“Well,” Jalissa said after Scotty dunked and nearly broke the rim, “I can’t say that your brother’s not fi-i-i-i-ne…”
“Stop saying that!” She hissed. “I can’t believe you called him my brother right in front of him!”
Jalissa looked at her. “You don’t still like him, do you?”
“Of course not!” She said quickly. She blinked at her cousin. “Check out Anthony Johnson. Now he is fine.” She turned to look at the big boy that used to be her classmate—that had stolen her first kiss.
Anthony was just as tall as Scotty but thick like a football player. Once upon a time he would have been called fat but his weight and muscles were now well distributed on his large frame. Vanessa could appreciate how good-looking Anthony was but people in their neighborhood still capped on him for being too black.
Jalissa shook her head. “He’d be okay if he wasn’t so black. What do you think about Donald Miller?”
Vanessa swung her head at her in disbelief. “Are you crazy? He is a hoodlum!”
Jalissa just shrugged, but she had a slight smile on her face. Vanessa looked at Donald seeing a brown skinned boy that wasn’t very remarkable in the looks department. He was older than her, even though he was in her grade; exactly how old was something that she didn’t know. All she knew is that he looked much older than any of the other boys in her class, despite being shorter. He was well muscled and had a perpetual angry scowl on a face that had been hardened by the streets. Vanessa thought that some people tried to play at being bad, some people were bad because they had no choice, but people like Donald were bad by choice and wanted everyone to know it.
When the skins finally lost, the boys came over and dropped in the grass next to them. Some of the girls present began prancing and acting fast in order to attract the attention of one boy or another. One girl even began flirting with Scotty and Vanessa’s chest tightened.
She looked at poor Anthony who had played very well but no one was paying much attention to him. She got up and sat next to him. “That was a good game. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you play before.”
He smiled shyly at her. “Thanks. What have you been up to Vanessa? I don’t see you that much anymore.”
She shrugged and smiled shyly. “Nothing. Just hanging out at the bottom of the hill until school starts again. Do you like going to Walnut Hills?”
He nodded. “It’s cool.” They grew quiet.
She decided that it was time to let him know something. “Do you…remember that time you kissed me?”
Anthony quickly looked away, becoming very uncomfortable. “Yeah. I’m sorry-“
“I wasn’t mad at you.”
He stared at her. “Your…I made you bleed-“
She smiled. “I had a lose tooth and you just knocked it out.”
His eyes grew wide. “I thought I’d hurt you!”
She chuckled. “No but the look on your face was priceless.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Are you for real? All this time I thought I’d really hurt you.”
Scotty was watching Vanessa and Anthony laughing and talking and his eyes narrowed in annoyance. Why did people always find it necessary to laugh at every single thing said? It ticked him off at how fake people were. Why was Vanessa acting like everything Anthony said was like stand-up comedy?! And did he hear them right? Were they talking about kissing? Feeling a protectiveness surge through him, Scotty jumped up and walked over to them.
“Vanessa, I guess I should walk you back down the hill now.”
She shielded her eyes and looked up at him. “No thank you. I’ll go down a little later.”
He looked at Anthony and frowned and then a moment later sat on the other side of her. “Alright.”
Anthony looked back and forth from the two wondering if his suspicions were correct and that there was something going on between them.
“How do you two know each other?” He asked.
Vanessa looked down at her fingers when Scotty didn’t respond. “Well, I found out that Scotty is my half-brother.”
Donald chuckled and then lightly nudged Vanessa. “Good one, Vanessa.”
Vanessa drew in a brave breath and said the words that had been so difficult for her to accept. “Scotty’s my brother. We have the same father.”
Scotty nudged her in the arm. When she met his eyes she saw that he was looking at her in confusion.
“We don’t have the same father, Vanessa. My father is some…whatever. It’s you and Tino that have the same father. You’re his sister, not mine.
Chapter 16
“What?” Her voice sounded like a puff of air.
Scotty frowned. “Have you been thinking that all this time?”
“I—I thought that’s the reason you were being nice to me-”
Scotty’s mouth parted but he didn’t speak. Suddenly, Jalissa’s loud voice could be heard and everyone’s attention turned to her.
“I said stop it!” She was pushing Donald Miller away from her and the boy was laughing maniacally while he smacked her butt.
Vanessa leaped to her feet in outrage that he would dare touch her cousin in such a disrespectful way. She darted forward and stepped in front of Jalissa, shielding her with her taller body.
“Don’t you dare touch her like that!”
Donald smirked at her, his eyes lighting with something that caused Vanessa’s blood to run cold.
“That’s fine, Vanessa.” Donald said. “I’d rather touch yours anyway.”
Suddenly Scotty was standing in front of her and Jalissa. “Leave them alone.”
The smile fell from Donald’s face as he met Scotty’s eyes. “Fuck you. Tend to your own business.”
“Donald, back off.” Scotty said in a low, dangerous voice.
Anthony was suddenly in front of Donald, talking to him in a low voice. “Let’s get out of here man.”
But Donald was angry that this white kid would disrespect him in front of his peers, in front of the girls. He especially didn’t like the way Vanessa peeked from around his body as if she wanted him to protect her. He knew that Vanessa didn’t like him because she never even spoke to him. She would look away whenever he came around. And that was fine if she wanted to be a stuck-up bitch. But if she didn’t want to like him then he would give her a reason.
Donald shrugged off the light touch that Anthony had on his arm. “Nah, fuck this cracker!” G stood up lazily. He was bigger and older than all of them.
“Listen young blood. Don’t start no shit, won’t be no shit.”
Donald paused and looked at the two older boys. He glanced behind him to see how many of his buddies were around, but it was just him and Anthony and as big as the boy was, he was no fighter. Donald knew that Scotty Tremont knew how to scrap, but he also knew that there was something crazy running through their family—and that crazy was named Tino.
Donald didn’t say another word. He just picked up his shirt from the grass and headed down the hill with Anthony. Anthony didn’t dare look back to say goodbye to Vanessa or Scotty.
“See, gal!” G was fussing at Jalissa. “I told you about that ass of yours!”
Scotty turned and looked at Vanessa. “That was pretty brave of you to stand up for your cousin like that, especially against someone like Donald Miller. He’s a pretty bad cat.”
Vanessa’s face was impassive. “He’d have to beat both of us up.”
Scotty smiled. Yeah.
~***~
Vanessa couldn’t keep the smile off her face for the rest of the evening. She hummed and sang and danced. She even did it in front of Aunt Callista who watched her like she had lost her mind. When her mother picked her up that evening Vanessa was in such a good mood that she asked her the one question that she had never asked before.
“Mama.” Leelah looked up from the laundry she was putting away. Vanessa was standing in her mother’s doorway.
“Yes, baby?”
“Tell me about…my daddy.”
Leelah paused and then nodded. She sat down on the edge of her bed and held out her arm to Vanessa and then she told her about a man that she had fallen in love with, but who didn’t know the meaning of love.
Juan Carlos Tremont was the son of a white businessman and the Mexican housekeeper that worked for his family. His father sent him and his mother away as soon as he was born but came by to see her periodically. He sent money but showed little interest in Juan until he was nearly a teenager. By that time Juan had no interest in him.
At fifteen he left home and took care of himself by hustling on the streets.
“There was something sad about Juan.” Leelah said while looking off into the distance. “He smiled but it never reached his eyes. It seemed that he wanted something that he would never get. He had money, he had women, he had looks but he didn’t have happiness.”
Vanessa waited while her mother found the words to continue her story. She reached for a cigarette from her bedside table and lit it. After taking a few draws she continued her story. “A pimp has a stable. That’s what his women are called. The pimp’s mentality is that he is has to take care of his women. He convinces the woman that she loves him and can’t make it without him. He gives her a place to stay, he gives her the affection that she’s missing and before too long she will do anything to keep that man happy.
“But that wasn’t the case with me. I wasn’t in it for anything but myself. I didn’t need Juan, I just needed his protection and guidance. He schooled me and tried to scam me like he’d done with the rest of his chicks but I would just shrug him off.
“His number one chick was Tracy. She was young but wise and to keep her around he had to keep her happy. She could have gone out on her own and made a lot of money or she could have chosen another pimp. But she was what kept him rolling in dough so he married her. But that didn’t mean that she was his only chick. He had a number two, a number three and he thought I was supposed to step into line and be his number four.
“Well nobody had ever really said no to Juan before. So he really tried to sweet talk me.” Leelah smiled slightly. “What he didn’t know is that it worked. I just didn’t let him know it and I wouldn’t be anyone’s number four. Hell I didn’t want there to be any other number but me.” Vanessa listened intently as her mother shared a part of her life that she could not have imagined. It made her uncomfortable but there was nothing in the world that would have taken her attention away from the story her mother told.
“Tracy already had one child; Little Tino. She got pregnant by one of her John’s and when she wouldn’t end her pregnancy her rank dropped from number one. One day Juan and I were talking and he looked at me and said why couldn’t I have met you first?” Leelah’s eyes glistened. She sniffed and put out the last of her cigarette. “I guess those were the magic words because I fell into Juan like I was falling into a bottomless pool. I explained that I could not be with a man that went back and forth from woman to woman. I would be the one and only or I would be nothing.
“Juan assured me that I would be the one and only and then as soon as we got straight we’d make a clean life for ourselves. Then I got pregnant. When I told him about you, I thought he’d want to hurry up and make a life for us. Instead he gave me more…assignments so that I could make as much money as I could before I began to show. Then he began discussing the freaks that liked pregnant women…” Leelah seemed to remember Vanessa was there and she sighed and plastered on a half smile.
“Your mama got smart and figured out that a man that loves you would never allow some other man into that vessel that carries his child.” She shrugged. “So I left and by that time Tracy was on her third child. She had moved and she let me stay with her until I found my own place.”
Vanessa frowned in confusion. “But…why would she let you live with her when you fell in love with her husband?”
“Because she had already figured out what I had yet to learn. And she had tried to warn me as she was on her way out the door. But…you see I thought I was special. I thought what we had was special. And when I figured it out Tracy just hugged me and said; that’s what it is to fall in love with a pimp.”
Vanessa watched the sad look on her mother’s face and she reached out and took her hand. “You loved him, but it sounds like he didn’t know how to love anyone else.” Leelah nodded in agreement and gave her daughter a brighter smile.
“Anyway, he got into drugs and went downhill from there. He’s been in jail on and off for years for everything from robbery, drug possession, pandering…” Leelah shook her head. “He’s just a serial prisoner now.”
Vanessa decided that Juan Carlos wasn’t worth wasting anymore breath discussing. He was a loser that had tossed away his life and she didn’t care about him. But she did care about the Tremonts.
“Scotty isn’t my brother?”
Leelah gave her a surprised look. “No. Scotty isn’t. Only Tino, her first child.”
“Does…Juan Carlos have any other kids besides me and Tino?”
Leelah nodded. “He does. But how many I don’t know. Counting you there are at least four.”
Having gone from an only child to someone with an endless possibility of siblings was a jolt. It made her feel curious about them. She realized that she would always look at someone that appeared to be part Mexican as if they were a brother or sister of hers. She met her mother’s eyes.
“You were nice to Tracy’s kids. Scotty told me that you used to make him breakfast.”
Leelah smiled. “You’re friends with Scotty? That’s sweet. I hear that Tino’s in and out of trouble just like his father. How’s Scotty?”
Vanessa smiled. “He seems fine. He…makes sure no one messes with me.”
Leelah nodded. “I’m happy. I didn’t keep in touch with Tracy. Once she turned to drugs I couldn’t get through to her anymore. I moved on.” Leelah still wasn’t sure if that had been a good thing or a bad one.
~***~
Scotty couldn’t stop thinking about Vanessa. When he talked to G his mind was on the way the wind had blown strands of her hair across her face. When Tino came home drunk and stinking of puke he thought how happy he was that Vanessa didn’t have to grow up with him. It seemed strange to him that she would suddenly consume his thoughts. He knew that he cared too deeply and was overprotective—but that was only to his own siblings. Vanessa was no kin to him and Tino could care less about her. So why did he care so much?
The next morning when he got up he roamed around the court, not interested in playing stickball with the other young men, or sitting at G’s house. He certainly didn’t want to be in his house where there was no air conditioning and the smell of dirt, old food and unwashed children nearly smothered him.
After a while of aimless walking, Scotty realized exactly what it was that he sought; the calmness of Vanessa’s house. He stopped suddenly, his brow gathering. That wasn’t true. Vanessa was the calm that he wished for.
~***~
Vanessa had found a way to hang out with Scotty! It began when Jalissa was bored one day and wanted to walk to the store for candy. It was another hot day and this time the cousins were both dressed in shorts and matching cropped tops that showed their bellies.
“We need to change.” Vanessa advised.
“Hmph!” Jalissa replied while rolling her eyes. “Why should we? Other girls are out there dressed like us.”
Vanessa recalled the way the older boys had been relentlessly pursuing them. “Then we need to get the gang-“
“By the time we get them all together we could be there and back. We’ll be quick and we won’t talk to anybody. And I promise not to switch my hips.” Jalissa secretly had to admit to herself that she was still unable to control the fall-out from using her feminine whiles, and it would be a while before she would try something like that again in public.
Vanessa gave her cousin a doubtful look. Jalissa sometimes had the best of intentions but that didn’t mean that she would be abl
e to control herself once the ‘spirit’ hit her.
“Maybe…” Vanessa had an idea. “Let’s go.” Jalissa gave her a curious look but followed her out the door. But instead of taking the shortcut straight to the store, Vanessa led her around the corner to the nearby apartment complex. Winton Terrace was separated into several similar complexes and Vanessa was heading to the ‘bad’ section.
“Uh…what are you doing? Kaneeja and Marcella…“ While their enemies had kept a low profile in the past months, if the cousins appeared in their territory out-numbered then the tables could change.
Vanessa walked with purpose to the Tremont’s house. Scotty had always been there to watch her back. Why would that change now? She could ask if he would walk with them, that wouldn’t hurt anything.
Boldly she walked into the apartment building and once checking the mailboxes for the Tremont’s apartment number she boldly knocked on the front door.
The front door opened and Phonso was suddenly there eyeing them silently. Jalissa had been hiding behind Vanessa—after all this was her bad idea. But upon seeing the handsome teen she stepped up front and center.
“Is Scotty here?” Vanessa asked.
After a short pause Phonso opened the door wider and allowed them inside. “Yeah. Come in.”
The apartment was very messy. Plates with food stuck on them set on all of the tables. The living room was large enough for two couches and an armchair but they were so old that the fabric was shining and stuffing was popping from places. A blanket was supposed to be covering the couch but had slipped down between two kids that were sitting and watching television. Vanessa knew that they were twins and the kids gave them a bored glance before returning their attention to the cartoons. A toddler wearing nothing but a diaper looked up from his place on the floor where he was playing with a dirty spoon, a plastic mug and the broken wheel of a toy truck. The cute baby peered up at them curiously. Vanessa smiled at him and wondered if there was maybe a Chinese baby somewhere—they had almost every other nationality represented in their household.
Scandalous Heroes Box Set Page 46
