“You told me you loved me and that you loved me from the first time we met!” Letah added through a mass of tears.
“Lyin’ ass bitch! I ain’t ever say that I loved you! You was just some pussy to hold me over ‘til some real shit came along. Besides, I was just lettin’ you hide out from yo’ crazy ass daddy, cuz' he was molestin’ yo’ ass! Oh? What? Don’t tell me she don’t know that shit either,” he said as he looked back and forth between me and Letah. Tico laughed arrogantly.
“Shut the fuck up Tico!” Letah shouted.
“What? What is he talking about? Did something happen? Did Davis do something to you?” I asked as I stood stunned.
Letah cried, “He said if I told that he would make something happen to you and Lynn! He said that he needed me, and that if I told nobody would believe me cuz' he was a police officer. When Ladybird found out, she blamed herself. “
I threw my hand up into the air and interrupted her. “What are you saying? Are you telling me that Ladybird knew that Davis was hurting you, and she didn’t do anything about it? Is that what you are tellin’ me?” I asked in disbelief as I grabbed Letah by the shoulders.
“I heard them argue. She told Davis that she was taking us and leaving. Davis said that everybody knew that she was crazy and nobody was gonna believe her. He said that if she told he would have her locked up forever and she would never see her children again. That was two days before yo’ fourteenth birthday. The next day she was dead, she had hung herself. Everybody was just going through so much, so I never told. After you left to go back to Chicago for grad school, Tico called and told me all this shit about how much he loved me and that it was me he always wanted. I told him about Davis and he said that he would protect me and that he wanted me to come stay with him. So I stayed there for a few months. Really just to get away from Davis, but Tico just wanted to pimp me. So I ran away from him too! Then I was going to join the army to get away from town and try to make something of myself. When I went for my physical I found out that I was HIV positive,” she struggled to speak through a waterfall of tears.
“This bitch is lyin’ to you baby! I ain’t sick, come on baby… look at me! Do I look sick? ” Tico said to me as he reached out to touch my hand.
“You don’t have to look sick to have HIV you stupid mutha’fucka… Oh no! Oh no! You mean to tell I might have HIV? I just got tested last year... I gotta’ get tested! What about Chance? Oh my god. I just shared me blood with Lynn! I need to find out if they gave her any of my blood. Oh God!” I said as I stormed out of the door pass Tico. He grabbed at my arm but I yanked away.
“You gon’ get yours nigga… I swear on everything I love!” Letah shouted to Tico as he quickly walked out of the door following behind me, leaving her still sobbing.
I ran and found Lynn’s doctor right away to make sure that she hadn’t received any of the blood they took from me. I explained the situation to him; telling him that I might have been infected and I needed to be tested immediately! He set up the tests right away. Luckily there was a lab on site at the hospital. They were able to run some kind of rapid test that came back in 4 hours…
And the clock began to tick!
CHAPTER 17
The wait was pure torture! I sat in the waiting room with Letah. She kept apologizing and trying to explain, but I didn’t even wanna hear it. All I could think about was Lynn and Chance. The frustrating part was that I didn’t even wanna tell him until I knew something, one way or another. He called several times while I was waiting on the results, but I just kept sending him to my voicemail. I couldn’t talk to him yet. What if I had infected him with this virus? What if… Oh my God! What about Iesha and her friend Sheila? We had just had that threesome! Oh God please! I begged.
Then the nurse came around the corner.
“I have the results of your test,” she said as the terror caused my heart to stop beating for just a moment.
“It was negative for HIV but because there is possibility that you have been exposed to the virus. You’ll need to get tested again in six months,” she said as I sighed in relief and breathed again.
“Thank you Jesus!!!” I shouted out loud.
Letah stood quietly looking out into space. I wanted to slap the shit outta’ her ass for betraying me, but there were too many other things going on that we needed to get through.
Lynn was still in intensive care and we still had Davis’s funeral to prepare for. After we went and looked in on Lynn, Letah and I headed back to the house to get unpacked and to start making the arrangements for our stepfather’s burial. As it turns out, Letah was infected before she even started messing around with Tico, and Davis had to be the one who infected her; after years of having countless unprotected sexual encounters with prostitutes. It was all too deep and sorted, and I wanted to discuss it. But I was way too tired! I was on the verge of a nervous break down, and all I could do was just get us home without wrecking the car.
The ride home was dead quiet and once we got back to the house, I just wanted to lay down and try to close my eyes for a few hours. I drug myself upstairs to one of the spare bedrooms, got undressed and fell into bed. When I turned the lights out I could see Letah’s silhouette standing in the doorway. She looked just like a little kid. The way she use to stand outside my room at night when she was scared.
“Come on in here” I said softly, just like I use to when she was a kid. Letah entered the room without a word and just laid herself down beside me and put her head against my shoulder. We were still sisters and that night we both struggled to sleep… with what seemed like the weight of the world heavy on both our hearts.
The next morning I was awakened by the sound of a ring tone playing. It was me and Chance’s favorite song on my cell-phone, (Bruno Mars, Locked Out of Heaven). It was Chance. He said he had been trying to get through all night. He wanted to know how everything was going, and that he missed me. He also wanted to know why I hadn’t called. I told him that with everything that was going on I hadn’t had time. I wanted to tell him about what happened with Tico so badly, but I knew better. I wanted to tell him what I had learned about Davis too; but, if Chance had any idea what the fuck was going on here, he would be on a plane faster than I could even finish telling him. I also knew that this would be a real fucked up way for him find out about my past. So I decided to wait, even though I knew there would never be a good time to tell him. I just knew that the time wasn’t right now. I had enough shit to deal with!
Chance asked if I had talked to Iesha. He said that she stopped by a few times already, ringing the doorbell. He said that he didn’t answer… he never answered the door even if I was there. He wasn’t really much of a people person anyway, and he really didn’t like to be bothered. He just wanted to know why she would keep coming by knowing that I was away. I had a pretty good idea about why, I’m just glad he didn’t open that door. There’s no telling what that skank was up to.
Chance said that he was just about ready for the gallery opening and that he had been driving himself crazy thinking about me! It was so nice to hear his voice. I guess I didn’t realize how much I would miss him either, but it was really hard to think of anything except this mess with Davis. I told Chance that I still had to go downstairs to his room and pick out a suit to bury him in then take it over to the funeral home. Chance said that he would be here tomorrow night about eleven o’clock. I could not wait! I needed my man to hold me.
Just then the other line on the phone beeped in, it was the hospital. I quickly told Chance that I loved him and I’d call him back later.
It was Lynn’s doctor, he said that she was doing better but couldn’t be moved from the I.C.U. for another few days. That would mean that she’d miss her father’s funeral. He said that there was no way she would be able to make it. He said that we could come visit but only briefly, because she still needed her rest. I thanked the doctor for everything and got off the phone.
Just then the doorbell rang. Letah answered and y
elled up the stairs for me to come down to the door. It was a police detective from the San Diego County Sheriff’s department. He said he had come by to ask Lynn a few questions about Davis’s death. He said that the toxicology report from the autopsy showed a high level of arsenic that suggested he had been poisoned either accidentally or on purpose. I explained to him that Lynn was in the hospital in intensive care and we didn’t know when she would be home.
The detective had a team of crime scene investigators waiting outside with a warrant to come in and search the premises. They came in, looked around for about an hour, put a few things in some bags and boxes and left. The detective said that he would be in touch. I stood puzzled.
“Why would Lynn wanna kill her own father? There had to be some logical explanation for all this shit!” I thought.
Letah sat quietly on the sofa, gazing into the ashes of the empty fireplace.
The next day Chance’s flight was delayed so he arrived to the house just as we were leaving for the funeral. He parked his car and jumped into the limousine with me and Letah. We got to the funeral home at about 11 o’clock that morning and Lynn was still in intensive care. The funeral home looked like a policeman’s ball. The place was jam-packed. It seemed like every cop in the city had come to pay their respects. I’m almost ashamed to say that I hardly knew anybody there, except the detective that had come by the house yesterday. He stood off to the side and just watched us as we accepted the condolences of Davis’s friends and colleagues. It was amazing to see how many people’s lives he touched. Even more amazing to see how many people he had fooled.
It still didn’t seem real. It was like I was stuck in a badass nightmare, but it was all too real. The comfort of all my step dad’s friends warmed my heart and sickened me all at the same time. Then all of a sudden I got that just much sicker! An ice-cold chill crept down my spine and I froze. Chance asked me what was wrong; he said “Baby you look sick. Are you ok?” I thought I was about to swallow my tongue. It was Iesha and right behind her was Tico. Everyone kept coming up hugging me and saying how sorry they were but I couldn’t hear a word they said. I was in a complete daze. You coulda’ knocked me over with a feather! I began to sweat like I was wearing a full-length fur coat in 120-degree heat. Chance looked back over his shoulder. “Oh, hey Iesha, you made it. Good to see you,” he said to Iesha as she walked over to me with Tico at her side. He was wearing a tacky ass orange suit. I almost threw up.
“Hey girl?” ”Hey Letah...” Iesha said hugging the both of us as Tico stood to the side grinning like Chester Cheetah.
“Hey Letah, hey Rayqelle. I’m sorry about y’all father. He was a great man. We will all miss him,” Tico said as I started to tremble all over. “What’s up man? How you doin’? I’m Tico Vega, a real good friend of the family. We all go way back. You must be Chance. I’ve heard alotta’ about ‘chu.Yeah, a whole lot! Ha-ha,” Tico snickered as he reached out to shake Chances hand.
“Good to meet you Tico,” Chance said as he gave Tico the brother shake.
I was about to faint. What the fuck was this nigga’ doin’ here and what the fuck was he doing with Iesha?
Tico forced a fake casual conversation with Letah. Her facial expression told me that she was just about to go off. I mean this nigga gonna prance up in here like ain’t shit happen two days ago? Like he ain’t just tell me that he was fuckin’ my seventeen year old baby sister, or like she ain’t HIV positive (probably cuz’ of his ass), and like he was just some old friend of the family… I wanted to hark somethin’ up from the back of my throat and spit it right in his face! I had to be cool and he knew it. If I had flipped out Chance was going to find out the whole truth today for sure. Tico would make certain of that! I couldn’t wait to talk to Iesha alone! She had alotta’ nerve bringin’ that piece of trash nigga’ in here. What the fuck was she up to now?
CHAPTER 18
As the funeral service came to close, everybody started heading back to their cars, making their way to the cemetery for the burial. Me, Chance and Letah walked back to the limo. As we were about to get in, a big black Escalade with tinted windows pulled up next to us and came to a stop. The driver’s side window rolled down. It was Tico “We just gon’ follow behind y’all, wouldn’t get lost, it’s a long ways away, and we new in town. Ha-ha-ha!” He said through his big gold fronts. Iesha sat in the passenger’s seat staring at me over the rim of her dark Chanel shades. The three of us got in to the limo and left for the graveyard. By the time we got there I was a complete nervous wreck trying to figure out what Tico and Iesha could possibly have up their sleeves. My hands were shaking like two autumn leaves. Chance touched me and held my hand, I instantly stopped shaking and for a moment everything was okay.
Letah and I walked over to the grave. It had been raining all morning, so our heels wedged themselves down inside the soft grass. We stood next to the casket as raindrops formed tiny pools on its surface and the preacher led us in prayer. “From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust.” He said as Letah and I held hands, but we did not weep! Neither one of us could shed another tear.
Tico walked over and stood next to Chance, I was sickened and my stomach was doing flip-flops. I felt like I was about to shit on myself. Tico touched Chance’s shoulder and whispered something into his ear. Chance looked over at me. I was frozen again! “What the fuck did he just say to him?” I thought. Iesha stood next to Tico, looking, hiding behind her shades. “Take those goddamn glasses off and look at me!” I thought, hoping without hope that she could read my mind. Everything went completely silent as the crank lowered Davis into the ground. Everything went black as if it were me being dropped into that burial vault. My heart broke all over again as I looked at Letah. She and I held on to each other like two lost children. Chance walked up and stood behind me with his hand on my shoulder, he was my strength and just knowing that he was near made the pain a little easier to deal with.
We shook as many hands as we could before we got back into the limo to go home. Chance put his arm around me. I was so exhausted that I couldn’t even speak. The only thing I can remember after that is waking up back at the house, stretched out on the couch, Chance was sitting on the floor next me. I guess he must have carried me in from the car, cuz I sure as hell couldn’t remember walking! Letah was curled up in an old lazy-boy recliner, underneath an old cashmere blanket. Chance brought me over a sandwich and warm cup of tea, but I was too sick to eat. I was flooded with too many mixed emotions. Chance sat next to me all night and held my hand until the next morning.
I spent most of the next four or five days doped up on tranquilizers and the only time I got up was to pee. I couldn’t eat or keep anything down. I just wanted to sleep, sleep the pain away. That was the only peace I could seem to get. I don’t remember much about those few days, other than Chance being by my side every time I woke up. I was a mess, I hadn’t showered in days, finally Chance did insist on giving me a bath and thank God, cuz I must have smelled like the rear end of an ox.
By the sixth day, it was time for Chance to head back to Chicago and get ready for his art show, but I was in no condition to travel, so he made me stay on in San Diego, plus Lynn had just gotten home from the hospital and needed my help. So, I drove Chance to the airport. He didn’t wanna leave, I could see the worry all over his face, but I managed to pull it together enough to convince him that I’d be alright without him, for a few more days anyway. We kissed goodbye and Chance ran to make his flight. I wanted to cry as his plane took off, but I didn’t have any tears left.
When I got back from the airport, I pulled in next to an expensive Jag that somebody had parked in the driveway and Letah’s car was gone. When I got out and I walked into the house I almost lost my mind! There was Iesha sitting on the sofa in the living room. My purse fell to the floor.
“You bitch! What the fuck are you doin’ in my house? And where the fuck is that nigga Tico? How the hell could you bring that mutha’fucka’ to Davis’s funeral?” I asked in outrag
e, surprised as hell that she would even have the nerve to show her face. Letah was gone out to run some errands and Lynn was in the down stairs bedroom with her nurse.
“Hey Rayqelle, girl, I hope you don’t mind, the nurse let me in, how you been? I’ve been calling you all week long! Didn’t Chance tell you?” Iesha asked anxiously and as if nothing had ever happened.
“I’ve been sleepin’ almost 24/7. Still tryin’ to pull myself together, I guess. Still tryin’ to cope, you know? My stepfather’s death, missing my man, and my girl stabbing me in the back!” I said, walking over to the mantle-piece, looking at an old family photograph.
“Look, I might as well get to the point. I know that you’ve been through a lot this week, but I need a huge favor” Iesha said as she walked up on me and stared into my eyes intensely.
“What?” I asked still in disbelief at this bitch’s audacity.
“I have an important meeting scheduled for tomorrow in L.A. but I have to go back Chicago right away on an emergency” she said.
“Okay. So, what does that have to do with me”, I asked, almost ready to punch her ass!
“Well, I need you to go to L.A. in my place and meet a client, it’s very important and you are the only person I can trust to handle something like this. Like I said, I know you’ve been through a lot this week, but I really need your help.” Iesha said as she turned slightly away to avoid looking me straight in the eye.
“Wait, what do you mean? What kinda’ meetin’? And why me?” I asked as I began to get nervous.
“Well, it’s more like a date, but it’s super important or else I wouldn’t be bothering you. I swear!” Iesha said.
“A date?” I asked. “What kinda date?” I asked as I already began to answer my own questions in my head. I already knew what kind of date. Suddenly I began to get even more nervous.
Rayqelle's Revenge ---Book 1--- Special Holiday Edition (Ratchet) Page 8