by Carl Weber
Tami didn’t want to hear the cruel words that were coming out of her beloved Vance’s mouth. She wanted to block them out, but she couldn’t. She wanted to hear some fairy tale response from him, having just revealed he was gonna be a daddy. The room began to spin quickly as she realized her fantasy was not Vance’s reality. His words and insults cut like a knife. Tami felt them penetrating her inner soul as she sobbed.
“How can you say all those things to me? How? I don’t understand. I thought you would be happy for me, for us. I thought you would be happy we could be a real family now: me, you, and our baby—our love child.”
“A family, our baby . . . Girl, you need to be on some serious strong medication. They need to lock you up somewhere and throw away the key until they find a cure for your type of crazy.” Vance was thrown off as he struggled to lift himself from the floor. His one leg was weak and the other with the cast throbbed. “Listen, Tami, I already have a family: your sister Tori. Remember her? I know you ain’t that far gone in your mind. And please, damn, stop saying ‘our baby’ like I got something to do with whatever else madness you talking about or got floating in that twisted mind of yours.”
Tami had about enough. She was sick and tired of him constantly taking up for her younger sibling like everyone else did throughout the years. As she stood tall with the paddle still clutched in her hand, she grew increasingly dizzy. She was still trying to catch her breath from the fight, and now his verbal attack. Trembling, she spoke.
“Vance, why are you trying to deny our child like this? I didn’t do this by myself. You wanted this too.”
“Tami, you are nuts.” His reply was swift.
“Naw, I’m not. Vance, we made this miracle together in the den, you and me. Almost every night I tried to get it right when we were doing what we’d do. Well, now it’s right. You gonna be a daddy.”
“The den? Me a daddy? What in the entire hell is wrong with you? You sick in the head!” His voice angrily bounced off every wall as he held his aching knee.
“Yes, baby, we gonna be bonded together forever and ever. See, now you don’t need that skinny-ass Tori anymore. You can just let that tramp die so we can get married like it was supposed to be in the first place—me and you!” Tami was proud, sticking out her chest as she explained their impending near future. “And of course your son, Vance Jr.”
“Vance Jr.? Me and you married? Get the fuck outta here with all that madness. I’m about to call the ambulance for her and the nuthouse for you. And as for the den, bitch, you bugging.”
“Look, sweetheart, I don’t care if you’ve been over here cheating with this raggedy home wrecker.” She pointed to Shawna’s still motionless body. “I can get over her. I know you a man and needed some type of pussy since you left our little makeshift love nest in the den. I get that much, but I’m pregnant now, and I come first in your life. So, like I said, fuck that thang lying over there. And as for my sister, let them pull the plug!”
Now back on his feet, Vance tried processing all the allegations, assumptions, lies, and possible truths a crazed Tami was spewing. He couldn’t believe the seemingly innocent-minded Tami, who’d taken care of his every need while convalescing, had turned out to be such a monster.
Vance wanted to snatch the paddle out of her hands or another one off the wall and give her the same treatment she’d given Shawna. He was infuriated by most of the things she was saying, especially suggesting he should allow his wife Tori to just die. Confused and infuriated, he thought back on the time spent at his in-laws’ house initially recuperating from the car accident. He thought about all the pain medication he was on and how messed up it had him in the brain. Racking his memory, Vance relived the countless nights he had what he’d believed to be hallucinations about having sex with Tami. He was stunned by what she was claiming to be true. Here she was confessing the many times he thought he was dreaming his sister-in-law was really giving him the best head he’d ever felt. She was really riding his manhood raw, and worst of all, he really could’ve impregnated her.
“Tami, just what in the hell is wrong with you? Why would you even try to take advantage of a nigga and do some old slime-ball bullshit like that in the first place? Why would you want someone who you know don’t want your lunatic ass? You sick for real. After the police deal with your dumb self for attacking this girl, I hope they put you in a straitjacket for a year or two.”
Tami was feeling herself. She was proud and content with her actions. Shawna done learned her lesson. She would know better than to come around Vance anymore, and if she could convince her baby-daddy-to-be to give up on Tori, the world would be perfect. Tami knew that she was the goose that was about to lay the golden egg. Vance might’ve been acting like he was pissed now, but in time he’d get over it and come to embrace her and their child. “Listen, sweetie, it’s all good like I keep telling you. We’re going to be a family. And to make things simpler, you can just divorce my sister if you don’t wanna pull the plug, and we can still give our baby a proper home.”
Vance had spoken his peace, but she seemed not to be getting the point. He knew there might have been a small bit of truth to what she was saying as far as them having sex in the den, but so what? He didn’t owe her anything and had to make that part perfectly clear before things got further out of control. She’d already jumped on an innocent Shawna, so Vance knew she was capable of anything. “Look, Tami, what the fuck you mean proper home? I’ma keep things real with you. See, you got me all the way messed up. I don’t give two red hot shits about you or no damn baby your sick-in-the-head ass claim to be mine. You can kick rocks with all that. If you truly are knocked up, then you best either go find your real baby daddy and let him know, or take a quick trip to the slaughterhouse. Either way it makes me no damn difference. That’s on your silly ass. And as far as Tori is concerned, you need to keep my wife’s name out your mouth before I shut that motherfucker up permanently! Female or not, I’ll beat your ass to sleep!”
“Oh yeah, Vance? It’s like that between me and you?”
“Yeah, it’s just like that. And I keep telling you it ain’t no me and you!”
“Sweetheart, it’s always gonna be a me and you. Vance Jr. gonna always need his daddy. So like I said, fuck Tori! I wish she was dead. For real for real, she can die in her sleep tonight for all I care.” Tami stood her ground while rubbing her belly. “Me and your son are your world now! We need you more than some nurses’ aide hussy you been fucking, or that two-faced, fake-ass Tori.”
Interrupting his rebuttal to his demented sister-in-law, Vance’s cell phone began to ring. Leaning against the doorframe, he reached into his pocket. “Yup, hold tight, you deranged ho. We ain’t done yet! I warned you about speaking my wife’s name!” Realizing it was the hospital on the other end, the always concerned husband immediately took the call.
After a few brief seconds of him being silent, Vance’s hands grew numb. His hands shook as he dropped his cell to the floor. Normally a medium brown complexion, Vance turned white as a ghost. His legs started to wobble and his knees grew increasingly weak.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe this. She’s gone. My baby is gone.” The words fought to escape his dry mouth. “I just saw her. It can’t be. Oh my God!”
“Who’s gone, Vance? Your baby ain’t gone. He’s right here in my stomach, growing bigger and stronger every day.”
Vance was in the zone. The room started to spin. His life seemed to flash before his eyes. He suddenly blacked out. Forgetting his leg was in a cast, the injured, emotionally spent man found the inner strength to run across the room. Without any reservations, he bum-rushed Tami. Grabbing her up by the throat, Vance lost all control. He lifted her up then preceded to body slam the shocked female to the ground, landing her overweight body next to Shawna’s.
As his sister-in-law claiming to be pregnant struggled to fight him off, she quickly lost the battle. Vance had a distant, cold gaze in his eyes. Multitudes of tears streamed down his dis
traught face.
“Oh my God! What the fuck! You did this, Tami! You asked for that bullshit to happen and it did. It’s all your fault, you crazy bitch! You killed my wife. She’s gone! Tori’s gone and you did it! It’s all your fault.”
Tami reached up, trying to pry Vance’s hands off her throat. He was strong as an ox, and with every word he spoke, his grip began to tighten. His intensity in bringing harm to her was only met by his apparent grief.
“Vance, you’re hurting me. Let me go,” she pleaded the best she possibly could, considering. “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe, I’m telling you.”
“Shut your fucking mouth, Tami! Just shut your mouth. You done said and did enough. You just said you wished my baby was dead, and now she is! She’s gone! Tori is gone! ”
Tami’s eyes grew twice their normal size. She could hardly believe what he’d just said. Her little sister was no more. The one person who she’d constantly hated more than her stepfather was no longer alive. There would be no more teasing or judgments from her. No more making her feel like a second-class citizen in her own home. There would be no more daddy’s-girl special treatment in their household. That era was now over.
“Tori is really dead? Is that what you saying?” Tami finally caught her breath to say.
“Yesssssss,” Vance blurted out before breaking all the way down. Slightly loosening his hold on Tami’s neck, he allowed his tears to drip down on her face. His world had just collapsed.
“Are you sure? My sister is dead?”
“Yes, I’m sure. That was one of the doctors telling me to come down there. I could tell in his voice that she’s gone. It’s over.” His tragic sobs continued. “Why did you have to wish her dead, you no good tramp? Why? Why in the hell would you wish that on your own flesh and blood?”
“Because I hated that rotten, backstabbing trick from the beginning, that’s why. Ever since my mother and stepfather brought her home from the hospital I hated her. I’m glad she’s gone, probably straight to hell!” Tami taunted Vance, showing no remorse whatsoever that her little sister was dead, or no sympathy for his apparent grief. “She’s the reason me and you not married now! Can’t you see that? She was blocking our happiness, but now the bony troublemaker is out the way. We can finally be together—you, me, and our baby.”
Vance tried to contain himself, but he couldn’t. His face was totally filled with tears. His T-shirt was beginning to get drenched along the top. He couldn’t see straight or think straight. The love of his life was gone, and he couldn’t do anything to bring her back.
His entire body started to tremble as he listened to the uncalled-for statements Tami was making about his now deceased wife. He wanted her to stop talking, but she wouldn’t. There would never be a damn her and a him, let alone no baby for them to share in raising as a family, so she needed to shut up. If she couldn’t do it on her own, he’d gladly help her. Vance wanted revenge on life for dealing him such a messed-up hand.
After a few seconds more of her words of hate, Tami’s lips continued to move, but he heard no sound. Wanting nothing more than to make her pay the ultimate price for the nasty things she was saying about Tori, Vance tightened his grip again. The more pressure he applied, the more temporary satisfaction he gained from watching Tami squirm to breathe. Her moving lips had now turned a dark shade of purple. Seeing nothing but the devil dancing in her eyes, Vance grew angrier. Before the usually law-abiding citizen realized what he’d done, it was over. His troubles with Tami were done. Releasing all her built-up bodily fluids, her time spent on the earth being mentally tormented by her inner demons was over. Tami, like her little sister Tori, was gone to meet her Maker. Just like that, Vance had taken a life.
“Hey, what in the hell is going on in here?” Courtney, dressed in his police uniform, came bolting through the still open front door. Wasting no time, he rushed over to Shawna, who was nude on the floor. Lifting her head, he immediately noticed blood leaking out the side of her face. Confused as to why the female he’d been dating for the past few weeks was like this, he shook his head. This didn’t make any sense. He asked her to simply give his homeboy a ride since he was running late; now here she lay in this condition.
Raising Shawna’s now semiconscious body in his arms, he then noticed his best friend weeping and Tami mysteriously sprawled out next to him. “And, dawg, what in the hell happened to her? What’s going on in here, dude? Tell me something! Shit!”
“Bro, I can’t believe she’s gone, man,” Vance cried out, dropping his head. “My girl is gone and ain’t coming back. She’s gone. She left me.”
Courtney, assuming he meant his sister-in-law Tami, laid Shawna back down. Being an officer of the law, Courtney was trained to deal with emotions of all sorts and take command of explosive situations when need be. Praying silently, he crawled over to check on Tami, hoping that what his best friend said wasn’t true. Smelling the urine that formed a small puddle where she lay, Courtney knew things weren’t looking good. Checking for any signs of a pulse on her wrist as well as her bruised neck, the trained cop quickly realized Vance was correct. Tami was indeed dead.
“Dude, what in the hell happened in here? Who did this to Tami and attacked Shawna? Are you hurt? Was y’all robbed? A home invasion? What happened?” Courtney defensively jumped to his feet as he bombarded a blank-faced Vance with questions.
“Man, Tori is gone. My life is over. My baby is gone.”
“Tori? Dude, you confused. I’m talking about Tami and Shawna and what jumped off here. Snap out of it, dawg. Now, what happened to Tami?”
“I killed that bitch, that’s what happened!”
“You killed her? Come on, man. Now is not the time for any bullshit games. Tami is dead and Shawna is over there fucked up. Now, what in the hell you talking about you killed your sister-in-law? Tell me the truth!” Courtney paced the floor, waiting for some sort of clarity about what had gone down.
“Man, she wished my Tori was dead and now she is. That dirty tramp was some sort of a witch; like she knows black magic or something. That snake killed my wife, so I killed her,” Vance babbled, trying to explain his reasoning for becoming a cold-blooded murderer.
“Hold up, Vance. Wait a minute. What you saying? Tori is dead too? Is that what you’re telling me?” Courtney was just as confused as the moment he’d initially walked through the front door.
“Yeah, dude, the hospital just called.” Vance found it extremely hard to swallow as he struggled to speak. “They said my baby is dead. She’s gone. I gotta get to her. She needs me.”
Courtney had a legal as well as moral responsibility to fulfill. He was sworn to uphold the law. Not only had a murder taken place, but some sort of an attack on Shawna for which he still hadn’t found out the reason or the actual perpetrator. Vance was not only his frat brother, but his best friend. He didn’t want to turn him in for the crime he’d confessed to, but he knew not placing the call could possibly cost him his own job.
“Look, dude, I really don’t know what went on here, but you know I gotta call this bullshit in. I mean, Tami’s lying dead right in the middle of your living room floor. I just can’t ignore that fact. Look, guy, just remember for your own sake, don’t say anything else until you get a good lawyer. I’m serious; nothing else.”
Vance’s mindset was that of utter despair. He was talking out the side of his neck, claiming Tami was a reincarnation of the devil himself. Courtney didn’t know what to make of his boy’s gibberish, other than that he’d totally lost his mind. Vance was far from being a coward, and in any other circumstances, he’d face the consequences of whatever came his way, but this was different. This was much different. Tori, the true love of his life, wouldn’t be able to stand by his side. She wouldn’t be there to hold his hand or pat him on the back. His constant rock when need be was no more.
Engulfed in regret and denial, Vance buried his face in his hands, not wanting to face the truth. Seeing no other way if he wanted to see his beloved
wife again, he stood to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he wiped the tears off his face. As his best friend was preoccupied placing a call to 911 as well as his shift supervisor, he snatched Courtney’s gun out of his holster.
“Hey, man, what are you doing? What’s wrong with you? Have you lost your mind or something for real?” Courtney knew at this point that Vance wasn’t playing with a full deck. As he held the phone in his hand, he heard the 911 operator asking for the location and problem.
“I can’t do this. I just can’t! It’s so messed up. Tori is gone, and I just wanna be with her.” With no fear of dying, Vance placed the barrel snuggly beneath his chin. Despite his best friend begging him not to do it, Vance’s hand trembled. Suddenly he cried out that he’d rather die than live life without Tori by his side. Just like that, he pulled the trigger. The splatter of bloodstains covered the wall. With a gaping hole in his head, Vance’s near-lifeless body fell to the floor. As fate would have it, he landed near his alleged baby mother. Taking his last breath, Vance slumped over on top of an already deceased Tami. Ironically, it would be the last time the two prescription pill–popping lovers and their ill-conceived bastard baby would be together.
Urban Books, LLC
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Wyandanch, NY 11798
Daddy’s Little Girl Copyright © 2015 Carl Weber with Paradise Gomez
This Can’t Be Life Copyright © 2015 Ms. Michel Moore
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-6228-6708-0
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.