RedBone 2 (25 page)

 

 

Farah waited across from the mall at a coffee shop for her mark to complete the second part of her plan. She’d been watching him handle his employees, and it seemed like she’d been there forever, when in actuality it had only been thirty minutes.

When Jean Hershey finally walked out of the building, she checked her makeup in the mirror, smoothed the side of her red tight jeans, and strutted past him. If she still had “it,” he’d be under her spell in seconds, and banking on it. If it didn’t work, she planned to play the “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” routine.

The moment she walked past him, just as she hoped, he was on her.

“Damn, shawty. I haven’t seen anything as fine as you in all my life.”

Farah hated corny niggas, but whatever, this was business not pleasure. “I hear you, but I wonder how much of what you saying is true.”

He scratched his peezy head. “What that mean?”

“A nigga as fine as you can get anybody you want. But I’m sure you know that already.”

He looked over the dirty movie theater uniform he donned. Although he was a manager, he failed miserably when it came to keeping his appearance up, and had been pulled in the office ten times in the last six months for the same problem. “Everything I say is true. And you right, I can pick any bitch I want, and luckily for yourself, I’ve chosen you.” He licked his lips. “My only reservation is that I hope you don’t break my heart. Pretty girls like you always smash the picture.”

Oh, how she wished she could just dead his ass. He was laying it on too thick. “I’m not a heartbreaker. For real, I was hoping to grab a few drinks.” She stepped closer and fixed his wrinkled tie. “I don’t know about you, but I could certainly use the company.”

He put his arms around her waist and pulled her toward him like they were lovers. When he saw his male coworkers peeping the scene, he gripped both of her meaty ass cheeks and squeezed. “You ain’t said nothing but a word.”

“Where we going?”

“To my place.”

It took everything in her power to hide her smile.

An hour later she was in his filthy apartment. Jean was on his third drink and could barely sit up straight on his own sofa. His smile was overexposed, and he had zero control of his neck, because it rolled all over his shoulders. She laced his last drink, and she couldn’t wait for him to pass out. She used the same drug on him that she’d used with her victims in the past, and it didn’t take nearly as long. He seemed to have a stomach of steel.

“You ready to take a nap, pretty lady?” he asked, kissing her neck. “I’m trying to see how soft them sugar walls really are.”

Her skin crawled, and she pushed him off in outrage. “I was kind of hoping we could drink some more before going to bed.” She looked around his dirty living room. “You got roommates? Because I wouldn’t want someone walking in on us.”

“I live alone, sweetheart.” He placed his head in her lap. “So don’t even worry about all that.”

Please go the fuck to sleep.
“That’s good to know. But you look so tired.”

He lifted his head, moved it toward her face, and sucked her bottom lip. “Baby, I can stay up for the next five hours,” he boasted. “I drink my friends under the table and am always the last one standing.”

Her lip smelled like pickles when he finished. “Prove it.” She poured another cup of vodka, and when he closed his eyes for a second, she dropped two more pills into his drink. “Here you go.” She handed it to him. “Toss it back.”

“I don’t know if I can do another one right now.”

“Wait, you mean to tell me you lied that quick?” she joked. “You just said you can drink your friends under the table. I want to see you do it,” she said, rubbing his dick. “Besides, I always fuck better high.”

With that promise, he wasted no time throwing it back. It took less than two minutes for him to pass out. She waited five minutes before beginning the mission to find the tape he claimed was missing to the police. She figured there had to be a reason he was hiding the tape, and she was determined to find the reason.

She went through room after room, and it was starting to look like she would never find what she was looking for. Luckily she never gave up.

“Where would you keep the tape?” she asked, huffing and puffing in the middle of the living room. “Think creep. Think creep!”

She checked every area of the house except the refrigerator. An hour later, she found what she was looking for in the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator. It was stuffed under some spoiled collard greens.

“I got you,” she said to herself.

Quickly she rushed to the DVD/VCR in the living room. Before placing it inside, she looked back at him. He was still asleep. She placed it in the player and fast-forwarded in search of that certain thing. Thirty minutes later, she saw her sister Chloe and Amico walking out of the movie theater together. Chloe looked so vibrant and so alive, and she wept quietly. With everything going on in her life, she still didn’t have a chance to grieve.

Farah also saw the reason he wanted to hide the tape because there he was, in a back office, having sex with another man. Farah had seen worse, so she wasn’t interested in what he was doing; although if he made any noise about the tape being missing, she had plans to blackmail him by telling people he was into men.

She was about to leave until she heard Jean say, “What you doing with that tape, bitch?”

 

 

Farah stood in Jean’s living room with Mia and Shadow. They were staring down at Jean’s lifeless body. The plan almost folded, but luckily they came through when she needed them. They were hiding outside of Jean’s apartment door, ready to enter when Farah gave the word.

The plan Mia outlined entailed them coming into the house to check for the tape after he was passed out from the medicine, but Farah got so caught up in what she was seeing on the tape that she forgot all about them. Had it not been for quick thinking on their part, she would’ve been dead.

“Why would you look at the tape here?” Shadow asked, looking at the blood pouring from Jean’s forehead, courtesy of the bullet he’d just fired into it. “We could’ve checked that shit out at home.”

“I’m sorry.” She breathed heavily. “I saw Chloe and got lost. If y’all didn’t kick that door in, I would’ve . . .” Just thinking about her fate had her shaken. “I don’t know how to thank you.” She looked down at him again. “I gave this nigga three pills and he still woke up.”

“Thank us later. For now we gotta get out of here,” Mia said, “in case someone called the police.”

They were on their way out the door when Shadow said, “Oh, before I forget: the nigga Slade and Major were talking in the hallway on the way to Markee’s crib. I was behind them after getting off the elevator, and they didn’t hear me. I’m not sure, but I think they planning to meet Eleanor in that building tomorrow.”

Farah’s heart rate sped up. “Are you sure?”

“I wasn’t exactly invited into the conversation, so I ear hustled as best I could, but yes, I’m pretty sure,” Shadow clarified.

“Shit!” Farah yelled. She felt faint. “This is it. I’m over.”

“Don’t worry. We still good.” Mia placed her hand on her shoulder. “It’s just time to activate part three of my plan a little earlier, that’s all.”

 

 

Since Willie regained control over his business, Randy was stuck with the money he provided to care for himself. He knew his father wasn’t into good deeds, so he figured there was a reason for the arrangement, although Willie never let him in on it. To make matters worse, with the exception of The Vet, most of his men abandoned him because he was unable to pay them.

Frustrated, he was preparing to take a shower, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. He turned the water off to be sure he heard it correctly. When the knock grew louder, he grabbed his gun on the sink and moved cautiously toward the door. When he looked out of the peephole and saw Farah, he thought he was seeing things.

He snatched the door open. “What the fuck you doing at my house?” He looked behind her on the street. “And how did you know where I lived?” He walked into the house and she followed, closing the door behind her.

“If you don’t want me here, just kill me, Randy. I don’t even care anymore. As a matter of fact, you’ll be doing me a favor, because my life is real fucked up right now.” She walked closer to him.

He turned around to look at her. “You not answering the fucking question, bitch. I know you fucking with Slade, so what are you doing at my house?”

“Randy, if you even thought I was still dealing with Slade, you would’ve shot me through the door.” She looked around the living room. “Nice house . . . How did you come up on it?”

“I inherited it,” he said in a flat tone as he entered the kitchen.

She sighed. “I was thinking about you the other day. The one thing I can say about us is we are unstable together. But worse apart.”

He looked behind her. “How do I know you don’t have a rack of niggas outside my house right now?”

“Because nobody knows where you live, Randy.”

“How did you find me?”

“After my sister died, you called me on the phone and someone yelled in the background, ‘Welcome to Serenity Meadows,’” she said, mocking Mrs. Tillman’s voice. “So I had a few friends check on you, but you weren’t there.” She ran her hand over the marble countertop. “So we came back, hassled her a little more, and she gave up the address.”

He shook his head. “So that was you?” He laughed to himself. “All this time and I thought it was Slade. What did you have planned for me?” He grabbed the vodka from the freezer and one glass.

“Nothing. I just wanted to say hello.” She walked up to him and he stepped back.

“You think you’re smart, don’t you?” He walked into the living room and she was on his heels.

“No . . . just cute.” She laughed. “What do you think about me?”

He sat on his couch. “You got a lot of shit with you, Farah. Luckily for you, tonight I’m in the mood for entertainment.” He poured himself a glass of vodka.

Farah sat next to him and placed her purse on the floor. “I miss you, Randy. A lot.”

He shook his head. “If you coming over here for some money, you can forget about it. I’m not breaking you off anymore.” He looked her over. “Besides, dead bitches can’t spend cash no how.” He swallowed his whole drink.

“You really are considering killing me, aren’t you?” She sat up straight.

“What do you want?” He leaned back.

“I came here to apologize for everything I did to you. I was thinking we could put our heads together and maybe start all over.”

He laughed in her face. “You must really think I’m some gump-ass nigga, don’t you? I may have hit hard times, but it doesn’t mean I’m down and out.”

“Before you get all out of hand, I’m not talking about being back in a relationship with you. I know what we had is done, and I’m okay with that, but I gotta be honest. Since I stopped fucking with you, I haven’t been in the company of a real nigga, and I miss that.” She saw his chest swell up a bit, and she loved it. Stroking his ego always did wonders.

“You must think I’m the type of nigga you can say anything to and I’ll believe you.”

“Why you say that, Randy?” She reached for the vodka bottle to pour herself a glass, and he slapped her hand.

“Because I know you fucking the dude Slade, that’s why.”

She rubbed her hand and made herself a drink anyway. “So wait. I tell you that I haven’t been in the company of a real nigga, and you talking about Slade?” She shook her head. “You think he’s a realer nigga than you?”

He pointed at her. “You pushing it, bitch. My limits with you are already extended.”

“I’m not pushing shit, Randy.” She sipped her vodka and set the glass down. “When I said I haven’t been in the company of a real nigga, that included Slade. That’s why I’m here. I can’t stay away from you no more. And don’t even fake like you don’t miss me, because I know you do.”

“Well, maybe you should try. The way I feel these days, I’m liable to do anything to anybody.”

“Randy, I’m serious. Just let me enjoy you for tonight, and if you still want to kill me afterward, you’re welcome to it.”

“I’m welcome to it whether you want me to or not, Farah.” He was trying to play tough, but she had him right where she wanted him, in the palm of her hand.

“You just don’t get it, do you? I don’t care what you do to me. You’re like my favorite drug. I just have to have you all the time.” She smiled and massaged his leg. “And I know I’m yours too.”

“You know if I find out that you’re here for anything other than dick, I’m gonna hurt you. Really bad.”

“You say that all the time.”

He separated from her. “In the past I said it and had everything to lose. Now I have nothing. That makes me deadly.”

“Randy, what can I do to gain your trust again?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me why you’re really here.”

“I got one better.” She smiled, pulling him toward her. “How about I tell you where you can find the Baker Boys all at once?”

His eyes widened. “You playing, right?”

“Why would I play? I’m trying to prove to you where my mind is, and maybe if I do this, you’d believe me and we can start all over.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Because I got my own beef with Slade, and I want him squashed. And he’s meeting with someone I can’t have found. Is that good enough for you?”

 

 

Randy crawled into the building with five niggas by his side. Because he wasn’t sure if the information was a setup, he had The Vet and another goon waiting outside of the building. The men all agreed to help him with the promise of being paid once he took down the Baker Boys and reclaimed his drug operation. Randy was determined not to let the opportunity pass to rid the world of the Baker Boys. Slade intruded in his life when it came to Farah, and he intruded in his life when it came to his father.

At first he thought Farah was trying to set him up; after all, she was as sneaky a bitch as they came. She never did anything without having an angle for herself. So when she explained to him that they actually blamed her for Knox’s disappearance, and because Willie confirmed it when he showed up at his house, he believed her.

“We have to split up to cover more ground,” Randy told his cronies in a low whisper as they stood in the stairwell. “Search everywhere for them.” They quietly followed his orders.

After they split up, Randy opened the door leading to the fourth floor. He freed his weapon from his jeans and held it in his hands. He didn’t want shit for Christmas but Slade’s head on a pedestal.

He passed the first door in the hallway and then the third. He knew they were somewhere in the building, because Slade’s truck was out front. From what Farah told him, they were waiting for some bitch named Eleanor to show up. She didn’t know the exact address, which was why he was led on a small goose chase, but Randy didn’t care just as long as, at the end of it all, he took him out.

When he passed the fifth door, he heard a couple yelling loudly.

“Where the fuck were you, Dave? I know you weren’t over your mother’s house like you said you were. I called. So just tell the truth for once in your miserable life! I mean, it don’t make no fucking sense.”

“Bitch, stop playing with me. I been told you I had to visit my mother.”

“Well, why didn’t she answer the fucking phone? Plus I remember you telling me she had Bingo on Sundays.”

“I don’t feel like this shit! If you don’t believe me, then that’s on you.”

“Well, I don’t believe you then!” she yelled. “You can keep the fake shit for somebody else.”

Randy was so involved in a conversation that didn’t have anything to do with him that he didn’t hear the two niggas creeping behind him with .45s aimed at the back of his head. By the time he turned around, he was facing Slade, Killa, Major, Judge, Grant, and his father. They entered the hallway out of an apartment on that wing. To make matters worse, Farah, Mia, and Shadow entered out of the apartment where the conversation took place. It was Mia’s and Shadow’s voices that held Randy’s attention and caused him to drop his guard.

“So what about my men?” Randy asked his father. He knew what was about to happen before it was said. He was set up. “The Vet and Musty?”

Willie laughed at him. “I guess you did have two loyal men after all. Unlike the others, they wouldn’t flip, so we had to kill them.”

Randy felt queasy as he stared at Farah. “I can’t believe you did this to me.”

“Yes, you do, Randy,” she said coldly. “If you ask me, you wanted to die.”

“I told you not to trust her,” Willie added. He looked at Farah. “No offense, beautiful.”

She remained silent, although Shadow wanted to snatch his old face off.

Randy could do nothing but laugh and shake his head. Once again he’d fallen victim to Farah and her scheming-ass ways. He faced Slade and said, “I don’t suppose there’s anything I can say to convince you to let me live.”

“Nigga, you killed my cousin and threw him outside the building like he was trash. Ain’t shit I want to hear from you but the sound of blood gushing out your body.”

Randy looked down at the floor and then at the Bakers. All of them had guns aimed at him. “Who set this up?” He looked at Farah. “Because I know she’s not smart enough to come up with this.”

“The who’s and why’s are not important anymore.” Willie Gregory stepped into the hallway and approached his only son. It was obvious, if it wasn’t before, that he hated his only child.

“Dad, you doing me like this? I mean, I know we haven’t had the best relationship, but I would have never thought you’d stoop so low.”

Willie stepped closer. He wanted him to see that there was nothing he could say to get him to change his mind. He loathed him like a lifetime enemy. When he was close enough, he whispered so that only he could hear his voice. “I told you to stay away. That’s all you had to do. Instead you let that bitch bring you out of your hole. What a fool.”

Randy tried to stop the tears from pouring down. “You can’t do this. I know you can’t.” He beat his chest. “I’m your own blood.”

“Then I guess you don’t know me very well, do you?” With that, Willie raised his hand and bullets flew into Randy’s chest cavity and out of the flesh on his back.

“Wait!” Slade yelled, but it was too late. Willie promised to give him to Slade so that he could avenge his cousin, but he had other plans.

“Sorry, Slade,” Willie said, looking back at him. “I got caught up in the moment.”

With Randy’s dead body at his feet, Willie walked up to him and spit in his face. “Weak-ass nigga. I can’t believe you was actually my son.” He laughed, looking at Slade. “I guess it don’t matter no more now, does it?” He looked back at him. “What’s done is done, and it suits me just fine.”

“It may be done, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time. We were scheduled to meet someone here today, but Farah called and told us Randy got information about it and decided to meet us here.” He looked at her. “It’s a good thing that she did.”

“I don’t know who you were meeting, but you scored big time on this one. Be grateful. One of your biggest enemies is gone. And since I killed him myself, it should prove where my loyalty lies. Right?”

Slade observed the expression on his face. He always knew Willie couldn’t be trusted, but killing his own son made him pure evil. At some point he was going to have to sever ties with him, or suffer the same fate as Randy.

 

 

After killing Randy, Willie walked into his house. Soft music played in the air, and he smiled slightly. At first he didn’t want her in his home, but after learning how bad the Bakers wanted her, he decided he could humor her for a little while. Besides, the longer she went missing, the longer the Baker Boys would be in town.

He threw his jacket over the edge of the sofa and approached Eleanor at the stove in the kitchen. From behind her, being in his house reminded him of old times, when he was cheating on his wife with her. It was before the dope and before he went to prison. “What you cooking? Smells good.”

She turned around and smiled. “Your favorite. Sweet spaghetti and meatballs.” She turned off the eyes of the stove. “Thanks for letting me stay here.” She wiped her hand on the towel. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking me in. It’s the only place I feel safe.”

“I know.” He smiled slyly.

“I don’t know how I’m going to do it yet, Willie, but I’ll find a way to repay you.”

“I know you will.” He reached into his pocket and handed her a bag of dope. “In the meantime, go take care of yourself. And when you’re finished, drop to your knees and give me a little dessert.”

She accepted the bag and grinned. “You got it, daddy.”