Hell House (21 page)

Yes, I was upset, only because he pretended to be down with me. I thought that after I told Sylvia and Jada what the men had been up to, we would all stick together and try to boot them out. But that wasn't happening. Sylvia was up to something and she needed to tell me exactly what it was.

With that in mind, after breakfast, I pulled her aside while she was on the computer.

“Hold up a minute, Chase,” she said with a finger in the air. “Let me finish this real quick.”

She was playing solitaire on the computer, and once she was finished, she met up with me in the hallway near the bathroom.

“Uh, what are you doing?” I said with my arms folded in front of me.

She played clueless. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, what's up with you and Roc? Or, should I be asking what's really up with you and Jaylin? You can't seem to make up your mind about who you really want to
screw
over, can you?”

Prince came out of the bathroom, bringing the smell of marijuana with him. I got sick of going into the bathroom smelling it, but I wasn't sure if it was him, Roc or Jada who had been firing
it up. The mind was a terrible thing to waste and they were definitely wasting it.

“My bad,” he said with red eyes and giggling. “Did I interrupt somethin'?”

“No,” I said in a hurry, trying to get rid of him so Sylvia and I could finish our conversation. “We were just talking, that's all.”

“Sounded more like yellin' to me. What y'all beefin' about now?”

“Nothing,” Sylvia said, obviously irritated by him, too. “Nothing we won't be able to resolve.”

“That's good news and the more peace we have in this house, the better. I'd hate to see the two of you bumpin' fists like Roc and Jaylin did, or like me and Jaylin did, ‘cause that shit ain't cool.”

“No, it wasn't. But do you think you can go find Jada or something, Prince? She was looking for you a little while ago. Said she had something important to give you.”

“Straight? I've been lookin' for her,” he slurred. “She good peeps and I'm down with any woman who can cook like she do.”

I kept my mouth shut, realizing that as long as I kept talking, so would he. Sylvia didn't say anything else either until he walked away. She pulled her braids over to one shoulder and caught an attitude with me. “Just so you know, Chase, I'm not trying to screw either of them over. I want no part of your games; my gut tells me that you're the last person I should be trusting in this house.”

My eyes bugged; I was surprised to hear her breaking news. I hated a two-faced bitch who could change her mind with the snap of a finger. She didn't want anything to do with our plan anymore because she felt as if dick was within her reach. I was so mad at this heifer that I let her have it. “So, let me get this straight. You don't trust me, but you trust Jaylin and Roc? Are you a fool or a damn fool? Which one?”

“You decide, but FYI, I don't trust anybody. Upset with me or
not, I'm done playing games around here. It's too much confusion going on. If I'm going to win this challenge, I'm going to win by doing things my way, not yours.”

“How are you doing it my way when you and Jada were the ones who gave suggestions about what we needed to do? Now all of a sudden you're singing a new tune. I wonder why that is, Sylvia? Because Roc is whispering all that sweet talk in your ear now, or because you're sleeping in the bed with Jaylin, fondling him at night? Women like you make me so sick, and no wonder the men viewed you as being the weakest link. They're still playing you. You're so caught up, not realizing what's real and what's not. My suggestion to you: get yourself together, bitch, before you get tossed out of this house on your ass with severely hurt feelings.”

I was completely stunned when Sylvia stepped forward and smacked the shit out of me. My head snapped to the side and my cheek burned like fire. She smacked me so hard, my brain felt rattled. As many confrontations that I'd had with women, never had any of them put their hands on me like Sylvia had just done. I didn't have time to rub my cheek or cool it down; I had Sylvia pinned against the wall with my elbow shoved into her throat. She was taller than I was, but I applied enough pressure to her neck to keep her still.

“You fake tramp,” I said through gritted teeth. “Don't you ever touch me like that again! I swear to God that if you do, I will set your whorish ass on fire while you sleep. If you don't believe me, feel free to try me again. All I tried to do was come to you woman to woman, but I see now what the hell I'm dealing with. A snake bitch who would rather have a piece of dick in her than walk away with respect and money.”

I shoved Sylvia and she grabbed her throat, coughing and trying
to catch her breath. Jada happened to see us and she rushed down the hallway to find out what was going on.

“What happened?” Jada said, looking at Sylvia who still couldn't get it together and catch her breath. She was bent over, trying to soothe her throat. Jada started patting her back real hard, fearing that she was choking. “Do you need some water?”

Sylvia moved her head from side to side, implying no.

“What she needs is a backbone,” I said. “That trick slapped me, and I had to put her in her place. After telling her what the men were up to, Sylvia decided that she didn't want to be down with our plans. That's why she's been sucking up to Jaylin and Roc, saying to hell with us altogether. There is no telling what she has told them about us, so I suggest switching to Plan B, whatever that may be.”

Jada backed away from Sylvia and gave me a mean mug. “No Plan B for me, and I am so done with you fake hoes. I swear a bunch of women ain't nothing but trouble, and you can count me out of the plan, too. I'mma do my own thing, so I'll see y'all at the finish line, if or whenever either of y'all get there. Good luck!”

Jada walked away, and after I rolled my eyes at Sylvia again, so did I. I was so mad because I don't care what it involved, some women just didn't know how to stick together. I couldn't wait until Sylvia got her walking papers out of here, and this was a prime example why I could not trust some women to follow through on anything.

I went into the bedroom and checked my face in the mirror. I had to be sure that that heifer didn't leave any marks on my face from that slap; it was pretty darn hard. I didn't see anything, but the slap made me think about the last woman who had put her hands on me. It was my boss, Liz, who had found out that her husband was in their bed with me, sucking me dry. Actually, I
had been screwing him for days, in their bedroom, while she was supposed to be away on a business trip. So much for that, and when the smell of fire filled my nostrils, I jetted out of their burning house to save myself.

Liz's husband, Steven, rushed out of the house behind me to make sure I was okay. We could hear the fire trucks coming and neither of us could stop coughing. With his house up in flames, he was in a panic and told me to hurry up and vacate his premises so the neighbors wouldn't see me. I didn't even get a goodbye kiss, but while dressed in his robe, I hurried down the street to my car that had been parked in the same spot for several nights. Something didn't feel right to me, and I felt like someone was watching me. I thought hard about who could have done something like this, and since I had set my ex-boyfriend's house on fire, I thought it was him seeking revenge. Then again, I had so many enemies. Plenty of women were after me for having sex with their significant others, so there was no telling who was gutsy enough to pull something like this off.

Either way, I got in the car and jumped out of my skin when someone yanked the back of my ponytail. I couldn't see who it was in the rearview mirror because they had turned it in another direction. All I knew was that my neck was starting to hurt, and whoever had a grip on my hair was one strong motherfucker. I tried to move my head, but that was when I felt a sharp blade poke me in the face.

“One more move and I will slice you like bread,” the woman said. I immediately recognized Liz's voice. “Don't you know that I've known about you fucking my husband for months? Do you think I'm that stupid? I know for a fact that the dick couldn't have been that good, where you had to run to my bed and get it. Bitch, are you crazy?”

She yanked my hair again, and I felt so helpless. Normally, I would be the one in control, but I had to cooperate with Liz or I was positive that she would kill me. She continued to remind me that her husband
was off limits, and when her phone rang, she told me not to say a word or else. Her whole demeanor changed, and she listened to Steven tell her that their house was on fire, even though she was the one who had done it.

“Jesus, nooo. Honey, I can't believe our house caught on fire. The most important thing is that you're safe and I promise you that I will be home soon. I love you so much and we can replace every single thing inside of that house. I'm just glad that it wasn't worse.”

Liz had the nerve to cry as she spoke. I had truly underestimated her, and Steven didn't realize the he had a real psycho bitch on his hands. I was glad that he'd gotten caught up, and it wasn't my house that burned, so I didn't really trip. I just wanted to make it out of this situation alive, but after Liz ended her call with him, she focused her attention back on me.

“You're lucky that I'm going to allow you to live, but my main focus right now is making that sleazy-ass husband of mine pay for sleeping with a tramp like you. If you ever come near us again, though, I will cut you up into a thousand pieces and bury you myself.”

I knew Liz meant business. She shoved my head forward and hurried out of the back seat of my car. It wasn't long before I started the engine and took off, smiling. Why? Because I always admired a woman with balls, and one who knew how to get her husband where it hurt. There was a price to pay for being unfaithful. I hoped Steven would be able to deal with the consequences.

After that incident, I was done with Steven and with his crazy wife, Liz. She hadn't been on the up-and-up with him either, and what I later found out about her was devastating. So devastating that I wound up screwing her husband again, just because I felt like it. She never confronted me again, but if she did, I would be ready, just like I was when it came to dealing with Sylvia. Jada's fake self, too. I had my hands full with them, as I did with the men who I had major plans for.

After almost three weeks in this house, things had gotten real messy. Sylvia and Chase were still at each other's throats and they weren't speaking to each other at all. Roc and I continued on bad terms and Jada and Prince were the only two getting along. Or, at least, that was what I thought until last night. He playfully presented her with a dictionary and all hell broke loose. They started arguing and their argument turned into a food fight that had the whole damn kitchen in a mess. I was on the schedule to clean the kitchen, but they had me fucked up if they thought I was going to tackle the kitchen by myself. I didn't want to tackle it at all, but I had to play by rules.

The whole house needed to be cleaned and there was a lot of slacking going on. Never had I been in a house with piled up dishes, footprints on the floor, water stains on the shower and a toilet I refused to sit my ass on. I was the only one who made my bed every morning and the closet was starting to get messy, too. I expected this kind of lazy behavior from men, but the women knew better. Jada was too busy running her loud mouth all the time, Chase was too busy trying to plan her next move, and, Sylvia, I didn't know what the fuck she was doing.

Our conversation the other day led me to believe that everything was good with us. Then, she started playing these games
with Roc to see if I'd get jealous. He was in on the shit, too, but didn't he know that I didn't give a fuck about Sylvia? He'd really been trying to get it in by cooking for her and rubbing her feet. I guess the fool was going to be polishing her toes next, and poor Chase was pissed off. All I did was laugh underneath my breath because the whole damn thing was silly. Silly as hell, but I for sure was no quitter. I was good at ignoring people and eliminating them from my mind as if they didn't exist. It was how I operated in the beginning, and it didn't take me long to get back to it.

“Jaylin, pass me the salt,” Prince said while we sat at the kitchen table. I looked at the salt, but ignored him. Eventually, Roc passed it to him.

“Are you tense, sweetie?” Jada said, trying to tease me while we sat on the couch, watching TV. “I'll rub your back for you.” I gave her a look that said what my mouth didn't open to say. And that was, keep your filthy, greasy hands to yourself.

“Jaylin, would you like some company when you work out in the morning?” Sylvia said. I didn't answer, but when she came into the workout room, I walked out.