silent. My mind was jumbling with all of the unanswered questions I had racing through my mind. At least now I know that there was a paternity test reported on me. Which is only pushing more to believe to think that Raymond is more than likely my father. But the main part that's fucking with me is why was a paternity test put out on me just a few months before my father's death? Did I-this-have something to do with it?
I didn't even hear the door open until the sound of heels caught my attention. Katrina sashayed into the office. I still couldn't believe that this was my little sister. The same little sister that used to suck her thumb and watch Pocahontas until the VCR tape started to skip. Now she was a young woman, probably a little more grown than she should be. I smiled when I saw her but she didn't return the smile. Matter of fact, she didn't look pleased at all.
"Hey sis, what's u-"
"You're not going to find what you're looking for Bryce." she said determination written all on her face.
I frowned. "What? What are you talking about?" Neither me or Marcus has spoken about business around her so I don't know where she's getting this from.
"Don't be so coy, brother." her voice dripped with venom as she spoke the word 'brother'. Her eyes narrowed as she leaned froward, her palms pressing up against my desk. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you."
It wasn't even a question. She knew, and then it all made sense.
"You were the one who tried to burn it."
And the smirk on her face was all I needed to know.
A/N:
TADA! I know I know I haven't updated in FOREVER and forgive me I've been busy as hell lately and I just couldn't find the time to write. Anyways, I'm keeping this Author's Note short and simple because...DOUBLE UPDATE! Since you guys have been so patient with me and for a peace offering I'm doing a double update so hopefully that'll hold you guys off until I can update again..whenever that will be. But anyways go ahead and read the next part! ---------------------->
Love you guys!
x Maia