RedBone (36 page)

Lesa blushed. “Girl, me and DeWayne, aka Chews, got an understanding just like me and Diamond D. Shit ain’t even like that.”

“Chews?” Farah giggled as they stepped off of the elevator and on to their floor. “How on earth did he get a name like that?”

“A long-ass story.” Lesa reached for her key to open the door. “I just like hanging out with him because he’s not heavy. It’s nothing for Chews to take me out to eat and bring me back home without trying to fuck. He don’t be pressing me out like most niggas just because you smile in they face. Chews is the last of a dying breed.”

“I feel you.” When Farah opened the apartment and stepped inside, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Major and Killa were on the floor asleep, wearing her ex-boyfriend’s clothes, while Mia was on the sofa with the one man who made her heart skip a beat. “What the fuck is going on?” she whispered to herself.

Lesa looked around and said, “Farah, can you explain this shit to me?”

“I don’t know what the fuck all this is about.” She shrugged. “You saw me walk in here just like you did.”

Lesa tramped into the living room and said, “Can somebody tell me what’s going on?” Everybody shuffled but Slade was the first to rise.

The moment he looked at Farah she said, “I’m gonna check on our rooms.” She looked at him again before walking by.

When Farah was alone, she paced the floor. Her puppies jumped around her ankles and she picked them up and placed them in the bathroom. She was just about to go back into the living room, when she heard Lesa’s scream from the hallway. “Ahh!” Lesa yelled out. “What the fuck is going on in here? On my new sheets!”

Farah rushed to her room to see Chloe buck naked in the bed with Audio. Lesa’s new Gucci dress was lying on the floor, destroyed, and her closet was wide open. The Baker Boys and Mia stood outside of Lesa’s door, waiting to see what would happen next. Lesa walked inside, picked up her dress, and said, “Farah, what the fuck is up with your sisters?” She raised the dress in the air as if it were Simba from
The Lion King.
“When I moved in I said I needed my privacy, and I didn’t want anybody going through my shit.”

“Lesa, you can’t be blaming me for this shit. I walked in here with you.”

“But this is your family and they in my room.” Tears rolled down her face. “I was gonna wear this to the show. I ain’t sign up for none of this shit! I feel violated.”

“Lesa, I’m sorry,” Farah said softly. “I would’ve never allowed her in here to wear your clothes if I was home.” She addressed her sister. “Chloe, what are you doing here anyway?” Farah was enraged. “Before I left out last night, I told you not to go into her shit.”

Chloe got up and said, “What it look like I’m doing?” She grabbed Lesa’s expensive sheet and wrapped it around her body as if she owned it. “I
was
fucking until y’all came in here with all this bullshit and interrupted us. Oh, before I forget”—she walked to the dresser and handed Farah the note from Dr. Martin—“this message is for you.”

Lesa looked at the stationary, and her jaw dropped. “You went in my drawers, too?”

“Chloe, get your shit and get out of this girl’s room,” Mia interrupted. “I should’ve known I couldn’t go to sleep with you in this house with that boy. You been eye fucking him from the gate.”

Chloe was embarrassed. “What ... you mad ’cause you wanted to fuck him or something?” She was entertaining her audience. “After all,” she said, looking at Audio, “he does meet your age preference now, doesn’t he?”

“Little girl, don’t make me fuck you up! Come on ... let’s go.”

She rolled her eyes, knowing Mia could stomp her into the future if she bucked.

“Audio, let’s bounce,” Slade said. “We got shit to do back at Markee’s anyway.”

With everything happening at once, Farah almost forgot he was there until his voice reminded her. She wanted him more than anybody she’d ever wanted in her life. When she looked in his direction, he was staring and her stomach fluttered. He was for her and she knew it.

Audio got dressed and Lesa rushed around her room, examining the damage. “Farah, we gotta have a house meeting. If this type of shit gonna go on, I’m not gonna be able to stay here. For real. I’m not gonna let nobody disrespect me. She went in my closet, ruined my dress, slept in my bed, and wrote on my stationary. What kind of shit is this anyway?”

“So what you want my sister to do, throw us out or something?” Mia yelled, stepping up to Lesa. “Because it seems like you hinting around to it.”

“Call it what you want, bitch!” Lesa said, stepping closer to Mia. “Because I think I made myself clear.”

“Bitch?” Mia repeated, preparing to pull a few patches out of her hair. “Whore, I would murder you!” Killa and Major held her back before she leaped on her.

“Farah, either they leave, or I will!” Lesa continued. “I’m not about to put up with nobody jumping in my face and shit. My own mamma don’t get in my face, and I’m damn sure not gonna take it from nobody else. Fuck that.”

“Can everybody just calm down please!” Farah yelled. “We still got people in the house.”

There was a lot of shrieking and fussing, until there was a knock at the door. Since the Baker Boys were able to keep Mia from scratching Lesa’s eyes out, Farah decided to see who was there. When she opened it, she saw her neighbor from down the hall. “Hey ... you used to fuck with Zone, right?” Markee asked, pointing at her.

“Yeah. So?” she said with her hands on her hips.

“No reason.” He shrugged. “Me and Zone were good peoples.”

“Well, how come I don’t remember him talking about you?”

“We weren’t that close. But I was fucked up when I heard what happened.” He looked deeper into the apartment and saw his cousins. “I’m here to get my peoples.” He pointed at them. “My cousins.”

Slade looked at Farah before walking out the door and his brothers followed him. Farah was just about to close the door when Markee said, “You better be careful; shit been happening in this building. A lot of people are coming up missing, even that fat kid across the hallway.”

When Lesa left to go over to Courtney’s the house was at peace. Mia and Chloe were in the living room watching the movie
Friday
for the hundredth time, while Farah felt the desire to get what she needed to survive, before remembering she had some in her room.

Farah grabbed the cooler and set it on the bed before going into the bathroom to throw cold water on her face. When she came out, Chloe was sitting on the bed holding an empty vial of her medicine. She’d just finished swallowing it all.

“Oh, my God, Farah! What is that?” She pointed at the tube. “What are you drinking?”

“The question is, why you swallowing my shit? You been here less than two days and already you in everybody shit. That’s your problem, you don’t respect people’s privacy!” Farah put the vial back in the cooler and stood over her.

“What the fuck is that stuff you drinking? Chloe screamed, wiping her lips. “What is that? It taste like ...”

“Shut up!” Farah screamed, looking at her with evil eyes. She knew what it was but didn’t want to say it out loud. All she knew was that it worked and that was all she cared about.

“Look at me, Chloe! Look at my skin!” She stood up and walked over to her sister. “This shit has done more for me in a month than Dr. Martin could do in years! I’m getting better, Chloe. I know you see it.” She smeared makeup off of her face so that she could see her tone clearly. “You see ... I don’t even have to wear makeup anymore. I found the answer to our problems.”

“But you can’t drink that!” Chloe yelled, as tears rolled down her eyes. “It can’t be good for you.”

Farah felt like smacking her. She knew people wouldn’t understand, and that’s why, before her grandmother, she never told a soul. Even Cosmo was unaware of her plan of action. “I’ma tell Mamma!” Chloe acted as if she were still a kid.

“I don’t give a fuck what you tell that woman.”

“Then I’ma tell everybody else. And then people gonna think you a freak.”

Farah couldn’t take it anymore. It was bad enough she fucked her man; now she was in her bedroom making her feel like shit. She pushed her back on the bed and crawled over her body before she smacked her again and again. It wasn’t until Farah realized that she wasn’t fighting back, that she stopped. Chloe had shit with her, but at the end of the day they were still sisters. When Farah saw her body curl up on the bed she sat next to her and touched her back.

“I’m sorry, Chloe. You my baby sister, and I didn’t want to hurt you like that.”

“Farah,” she said, wiping tears off her face, “why are you drinking that shit? I don’t understand.”

“I have to do this for me, Chloe. And you can’t tell nobody because I’m gonna get locked up if people find out. They not gonna understand. Now y’all hurt people all the time and nobody said anything.” Chloe was silent.

“But what if it makes you worse?” she said softly. “I don’t want nothing to happen to you.”

“It won’t.” A crooked smile spread across her face. “I wish you could see how I feel inside. I haven’t felt this good in years. The shit Dr. Martin gave me work for you and Mia, but it never helped me. I would never do this if anything else worked. I wanna live, Chloe.”

“Dr. Martin called last night. That was the number on the paper.”

“For what?” She frowned.

“He said you were doing something that’s not good for you ... now I know what. He said Grandma called him.”

Farah walked away and looked into her mirror. “She called him for real?” It angered her that Elise violated her trust.
I mean, what was the purpose of a confession?
“Did he say what she said?”

“No. Just that you doing something to make you better that’s not good.”

“Dr. Martin doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” She walked over to the cooler, reached into it, and gave her a vial. “Here ... drink it again, Chloe.” Her arm remained outstretched. “You don’t have to die.” She smiled and sat next to her. “There’s no better feeling than conquering and drinking blood. You do it anyway; might as well do it to survive. I saw the way you looked when you had them rats in that box, when we were kids. Now you got a reason to kill ... to stay alive.”

She examined how great Farah looked and took the container from her sister’s hands and drank it all. “Can’t believe I did that again.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Farah put the empty vial away and said, “Now it tastes even better, right?”

Chapter 32

“You’re right, it’s not Farrah Fawcett. It’s Farah Cotton.”

—Farah

Farah had to piss as she drove down the street on her way to the Lucky 7 convenience store. She could hear something knocking around under her hood, and prayed it wouldn’t break down on her before she made it home.
That’s all I need is for something to go wrong with my fucking car!
Getting money from Randy, and trying to hide where she lived, was more trouble than it was worth.

The moment she stepped out of the car, her body trembled when she saw Juice pull up in a new black Range Rover. His music wasn’t too loud, but she could hear the old-school classic “Tender Love” spilling from the speakers. Before she walked in the store, he rolled the window down and said, “I know that’s not Ms. Farrah Fawcett over there. A nigga like me don’t have that kind of luck.”

Juice was right on point because when Farah was born, she was so red that Ashur, who was a fan of Farrah Fawcett on
Charlie’s Angels,
gave her a version of the actress’s name. It didn’t matter that the show had been off for years when she came into the world. “You’re right, it’s not Farrah Fawcett. It’s Farah Cotton.” She smiled, walking up to his truck. “What Randy do, send you to check up on me?”

“Naw ... I’m just coming to buy a pack of blunts.” He looked at her through his expensive shades and wiped his goatee. His diamond watch flashed and he saw the twinkle in her eyes. “But you did say Cotton, right? Because that sounds familiar. Your father name Ashur?” He pointed.

She glared. “Yes. How you know him?”

He chuckled. “Your last name rings bells. My father used to run with him but we weren’t real close. I remember all the stories he use to tell me about Ashur being a hothead. He murdered that family at the bus stop.”

“You disrespecting my daddy now?”

“Never that. Just giving you a little history on your people. So ... where you going, Farah? And can I take you there?”

She was preparing to answer, when a girl came from behind and bumped her so hard she knocked her into Juice’s truck. He quickly got out to examine the damage. “Damn, shawty. You moving a little too quick, don’t you think?” The black paint on his new ride was chipped. “Now you fucked my shit up.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Farah stood up straight and looked at who hit her. The moment she turned around, Nova slapped her so hard in the face she hit the ground. “That’s for Coconut, bitch! And for telling lies on Shannon, too!”

Farah snapped and was all over her in a second flat. She managed to get Nova on the ground as she continually banged her head into the concrete. Tears fell out of her eyes and her temples begin to thump as she went back to that day on the bleachers. But when her skin started itching, she knew a breakout was coming and it was this bitch’s fault. Why did she even step to her? For all Farah knew, she and Coconut weren’t even that close.