RedBone (49 page)

That was the first time Farah heard of Willie Lynch, and it resonated with her, so she knew it was true. She stopped rubbing his chest, and looked at her light hand on his dark skin. The combination was beautiful, but did it make her better? Farah was confused because her mother made her feel like shit for most of her life. Didn’t she know about this syndrome too? And what about her grandmother, who acted older than Harriet Tubman.

Deciding to skip the subject she said, “So when you find your brother, then what happens?” She sat up in the bed, leaned against the headboard, and grabbed her coffee. “Are you gonna stay with Markee? Because I don’t think he has enough room over there.” She took a few sips, trying to gain the courage to ask him to live with her.

“When I find him, I gotta go back home.”

She looked up at him. “Go home? Why?”

“You know we don’t live here.” He rubbed her leg but she moved it away.

“But ... I thought ...”

“What you thought?”

“I mean, you been here so long that I thought you were staying.”

“Naw.” Slade laughed. “I can’t stand these DC niggas out here. Plus I’m not getting paper. I gotta be where I know how to survive. If I wanted to take you out, I couldn’t even do that shit right now. How you think that makes a nigga feel?”

“I know somebody you can get money from. What if we rob my boyfriend Randy?”

Although he appreciated her go-hardness, it also showed another characteristic he wasn’t sure he liked. “I wouldn’t get you involved in no shit like that.”

“Trust me, I’m involved in more shit than you know.”

“Not sure what that means, but I do know this ... if I step to him the way I want, he’d be dead.” He looked into her eyes. “I gotta go home and work on getting shit in order. A lot of people are depending on me.”

Farah was so angry that he was leaving that she bypassed everything he said of importance and picked up on the shit she wanted to fight about. “Oh, so you don’t like DC niggas, but you wanna fuck their bitches?”

He frowned. “First off I didn’t fuck you. Second of all, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“I mean, it’s all good to fuck me, but I’m not good enough to stay with.” She was growing angrier, and the blood rushing to her skin caused her to look flushed. “Is that how you move?”

“What you want me to do? Abandon my family in Mississippi?”

It was the first time she heard where he came from. “Well ... what about me?” She touched his arm. “I need you too.”

This shit was blowing Slade. “Let’s take it one step at a time. We might find out we don’t even like each other like that.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and placed her feet flat on the floor. “You played me.” She stood up, grabbed her baby blue robe off the chair, and put it on, pulling the belt tightly around her waist. “I should’ve known something was up with you.”

He laughed. “Fuck you mean, something is up with me?”

“You probably gay, like my sister Mia said.” She giggled. “I’m glad I’m finding out now.” Rejection was eating her up, and reminded her of when she was a sickly girl, confined to bed with no friends. She walked over to the dresser, grabbed her brush, and tamed her wild hair. Slade eased out of bed, and dawdled in her direction. She looked at the reflection of his muscular body in the mirror, and she caught a glimpse of the aggravation on his face. If this man walked out on her she would be fucked up in the head and she knew it.

“I’m gonna ask you to take that back. But if you don’t, I’m not fucking with you no more.” He rubbed her shoulders unknowingly a little too hard, and she was in pain. She was too afraid to tell him to ease up, fearing he might not care. “Now I know you’re mad, and that’s why you just said some shit you didn’t mean. I get that. From reading your journal, I can tell you never had a man like me in your life, who really cares about you. You’re scared but you don’t have to be. But I’m a man, Farah. Straight up, with no chaser, and you not gonna talk to me like that.” He paused. “So what you gonna do?”

She knew she had to apologize. Not only was she dead wrong, but everything he just said was right. She had taken things to another level by disrespecting his manhood, and she was out of order. But the other part of Farah, the side that was too afraid to show emotion, didn’t like having her card pulled by a man who invaded her thoughts. Who was he to bring up her journal, and use it against her, to display her innermost fears?

“Are you gonna take back what you said to me, Farah? Or do you want me to walk out of your life forever?”

Farah looked in the mirror at him and said, “Maybe you should go find your little boyfriend in Mississippi. Since it’s obvious you like dudes anyway.”

Slade removed his hands, threw on his clothes, and walked toward her again. As she looked into the mirror, he crashed his fist into their reflection, shattering it into a million pieces, before leaving the room. The moment she heard the apartment door slam, she flopped on the bed, looked at the broken mirror, and sobbed uncontrollably. When she heard someone moving around in the living room, she wiped the tears off of her face, pulled her robe tighter, and walked toward the sound.

Vivian James was standing in her apartment with a distraught look over her face. Farah rolled her eyes and walked up to her. She wiped her face and said, “What are you doing in my house? I paid you the rent for this month already.”

“Yes, you did, but I’m here to discuss another clause of the lease.”

“You better stop harassing me,” she said. “Because I don’t like being threatened, nor am I in the mood.”

“I’ve heard, Farah Cotton. But trust me, I’m a long way from threatening you.” She threw her a serious stare. “The lease says that a tenant is not to permit, or suffer, any act or omission constituting a nuisance to other residences.” She recited the lease as if it were the United States Constitution. “Including, without limitation to, excessive noise, excessive traffic into and out of the premises, like the man who just stormed out of here and broke the door in the process.” She pointed at the knob which was hanging on loosely. “It also states that violence, or threats of violence, are not permitted.” She stepped closer.

Farah rolled her neck and said, “What does that have to do with me?”

“Oh, I think you know, Farah Cotton. This letter was slid underneath my door last night.” She raised a folded pink piece of stationary with green flowers, which Farah knew belonged to Lesa. “And although it was anonymous, I believe everything it says.”

Farah walked away, took a seat on the recliner, and Vivian followed. “Vivian, I don’t know what you think I’m involved in, but you have the wrong person.”

“I think otherwise.” She fanned the letter. “This letter says that the sixteen people who died in this building over the course of a month may all be attributed to you.” Tears streamed down her face. “That count includes my son.” She wiped her face with the palm of her hand.

Farah rose and said, “I didn’t kill that man in the hallway!” Chloe told her the whole story, about how Slade punished him with his bare hands, resulting in his death.

“So what about the other fifteen? You had a hand in that?”

She was caught. “Look, Vivian, you can believe what you want. If you think I had anything to do with that shit, call the police. Otherwise, you can get the fuck out of here, and leave me alone!”

Chapter 58

“Do what you gotta do.”

—Slade

Markee’s house was peaceful as Slade sat on the couch with Shannon, the first woman who properly welcomed him to DC. It was Slade’s turn to wait for Knox’s call, and since he was beefing with Farah, he didn’t mind it one bit. Their fight fucked his head up, and he had all intentions of staying true to his word, and cutting her off for good. It wasn’t like they fucked, so why was he tripping anyway? After she popped off at the mouth, he knew she couldn’t be the woman in his life. He’d be liable to kill her.

“What’s on your mind?” Shannon said as she leaned on him, while they sat on the sofa and watched TV. Since his “no touch” vow was broken, courtesy of Farah, he rubbed her arm. It wasn’t as loving as when he touched Farah; instead, it was as if he were trying to start a fire with two pieces of wood. “It don’t seem like I have your undivided attention. And after all the things I did to you earlier”—she grinned, groping his dick through his jeans—“I think I at least deserve a smile.”

He stopped rubbing her and said, “How come you always bring up what you do for me?” He looked down at her cute face. “I hate that shit. If we gonna do what we do, that’s got to stop. Just keep it light, okay?”

When she heard the phrase Farah used at Mamma’s Kitchen, she was enraged. For him to quote the phrase so easily meant they spent a lot of time together. “Is it because of Farah?” She looked into his eyes. “Because from what I hear, she’s two kinds of crazy.”

“I didn’t know you knew her.”

“I do. We not friends or nothing like that, though. Somebody who knows both of us reached out to me through my friend Coconut. They used to be cool too, but Coco don’t fuck with her no more either. Everybody cutting that bitch off.” She giggled to herself. “Anyway, they said Farah thinks she’s a vampire, or some shit like that.” She put her head on his chest, and she could feel that he was as stiff as a board. She sat back up and said, “If I were you, I’d stay away from her, but that’s just me.”

Slade shook his head. He couldn’t stand catty-ass females. “What the fuck you talking about? How the fuck does she think she’s a vampire?”

“They say she have something called porphyria.” Shannon leaned in, relishing in the opportunity to bash red-bone Farah. “I looked it up when I was in my house, to see what I could find on the Internet. She can’t stand chemicals, perfumes and things like that, so if she’s around it she’ll run. It said she can break out into hives, get sick, and all other kind of shit like that. She was real sick in school too, when we were younger, but I didn’t know what it was about. Apparently it’s a blood-deficiency illness, and she’s playing it up as something else, probably to get attention from you.”

“How could she? She never told me nothing like that.”

“I don’t know why she thinks she’s a vampire then. Anyway, everything I found on the Internet said people don’t crave blood, they crave violence. So it ain’t like she needs blood for real, she just thinks she does.” She looked up at him. “I know you like her, Slade, but you should really be careful. I’m just saying.” She rubbed his chest.

He knocked her hand away. “Who told you some dumbass shit like that?”

She backed away a little. “I can’t tell you.”

“Well, when you can give me facts, we can talk. Until then, worry about what we got going on right here before it’s over.” He looked back at the TV.

“I didn’t mean to make you mad, I’m just worried about you, Slade. That’s all.”

He knew how much she liked him, but they could never be anything more than “good time” friends. His reason had more to do with their first connection than it did with anything else. A girl that loose in the pussy he couldn’t take seriously, plus he wasn’t gonna be in DC long anyway. What she said about Farah being a vampire had him vexed, because he couldn’t imagine anything like that being halfway true. He was still crawling around in his head when Shannon said, “Still mad?”

“Naw.”

“Can I do something to put a smile on your face?” She dropped to her knees, and crawled between his legs. “It won’t take me no time to make shit right.”

He grinned. “Do what you gotta do.”

Chapter 59

“Let s go, Rhonda! Now!”

—Farah

Farah was on her second green apple martini. The red dress she wore hugged her curves, and she was pulled seven different times by various men. Rhonda was just as sexy in the tight-fitting jeans she chose to wear, and stylish leather jacket to cover her large belly. From the back that ass was fat, so she was also pulling them left and right. “You hear about Gary from around the way?” Rhonda asked. Farah remained silent. “Anyway, they said they found him in an alley, with the vein on his dick slit. He’s been there for weeks, and they just found him today. That’s some crazy-ass shit, right?”

She knew who he was, and most importantly what happened, so she wasn’t going to say anything either which way. “Don’t know him and don’t care.”

“Anyway, I didn’t know this spot was gonna be this live,” Rhonda said. “I would’ve worn some other shit. I ain’t been in a club in eight months!”

“Girl, please,” she said, looking at her outfit, “you killing them and you pregnant.”

Rhonda didn’t want to go out, but her shower was tomorrow, so tonight she was at Farah’s beck and call. “You right, these bitches in here a mess, and half of them showing all they ass. It’s too cold outside for all of that.”

“Right, it ain’t a bitch in here who can fuck with us. Farah placed her empty glass on the bar and scanned the club. She was worried Randy wasn’t where she thought he should be. “I know I gotta find another sponsor, since I’m beefing with Slade, and Randy wants to kill me.”

“Slade wasn’t sponsoring shit anyway,” Rhonda clarified. “I hear he running around with Shannon. I don’t know what he looks like, but people keep saying he’s fine as shit!”

Her heart dropped. “Shannon? For real?”

“Yep. So don’t worry about him. If anything he need to be sucking the juice out of your dirty panties.” She looked around and spotted a cute chocolate brother, who was staring in her direction. “Now Randy is another question. You should not have even been dealing with him. You know that dude is sick in the head.”

“He sick but rich.” Farah motioned for the waiter to get her another of the same. “And losing him fucked up my game play. I swear I feel like going off on Lesa and them for jumping in my business. Every time I try to put her out, she bitch up, and threaten to call the police. I got something planned for her, though.”