Hell House (13 page)

I glanced over Chase's shoulder, seeing the men heading our way. Sweat definitely does a body good, no doubt. Hanging basketball shorts were a plus and since neither of them had on shirts, my eyes didn't know where to look. “I guess he was everything I needed him to be,” I said to Chase. “But we'll talk later.”

Chase turned around, giving it away that I had said something about the men. I saw her lick her lips and then turn back around. Roc was the first one to take a seat, but Jaylin stood next to me, reaching for the newspaper. The smooth, minimal hair above his shaft would make any woman want to drop to her knees and take him all in. He was putting it out there, and boy, was he sexy. If those shorts slid down one or two more inches, Chase would faint.

Prince threw a towel over his shoulder and looked at Chase. “Damn, ma, you got fucked up. I was rootin' for you, but next time you go toe-to-toe with a big bitch like that, trip her. That's the only way you'll win.” Chase cut her eyes at Prince and he looked at Roc. “Time for me to take a hot shower. In a minute, man, I'll holla.”

Roc tossed his head back and Prince walked away. Roc picked up Chase's orange juice while Jaylin took a seat next to me. I was nervous.

“Why are you drinking up all of my orange juice?” Chase said, as Roc guzzled it down.

“Because I'm thirsty. I really need a cold glass of ice water, but I'm too tired to go get it.”

“In other words, you want me to go get it? And if I do, remember that you must give a little to get a whole lot in return.” She winked and stood up.

Roc smiled and watched as she went inside to get his water. “I plan to give a whole lot!” he shouted out to her. “But patience, ma, patience!”

Chase smiled and appeared to be in a better mood. Roc, however, looked at Jaylin, who was reading the financial section of the newspaper.

“Breakfast smellin' like Goody Goody on Natural Bridge,” Roc said. “I can't wait another minute to eat. You comin' inside to eat or are you gon' wait on Jada to bring it out here to you? I'm goin' inside, just in case she and Chase start cat-fighting again.”

Jaylin shrugged his shoulders. “Let me know if they do, so I can watch. Meanwhile, tell Jada I said hurry it up with my food. I want some V8 juice, too, and grits if she has any.”

Apparently, Jaylin and Roc enjoyed watching the fight, or more like it, they enjoyed seeing Chase near naked. Personally, I thought it was a darn shame, but I kept my mouth shut.

Roc went inside and Jaylin and I sat in silence for a while. I sipped my coffee, then started to bite my nails.

“Why are you nervous?” Jaylin questioned with his eyes still focused on the paper.

“I'm not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Okay, just a little. Only because of what happened last night.”

He put the paper down. “I told you not to worry about it. What happened in that bathroom last night is between you and me. How pretty that ass is and the heat coming from that pussy stays in my mind, no one else.”

My eyes widened from his bluntness. “Okay. But did you have to say it like that?”

“It's not any different from you telling me your pussy was tingling. ‘Make it stop, Jaylin, please make it stop.' Remember?”

I covered my mouth in shame. “Yes, I do, but I regret that you do, too.”

“Kind of hard to forget. You feel me?”

Every single inch of him, I wanted to say, but I took a hard swallow instead. I ran my fingers through my braids and then sat up straight as I felt myself slumped in my seat. When I looked up, Jada was rushing outside with a plate in her hand. It was boiling over with stacks of bacon, sausage and pancakes that were leaning to the side. With glee in her eyes, she put the plate in front of Jaylin. It also had a mountain of cheese eggs and grits to go with it.

“Here you go, Boo-Boo,” she said with a wide smile. She pinched his cheek, but he smacked her hand away from it. “This is for me interruptin' your sleep last night. I'll try my best not to let it happen again.”

Jaylin stared at the plate in awe. “If this is breakfast, let me guess what's for dinner. Fatback ribs and pork-n-beans with ham hocks. Are you serious? Do you really expect for me to eat all of this shit?”

She twirled her fingers through the curls in his hair. “Every last bit of it, baby, but don't yo ass be ungrateful now, okay? It looks like your food only goes to one place anyway, and even if that gets fatter, I doubt that you will hear any complaints.”

“I'm satisfied with the size of that already, so I suggest that you try this again. Bring me a fruit salad and some wheat toast. Spread a little jelly on it and don't forget the V8.”

Jada backed away from him and folded her arms. “See what happens when you try to be nice to these niggas? They take advantage of the shit. Neva satisfied with nothin', and how dare you think you can give me orders and that I'm supposed to run like Mighty Joe Young and cater to you? I haven't had none of
yo dick yet, so I'm not bowin' down to you. Sylvia may do it, but fasho not me.”

Jaylin had heard enough. He stood and picked up the plate from the table. “And see what happens when a non-following-directions trick don't want to listen? Chill out with that nigga bullshit or else.”

He dumped the entire plate in the trashcan and went inside. Jada followed after him, ranting about what he'd done and said to her.

“Chase!” Jaylin yelled, trying to irritate Jada as they went inside. “Come get her, would you?”

I shook my head, but remained outside, in thought about what had transpired last night. Who knew if anything would revolve from it? I didn't know, but after my conversation with Jaylin, I suspected that my feelings for Jonathan, or Jaylin's friendship with him, would come to a head.

The silly tricks in this house were constantly at each other's throats and that was a good thing. Eventually, they'd get tired of the back-and-forth bickering and leave in anger. That was the plan we had, and Roc and Jaylin were with me on this.

What they didn't know was I had been working on them behind the scenes as well. Roc was cool, but last night, I remembered some shit about a beef I had with his Uncle Ronnie. That nigga was now six-feet under, but he used to be cool with my sperm donor. And anybody who was down with that fool couldn't be on my team. Not even his nephew the streets knew as Roc.

As for Jaylin, he was too busy trying to look good. I had already peeped his shit in the closet, figuring that he had some serious paper. Paper that I considered lining my pockets with, even though I'd have some when I won this challenge. I suspected he had some dollars on him, but after searching through his pockets, I came up empty-handed.

I did, however, find a whack note from his woman, encouraging him not to stay away for long, telling him how much she loved him and asking for forgiveness so they could move on in a positive way for the sake of their children. His daughter wrote something, too, but I didn't really read that bullshit. All I saw was her handprint and a smiley face. No wonder he seemed on edge. I had a
lack of respect for men who allowed women to have them uptight and that nigga was real uptight.

So, while all these fools had their minds on sex, panties were hitting the floor and asses in the air, I intended to make my move. I wanted everybody on my good side, even Jada who I intended to apologize to later. In no way would it be a sincere apology, but I had to pretend as if everything was sweet. That was how I got over on people to get ahead. Befriend them and then move in for the kill.

I sat on one of the beanbag chairs in the living room watching
SpongeBob Squarepants
. It was what Jada wanted to watch, and I wasn't about to argue with her, even though I wasn't interested in watching this silly shit. Roc sat on a stool in the kitchen with his Beats by Dre headphones on. A blue bandana was tied around his head, holding his waves intact. “Shake that booty meat,” he kept repeating like the song did and was tapping his hands on the counter. He seemed to be in his own world, while Chase was in the bedroom with Jaylin. I assumed Sylvia was in the workout area because I hadn't seen her come inside yet.

“Breakfast was off the chain, ma,” I said, attempting to make peace with Jada. “Where you learn to cook like that at?”

“My grandmother,” she said and then belched from taking a swallow from a tall glass of Kool-Aid that sat on the table in front of her. “Oh, excuse me. But my grandmother used to throw down and she taught me how to cook, since that crack-head mama of mine wasn't around to do it.”

“Give big ups to yo grandmother for me then, all right? And I feel you on that mama thing 'cause mine had her hang ups, too.”

Jada smiled, and after eating two fistfuls of Cheetos from her hands, she lifted her feet on the table so she could polish her toe-nails. “My grandmother restin' peacefully in her grave, boy, but
I know she hears you. You need to wait until dinner. I'm gon' barbecue some ribs, hot dogs, whoop, whoop, whoop and make some fire potato salad. My sauce be off the chain.”

“Can't wait. I bet it do.”

Jada got back to polishing her toenails, and now that we were on good terms again, I went into the kitchen with Roc. He bobbed his head to the music and pointed to Jada.

“Is that you?” he whispered.

I shook my head, implying no, since he couldn't hear me. Fuck nah, that gutter bitch wasn't me. “Me” was at her grandmother's house, waiting for her Prince to safely return home. I loved me some Poetry Wright and there wasn't a chick in the world that would ever come between us.

Roc removed the headphones and laid them on the table. We looked in another direction when we saw Jaylin swoop around the corner, looking like he had a beef with somebody.

“I need to have a talk with everybody in this house,” he said with creases in his forehead.

“What up?” Roc questioned.

Jaylin didn't respond. He went to get Sylvia from the workout area and asked Chase to come out of the bedroom. She did and we all stood around to hear what his gripe was.

“First of all,” he said. “I hung my things in the closet away from everybody else, in hopes that no one would touch my shit. When I go in there today, I noticed that two of my pants pockets were pulled out, a letter is missing and somebody sprayed some of my cologne. Within the hour, I want that letter in my hands, and I want to know who is responsible for going through my things. If I do not find out who is responsible, well, I can show you better than I can tell you.”

All of the ladies' eyes shifted to me, but Roc spoke up first.

“On a for real tip, you need to tone down that noise and those threats. I don't take them lightly and ain't no need to get all swoll over a missin' letter and some cologne. You don't know for sure if somebody went through your pockets. With cameras all around, I can't see nobody bein' that stupid where they would ramble through yo shit.”

The creases in Jaylin's forehead deepened. The look on his face implied that he didn't approve of Roc's response. That was good news for me.

“You can take that tip and shove it up your ass. I don't give a fuck how you feel about my threats. The one I made will be certified and delivered. Cameras or not,
you
or some other nosey muthafucka ventured where you shouldn't have. Fess up or else.”

Everybody looked at Roc, waiting for him to respond. I knew he was capable of knocking pretty boy the hell out; I was waiting on him to do it. Roc stepped up to Jaylin, leaving no breathing room in between them.

“Talk is cheap, so I'm not gon' spend a lot of time up in here runnin' my mouth. If you believe that I went through yo shit, let's step the fuck outside so we can settle this once and for all.”

Roc stormed away, removing his wife-beater and going outside. My money was on him. Jaylin wasted no time following him, but he stopped when Sylvia grabbed his arm.

“No, Jaylin,” she said. “I…I was the one who looked through your things, not Roc or anyone else in here.”

Why did she lie like that? She knew damn well she wasn't the one because I was. Jaylin stopped at the sliding doors. His eyes were without a blink. “You? Where is my fucking letter at?”

“I tore it up and threw it in the trashcan. I apologize, and please don't be upset—”

His face was twisted with much anger as he went into the kitchen
and searched through the trash. “Where the hell is it?” he shouted. “Get over here and find it!”

Sylvia looked nervous as hell. Everybody stood still, trying to see what would ultimately happen. Roc came back inside and even he was still fuming.

“I'm waitin', muthafucka.” He held out his hands. “What's takin' you so long, punk?”

“Sylvia's nosey-ass self went through his stuff,” Jada said to Roc. “Calm down and breathe a little, baby; you're sweatin' too much. I hate to see you lookin' like a madman and that look ain't gon' do you no good, if you get yo ass beat. I'm just sayin'.”