Down for Whateva

[21]

"What you got?" Kuddie looked up at Chewy holding a pack of peas to his lip. It'd been a hour since the accident and he hadn't heard from or seen Ryan. Her office was closed, she wasn't home and the constant calls from 'Tyler' popping up on her phone screen wasn't helping his blood pressure lower anytime soon.

"She got this ol' corporate ass nigga," Chewy sighed causing Kuddie to look up from the phone vibrating in his hand, "What?"

"What you got on the hit boss man, with all due respect I can give a fuck about a bitch you knocked me in the head over. We gotta bigger shit to worry about, get outcho dick and think Kuddie."

Not wanting to admit Chewy was right, he held down the side button to the phone and powered it off. He didn't think it was the smartest move when trying to get in contact with her, but seeing another man call her constantly wasn't dong anything but pissing him off more. Wondering if that's where she went, if she was lying in his bed. 'I gotta get this woman out of my head' he thought.

"So how did-" Kuddie sat forward, thinking deeply on everything that went down within the last few hours. It was a weak attempt in his opinion, which let him know that the accident wasn't an attempt to kill him. It was a message, Medusa wanted him to recognize that he was more touchable than Kuddie thought he was. "He called me like an hour before we dipped," he paused before looking at Chewy, " As planned I gave him a chance to end all this shit," even though that was never Kuddie's intentions. He wanted to see how everything would play out, he was confident that he could get Medusa to beg for release as he peeled his skin back piece by piece with his blade. "The fucking phone!" Kuddie stood. "Oh shit," Kuddie began to chuckle, then escalated to a loud laughter. "He pinged my phone, that's how he knew exactly where I was. Oh so we going high tech with this shit, okay. Okay, I like that."

"Man we run the streets, not iCloud," Chewy could already tell where Kuddie was heading and he wasn't for it.

 "Get Robot on the line," With the deepest smirk on his face, Kuddie nodded. "Yeah, yeah," he continued nodding as Chewy walked away. 

"Still no luck?"

She'd called her cellphone over and over, no one answer. The guess was that it was left inside of the truck with the rest of her things. "This is crazy," Tyler bent the corner right as she plumped her head back. It was around midnight and she hadn't been able to get in touch with Kadeem. His number wasn't memorized so her only bet was to call her phone in hopes he picked up her things. "No," she sighed, "I will have to call Mike in the morning to see how I can get another set of keys. Most of my bank cards and I.D. cards are registered in Georgia still so I don't even want to think about that process", another sigh.

"Start with one thing at a time," Tyler placed her legs onto his lap as he sat down from throwing away the trash they made with dinner. When he began to massage her feet, Ryan badly wanted to oppose but it felt so good. She needed some type of relief, closing her eyes she relaxed and rubbed her full stomach. Tyler ordered wings, and it'd hit the spot. "I'll try my best to help you as best as I can."

Ryan smiled, "You don't have to do that. You've already done enough by letting me come here."

"You're welcomed here anytime Ryan," her eyes opened slowly to the handsome man before her. 

"You're really something," Ryan sat up, "Here you are, helping me out when you barely know me. You're really rare Tyler," his pale face flushed red, "I appreciate you, for being with me through all this mess. My life is a mess."

"Ryan," Tyler moved closer, stopping her from releasing off the sofa, "You're being too hard on yourself."

"I'm trying not to be but," Ryan looked at his peaceful blue eyes, "My family is shit, my job is stressful, and in the midst of me trying to figure out if I'm in the right place. I'm trying to keep my heart open for love, which in actuality is just me stringing someone along into my chaos. I just want to feel cared for, just for once." Taking a deep breathe, "Now my shoulder is-" her voice cracked, "My shoulder is injured, I'm locked out of my house, I have no money. God knows who is possibly maxing out my credit cards right now. Goodness!" her head buried into her palms as she broke down. "Why is all of this happening to me?"

His hands caressed her back, they sat in silence for a few moments before he spoke again, "You have purpose Ryan," she felt his hand travel to the back of her neck and began to give her a deep massage. Almost instantly her body began to relax, "Everything you're being faced with is just a test. You got big things coming your way, just keep pushing," his fingers intertwined with her hair combing it upwards, Ryan sat up and smacked his hand away.

"Un, Un now," Tyler smiled nervously.

"I apologize, I should've known. I just figured you'll like a scalp massage."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Black women just don't play about their hair," they shared a laugh.

"I'm willing to learn all your boundaries." Ryan searched his eyes for the truth, which no search was needed. 

"Seriously?" Ryan started to play with her fingertips, "You're not just saying that because I'm down on my luck right now are you?" Tyler shook his head, he pushed his own hair backwards from out of his face.

"This isn't about me having a chance with you, regardless you deserve the best. The thing about life, is that it's so unpredictable but it can be beautiful. You think God made you as amazing, beautiful and smart as you are just to waste it?" Ryan shook her head slowly answering. "Exactly. So stop beating yourself up. Life is going to get beautiful for you, you just have to follow your mind, trust in yourself."

Ryan felt she'd come to the right place, Tyler was the exact person she needed to lean on. A part of her felt like she was using his niceness, but on the backend he reassured her that he enjoyed her company happy or sad. With a quick peck to his cheek she smiled, "Thank you Tyler."