I Can Touch the Bottom (9 page)

Rank's headache was intensifying. Telling Leela they would meet up and talk in a few days once things settled down, she agreed, and they ended their conversation.

Ava went from her bedroom to the bathroom getting ready to go to work. She'd been up all evening studying and thinking about Stackz. Every time she walked down the hallway, she imagined him snatching her up in his arms. She thought she could feel the strength of his body weight against hers, pressing her on the wall as she tried to break away. Taking a deep breath, Ava inhaled the intoxicating scent of Stackz's cologne that was still very much lingering near her bathroom door. Normally, she'd spray air fresheners or burn scented candles; but not last night and not this morning. Strange as it seemed, it was as if the man she knew was a murderer of at least one man, and God only knows how many countless others, had her mind spinning. They'd exchanged numbers, and as bad as she wanted to call, she knew it would be in her best interest to just kick back and play the role. If it was meant to be with Stackz, then it would be; one way or another.

Taking a break in between daydreaming about a man she didn't know, Ava thought about the plays she would make later when at work. That was, if the risk factor was low. Knowing she had to keep an eye on that old nosey bitch, Ms. Heath, who was always in her business, Ava stated devising clever and innovative plans to get her away from her desk and into another part of the building so she could do her dirt. Ava had figured out the first week on the job working at the doctor's office, that Ms. Heath was the one person in the building having keys to every single door, locked shelf, file cabinet, and medical supply dispensary in the entire place.

Finally heading out the door, she jumped in her car and backed out of the driveway. After getting a call from her mother saying that she needed some extra money for groceries to feed the kids, Ava grew infuriated. She was tired of receiving these desperate-sounding 911 calls from her mom about needing money for this or that where Leela's kids were concerned. It was bad enough that her older sister had multiple baby daddies that never ever step up to buy a diaper, a bike, a birthday gift, or even offer a ride to the doctor's office; that was between Leela and her children. She'd have to face them later on down the line in life and explain her poor choices of choosing a man that was a deadbeat father. But Leela was, of course, receiving food benefits for all three of her kids, plus herself. And selfishly, instead of doing the right thing, which would be hand the card over to her mother who kept the kids most of the time anyway, Leela would sell a small portion of it. After doing that, she'd spend the rest on feeding herself luxury food items and various snacks that her many men would eat when falling through to check her out.

As Ava drove, she grew angrier thinking about all the chaos and turmoil Leela had delivered to her front doorsteps since she allowed her to move in downstairs. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. If her sister hadn't been evicted from the place she and the kids were staying at in the dead of winter, Ava would have most certainly let her go to the shelter like she'd done so many other times since purchasing her home. But no, her mother had connived Ava so she had some sort of mercy for her sister and sympathy for the kids. She'd given in, having been promised by Leela she'd be quiet as a church mouse and be gone in ninety days. Well, it had been an entire year last week on Tuesday, and Leela was still camped out in the lower level of the dwelling, loud as could be, filthy as ever, and cocky as ever, showing no signs that she was even considering leaving. She'd basically dumped the kids over at her mother's house after the first month of living at Ava's. She claimed she was out looking for employment, when, in true reality, the only thing she was looking for daily on the regular was some dick.

Unlike her sibling, Ava wasn't about that life and never claimed to be. She just wanted to go to school, go to work, and come home to a tranquil environment. But just like the prior evening, Ava let her guard down and hung out with Leela and her band of idiots. And what happened to her peaceful existence? It was abruptly ruined. She'd had a gun pointed at her, police knocking at her front door, a strange man snatch her up naked in her own house, and a Class-A beef with a dead man's big-boned sister. Shaking her head, she tried to get her suddenly messy life out of her mind as she called her mother back to tell her she'd get with her after work.

* * *

Ava's hustle would not be stopped. She'd gotten five scripts so far today and flipped that well worth over a thousand bucks, all going straight to her pocket. Stuffing her ill-gotten gain into her purse, she smiled, thinking about buying some new living-room furniture later on in the week. As she stood in the bathroom mirror mapping shit out, she couldn't seem to get the last twenty-four hours out of her mind or the new mystery man that came along with the crazy night.

Not wanting to step on any toes or have any more unwanted beef with females in the street, Ava decided to do her homework. Still not sure if she should have any dealings with Stackz if and when he called, she knew what to do to answer that question. She called her girl that knew everybody's business you could imagine. She stayed keeping her ear pressed to the ground. Word was, if you want to know anything about anybody, ask Bridget.

Ava placed the call, and she and Bridget talked about the normal shit; who was fucking whose man, who was broke, who had a new car, and what color weave the neighborhood ho had in her head this week. Ava knew more than likely her own sister Leela was the topic of Bridget's gossip fest on more than several occasions, but who was Ava to judge? She knew the way Leela ran around town passing out pussy and running with jerks, she was gonna be the star of Hot Topics at least twice a week, if not more.

Having had her ear talked off more than twenty minutes or so, Ava couldn't take it any longer. She had to know what was up with Stackz. Cutting Bridget off in midsentence about Devin's sister and Leela fighting, Ava bluntly asked her the million-dollar question. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot, do you know a fine-ass dude name Stackz? I think he be getting that bread, or at least he look like he do.”

Her girl was turned up instantly, responding with what Ava wanted to hear: the 411. “Girllllll, yessssss! What bitch out here on the hunt don't know or ain't heard of Stackz? Shidddd, he like heaven out here in these streets . . .
long
paper.” Bridget was too geeked as she broke his hood résumé down to Ava. “And, girl, I hear his fuck game got hoes going crazy. I mean, like
crazy crazy,
you feel me? Oh my God, why you asking me about that king? You got the dick, girl? Please tell me you got the dick! You lucky ho! Is it as big as bitches be saying it is? Tell me.” Bridget was going a mile a minute, throwing question after question in Ava's direction, hoping to get some dirt and gossip to take back to the next person she spoke to.

Putting Bridget out of her misery, Ava simply answered no, deflating her wagging tongue. “He came by the clinic today, claiming that someone sent him to talk to me saying I had the hookup on some pills.” She lied about their meeting. After all, it wasn't like she could tell big-mouthed Bridget the truth. “I just told him I didn't know what the hell he was talking about and sent that boy on his way. He was fine and all, but I don't know him and damn straight wasn't gonna do business with no stranger. Shit, for all I know, he could've been the damn police!”

“Ava, that's ole boy I was telling you about awhile ago. I tried to get you to remember, fool!”

“Girl, with work, school, and hustling hard, I don't pay these men much attention. You know me.” Ava tried to play it off, not wanting to drop her hand.

Bridget was still excited hearing Stackz's name and was not ready to let the conversation go that easy. “Girl, he's Gee's brother; a few years older than him. I used to talk to the younger brother T. L. a few years ago, but he didn't turn out to be shit.”

Ava had heard enough gossip from Bridget as far as Stackz was concerned. However, she allowed her messy informant to go on and on about who the rumored “big dick kingpin” used to kick it with when he came home from jail and what he did to get locked up in the first place. Ava was certain if it wasn't time for her to get back to work, Bridget would have told her Stackz's Social Security number and what color boxers he had on today.

* * *

Leela had been feeling under the weather for the past few days, but this morning, she'd become violently sick. She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, barely making it as vomit sprayed the floor and toilet seat. After throwing up much of her stomach's contents, she was weak, not having the strength to stand to her feet. Distraught and in tears, she crawled back to her bed with the taste of vomit lingering in her mouth. Climbing up in the bed, the mother of three pulled the covers over her head. She'd been down this road before, knowing deep inside, she was pregnant . . . again.

After resting awhile, she got up and went to purchase a pregnancy test from Walgreens. While she was in line to pay for it, along with a bottle of juice, Devin's sister that she'd fought came inside the store but, thankfully, headed directly to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Leela wasn't scared to come face-to-face with her once more, but she knew the last thing she needed to be doing was bucking in her weak condition. She wanted to confront her and reiterate that she had nothing to do with her brother's death. Yet, after reminiscing about the last time she tried to do that, she changed her mind. Putting her bag into her purse, Leela cowardly slipped out of the store not wanting to be seen.

When she made it home, Leela went straight to the bathroom which still reeked. She opened the box and removed the white indicator stick. No stranger to these tests, she set it on the sink, then pulled her leggings down. Leela looked on the floor because she'd stepped in something wet. Getting queasy again, she realized being trifling, she hadn't cleaned up the vomit from earlier. Yanking a dirty towel off the side of the tub, Leela dropped it on the floor, stepped on it, then used her foot to mop the chucky foul-smelling mess up. After kicking the vomit-drenched towel off to the side, Leela sat down on the toilet and peed on the stick.

Leela was mentally fucked up; she sat on the toilet with both hands over her face. She didn't want any more kids and knew she didn't have time for the ones she had. She had her life to live, and she was good with seeing her kids over at her mother's house occasionally.

She snatched the test off the sink and stared at it.
Damn!
Sure enough, the test read positive for her being pregnant. She cursed God out for what she believed he had done to her. In her mind, she never did anything wrong to deserve all she'd been through lately. It wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair. She couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true, but this was the same test she'd used over the years, and it had never been wrong; ever.
I'm fucking pregnant!
The symptoms she was experiencing were dead giveaways.

Leela's first thought was to get an abortion like she had so many other times in the past. But she was 99.9 percent sure this baby was Devin's, which meant it was the only thing she had left of him. In that very moment, Leela planned to fuck over Stackz and anyone else riding with him. That included Gee.

Thankful and looking forward to getting some rest, Stackz had finally made it back home. Looking in his garage, he happily took notice that Pissy's ridiculously out-of-character loan he was forced to borrow was gone and back on the grounds of the chop shop where it should be next in line behind his beloved Jeep to get melted down into nothingness but a block of untraceable scrap.

Stackz was glad he had a team around him that knew how to follow orders and did what needed to be done in a timely fashion. In his line of work, time was of the essence. It had to be if he hoped to stay two steps ahead of his thirsty competition. Putting his key into his front door, he stepped through the threshold ready to take off where he'd left off when last home; go directly to bed. Stackz wanted to take a hot-ass shower and relax. So he did just that. Naked in all his glory, he laid his seven-to-twelve-years penitentiary-cut frame across his pillow top mattress king-size bed. He closed his eyes and replayed the last twenty-four hours in his mind.

Never pressed over any female he'd come in contact with, he couldn't seem to shake the vision of Ava naked and in his arms. He thought how good he felt holding her, not only in a forceful manner, but how good it would feel if Ava didn't resist.

Sure, he could fuck any ho that was always on his jock, but that was the problem; they were hoes. Stackz was good at reading women because he has run through so many. He could tell Ava wasn't like them, and for that, she was worth checking out. Stackz wasn't wrong much when it came to figuring what a woman's true motives were and was never a sucker for pussy. As he lay there thinking about Ava, seconds away from drifting off to sleep, Stackz continued to keep in mind, less than twenty-four hours ago, she and her sister were running with a nigga that he forced to take a permanent nap in the dirt.

Leela was on her way home from taking her benefit card over to her mother's house and visiting with the kids. Her mom had been calling her and calling her like she was crazy, claiming they had no food in the house to eat. She knew her mother was running game half the time, just trying to get Leela over there so she could have a break. Deep down inside, Leela knew she was dead wrong and she needed to spend more time with her own children, but her life was too hectic for the young mother of three to slow down and care. Like Ava, she wanted to go out and have a good time and have a good man spoil her; go to school; have a job; be well respected; own her own home. But that wasn't in the cards for her. Leela hated the nothing-ass life she'd created for herself and hated her sister even more for not following in her footsteps. Misery loved company, and Leela was standing all alone.

* * *

“Yes, excuse me, but are you Miss Westbrook?” a flower deliveryman asked as Leela approached her front porch.

“Yes, I am, how can I help you?” she asked with excitement, knowing what he had in his hands was obviously for her.

After asking her to sign for the long white red-ribbon-tied box, Leela stood at the top of the stairs elated. She finally had someone to care about her. She didn't know which one of the many men she banged on the regular had blessed her, but it didn't matter. These flowers were just what she needed to yank her up out of the funk she'd been in since Devin's death, or murder, as she often referred to it, as when speaking to her sister. Easing the small envelope off the ribbon, Leela opened it and read the card out loud.

Leela was heated. Jealously kicked in. Her blood boiled. She thought back to how their mother used to make her wait on her little sister hand and foot. That right there was the original root of all the hate and resentful feelings toward them both. Leela had a love-hate relationship with most of the people in her life, and there were no exceptions.

Fuck you, nigga.
Leela wished Stackz could hear her thoughts after reading his note to Ava. “And for you, bitch, ain't gonna be no damn joy in your forecast today, little Ms. Sunshine. That's a wrap!” Lifting the lid on the trash can, Leela maliciously tossed the whole box of flowers inside before closing it down. Storming up the stairs and onto the porch, she slammed the door shut, not once looking back.

* * *

Ava was at the doctor's office and couldn't get her mind right. She found herself fucking up on her hustle, knowing that was costing her money. She not only sold scripts, she also put together doctor excuses for a fee. Preoccupied, she'd messed up two different women's paperwork and had to spend double the time correcting them. Knowing she had to be on top of her game when it came to dealing with the official doctor's excuses as well as the scripts for this pill or that, Ava fought with herself to get it together. The more she tried, she just couldn't get Stackz out of her head. She reflected back to him holding her tight close to his body and got chills.

She closed her eyes and was back in the hallway naked and afraid, yet aroused by Stackz polished thug demeanor. She wanted to believe she was tripping when he had her pressed against him, but thought she felt his dick getting hard. And if she did, it felt thick and long. Like he had said, God blessed her. If what she felt between his legs was real-life true, God had blessed him as well. Knowing she had to get back in the zone, she got Stackz out of her mind, then stole another few scripts.

* * *

Ava came home from a long day at school and work. Pulling up in front of the house, she got instantly annoyed. It was bad enough her sister didn't pay any bills around there and had no problem playing her music loudly into the wee hours of the morning. Most days, Ava didn't trip on that. But the thing that always got her heated was Leela would have nothing-ass people hanging out at the house that seemed not to give a damn about where they'd toss their garbage. They would leave trash in the yard and all on the porch like they thought they were at a park in the hood. “I swear I'm gonna throw this chick out one day. All I ask this girl to do is take care of the house, and she can't even do that.”

Ava set her work bag on steps and began picking up trash in the yard. With a handful of paper, along with a beer can, she opened the trash can lid. Seconds before tossing the debris inside, Ava was taken aback about what she was seeing. She wondered who would dump a box of fresh flowers in her garbage can, of all cans. Seeing the envelope thrown on the side of the box, lying on top of a half-eaten apple, Ava wanted to be nosey and reached inside to pull it out.

The ecstatic emotion Ava was feeling, that Stackz was thinking about her and had made the first move, was short-lived. She was livid, knowing there could only be one person that petty who would've taken flowers meant for her and thrown them away: Leela's bitter ass.

Her days are numbered around here! Ole rotten, can't-get-right bitch!
Ready to do battle, Ava headed to Leela's door and let herself in. No sooner had she stepped inside the threshold, Ava cut off into her always-known-to-be-spiteful sister. “You come-drunk slimeball, why the fuck you throw my flowers in the trash that Stackz sent me?”

Leela put on a real show, acting like she didn't know what Ava was talking about. She claimed she'd never seen any flowers and blamed it on one of the neighbor's kids.

“Really? One of the neighbor's kids? You must think I'm dumb or something. You just jealous like you always been. Shit don't make no kind of sense. I'm so tired of your bullshit!”

Leela was in defense mode but still tried to cover her tracks. “You know what, Ava? Fuck you! Ain't nobody jealous of you or them dumb-ass ugly roses! And you tired of me? I been tired of you too!”

“Well, guess what? Since we both so tired, how about you get all your shit together and GTFO! Beat it! I'm done!”

“What, bitch?” Leela shouted back. “Really? That's how you gon' do me?”

Ava laughed as she headed out the door. “Yeah, Leela, I'm gonna do you just like that. And for the record, if you didn't know anything about any flowers, how did you know they were roses?”

As Leela stood there busted, looking stupid, Ava rolled her eyes and reinforced that she was done, and sister or not, Leela had to start to find another place to live. Leela set the back of Ava's head on fire with her eyes.

* * *

Ava sat in her bedroom thinking about her and Leela having words. She felt like she'd done all she could to help her. Thank God neither of them was dead from the constant drama Leela kept them in. Ava loved her sister but couldn't understand why she was always so envious of her. She recalled when they were teenagers, Leela was putting out, but Ava wasn't. And, of course, Leela gave Ava's boyfriend the pussy. That moment changed everything between them for life. From that day on, she never trusted her sister around any man that she was dealing with, knowing Leela had no boundaries.