RedBone

by Styles, T.

  They watched over her for a half an hour before Dr. Martin stepped inside the room. Chloe called him, even though she knew Farah would never approve. He placed his hand on Shadow’s shoulder, and looked solemnly at the rest of the family. Over the years, he’d grown into a respectable doctor and surgeon with an impressive patient list. Through all of his accomplishments and accolades, he could never help the Cottons with their ailment. He was so obsessed with making things right, that although they never knew it, he practically worked for free.

  “Has she opened her eyes yet?” Dr. Martin asked.

  “No,” Shadow said. “I wish she would though.”

  “So what can we do, Dr. Martin?” Chloe asked. “You should’ve seen her in the room. She was in so much pain that she couldn’t move. I haven’t seen her like that in so long. She was doing so much better.”

  “We can continue to medicate but her liver is taking a beating right now. So anything we do will be after we monitor her for a while. So it’s kind of hard to say what else will need to be done, until we get more tests. That’s why it’s so important that she sees me, regularly.”

  “Dr. Martin ... when Farah was self-medicating, she was fine,” Chloe said. “But now ...”

  “Listen to me,” he said, looking at all of them. “Because I already know what you are going to say. That is an urban legend! It’s not true.” He scanned over their faces for confirmation. “It is virtually impossible for her to get better that way.”

  Chloe looked at her and then back at him. “I don’t understand. . . I mean ... with the illness we have, our bodies aren’t making heme properly, correct?”

  Reluctantly he said, “That’s right, Chloe.”

  “Okay, you also prescribe us hematin which is blood related, right?”

  He swallowed and said, “Yes, Chloe, that is correct also.”

  “So doesn’t it make sense that drinking blood could help her?”

  “No, Chloe, it doesn’t make sense!” He looked at all of them. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

  “But I’ve been reading up on it. And it says back in the day, when the medicines were unavailable, some people with this illness drank blood and felt better. So how do we know it won’t work now?”

  “Because it’s been tested.” He was adamant. “That’s why! We can’t have people roaming the earth, drinking each other’s blood. Your sister was raised in a violent home. Very violent.” He looked at all of them. “I spoke to your grandmother extensively and she told me a lot about you and your family.” Someone was going to have to talk to Grandma about her lip game. “Farah doesn’t feel better because she drinks blood, she feels better because she craves violence. There’s a difference.” He could tell Chloe was not buying anything he said. “Chloe, please believe me. I want the best for you. For all of you. But if I find out you’re doing anything illegal, I’ll be forced to tell the police.”

  “Dr. Martin, I respect you.” Chloe looked at her brother and sister. “We all do. But you need to know that I plan on doing anything I can to make my sister get better. And I do mean anything. So if you have a problem with anything I said, I suggest you step out of my way or get run over.”

  Chapter 52

  This is so stupid. You not gonna hurt her if you touch her.

  —Slade

  After learning from Audio that Farah was sick, and confined to bed, Slade decided to pay her a visit. He didn’t know if he could do anything to help, but at least he wanted to be in her presence. When he got to her apartment Chloe opened the door. “Hey, Slade.” Chloe smiled, although it was obvious she was very upset. “Farah isn’t up yet. She’s still feels pretty bad. The doctor gave her some sleeping pills.” She opened the door wider. “Did you still want to come in?”

  “Yeah. If you don’t mind.” He stepped inside, and waved at his brother who was sitting on the sofa. “Where is she? In bed?”

  She closed and locked the door. “Yes, you can go back there if you want to.” Before he walked away she said, “She really likes you, Slade. Sometimes my sister finds it hard to open up, but I really do hope you hang in there with her. Please.”

  Slade nodded, and moved down the hallway and toward her room. When he opened the door, the room was mostly dark with the exception of a white rose-shaped nightlight plugged in the socket. Once inside, he removed his Nike boots and walked to her bed. For a second he looked down at her while she was asleep. She was beautiful and vulnerable all at once. He didn’t know what made her so sick, but he sincerely wished she’d get better so they could start their lives together. What was he saying? Being around her made him think about the future.

  “Farah,” he said softly. “You ’sleep?”

  When she didn’t answer, he removed his jacket and threw it over the broken chair. Then he slowly eased on top of her comforter, so he wouldn’t wake her. She was wheezing heavily, and although her eyes were closed, she seemed to be distressed. Slade wondered who she was and where she came from because their meetings, although brief, left a lasting impression.

  When she moved slightly, her hair fell in her face and he wanted to wipe it away. But what if he hurt her in the process? He would never be able to live with himself. Still, after all those years, she was the first person who ever made him sincerely consider breaking his vow. After five minutes of struggling with whether to touch her, he slowly moved the hair away from her face without touching her skin. Now he wondered what her skin would feel like under his fingertips and thought about touching her. Anxiety overcame him and he could feel himself holding back.

  Fuck! This is so stupid. You not gonna hurt her if you touch her. Just do it!

  Remembering all those he hurt in the past, he decided to keep his hands to himself. And then she started whimpering, like she was having a nightmare. Her head moved quickly from right to left, and she was crying with her eyes closed. “No ... Mamma, no. Please don’t do it.” Her head shook rapidly. “I love you,” she cried. “Don’t make me! Please!”

  Slade couldn’t take it anymore. So he carefully placed his hand on her arm, and the whimpering ceased before she exhaled. It was as if he had pulled the nightmare out of her mind with one touch of his hand. Loving the texture of her smooth skin, he rubbed her slowly and she fell into a deeper sleep. For the rest of the night he remained in her bed, watching over her. But she would never know, because in the morning he’d be gone.

  Chapter 53

  “Hmm, that felt so good.”

  —Chloe

  Chloe’s hips swerved slowly from left to right in a wavelike motion. Her arms were raised in the air sensuously, as sweat glistened over her chocolate skin. The red top she wore exposed her flat belly, and the black skirt squeezed her curves. Chloe had the attention of every man in the club, but she only needed one. Finally after watching her seduce every man present for most of the song, a dude name Dio decided to try his hand. He was a well-known drug dealer from New York, who was in town on some quick business. He hadn’t planned on staying as long as he did, but when he spotted Chloe, he made an excuse. Stepping up behind her, he put his arms around her waist as if she belonged to him. Out of his eyesight, she grinned because her mission was accomplished.

  “What’s your name, ma?” His voice was heavy with bass and his lips were inches away from her ear. He wore cologne, which normally exacerbated her illness, but the scent was light and rich. “I been trying to get at you all night.”

  “That depends,” she cooed, grinding harder into his stiff dick as he stood in position.

  His warm breath tickled her ear. “On what?”

  “On who you want me to be.”

  He laughed, looked over her shoulder, and down at her breasts. “On who I want you to be? You sure about that? Because a man like me could take that many ways.”

  “I don’t say things I’m not sure about.” She wiggled her ass into the center of his jeans until she felt him grow. “The only question now is do you have a fantasy? That you want fulfilled?”
<
br />   “I don’t do a lot of dreaming,” he said, massaging her warm shoulders, “I got too much money to make. I can sleep when I’m dead.”

  “Come on, baby. Everybody has a fantasy. Or a wish.”

  He grinned. “Put it like this: after watching you dance all night, I could think of a few things I’d like to do to you. But first I have to get you out of here, to see if you fuck as good as you dance.”

  She laughed. “If you come with me, you gonna love my work. Trust me.”

  “Where you live, sexy? Since you not gonna tell me your name.”

  “I live in DC, and my name is Lesa Carmine.”

  “Okay, Lesa. Can I take you where you wanna go?”

  She twinkled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Chloe was dancing in her room as Dio sat on a chair in the middle of the floor. “A Woman’s Work” played on the small radio, and she wasn’t wearing anything but a pink lace underwear set with the crotch out of the middle. She had the stink of dancing all night on her skin, but Dio loved her musty odor. Chloe watched as he opened his jeans, released his dick, and rubbed himself to a thickness. She looked at the time on the clock, and wondered when the plan would go into action. The anticipation was killing her.

  “Lesa, get over here,” Dio demanded. “I’m tired of looking at you from afar. I wanna feel you.” She moved toward him. “Get rid of the panties ... you won’t need them.”

  Chloe grinned and eased out of her bottoms. Her pussy was neatly shaven, and she licked her lips before putting her finger in her mouth and sucking softly. The way he looked at her made her horny, and she wanted tonight to be about more than what was intended. “You like something you see over here?” She moved slowly to him. “Because once I get started, there’s no stopping me. You do understand that, don’t you?”

  She stood directly in front of him and he grabbed her hand, while stroking his dick with the other hand. “I ain’t worried about you stopping ... just make sure you can keep up.” He placed his finger between her pussy lips and took it out. It was covered in her cream, and he rubbed it under his nose so he could smell it all night. Her scent in his opinion was perfect. “You a bad bitch ... I wonder if you do this kind of shit all the time.”

  “Don’t worry about all of that,” she told him. “Whatever I did in the past won’t have anything to do with me and you tonight.” Chloe grinned and pulled two pills out of her bra. She popped one into her mouth before crawling on top of his lap and gyrating on him.

  “Why you gotta be so fucking sexy?” he asked, gripping her hips to keep her in place. “You trying to make a nigga kidnap you and take you to New York.”

  “You don’t have to steal.” She kissed him and eased the other pill into his mouth. “I’ll go wherever you want me to. Just as long as you treat me right.”

  Dio got down with ecstasy from time to time, so he swallowed the pill without any water and said, “You really trying to have a lot of fun tonight.”

  “More fun than a roller coaster.” She smiled. “Welcome to the party, baby.”

  After kissing him passionately again, she ran her tongue along the sides of his neck. She could taste the salt from his skin, and heard his breaths increasing. She had him exactly where she wanted him, and the poor man hadn’t a chance, or a clue of what she had planned for the evening.

  “Hold up, ma.” He felt like his neck was heavier than usual. “What you just give me?”

  “Something to take some of the pain away.” She eased off of him, grabbed her robe, and unlocked her bedroom door. Five seconds later, Shadow and Mia helped Farah into the bedroom.

  “What’s going on?” Dio asked, although his words were hardly audible. “I ... thought we were ... I thought you lived here alone.”

  “Just stay calm, baby. We gonna make this as painless as possible. The more you fight, the harder it will be, so just go with the flow.” She looked down at his stiff dick and her mouth watered. She knew it was wrong to desire him considering the circumstances, because she was feeling Audio, but the freak in her couldn’t resist. “Mia, let me have him first.” She was off the ecstasy and wanted to satisfy her craving. “He look so sexy sitting over there.” Dio’s neck dropped backward and his arms fell by his sides, but his dick had yet to soften.

  “Well, we ain’t got time for all of that.” Farah leaned on Shadow as Mia placed a chair next to Dio so Farah could sit down.

  “What’s going on?” Farah asked. “Who is he?”

  “We got him for you,” Chloe said. “Isn’t he perfect?” Focusing back on Mia she said, “Please let me fuck him before you kill him. It ain’t like he going no place,” Chloe begged. “It’ll only take me a second.”

  Mia ignored her and said, “Where’s the blade, Chloe? We don’t have time for all that other shit. Damn, you too horny for words! You need to be a rabbit.”

  Chloe reached in her pocket, and handed it to her. “I don’t understand what the problem is. I found him! I should be able to do whatever I want to him.”

  “Fuck it! Do what you gotta do,” Mia said once she situated Farah in the seat next to him.

  “Thank you!” Chloe cheered, clapping her hands. Her mood was totally out of place, considering the moment, but she was too crazy to care. A man was about to be murdered to fill Farah’s insatiable desire to kill, drink, and live, and all she could think about was sex.

  “This some wild-ass shit,” Shadow said as he pulled his cap down so he couldn’t see his sister’s body when she dropped her robe. He was cool with Chloe getting her rocks off, knowing that if this was going to be their regular thing, he had all intentions of placing a bid for a bad bitch for the next kill. And he didn’t want to hear a word about it, either.

  Grinning from ear to ear, Chloe climbed on top of Dio and rode his stiff dick. Dio was so delirious and out of his mind that he no longer cared that originally he walked into the room with one person, and now there were three present. Chloe’s slippery pussy sucked up his thickness with one pull. With full control of her hips, she wound her body on top of his stiffness and pushed down into him. His head rolled from left to right, and he was in a world of his own. So when he felt a sharp pain on his wrist, at first he didn’t notice. Mia slowly sliced into his vein, and placed it against Farah’s lips.

  Her pink tongue slickly glided against his brown skin, as his red blood flowed into her mouth. At first she wasn’t sucking, because she was emotionally beat down and weak, but when she realized what was happening, she gripped his wrist and suckled harder. The pain mixed with pleasure was overwhelming to Dio, because he’d never experienced anything like it in all his life. Farah’s warm mouth on his wrist, coupled with Chloe’s hot pussy on his dick, had him both confused and aroused at the same time. If this was how he was about to die, what a hell of a way to go.

  “I’m cumming,” Chloe moaned, jumping up and down. “I’m cumming.” Using the little strength he had left, he released his nut into her pussy. “Hmm, that felt so good. She placed her hands on both sides of his face, snaked her tongue into his mouth, and suckled his bottom lip. It was his last ounce of pleasure before life escaped his body.

  It was the first murder the Cottons committed where a unified excuse loomed in the air, even though it certainly wouldn’t be their last.

  Chapter 54

  “Tell me that after you hear what I have to say.”

  —Lesa

  Lesa sat in the car with Courtney and Lady, wondering who the guy was who entered the apartment with Chloe. After speaking with Randy, and finding out Farah lied a lot, she decided to snoop around before going into the house. She couldn’t believe it when she learned that Farah was possibly responsible for Zone’s death, and that Tank was still after her for getting him into trouble with the police. She also found out through Diamond D that the two men trying to kill her in the hallway the night of the party were friends of Tank. Farah had a hit on her head, and they were on a mission to earn the bounty and Lesa almost got in the way.
<
br />   Digging a little deeper, she also learned that a group of girls led by somebody named Boo was trying to find her, so they could jump her because of what she did to Tank. Randy said he would no longer protect Farah, and that she was officially on her own. Even though Lesa could hear in his voice that he was distraught that Farah lied about where she lived, she could also tell he would in one way or another seek revenge. She knew if she didn’t get away from the apartment, she could be in danger.

  “I wonder why he ain’t come down yet? It’s been four hours, it’s almost daylight and everything.” Courtney yawned. “I mean ... don’t Chloe fuck with some dude in the building?”

  “Yeah ... but I think Coconut’s friend fucks his brother, Slade. The girl’s name is Shannon or something like that. He was at the house the day she put that shit in our drinks,” Lesa said, peering out the window.

  “Oh, yeah! That nigga was fine as shit!” Lady recollected.

  As Lesa thought about everything Farah was into, she decided that now was the time to tell them the truth about her. “I got to tell y’all something about Farah.” She swallowed.

  “But I don’t think y’all gonna believe me.”

  “Girl, after meeting that crazy bitch and her family, Courtney said, “I’d believe anything.”

  “Tell me that after you hear what I have to say.”

  Chapter 55

  “When I was younger, I used to pray for you.”

  —Farah

  Farah was finally on her feet and feeling better. She was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for her sisters and brother, because of the limits they went to, to make her healthy. As the days went by, and she would kill without regard for another person, she was beginning to feel invincible. From this day forward, she was on a mission to do whatever she could to survive, even if it meant drinking blood.