Gettin' Dirty (3 page)

“The guy standing there, holding his pants up like an idiot,” I say and point to my brother who is staring at us like we are nuts.

“Who the fuck is this, Lee?”

My momentary protector looks back at me and asks, “Is he a paramour of yours?”

“What the fuck did you call me, asshole?” Michael growls.

“No, he’s my brother.”

The guy looks back to me as he says, “Good enough.”

“Name’s Seamus.”

So that’s his name
, I think. Guess he is pretty damn Irish. He is holding his hand out to Michael as he walks over to him.

“I don’t give a fuck, bitch. Get the fuck outta my family shit.”

“Lady wants you to leave. You can walk out on your own that’s how I would prefer you to leave.”

Seamus isn’t my family and I barely know him, but I need someone to help me take out the bad parts in my life right now. I hate that Seamus just buys my food, comes by here asking me to cook him food, but I can’t have Michael here—I just can’t. Maybe another time, but not right now. I need to cool off a bit.

Michael steps right up to Seamus and I see just how bad of an idea this could be while realizing how massive Seamus is compared to Michael. Massive, and he moved into my house like a predator, like a jungle cat going after its prey. I can see the hurt in Michaels eyes as he pulls a small roll of money out of his pocket, tossing it at me.

“This how it gonna be, Lee? Let some new guy in-between us?” Michael says to me, his voice hurt and angry. He’s upset I would let someone push him around, that I chose someone over him. Well, fuck him.

I bend over and pick up the roll of money, it’s probably twenty or so dollars. I look to him then toss the money out the front door. “Least he didn’t take food and shelter from Mina.”

Scrambling after the money, Michael runs out the door shouting over his shoulder, “You fucking, bitch.”

I run after him and slam the door closed, locking the lock then dead-bolting it. The chain lock though is what will keep him out for now. For now, but I am getting those damn locks changed as soon as possible, I tell myself again.

Turning back around, I am surprised to see Seamus sitting right in front of Mina, playfully trying to take her dolly away. Mina giggles at him and looks up to me as if to ask for my permission to play with this giant stranger.

Seamus looks up to me and asks, “So… about that dinner thing? I brought Spaghetti.”

“Spetti!” Mina chirps loudly.

Oh god, what did I just get myself into?

Mina swipes the doll from Seamus’s hand and pretends to growl at him. I roll my eyes as I watch Seamus growl back. Mina is a people-person so far, doesn’t matter who it is she is always trying to play with them.

Clearing my throat, I motion for Seamus to follow me out into the living room.

“Who the hell do you think you are bringing food over to my house and expecting me to cook it?” I whisper to him through clenched teeth.

Looking up to him is almost a pain as he is really tall compared to me. He’s not really tan or pale, more like the middle of the road. He has black hair with a shaggy mohawk, deep dark blue eyes, and an intense look about him. Like a dangerous animal. The t-shirt he is wearing does nothing to hide his muscular body. Just staring at him like this, not saying anything, is giving my stomach small little clenches—those little bad ones that lead down further south. The kind of clenches I have been avoiding since I got pregnant with Mina.

“Well, I was figuring since you looked like you knew how to do all that kitchen wizardly stuff with all the food you bought…”

“You bought it…”

“Same difference…”

“No, it’s not. We aren’t a couple nor do we share bank accounts.”

He shrugs those large shoulders and I bite my inner cheek. Sure, he is pissing me off with these assumptions, but damn he looks good while he does it.

“Anyways, I can’t cook. I figured I could always beg supper from a beautiful woman like you and entertain the munchkin while you make us something wonderful.”

“Complimenting me isn’t winning you points right now.”

“Well, that’s a relief, I wasn’t trying to earn any.”

I hear Mina behind us, making raspberry noises at us. I turn around to look at her and meaning to quiet her down when all of a sudden I hear a very loud wet one coming from Seamus.

Turning back to him, I stare as he makes silly faces at Mina. He’s an assuming ass, but so sexy when I hear Mina giggling loudly.

“Fine, but I am only going to make spaghetti tonight. You need to…” The big hunk of annoyance nods his head at me halfway through what I was saying and walks past me.

I am not even sure he is paying attention to me until I hear him say, “Well, that’s a relief too, I don’t want to have spaghetti every night. Too many carbs.”

“That’s not what I said. I am telling you this is a onetime deal here.”

Kneeling down, he makes a deep bassy growl at Mina and paws at her like a bear. Shrieking, she giggles and tries to run around him. He has one fine ass, I can’t help but notice. Crap, now I am checking him out.

T
he food is fucking amazing
, it’s better than just about anything else I have ever had. It could be the company too, though that only aids in the taste. I can’t help but look over at Aaliyah as often as I can. She is in the serious hot category, like too damn hot for her own good.

I am done before they are. Looking down I see I have inhaled two large helpings. “Wow, that was amazing.”

“It should be, you big oaf. I’m shocked you didn’t eat the plates right along with the food.”

Grinning, I shrug my shoulders. “What can I say. I truly love what you do in the kitchen.”

Her plate hasn’t been touched nearly as much as mine, though, she has been helping Mina who keeps giggling madly at us both.

I slide my chair around to her and reach out, taking the spoon from Aaliyah’s hand. “Here, my turn to feed the little monster. You need to eat something too, little momma.”

She starts to say something to me but I just dig the fork in and make out like I am going to take a bite of the food.

Mina sputters out, “Spetti!” Her little hands trying to get me to give her the food. I do and the smile I am rewarded with makes it worth it. Little Mina is a pretty awesome munchkin.

I’ve never really been around someone as young as Mina. Never had the time or inclination to be. It’s kinda cool to watch her interact with Aaliyah and me. She uses a lot of hand gestures and semi words to get what she wants. It’s interesting. But fuck what do I know. I’m not really a kid person, not really least I haven’t been till I met Aaliyah and Mina.

I look over to Aaliyah as Mina seems to be getting tired of eating. “Think she’s had enough?”

She smiles. “Seamus, that’s the most she has eaten in a while. She normally isn’t so well behaved when eating.”

Grinning to her. “That’s because she likes the scary bear feeding her.”

I growl at the little girl and she giggles before growling back at me with a spaghetti stained face.

D
inner was
a complete mess in the best of ways. Spaghetti everywhere and full smiles with Mina and me.

Aaliyah is another matter entirely. She smiled with us and laughed at Mina’s antics, but that smile never really reached her eyes. She has distrust in her eyes, and I think whatever is going on with her brother Michael is weighing heavily on her mind. I don’t think she really expected that he would be out the door like that. I have to mentally shrug to myself. Family dealings are always messy.

I stand up from the table after Aaliyah has wiped Mina down. Dinner was so good and I have such a full belly. I lean back in a huge yawn. I’m a sleepy monster, I think, as I look at the couch in the living room. Nap time.

I start to head towards it, but I hear a loud grunting noise and feel Aaliyah pushing hard on my side.

“Not a chance, big guy,” she says and continues to try and shove me towards the door. Not really much luck in that though, I am probably twice her weight.

“Seriously? You would deny me a nice comfy seat?”

“Darn right I will!” she laughs as I let her slowly push me towards the door.

Looking over my shoulder, I grin at her. “I’ll get going if you walk me to the door.”

“Huh?”

“You have to walk me to your door and see me out.”

“Why?”

I stop moving and she pushes hard up against me. Damn, her curves feel luscious, tight and sensuous all in one little bundled package. Turning around, I look down at her big giant brown eyes and get lost in them for a moment. She reaches up and snaps her fingers in front of my face to get me to focus on what she is saying.

“You need to go home now.”

“Sure.”

Reaching up, I cup her cheek and lean down kissing her hard on the lips. Those beautiful plump lips that beg to be kissed so hard. To be opened up with my tongue, to taste her. I don’t get to do that for very long, even if she responded back to me for briefest of moments with all the fury I feel inside my own body. Her own passion must be as deep. I feel her hand up against my forehead as she pushes us apart.

“Mmm, that was as good as dinner.” I lean in for another one but she darts out of the way.

“Stop that.”

“Why?”

“Because I said to.”

“Your lips and tongue said something else though.”

“Stop that too.”

“What?”

“Talking about my body parts.”

Shaking my head, I quit staring at her lips. “My turn tomorrow night.”

“Your turn for what?” she asks with annoyance.

“My turn.”

I spin away from her and head towards the door. Opening it up, I turn back to see Aaliyah staring at me with not annoyance exactly, but more of a mix of emotions. I look to Mina and see her usual silly grin. Growling loudly, I blow a kiss to her.

Closing the door behind me, I hear the locks engaging. I look directly at the peephole and blow a kiss to the darkened circle. A loud, exasperated huff comes from the behind the door and I laugh loudly. Yeah, she wants me.

T
hree guys stand
in the hallway in front of my door and they look like they were about to enter my apartment. I’m not entirely surprised to see Tony is part of this trio of miscreants. I quickly trot up the rest of the stairs to get on equal footing.

In my youth I learned a lot of things about fighting: how to start one, how to finish and what to do when you are outnumbered. I don’t have a gun with me, didn’t think I would need one tonight. Stupid me. Really, I should have expected this little bitch to try and come for me.

Two of them are getting to ready kick my door in while the third is acting as a lookout. I target him first, he has a baseball bat and that’s going to hurt pretty bad if it connects with me. I duck his first swing and punch as hard as I can in his sternum. I feel something crack when I do, and it sure wasn’t my hand. Grabbing the bat as it drops, I toss it at the face of Tony. With the luck of the shamrock it connects to his taped up nose. He’s out for a bit as I pull up short.

This third guy has a crowbar in his right hand and his left hand is going towards the front his pants. Probably a gun.

The last thing he expects me to do is dive at him like I do, spearing him in the midsection with my shoulder. He slams hard into the wall and I heard all the air in his lungs burst out. I pull back and jump for the ceiling as hard as I can. The top of my head connects with his chin and I hear a sharp crack. Damn, that smarts for me but I am sure he is hurting worse than I am.

I back up as he slides down to the floor, kicking the gun away from his limp hand. I turn towards the other two. Tony is standing now with a hand covering his nose, and a hand pulling a shitty pocket knife from his front pocket.

“M’m gunna gut ya.”

I shrug and dart in, throwing a quick jab to his stomach then a hard uppercut to his chin. That’s it for him as he flies up and then down hard onto the landing. I push him hard with my foot towards the stairs. He slides down the first step before I see him roll quickly down the rest.

Baseball bat guy is still trying to breathe when I walk over to him. He’s just bent over, sucking in deep breaths.

“Don’t come back,” I say loudly before slamming my knee into his face a few times. He drops to the floor as well.

Trevon’s door slams open as he looks out with a gun in front of him. “What the fuck?”

“Sorry about the noise, mate, but these guys are no longer allowed in the building. I wanted to make sure they got that message thoroughly.”

I lean down, grabbing the gun I kicked off the floor and shove it into the back of my waistband. I walk over to the guy who originally had it and rummage through his pockets. I pull his wallet out and stick it into my front pocket. He is still out, so I walk to the second guy on the landing with me. Repeating the same procedure, I search and take his wallet as well.

I want to deal with Tony first, before the two dumb fucks he has with him.

I head down the stairs and grab his wallet from his back pocket. Getting the license and dropping the wallet, I look down at the sack of shit in front of me. Fucking idiot needs to learn a lesson again.

I pull Tony up and slap his face a couple of times. “Wake the fuck up, asshole.”

He slowly comes to as I backhand him hard. “Uh, fuck! You broke my nose again.”

I hold him with one hand, and in the other I show him his drivers license. “I know who the fuck you are Tony Martin. It will not be hard for me to find your mother or any relative still living.”

He stares at me with unguarded terror. “Fuck, man.”

“Go away, Tony. I don’t want to see you again.”

I keep his ID in my hand as I shove him down the next flight of stairs. I hear him try to catch himself but then a loud thudding tells me he probably fell more than walked.

Trevon is staring at me wide-eyed as I repeat the same conversation with the other two guys. They each get shoved down the stairs as well.

“Fuck, man,” Trevon says, his hand that is holding the pistol by his side is shaking badly.

Nodding to the pistol, I say, “Careful with that.”

I open my apartment door and head into the living room where I strip down to my boxers and go to work on the gun I got from one of the guys. It’s not in bad shape as I start cleaning it. I look over to the three driver’s license and grunt. Those guys were too fucking dumb for their own good.

Mother of god. That man’s kisses should be considered illegal. No person should be able to kiss like that. It nearly melted my body to the floor. Not to mention I think I need a sponge placed between my thighs. Mother of god. Holy fucking cow. He just… I have no clue what I should be thinking. I mean, I know I should be mad as hell he just kissed me without even asking for permission, for just taking what he wanted. I should be, but I’m too horny right now to be mad. Well, mad enough to anger fuck him maybe, but that is definitely not what I should do. We might break a bed or something.

I hear Mina behind me making sounds with her dolls. Turning to watch her, I wonder what she thinks of what just happened? Did she even notice that her mother just kissed someone? That her mommy’s leg lifted up like one of those beautiful women in the black and white movies from the forties?

“Ugh! I don’t have time for this!” I say looking at Mina.

She continues to play with her doll while I continue to remember the feel of his lips pressed hard against my own. It is maddening, the feel of his hard body pressed up against me. The way I could feel how calloused his hands were, but the gentle way he held my cheek while he kissed me. His tongue battling my own, the push and shove of it. Fuck. I am in serious trouble.

Holy cow.

“Okay,” I say, and I pat myself down, checking my pockets for my cellphone.

Glancing at the display, I see I have two missed texts and a missed call. All from Michael. Great.

The first text is him calling me a bitch. The second one is saying to call him.

I press send on the phone and call him back. I know I shouldn’t but what can I do?

“Aaliyah, what the hell you think you doin’ kicking me out of the apartment?”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Michael? Your first words to me are asking me why I kicked you out of my apartment after you just walk in like you own the place? After you stole my money?”

“Chill, girl. What the fuck you think I was doing when I brought you some cash?”

“What, twenty dollars? You stole four hundred from me!”

I push end on the phone and block his number. I am so damn sick of what he has done to me. I can’t take it anymore.

I walk over to the kitchen and start washing dishes. Checking the leftovers, I know they will help stretch the gap until I get paid again. Damn.

I
t doesn’t take
long to get Mina down for bed. I wasn’t kidding when I said she doesn’t usually eat that much. She was getting sleepy during bath time, and by the time I put her down in bed she is asleep. Thank goodness. I need a break. I need some time to calm down from Seamus and from Michael. Both cause me problems, both are going to be a problem.

I walk over to the window looking out of the apartment and look at all the cars in the parking lot. I have a twenty-year-old Honda Civic. It’s on death’s door in looks but I swear the motor will just never die. It’s the one thing I have that is fully mine. I don’t owe anyone money for it. I was able to buy it with what little money my mom’s life insurance policy left Michael and I.

Even then he was taking all he could from me. It was a twenty-thousand dollar life insurance policy, we were supposed to split it down the middle. But nope, he swindled me out of seven thousand dollars. He would have tried to take it all, but I was able buy the car before he could hit me up for more money.

Seven thousand dollars is a lot of money, a lot. I would have been able to pay for my classes so much easier than I am now. I would have had a little padding to help me while I went to school. If I missed a day of work because I was sick? That would bad but I would be able to make up for it with the savings. Now I am so worried of getting sick it almost makes me sick.

He has taken so much from me over the years, if it isn’t nailed down he has tried to take it. I don’t know where his money goes, I’m pretty sure it’s not drugs. It’s probably used to impress all the girls he dates. He’s a true player from what I can tell. I am also pretty sure he has some children out there but he won’t talk to me about them. I don’t think he has ever had a real job in his entire life.

Looking out over the parking lot I see Seamus’ new SUV—it’s big and black with tinted windows. Almost like some drug dealer’s car. I would have almost been willing to bet he was compensating for a small penis if I hadn’t felt that fucking monster pushing up against me during the kiss.

Now I’m not the person to ever go to when it comes to sexual knowledge or advice. I got pregnant with Mina from the one time in my whole life I trusted a guy. It was a onetime deal too, I got knocked up from the one time. He didn’t even stay around after the first sexual episode. From what I found out later he had a thing for taking girl’s virginities. Fucking asshole went to prison and he died there too. I want to be sorry for that because it is some poor idiot losing his life to violence, but I just don’t have that sympathy in me anymore.