RedBone (35 page)

“She snapped on me when I called him the last time she got sick,” Mia started. “She must be doing something right though, because she look good.”

“Well, I need to find out what it is because I’m tired of having to be careful everywhere I go. We can’t go out if it’s too sunny, we can’t be around certain odors ... I’m just sick of it!”

“What’s funny is Grandma got the same shit and she look fine,” Mia said.

“Yeah ... but she don’t use soap, and she ain’t got no friends either because of her body odor. Mamma likes to look pretty and wear perfumes and lotions. I guess that’s why it’s hitting her bad now. Me and you only use the basics, but after a while, we might have to cut everything off too.”

“We gonna be all right and so is Mamma. You just keep taking your medicine before—”

Loud screams rang out in the hallway and Chloe, still wearing Lesa’s dress, which was covered in weed holes, threw the apartment door open to see what was going on. When she looked outside she couldn’t believe her eyes. “Either I’ve died and gone to heaven, or I see three half-naked niggas fighting in the hallway.” Chloe smiled, looking at the Baker Boys. Slade was the only one dressed and the rest had on boxers and T-shirts, and it was fine with her.

“We both must be two dead bitches,” Mia said with her mouth hung open. ’Cause I see the same damn thing!”

The Baker Boys had beaten Markee’s crew so badly that all he could do was lean up against the wall and shake his head. Instead of begging his cousins to stop, he was now saying, “Please don’t kill’em, y’all. Don’t kill’em. They some good dudes. This going too far now.”

Slade and his brothers didn’t hear his pleas. Things had been taken to another level and it was entirely his fault. Two goons were able to get away after Audio, Killa, and Major let them go, after hearing cop sirens in the background. Slade, on the other hand, had snapped a long time ago. This was one of the things the brothers feared. There was nothing anybody could do to stop him.

Slade’s mind was elsewhere as he held Tornado up by his shirt, and repeatedly hit him in the center of the face with a closed fist. Tornado’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and his teeth cut into the flesh of his fingers, but he felt no pain. Slade thought about Knox, and the fact that he hadn’t heard from him in days. He thought about his cousin Devon, and how he died over a beef that had nothing to do with him. The beat down was now so brutal that the Baker Boys, Markee, Chloe, and Mia stood in the hallway in shock. Slade was mad at the world and unfortunately Markee’s goon was taking the brunt of his frustration.

“The cops coming!” the pudgy kid said.

“Slade,” Killa said, putting his hand on his shoulder. “Let him go, man.”

He didn’t hear him, or any other sound around him. “Slade, we gotta go, man,” Audio said, walking up to him. “The cops are outside.”

He could not be stopped until Major said, “What about Mamma? And Knox? You gonna get locked up and get her stressed out even more? Let him go, man. It’s over.”

Hearing their names brought him back to reality and he looked at the man who was no longer moving, and released his shirt. His body dropped and his head bounced on the floor like a ball. He wiped the blood off of his hand, and onto his jeans, before looking at everyone. In his right state of mind, he could finally hear the commotion outside of the building. “Let’s go back in the house.”

“You can’t come in here,” Markee said. “They gonna look here first. I can throw him off.”

“Then let’s run,” Audio said.

“It’s one way in and out,” Markee informed him.

“Y’all can come in,” Chloe offered. “They won’t know y’all are here.”

Mia looked at her sister and said, “What you talking about? This not even our place!”

“Right, so what do we care?” Before Mia could dispute, the Baker Boys piled into Farah’s apartment and Chloe locked the door. The moment she turned around and faced them, Audio was eyeing her. This was the first time she was in the presence of a man who she felt was her equal, and considering her violent nature, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Slade ran up to the window, move the blinds slightly, and looked outside. The red, white, and blue lights were flashing in so many directions it was blinding. “There gotta be, like, ten cop cars out there!” he reported. “Shit! Why Markee make me do that?”

“Fuck! What we gonna do now?” Major asked. “We came out here to wait for Knox; now we ’bout to get locked the fuck up! That white mothafucka from Mississippi definitely gonna find us.”

“Now who went too far, Slade?” Audio said. “I fought a few niggas in a gas station ... but you beat a nigga to the pulp in front of witnesses. And you talking about me.”

“Why you speaking all wild in front of company?” Slade asked, looking at the women.

“Sorry, man,” Audio said. “I lost it for a minute. I just feel like breaking Markee’s jaw. Why he put us out there like that? All he had to do was let them bitches get dressed.”

“We gonna be good,” Slade said. “You just gotta give me a second to think.” Chloe and Mia sat on the sofa and looked up at the men. Their bodies, their faces, their presence had them feeling some kind of way. “I’m sorry about this,” Slade said, looking at them. He stepped away from the window. “We gonna leave the moment the cops bounce. Just give us a second for this to blow over.”

“It’s not a problem. We weren’t doing shit anyway but getting high,” Chloe offered. “Y’all want anything to eat or drink?”

“Water would be good,” Audio said. Chloe jumped up and swaggered to the kitchen, so he could witness the way her body wiggled and her ass bounced. He was paying close attention, and could certainly go another sex round, despite fucking two bitches earlier and fighting in the hallway.

“Y’all wouldn’t happen to have any men clothes in here for my brothers, would you?” Slade asked Mia. “I’m tired of looking at them like that.”

From the kitchen Chloe yelled, “I got some! Give me one second.” She handed Audio a cup of water. “I put extra ice in your cup, since I know you like it so much,” she said, referring to the meeting they had earlier at the ice machine. He winked and drank his water, his eyes on her the entire time.

“What’s going on now?” Killa asked Slade as he paced the living room. “Outside.” He pointed. “The cops still there?”

Slade looked out the window. “Yeah; them mothafuckas coming into the building now. I wonder who called them.”

“Bro, you was outside crushing, dude. The nigga was crying for his life. Anybody coulda made the call,” Killa said.

Chloe returned to the living room with a pile of Zone’s old clothes, which included a few pairs of sweatpants and some jeans. “Here y’all go ... this all I could find. Hope you can fit ’em.” Major and Killa made their selections, while Audio unknowingly frowned. Chloe immediately picked up on the reason for his dismay and said, “These were my sister’s ex-boyfriend’s clothes. It ain’t even like that.” He nodded and took a pair of grey sweatpants from the pile.

“What are your names?”Slade said, trying to make nice so the girls wouldn’t be so nervous around them. After all, four country niggas at one time in anybody’s house could cause anybody slight disturbance.

“I’m Chloe, and this is my oldest sister, Mia.”Chloe moved to shake his hand, but Slade avoided her, and walked closer to the window.

“Okay ...”she said, feeling that was weird.

The other brothers shook their hands as Slade took another look outside. More cops were coming, and he could hear the sound of walkie-talkies going off in the hallway. Although he was older than the men she usually went for, Mia, still being attracted to Slade, stood up and walked next to him. “You seem like you got a lot on your mind.”

He looked at her, made a half smile, and refocused outside. “I do.”

“I don’t know what happened in that hallway, but whatever it was, that nigga must’ve deserved it. For you to beat him that way.”Slade didn’t look at her as she stood so close to him he could feel her body heat. Mia softly touched his arm and said, “You want anything to eat?”

Slade jumped back and moved toward the wall. After seeing how he was in the hall, for the moment she feared for her life. “Look ... I’m sorry. I ... I ...” He swallowed and said, “I just don’t like people touching me.”

Mia frowned. “You act like I punched you or something.”

“It’s not like that.” He shook his head. “Don’t take it the wrong way, please. It’s a long story. Can I use your bathroom?”

“Yeah ...” she said, still stunned at his actions. “The guest bathroom is back there.” She pointed, and he walked away. Mia looked at the brothers, hoping they could tell her why he reacted that way.

Audio chose to speak up first. “He don’t like to be touched. By women anyway.”

Her eyebrows rose. “So what ... he gay or something?”

Audio’s forehead creased and yelled, “Fuck you just say about my brother?”

Just as wild as him in the bark department, she said, “Nigga, who the fuck is you talking to?” Mia continued moving into him. “You in my house.” Audio didn’t give a fuck and was about to charge her when Major and Killa held him back.

“Stop it!” Chloe said, not wanting her sister to ruin her situation. “Now, Mia, you know that man ain’t hardly gay. If he don’t want you touching him, leave him alone.”

“I never heard of a man not being gay who don’t want a bitch to touch him.” She sat on the couch. “That shit don’t hardly sound natural to me.”

“Look at who’s touching him,” Audio said. “Maybe that’s the problem right there.”

“Nigga, I will fuck you up in this apartment!”

They were about to square off again when there was a knock at the door. Slade, who was now back in the living room, wondered if the police knew he was involved and was inside.

“Don’t worry. I got an idea,” Chloe whispered, taking off her dress before flipping off the lights. Then she wiggled to the door and opened it halfway. She peeked out and in a sleepy voice said, “Yes?” She rubbed her eyes. “Can I help you?”

Two white male officers were outside. One of them said, “I’m sorry, ma’am. Did we wake you?” They tried not to gawk as one of her titties revealed itself. “We just have a few questions about a matter that happened in the hallway not too long ago. We were wondering if you saw anything ... or heard anything at all out of the ordinary?”

“No. I was asleep.” She rubbed her eyes again. “But is everything all right?”

“Ma’am ... do you mind putting some clothes on? So we can come in and talk?”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but this is my house and I was asleep.” She rubbed her eyes harder for effect. “You can’t come in. Now if there is nothing else, I really wanna get back to bed.”

One of the officers grabbed a tiny white pad from his shirt pocket, along with a pen. “Actually there is something else. Like I said, there was an altercation earlier tonight. Do you remember hearing anything at all?”

“No. The only thing I heard was you banging on my door and waking me out of my sleep.” She paused, and looked into the hallway at an officer questioning Markee. “Was anybody hurt?”

One of the officers cleared his throat. “Ma’am, a man was killed tonight. That’s why we would appreciate a little cooperation. . . on your part.”

“A man was killed? How?”

“He was beaten to death. Now did you hear or see anything that could be useful in this investigation?”

“No. But if I do, I’ll let you know.”

“That’s all we can ask for now.” He handed her a card. “Enjoy the rest of your night and be careful in there. You never know what kind of crazy you have lurking around. When she closed the door, she put the lights on and slid back into the dress.

“What happened?” Mia asked, walking up to her.

Chloe looked at the Baker Boys and said, “They said a man was killed.”

Chapter 31

“You do it anyway; might as well do it to survive.”

—Farah

Farah’s headache was rocking when she stepped out of her Benz to enter her building. Randy had somebody fix her car temporarily, but warned it would need serious work soon. Last night was long and hard, because Randy came back into the house drunk and wanting sex. There was nothing appealing about him when he was buzzed, but since he almost caught her in a lie at the club, she did what she had to do. The only good thing that came about last night was that she was able to bury the hatchet with Rhonda, when Rhonda called to apologize. She felt like it was only because she wanted her to throw her shower, but after how Lesa treated her the night before, having her friendship was better than nothing.

When she activated her alarm at five o’clock in the morning, she was surprised to see Lesa getting out DeWayne’s white Lexus. Lesa blew him a kiss and he winked before speeding off. At first Farah was going to ignore Lesa because of the fight she had with Courtney, but when they looked at each other, Lesa smiled. “I’m sorry about that shit last night, Farah. My friends be tripping sometimes. That’s why we had a falling out a while back. I don’t know why Courtney don’t like you ... she’s never acted like that before.”

Farah stopped walking and said, “I ain’t gonna lie, I was mad because I hate when bitches think I’m soft just because I bite my tongue. I’m through being a punk. People messed with me too much when I was a kid. I’m telling you, if she really knew me she would not have carried shit like that. I could snap on her ass.”

“Normally I’d go to war for her, for both of my friends, but last night she was wrong as shit.”

“I don’t see why you hang with her anyway.” Farah opened the building’s door. They both slogged inside and approached the elevator. “She don’t do nothing but hear herself talk. I hate bitches like that.”

Lesa laughed. “Courtney kinda cool, but when she’s drunk, she trips. Trust me when I say you gave her a taste of her own medicine last night. Sometimes people are afraid of her because she knows a lot of people.”

When they got on the elevator Farah said, “So how was your night? It looks like you had fun with one of Juice’s friends.”