Hood Tales, Volume 1

by C. N. Phillips

  “Did what, dance?”

  “No, this. Felt this feeling in the pit of my stomach. I don’t even know you.”

  “Maybe in another life our souls touched.” He stroked her cheek with his finger. “Or maybe it’s just the alcohol.”

  “Maybe.”

  They were pressed so closely together that there wasn’t even room for air to get through. There was no way for her to evade his charm; he was truly a prince of it. Ava was beyond mesmerized, and she couldn’t hear the music being played anymore. Their bodies had stopped moving, but their eyes still danced. Without even thinking about it, Ava stood on her tiptoes and leaned into him until their lips met like old friends. His matched the softness of hers, and they melted into each other. She didn’t care about who might have been watching them; she was too focused on Glizzy’s tongue in her mouth. She didn’t know how long they had been kissing, but the sound of multiple gunshots broke them abruptly apart.

  “Get the prince!” she heard someone say, and before she knew it, Glizzy was ripped from her grasp, leaving her alone in a sea of panicked people. She felt her body being jerked in every direction as people rushed to get past her.

  “Cinderella!”

  She heard Glizzy call for her over the commotion. She tried to locate him by the direction of his voice, and she found him close to the entrance of the club. He was reaching for her while fighting against two big, burly men trying to get him out of the door. She started toward him, but more gunfire rang out, and instinct told her to drop to the floor.

  “Ahh!” she called out when a girl who had to weigh at least 180 pounds fell on her leg. Ava tried to push the girl off, but she seemed to be too scared to move. The way the girl was lying and the fact that the club was still dark caused others to trip over her. Ava tried her best to free herself, but she just wasn’t strong enough.

  “Get the fuck off of me!” she screamed as fear set in. She didn’t want to die.

  Just as she was about to kick the girl in the head with her free foot, she felt two strong sets of hands grab both of her arms.

  “We got you, baby girl,” Vince said as he and Blane pulled her free.

  In the process, Ava’s right boot came off, but she didn’t even care to grab it. She just wanted to be as far away from the warzone as possible. She ran out of the club awkwardly behind them, ignoring the pain in her ankle.

  “Where’s Vy?” she asked as they burst through the doors.

  “Right there.” Blane pointed to Vy’s car, which was parked right outside the entrance.

  He opened the door for her and made sure that she was safely inside before slamming the door shut and patting the top of the car, giving Vy the okay to pull off. She did so with no hesitation. The club had started to swarm with red and blue flashing lights. When they drove through the parking lot, Ava couldn’t help but try to make out Glizzy in the crowd. Maybe he had waited for her. When she didn’t see him, she shook her head at her silliness. Of course he hadn’t waited. Why would he care if she was safe?

  “Fuck!” Vy yelled, making Ava jump in her seat. When she saw that she had startled her friend, she put her head back and looked at the roof of the car. “My bad, girl. I just get so irritated when motherfuckas can’t just go out and have a good time. I see enough dead bodies as it is. The last thing I want is to see one when I’m off the fucking clock.”

  Ava tried to comprehend Vy’s words, but there was no underlying meaning that she could find. Her heart froze over and, in that moment, it came to light that she didn’t even really know Vy, or the others for that matter. They just seemed like cool people to her, and she needed to get away. But right then she began thinking and trying to put a few puzzle pieces together. Vy had just said she saw dead bodies on a regular basis. She drove a nice car and lived in a house that most adults couldn’t afford. What did she have to do to get that kind of money?

  “Oh, my God. You’re a murderer.” Ava’s hand clamped over her mouth as the words slipped out. She didn’t mean to say them out loud, but it was too late. The cat was out of the bag.

  “A murderer?” Vy said and looked at Ava like she was simple. “I ain’t never caught a body in my life, but don’t mistake that with the thought that I wouldn’t do what I had to do if the situation called for it.”

  “How do you get all of your money? I mean, how can you afford this car and the house you live in? Where do you work and what do you do?”

  The light turned green, but Vy didn’t go. Instead, she stared at Ava as if she was trying to make a big decision. The cars behind them went around her because she stayed planted and, before they knew it, the light was red again. When she finally opened her mouth to say out loud whatever it was that she was contemplating, her phone began ringing loudly in the cup holder.

  “Yeah?” she answered and paused so whoever was on the other end could speak. “Right now? I’m still in my club clothes.” She paused again. “Yeah, she’s still with me.” Pause. “Okay, bring two sets of everything and I’m on my way. Send the address to my burner.”

  When she hung up, she clenched her eyes shut and gripped the steering wheel.

  “What’s wrong?” Ava asked, noticing the change in her demeanor.

  “You need a job, right?” Vy asked, and Ava nodded her head slowly. “Well, you’re about to see exactly what I do and maybe get paid in the process.”

  Vy hit a wild U-turn the moment the light turned green again, and she sped off in the other direction.

  Chapter 5

  Ava didn’t know what she was getting herself into when she nodded her head, but she would soon find out. Instead of taking her back to the house, Vy pulled up to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere. There, Ava was able to make out the two cars that Blane, Vince, Nique, and Londa had been in. There also was an all-white van that Ava had never seen before. Vy hurried to park and jumped out of the vehicle as soon as the key was out of the ignition. Ava, not wanting to be left alone in the dark parking lot, hopped out right behind her. The concrete was cold under her one bare foot. She almost forgot that she’d left her shoe behind at the club.

  “Vy, what are we doing here?” Ava asked when she caught up.

  Vy ignored her and continued into the building with Ava fresh on her heels. The others were already there, and Ava was bewildered at what they were doing. Although the building was seemingly abandoned, the lights worked, and the air was cool like the AC was on. All the walls of the rooms that had once been inside were torn down, leaving a completely open space. She could hear the echo of the old pipes in the building dripping water on the ground, and a strong smell of musk invaded her nostrils.

  While she was busy taking in her surroundings, the others were bustling around one of the two long tables there. They all seemed to be moving in a hurry, stuffing things from the table into the bags on their backs. Ava also took notice that none of them were in their club clothes anymore. Instead, they wore less flattering sleek white jumpsuits and gray shoes like the ones employees wore in fast-food restaurants. The main thing that caught her eyes was that one of the two tables was completely covered with firearms. Ava had never seen so many guns up close in real life. They ranged from handguns to automatics, and her heart began to beat like a drill team at a parade.

  “Vy,” Ava started, beginning to pose her question again, but Vy was too busy stripping her clothes from her body. “Vy, what we doing here? Why are there guns?”

  When Vy didn’t answer, Blane threw a jumpsuit Ava’s way. Ava caught it and held it up in the air, not knowing what she was going to do with it.

  “We don’t have time for you to just stand there staring at it. Put it on,” Blane instructed. “Your shoes are over there.”

  Ava was still stunned and watched Vy switch into her own jumpsuit. She then grabbed two backpacks by Blane and began loading them with the heavy-duty cleaning supplies that were on the table that everyone was standing around. Nique and Londa finished loading their backpacks first and went over to the gun
table. Their hands wrapped around their weapons of choice, and it was obvious to Ava that it wasn’t their first rodeo. The boys followed and, soon after, Vy did too. When she finally looked up at Ava, she saw that she was still standing frozen in place.

  “You said you wanted to know how I get all my money, right? If you want to make a quick five stacks, I suggest you put that jumpsuit on. Otherwise, you’re going to be left waiting here until we come back.”

  Ava had so many questions about what was going on around her, but by the way everyone was rushing, she knew she wouldn’t get the answers she was looking for. Nobody was waiting around to see what her next move was; they were focused on their own. Her mind was beating her head up trying to figure out what in the world they did to need that much firepower.

  She was scared, and she suddenly regretted coming with Vy in the first place. Her life was in shambles. The last thing she needed to do was go to jail behind people she barely even knew. But, still, $5,000 sounded really good to her. She needed that kind of money in her life, especially since she was now jobless. Her arms and hands moved before they were even commanded to.

  Vy was the only one paying attention as Ava undressed and put the jumpsuit on. When she was done, Vy handed her a pair of the gray shoes, socks, and a backpack.

  “Go grab a gun,” she said. When she saw Ava hesitate, she went and placed her hands on her shoulders. “Trust us, we got you. We don’t let just anyone in this circle. Ain’t nobody got no complaints with you being here, so that means you’re one of us. Let’s get this money. Blane!”

  “What’s good?”

  “Grab me that Glock 20 for Ava.”

  “You sure? That’s a big body, Vy. She don’t even look like she’s shot a BB gun a day in her life.”

  “Just get me the gun, Blane.”

  He shot her a look but did as he was told. When he handed Ava the gun, he showed her how to wrap her hand around the trigger.

  “I doubt you’ll have to use this tonight, but if you do, I suggest that you shoot with two hands. If you aren’t used to the power, this motherfucka will knock you back. You feelin’ me?”

  Ava nodded her head, although she wasn’t. It was all like something out of a movie, something she never thought could be experienced in real life. She was in Omaha, Nebraska for crying out loud. Most people thought the state consisted of cornfields, but there she was staring at a 10 mm in her hand.

  “All right, we’re ready! Let’s go before we lose out on this money. The last thing we need is King Dex on our necks about not holding up our end of the contract.”

  Londa’s voice echoed in the building, and everyone headed out of the building toward the white van. Outside, Ava walked slowly behind them, mentally telling herself that she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do.

  Vince took notice of this, and while everyone was hopping inside of the vehicle, he touched Ava’s arm softly. “Listen, not everything in the world is glitter or gold. Shit in real life isn’t like the Huxtables. In order for some of us to live the good life, we have to get our hands dirty. Vy fucks with you tough, for some reason, and she usually doesn’t like anybody. She is trying to look out for your pockets, and trust me, all this isn’t as bad as it looks,” he told her. “Since I’ve been working for King Dex, I have never had to pull a trigger. It’s an easy job, and I know you need the Bens. Just do what we tell you to do and get paid. We got your back.”

  There was something about his words that soothed her. That was the second time in a day that somebody told her that they had her back. She thought back to the club incident and how they had all come back for her. She’d heard a long time ago that history wasn’t the foundation of a friendship; it was all about the vibe. And, as crazy as it sounded, she felt a better vibe around them than she did when she was around her own mother. He held his hand out to help her step up into the van, and she made to grab it but paused.

  “Before I get in this car, Vy said that you all aren’t murderers. Yet we all have guns. What is it that you all do?”

  Vince smiled and shrugged his shoulders slightly.

  “We’re cleaners.”

  * * *

  Nique drove the van while the others sat in complete silence. The route she took was one that was all too familiar to Ava, being that it was the way she took every day to get home. She knew when they drove by Mrs. Hancock’s house that they must be heading somewhere near her mother’s house. She took in all the beautiful landscaping in her mother’s neighbors’ front yards because they were even more beautiful at night. As the van prepared to pass the home she had left, Ava couldn’t help but wonder how Lay Lay was doing. Despite the way they ended, Ava loved her mother with every fiber of her being. Regardless of how things had left off, Lay Lay was still her mom at the end of the day. She wanted to stop at home for a second, so imagine her surprise when Nique pulled into the driveway of the house. Ava looked at everyone in the car with a confused look on her face, not knowing what was going on.

  “Why are we here?”

  “This is just the address we were told to come to,” Vince said from beside her. They were both in the front row of the van, and he was preparing to get out. “Look, y’all, they said we only have two hours to get this place cleaned. Blane, did you remember your mask? I don’t have time for you to be throwing up again, my nigga. You know dead bodies stink.”

  Dead bodies? Ava’s eyes widened, and she looked around at all of them in the car.

  “Vince,” she breathed as her heartbeat pounded in her ears, “you said that you are cleaners. Exactly what . . . what do you clean?”

  Although the question was directed to Vince, Vy was the one who answered. She turned around and looked Ava square in the eyes, not realizing the impact her next words would have on Ava for the rest of her life.

  “Murder scenes.”

  Ava’s hand flew to the handle of the door and flung it open. Vince tried to grab her arm before she jumped out of the car, but she snatched away. She ran up the concrete stairs and was at the door in seconds. Instantly, she noticed that the door was slightly cracked, and an unpleasant odor hit her nose before she even pushed the door all the way open.

  When she stepped in and flicked the light on, she was at a complete loss for words. The house looked exactly like it did when she left, except the kitchen. What she saw there caused her to let out a bloodcurdling scream. There, bound to a chair with no eyes in his sockets, was Dumphy. His entire body was covered in blood, and so was the tile floor around him. His entire body had deep gashes, and he was missing all of his fingers and toes. Whoever had killed him took their time so that he would feel all of the pain that he possibly could.

  Ava was frozen in her tracks and inhaling the funk from his already decaying body until she noticed the bloody handprints on the wall. They were smeared, almost as if someone was being forcefully removed and tried to hold on to the wall.

  “Mom!” Ava screamed, running around the house on a mad search. “Mommy!”

  She didn’t know that she was crying until her chest began heaving. She was so fearful that she would find her mother in the same shape that Dumphy was in. However, when she didn’t find her at all, her mind still wasn’t eased. Londa and Vy came up behind her in the hallway of the home and tried to get her to calm down, but she swung wild fists, giving them no choice but to back up.

  “Stay the fuck away from me!” she screamed and then dropped to her knees, banging her hands on the floor as she heaved. “No, no, no, no, no!”

  While Londa and Vy tried to calm her down so that they could all start their job to get paid, Nique had gone into the living room of the house. She thought that Ava was just having a breakdown from seeing the dead body, but when she saw the family portraits on the walls of the house, she knew differently.

  “Damn,” she said to herself, waving Blane and Vince over to where she was standing by the couch. “Look.”

  The boys’ eyes followed her pointed finger to the pictures above the fir
eplace. There they saw many photos of Ava with a woman who looked very much like her. The pictures ranged from when Ava was a young girl until now. Suddenly they realized why she was having a breakdown, and they called Vy over to them.

  “Yo, Vy,” Nique said, glancing over Vy’s shoulder to where Ava was kneeling. Her head was buried in Londa’s shoulder, and the two were rocking side to side. “This is her people’s house.”

  Vy too stared at the pictures, and she felt chills come over her body. She felt so guilty, although she knew that none of what had taken place was her fault. Still, nobody should have to see their mother’s home bloodied up like that.

  “Is there another body?”

  “Just him,” Vince answered, shaking his head. “But those bloody hand marks on the wall look like they belong to a woman. By the way they’re skidded all the way down the stairs, they took her with them. That’s a lot of blood, though. If it was her mom’s, ain’t no way she’s still alive.”

  Realizing they’d already lost a valuable fifteen minutes, Vy nodded her head and put the mask that was around her neck over her face. “Londa, take her to the van and sit with her until we’re done in here. You will still get your share for the night. Let’s just get this place cleaned up and get out of here.”

  She watched Londa help a limp Ava out of the home, and she couldn’t help but wonder what in the world would make her mother a target of King Dex’s. Whatever it was, it was bad.

  Chapter 6

  Knock! Knock!

  Glizzy lay in his California king on his back with his right arm over his eyes. He was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn’t even hear the knock on the door. A few days had passed since his night with the young woman he knew as Cinderella, but he could not get her out of his head. He was sure that if he tried hard enough, he could forget her the way he did any of the women who basically threw themselves at his feet, but he didn’t want to try. He still remembered the sweet smell of her skin and the fact that, although her lipstick had faded from drinking out of the club’s plastic cups, her lips were still luscious. She was soft-spoken, but he heard every word she said. He didn’t know if she was different from the others he’d come across; for all he knew she could have been the exact same. Yet, the possibility that she could be the one to blow his mind was weighing heavy on his shoulders.