by T. Styles
He was silent as he marched down the corridor like a man on a mission. When he happened upon Dr. Weil’s door Zashay’s knees buckled and her jaw hung low. She’d given him advice, true, but the last thing she wanted was for him to give Dr. Weil a piece of his mind, which he’d been threatening to do for the longest.
Without knocking, Bones yanked the door open and stood before Dr. Weil who was typing on his laptop vigorously. Dr. Weil looked up at him once, to see who was there before focusing back on his keyboard. “About time. At first I thought you were gonna once again piss me off. I’m so sick of your insolence. When we have a time scheduled I expect you to honor it or—”
Bones raised his .45, which he kept on him at all times, and pulled the trigger. Dr. Weil’s brains splattered on the wall behind him, his life snuffed out instantly.
He didn’t even see what hit him.
Standing in the doorway, Zashay dropped to her knees in disbelief. Her heart pounded at the walls of her chest plate, making her feel like she was on the verge of a panic attack. Which was something that had plagued her all her life. “Bones…what have you done?” Her question was barely above a whisper. “What have you done to all of us?”
He walked up to her, barrel still hot. “Now who’s more powerful?”
“Bones—”
“SAY IT! WHO IS MORE POWERFUL?”
“You are,” she cried.
He looked down at her and walked calmly away.
It may have appeared that they were the only two present, but another person also witnessed the assassination and took to urinating where she stood.
****
FARAH
Cutie zipped into Farah’s room where she stood in front of the mirror combing through her hair with her fingers. When she saw the anxious teen in her private quarters she turned around. Cutie’s long black hair was plastered to her warm ivory colored skin that was splotched with what looked like smeared red kisses. “What’s wrong with you?” Farah asked. “And why your jeans wet?” Farah adjusted her boobs in the long silky black dress she was wearing to make sure they sat right. “Wait…did you pee on yourself?”
“Where my mother?” Cutie asked closing and locking the door behind herself.
“Your mother? Really?” Farah seemed to float toward her. “You wanted to be here, now you’ll be forced to stay. Besides, it’s out of my hands.”
“But I want to go home.” Cutie’s body trembled. “Please.”
“I told you once you came through those doors you would regret it. Now that time has arrived.” Farah looked at her again and realized something was deathly wrong. She grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the bed, away from the door. “But what has you shook? What did you see? Tell me.”
“He…he killed him.” Cutie pointed at the door. “Bones.”
Farah frowned. “Wait…what? Killed who?”
“The man in the office. Bones killed the man in the office.”
Farah looked at her long and hard and then all became clear. The one man Cutie feared above all others in the mansion was Bones and the only man who Farah could imagine him killing was Dr. Weil.
Still, could Bones be that foolish?
Knowing the crazies who would lose control within The Fold without Dr. Weil’s care.
“I’m scared,” Cutie wept. “I’m so scared.”
Farah grabbed her shoulders. “It’s too late for all that. You must calm down and tell me everything you saw.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
SLADE
“Never say no shit like that to me again.”
Slade, Audio and Killa were putting the last suitcases in his truck preparing to make the hike all the way from Mississippi to D.C. to find Farah. Mentally he wasn’t ready for the trip but nothing was going to stop him from getting her back or at least trying.
That one thing he knew for sure.
It had been a long night trying to explain to Memory that he would be back as soon as possible; even though her spirit told her she was losing him forever. All he wanted to do in that moment was get on the road, and try to piece back a part of his life he knew he couldn’t live without.
Nothing else mattered.
Audio approached Slade. “That’s the last bag, man. I’ma go get the rest of the beer out your fridge for the ride so we can—”
Suddenly Audio looked as if he’d seen six ghosts and Killa who stood next to him looked equally shook. Slowly Slade turned around to see what had frightened his brothers. The moment he did he wish he hadn’t. Outside, his now nine-month-old pregnant baby mother stood in a red lace panty and bra set, a butcher knife clutched in her palm, hovering over her protruding belly.
Slade tried to swallow the lump he felt forming in his throat but it wouldn’t go away. “Bae,” He approached her slowly. “What…what you doing out here? Without clothes?” He looked around to see who was watching and for the moment it was only his brothers.
But that was a fucking ‘nuff.
“Stay right there!” She yelled, forcing him still, blade now aimed in his direction. “Don’t fucking come near me.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I just want you to listen. Just listen to me for one fucking second.”
“But what’s going on, ma?” Killa interjected. He was trying to be calm but his voice resembled a two year old who had shit his pamper and wanted a rapid change. “Slade gonna be right back. We just got to make a trip for a week or so that’s all, mama.”
“Shut up!” She pointed at him with the knife. “All you Bakers are a bunch of fucking liars and you know it!”
Killa’s hands shot up in the air as if a gun was aimed at him. “You got it. We ain’t saying nothing else. Speak your talk.”
Memory focused back on Slade. “For the past year and a half I have been everything to you. I was quiet when you wanted, thinking your last girl was too loud or to opinionated because you hated talking about her so much. I kept a clean house. A clean body and even cooked for you and your fucking brothers almost every night! And never, not once, did I turn you down for sex even when I had knee surgery and could barely hold my legs open for you to enter my body without being in severe pain.”
Slade looked around and back at her. “And I know that, bae.” He looked at the knife again. “But I gotta check on my nephew in D.C.” He paused. “I told you that. Killa ain’t seen him in a while and—”
“You think I’m fucking dumb?!” She screamed. “You think I’m stupid enough to believe it takes three Bakers to find one kid?” She moved toward Slade and he backed up, seconds before Audio and Killa covered Slade with their bodies.
“Bruh,” Audio said to Slade, with eyes still on her, “She fam and everything, but I’ma knock her ass out if she try and stab you! I’m not fucking ‘round out here.”
“No you won’t,” Slade demanded, pushing his brothers aside and stepping toward her. “You not gonna do that because she not gonna hurt me.” His eyes pled with her to be cool but her stare said she meant murder. “Ain’t that right, bae? You not trying to hurt me right? Let my brothers know because they ain’t feeling this scene right now.”
She nodded; long streams of tears rolling down her face. “You right. I could never hurt you because I love you too much. But that ain’t gonna stop be from fucking up this kid inside my body. If you don’t want me! You don’t want us!” With that she took the knife to her belly and stabbed at her womb. Blood gushed all over the concrete and Audio’s sneakers.
Slade rushed toward her. “NOOOOOOOOOO!”
****
The soft beeping of the breathing machine woke Memory up. Fully rested, she yawned loudly, opened her eyes and rolled her head to the left, where Slade was standing at her side, gawking at her. “Why you do that?” He asked sincerely. “Why would you try to kill what’s mine? Knowing how I’d react?”
She glared. “What’s yours? What about me?” She paused. “I mean, is that all you’re worried about? This fucking baby?”
He stared at her, as if seeing her fo
r the first time. Suddenly she wasn’t as beautiful as he recalled. “Are you a lunatic? Is that what you saying? I made a kid with a lunatic and didn’t know it until today?”
She swallowed the dry taste in her mouth and attempted to soften her gaze. She let her cuckoo out the clock and was trying to smash that bitch back inside but it wasn’t working. “Of course I’m not crazy. You know me better than that.” She smiled brighter and took a deep breath. “Guess I over reacted huh?”
Silence
“I wanted you to stay, Slade. I wanted you to be with me and I was willing to do whatever it took.” She smiled. “And it must’ve worked because you still here.”
He scratched his chocolate baldhead. God, please stop me from strangling this chick. He thought to himself.
“Slade…is, I mean, is our baby okay?”
He sighed deeply, his patience running thin. “He’s alive. But you almost cut off his face.”
She smiled brightly, very awkwardly for the moment. “Aww…” a single tear traipsed down her cheek. “It’s a boy. I always wanted a boy.”
“Yeah. It’s a boy.”
“You know something, when I was ten years old I met my father for the first time.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Did I ever tell you that?”
“To be honest, right now, I don’t even give a fuck.”
“Well I did meet him back then,” she continued. “He was so fine too, Slade. Skin like yours and almost just as attractive. You got him beat though in the looks department I can’t lie.” She giggled. “Anyway, he bought me anything I wanted. All I had to do is say the word and it was done. That’s what he used to say too. ‘Say the word, Memory and it’s done’. ” She took a deep breath that seemed to hold a little longer in her chest. “And guess what else he did for me? He raped me from the point I met him up until my mama caught him on top of me in the back of the red Cadillac he bought her for Christmas. That was the same day my mother killed me.”
“Killed you? I don’t get it.”
“She told me I was dead to her so it was like she murdered me that day. Blamed me for everything. Even threw me out on the streets. Like it was my fault I was raped.”
Slade sat in the chair next to the bed. “What the fuck?”
“I know…sounds as crazy as it really was.”
“I’m trying to figure out what I got to do with something like that?” He glared. “I would never take something from you. Definitely not sex.”
“The similarities between you and my daddy are so clear and still you don’t see ‘em.” She paused. “I always knew I could never take her place. I’m talking about your ex-girlfriend.”
Slade rolled his eyes. This bitch was blowing him.
“I knew there would come a day when you would look for her,” she continued. “But I figured I would have a little more time to introduce you to the baby and what a family could be like with the three of us. Maybe then you’d forget her. But you didn’t, did you?” She paused. “I wanted that so much that I didn’t care what you did to me or how you treated me.” She touched his hand. “Just like I didn’t care what my daddy took from me. Just as long as he was there.”
He snatched away. “That ain’t the same thing. “
“But in my heart it is, Slade.”
He stood up and paced the room. “If I knew you were incapable of being a mother I would’ve never—”
“What? Not fucked me? Sucked me? Or let me suck you off?” Spit flew out of her mouth as she spoke. “What the fuck would you not have done, NIGGA!”
“A lady, Memory.” He pointed at her. “You know that’s what I demand so ain’t no need in using that type language.”
“Nah, chocolate drop! You demand a woman who will be a placemat for the one you always wanted. Well what about me? What about what I feel and who I want? Don’t that count for nothing?”
“Come on—”
“If you leave me, I will hurt your bloodline.” She said through clenched teeth. “I promise. I already proved I’m capable.”
Slade moved closer to the bed. “Do me a favor, shawty…”
Silence.
“Never say no shit like that to me again.” He lowered his head and whispered into her ear. “I’ve killed men with my bare hands for lesser offenses.” He rose up. “You don’t know me, Memory. You never did. That’s why we could never work.”
He stormed into the hallway and ran into Audio and Killa who were waiting on the verdict. Would he have to kill her or nah? “How she doing, man?” Killa asked.
“She tripping.”
Audio frowned and looked past his brothers, down the hall. “Wait…what Major doing here? You called him, Slade?”
“Nah.”
When they focused on the opposite end of the hallway Major came walking out the elevator and toward them. His head hung heavy. “Is everything cool?” Major asked Slade.
“Yeah, that bitch fine or whatever.” Slade shrugged.
Major nodded. “My nephew?”
“He a Baker.” Audio said. “You already know the little nigga strong so he made it through surgery okay. She did gash his chin with the knife though, so he’ll have a scar for life.”
“Fuck!” Major said running his hand down the top of his head. “Trying to mess up a Baker’s looks.” He sighed. “Listen, Slade, I’m sorry, man. Had I known I would’ve never done it.”
“Done what? This wasn’t on you.”
“It was.” He swallowed. “I told her you were leaving to go chasing behind Farah. And she—”
Audio and Killa were so angry they walked away, while Slade remained, eyes glued on his brother. “So if my son would’ve died you saying this would be on your head?” He paused. “I mean you that mad that we taking a trip you would turn bitch and get to running your mouth to my kid’s mother?”
“Bruh, I made a judgment error, man. You know I ain’t mean for none of this to happen.”
Slade looked away.
“You wrong as fuck, bruh,” Audio said pointing at Major walking back toward him. “Shit could’ve went a rack of different ways.”
“He know it too,” Killa frowned.
“Ya’ll right and like I said I’m sorry.” Major nodded in agreement. “Go handle things with your folks in D.C., Slade.” He continued. “I don’t want you leaving but I’ll see to it that things stay safe down here.”
“How I know I can trust you?” Slade glared.
“Because that little nigga in that nursery is family. My family.” He placed a hand over his heart. “And ‘cause you my brother and I fucked up. Give me a chance to make shit right. Is that a good enough reason?” Slade wiped his hand down his head. “Go see about Farah. I’ll be here if you need me. Trust.”
****
When Memory opened her eyes and turned her head Major was at her side reading the newspaper. He folded it, stood up and moved toward her.
“Where is Slade?” She asked.
“He ain’t here.” Major’s tone was quick and short. Definitely to the point.
She rolled her eyes. “So he sent you to watch over me or something? Am I under arrest?” She giggled thinking shit was hilarious. “Ya’ll Bakers are something else.”
“I sent myself, bitch. And if I even think you got ideas about hurting my nephew again I’ma reveal a side of myself you ain’t ever seen.” He picked up the paper and sat back down. “Now take your dry ass back to sleep. I’m sick of looking at your face.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE FOLD
“You wanna play a little before you bounce?”
Cutie walked down the hallway opening every unlocked door in the mansion on a hunt for Melinda. She was ready to leave the property but knew she needed her help first. The last thing she wanted to believe was that she was dead but she was starting to believe that was the case.
Most of the rooms were empty but when she happened upon the eighth door she was in for a rude awakening. Inside were Gregory and Swanson and they both were looking for trouble.
And for them she was prey.
Sipping blood red vodka in black glasses both grinned as if they were given the gift of their dreams.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was looking for somebody else.” She turned to walk out.
“Hold up,” Gregory said, gripping his dick. The grossest shit about it was that it was already hard. “You wanna play a little before you bounce?”
When she tried to leave, Swanson leapt up grabbed her hand and shoved her back inside. And when she heard the door close and lock, courtesy of Gregory, she farted in her drawers she was so afraid.
“No, I wanna—”
“I heard Mooney told you all our secrets,” Gregory said before picking her up and tossing her on the bed like a rag doll. “What she tell you about me though? Say anything about this dick?” He un-fastened his pants, stroked it and crawled toward her. It aimed at her like a knife.
She backed into the headboard. “Please don’t do this,” she begged.
“Please don’t what?” Swanson paused. “Get some of this young pussy? ‘Cause if you stay everybody in this house puts out. It’s The Fold’s way. Why should you be any different?”
“Plus I ain’t had a new taste in months,” Gregory added, pushing her legs apart. “Why not start with your fine yellow ass?”
“NO! PLEASE DON’T DO THIS! I’M BEGGING YOU!”
Gregory frowned while Swanson waited his turn. “Bitch, fuck all that, you ‘bout to take this dick so get ready.” Gregory ripped the tights she had on and tore her panties off with one pull. Before long the tip of his penis was waiting at the entry of her vagina, ready to push through. He was almost fully inside until she bit him on the shoulder, tearing into his flesh.
And not in the good Vamp way either. That shit hurt.
“Fuck!” He yelled holding his shoulder.
Partially naked, Cutie hustled off the bed, pulled open the door and ran right into the arms of Farah who was hunting for Bones after learning about Dr. Weil’s murder.