Sutton

23. Song Cry

Song Cry

Chapter Twenty Three

October 2, 2012

Shawn arrived to Beyoncé's condo building. At this point, he didn't care too much about who saw him or not. He had a lie for anyone that wasn't Clifford. The weather was all bad, and looked like the Devil was about to take over the streets of New York City. The city was supposed to be evacuated, but you had some people that just wouldn't leave their homes. Sighing, he hopped on the elevator from the garage to get to her floor. A rush of nervousness raced over to him. Her place had been the first place that he'd gone, not caring too much about Michael in this moment. His woman was much more important.

When he arrived to her floor, he saw her older brother, Terrence, outside of her door, knocking on the door. Shawn froze in place, noticing his immediate reaction.

"The fuck you doing here?" Terrence asked with anger in his voice. He had already heard the news about his story. There were two things floating in the streets – the hurricane and his little sister's rape. Like Shawn, Beyoncé's safety was his first priority. He hadn't known about anything until early this morning when he was made aware that people were selling tapes of the rape.

"I just came to apologize on m-"

"Fuck you and your apology! My sister don't want that shit!"

Shawn sighed. "I know you're mad, and I'm just as mad."

"Are you? Is your sister's rape being exploited in the streets for sales?"

"What?" Shawn asked him. This was his first time hearing about any of this.

"You don't know?" Bitterly, Terrence laughed. "Your brother has several niggas on the streets and in bodegas selling the tape like it's the hottest new porn tape. Fuck your family!"

"I obviously didn't know about that, but I really would like to speak with her."

"No," Terrence shut off. He didn't trust Shawn as far as he could throw him. "You're so lucky the war is halted." He went back to pounding on Bey's door, hoping that she would answer the door and give him [something]. He just needed to make sure that she's alive, at least.

"Have you called her?" Shawn questioned.

Clifford's door opened and he looked at the two men standing in his hallway. A small smirk crept on his face, and Shawn wanted to punch it right off of him. "Is she with you?" Shawn asked immediately, stepping to him.

Clifford didn't move a muscle. He simply looked Shawn up and down. "I need you to back the fuck up, nigga. She ain't with me. She's gone."

"Gone?" Terrence asked, not caring about Shawn sizing Clifford up. "Gone where? When did she leave? Did she say anything?"

"Too many questions," Clifford replied. "She left yesterday. Had I known what happened to her before she left, I would've said something to her."

"Did she have any bags?" Terrence questioned. Shawn retreated back, trying to think of where she could possibly be. At this point, he was sure that she wouldn't go out to North Carolina or anywhere that he could find her. In his mind, she was running away from him and everyone else, which he understood.

Clifford nodded his head. "Yeah. I thought she was evacuating, that's why I didn't say anything."

"But aren't y'all friends?" Shawn questioned him. He found it highly unbelievable that Clifford didn't know anything about Beyoncé just up and leaving. He may not have known at that very moment where she was off to, but he had to have known [something].