Ub2 chapter 11
"I hope she's okay." Brian paced as he sat down with the group almost an hour later, still not seeing Jordan surface.
"Yeah, and if she's not, lemme guess, you're gonna blame me." Tiffany asked, clicking her teeth. Brian chose to ignore that remark, making her get up in anger and go outside. She came back in, after regrouping and stared at the back of his neck "Why don't you join Dom in the single life? I don't want your bullshit just because I chose to let her do as she wanted." Tiffany said and walked back out after finishing up saying her peace.
"You okay?" Letty asked, her arms folded as she looked at Tiffany in concern. The two weren't the best of friends, but they knew each other well enough to know when something was up or bothering them.
"Yeah, I'm aight." Tiffany nodded, just trying to maintain an even temper and from not going back in there yet again to yell at Brian. "Seen Temp or J?" She asked, taking a deep breath and smelling the fresh dew of the early AM hour.
"No, Temp was chillin with the boys and I haven't seen J at all, at least since the bar." Letty smiled. "I'm proud of the girl, she should give him as much hell as he gave me." She admitted with a grin.
"I don't know. The clothes and dancing, I can understand her point of view. The drunkenness child routine was a bit wrong, they both went too far." Tiffany frowned as she sat on the porch that overlooked the California valley. She saw a set of headlights making its way down the winding road towards exiting the gate stop in mid road and squinted to better see. Little did she know it was Tej's Ford f-150 silver and red flair side truck. He thought he had seen a shimmer of a piece of clothing and stopped, just to be sure and have a clear conscience.
"Jordan! Baby! Hell no!" Tej jumped out of his truck and was mortified to see Jordan laying there, looking as though she was in shock.
"Tej? Where am I?" Jordan asked, sitting up and holding her head that was cut open on the right temple and throbbing as she moved. She looked around, blinking as if trying to get her focus back.
"What happened, Baby Girl? Shit, let me call the crew." He searched his belt for his cell phone, rushing to hold her as she sat up a little straighter as he hit his speed dial button, it being dark with no sign of the sun as of yet.
"I'm...the Trans...Johnny has a twin and he's after me." Jordan began to breathe hard, the memories rushing her all at once. She became hysterical in a matter of seconds, causing Tej to sweat from a combination of worry and holding her still.
"Hey, hey, let me through. NOW." Tempest pushed past the crowd of partygoers that had been heading home and had stopped, Tej's still running truck and open driver door causing curiosity. Tiffany wasn't all that far behind her and Brian was tailing her.
"J, it's Tiff. Come on, Pumpkin, calm down." Tiffany swept her hair out her bloodied face.
"She's talking crazy... Going on about the Trans." Tej told Tempest and Brian quietly as Brian hung up from calling for an ambulance. He and the rest of the crew knew it wasn't the first time she had a flashback.
"Tiff, he.. his cousin...he was here. He was." Jordan gasped for air, feeling the sky spin yet again. Tiffany laid her back, though she fought.
"Shhh, not right now. Just calm down. It's ok." Tiffany stroked her best friend's hair and kept Jordan's head in her lap as she sat now cross-legged. Jordan wasn't listening and Tiffany shot Tempest a 'you try' look.
"Jordan. Jordan, look at me. Please.' Tempest commanded, her voice loud, attempting to get her attention, even if by stunning her. "Calm down, Darlin. You can tell us but you hafta calm down first." Tempest kneeled beside her two friends and looked Jordan in the eyes.
"Back up and give her some space. Don't you got somewhere to go, a race, get outta here." Letty yelled at the crowd in frustration as she tried to get the attention off her friend. She didn't want any ears around to hear anything Jordan had to say, just to be on the safe side. Better to be safe than sorry.
"We'll transport her to the hospital after we stitch the cut up just to make sure she's okay." The paramedic told Tiffany, Brian, and the rest of the group a few minutes later. That news made Jordan shake her head and jerk away from the paramedic doing the stitching.
"Be still or it's gonna hurt worse." The irritated paramedic growled.
"Betta come correct and take it easy on her." Tempest popped the guy on the head, earning a look of shock. "Yeah, I did it, what you want to do about it?." She admitted, motioning to Jordan's head for him to get back to work.
"No, Tiff. No, no, no hospital. I'm fine." Jordan looked pleadingly at her sister-in-law. She shrugged the paramedic's hand on her shoulder off just as he finished, giving her another fowl look and turned around, right into a glaring Tempest.
"You need to talk to Brian about that. I can't make that call.' Tiffany sighed, not so convinced she was okay, talking about a twin of Johnny Tran. She didn't even look at Brian, still angry at him.
"Brian, please, don't send me to a hospital. I have been there enough. I won't go back there." Jordan informed her brother. He looked to be in turmoil and then gave a sigh of defeat, not being able to look at her blue eyes and tell her she had to go.
"Fine, can you give her a ride, Tiff?" Brian asked, his cell phone in hand to make some calls.
"Of course, unless you think I am gonna let her get hurt. Again." Tiffany said, walking past Brian and back over to Jordan, her voice in a low whisper for his ears only.
"Stop that." Brian shook his head, but Tiffany had already walked past him. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed as he watched Jordan get up shakily and walk with his wife's arm around his sister's waist.
"You had way too much to drink." Tiffany broke the silence as she exited the iron railed gates that were almost ten feet tall.
"I know." Jordan sighed miserably, her head on the pane of the passenger window. They headed back to camp, no words spoken further. Brian was leaning on his car, waiting for them to get there, him having taken a short cut.
"Come on, let's get you to bed." Brian helped his weak sister out of the car. He could already tell the medicine the paramedics gave her was kicking in. Her eyes were glossy and droopy and she looked like she was in a daze as she walked, her eyes on the ground to watch her feet to keep from tripping.
"Tiff's so mad at me." Jordan stated in a miserable whimper. Brian wrapped his arms around her and led her to the trailer.
"She's just...worried, not mad. And if she was mad, it wouldn't be at you, Sis." Brian reassured his tearful sister. He led her to her trailer she had spent all of wars in, her and Dominic's trailer.
"No! Brian, I can't stay in there, we broke up!" Jordan protested adamantly, almost becoming worked up yet again. Brian looked around nervously, not sure what to do or where to take her, being put on the spot.
"Hey, come on, he'll be at the races, J." Brian tried to persuade his sister as he got her closer to the stairs. She then did what he had been trying to avoid, he hated it when she broke down into full-fledged tears. Tempest and Ice were pulling up, Tempest leading the way, and he looked at them for help, his look telling it all as he pointed to the trailer Dominic and Jordan had shared. "Thank God you guys are here." Brian sighed a sigh of relief with a stressed, boyish grin he was famous for.
"Come on, Darlin, you can sleep in our trailer." Tempest put an arm around her, then shot Brian an 'I can't believe you expected her to stay in his trailer' look.
"Johnny has a twin, Temp. He's got a friend in the house, too. I gotta tell Tiff but she's mad at me." Jordan shook her head as they climbed the two small stairs into the trailer. "It's starting all over again." Jordan broke into more tears, exhausted and overwhelmed from the party's events.
"J, he's dead. Do you think you coulda been hallucinating?" Ice asked, sitting at the table as Tempest covered Jordan up in the second, lower bed that was beside the table when not folded up.
"NO! Chase Tran was at that party! I swear! You think I am crazy?" Jordan sat back up, making Tempest take a deep breath. "He's real, he said he had someone living in the house and Johnny has a twin. He's real, Ice, he was at that party. He beat me up." Jordan fought to get up but looked like she was fighting in place, her strength no match of that of her friend's. Tempest sat there holding her in the bed.
"Ice, can we do this later, please?" Tempest asked in an irritated voice and shot him an even bigger look of irritation. Jordan quit fighting and laid back suddenly, giving up, though looking at Ice with conviction that she was the one right.
"Temp, she had a flashback. We need to set her straight before she regresses and really flips out and looses it on us." Ice whispered in an angered voice, mad she would question him.
'Looses it, eh? Yeah, that's what the kid did was loose it. Pay no mind to what the fuck she went through." Tempest looked at him, wondering where he got off. "You men are all the same.' She muttered, getting up and turning on her laptop.
"I'll deal wit you later.' Ice promised as he headed for the door, too angry to talk.
"Deal with me now." She challenged, her eyes locking with his. "Good luck if you think you gonna bring it, Boy." She added as he broke the eye contact and headed out the door, slamming it. Ice took the long way to Brian and Tiffany's trailer and knocked on the door, his blood rushing form the anger he was fighting to control.
'Hey Bro." Tiffany answered the door quietly, her mouth in a tight line as she picked up random things to pack, it being the last day of Wars.
"You okay, Sis?" Ice asked, sitting down and popping open a Corona, then making a face. He was so mad he had forgotten he didn't like Coronas. The look of shock and his expression made even Tiffany crack a smile. She poured him a shot of Jack Daniels as he helped himself to the leftover breakfast she has cooked for Brian, who was in the shower. She slid it across the table and scowled.
"You mean besides the fact that I'm the one who's practically the one to blame for her getting hurt by my own damned husband?" She sighed, pouring herself a shot and downing it. "Yeah, I'm great, thanks." She poured another shot and said bitterly.
"No one blames you, stop." Ice shook his head as he stuffed his face with cold scrambled eggs.
"Well, how about I blame myself, then?" Tiffany stopped and looked at her brother.
"You shouldn't." Ice assured her, followed by a surprise admittance from Brian, fresh out of the shower, stenciling in the doorway, clad only in a towel. "Get some clothes on, Man." Ice shielded his eyes, pretending to be traumatized. Brian got dressed and came back out, thumping Ice on the head as he passed him to Tiffany. He put his arms around her from behind as she stood at the sink, doing dishes only to keep her mouth shut.
"I'm sorry I was bein an ass." He whispered in her ear, making her look down to hide her smile. He wasn't going to get off so easily. Just yet.
"Thanks for breakfast, I'm out. Just wanted to let you know J was ok and asleep." Ice got up and stretched, checking his watch.
"You came to eat, shut that shit up." Tiffany disagreed with a smile at her brother.
"Sue me, but after I go school someone." Ice nodded at her, making her look curious.
"And who might you be schooling, dear brother?" She asked, arms folded as Brian held her in her arms. She wasn't ready to deal with him yet so she was being compliant but not so attentive to him either.
"My girl, who has an attitude problem." Ice said and opened the door.
"My money's on my home girl, but, hey yo funeral." Tiffany called after him as he left.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Brian agreed, his voice imitating an 'amen' voice. He looked at Tiffany until she smiled. "Forgive me yet?" He asked, kissing her.
"I don't know. You're digging slowly but surely." She replied. He picked her up and carried her to the bed and straddled her. Outside, they could hear Ice's whistle to stop Tempest from leaving.
"Oh, is it later? Damn, how time flies." Tempest sarcastically said as she stood in front of her car, her body stiff and her mood not the best it could be.
"Shut that shit up and change that attitude, Tempest." Ice pointed at her, his face red with anger.
"No, you shut up and go fuck yourself. I'm sick to death of hearing what I should, shouldn't do. I'm a big girl and I don't need you schoolin me on shit, but thanks for tryin." Tempest shot back, now sitting on the hood and smiling sweetly, waiting for his reply.
"Don't forget who you're talking to, now stop with the games." Ice growled, not happy she was talking back to him and in this way at that.
"The only games gettin played round here lately are gettin played by you and I've had it up to here wit your stupid ass games, Boy" Tempest put her hand to her throat, making a slitting throat
motion, still not getting worked up like he was. She loved being deathly calm. It had so many advantages and it made him look like that much more of an ass. "You been around Dom way too damn long, I am starting to think." She added as she stretched back on the hood, getting combatable. Neither of them gave in to one another, so she knew it would be a long ass day.
"I don't fucking need Ice to teach me shit and you know that. I'm gonna give you one more chance to chill it out and when I come back, you better be ready. You know, I got power over you gang wise and I would hate to have to kick your ass." Ice yelled, his temper getting the best of him.
"Bring it, Boy. I got power over my own shit, I really don't need to stick wit you while you're cryin over stupid shit. I could walk away right now and never look back, Icy, so maybe you better watch that back, and your step. Cali's my house Ice, and when you in my house, you betta remember that." Tempest shot back, jumping off the car. Tiffany and Brian came outside in time to see Ice lunge for her.
"Ice! Man, come on, let's go for a drive." Brian held him back, his arm around his neck from the side.
"Tempest, you guys need to break this shit up." Tiffany said, standing beside her friend.
"He wanted to deal wit me later so now he's dealing. He brought this on, Tiff. I didn't say shit to him." Tempest shook her head, "until he said hat gang shit. Again. What the fuck happened to keeping it separate, Ice?" Tempest asked, smirking at her man.
"Both of you should just stop.' Tiffany warned, knowing it was leading nowhere good.
"The bitches of all bitches started it." Ice shook his head.
"That's it!" Tempest leapt for his throat, Tiffany catching her.
"Ice, I can't believe you, what the hell is your deal? You take something or you wiredrawing? Shit." Tiffany shook her head at him, astounded at his audacity.
"We're outta here for a while." Brian told Tiffany, pulling Ice with him,
"Don't bother bringin him back, it's over." Tempest yelled after the two.
