Church Girl Gone Wild (26 page)

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Authors: Ni’chelle Genovese

BOOK: Church Girl Gone Wild
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Chapter 42
Destiny Three Lost girls
2004
 
S
till dozing, I squeezed my hands tight in between my legs and groaned. Rocking in place, I tried to drift back to the dream I was having. The mattress springs creaked and popped underneath me. The pops made me think of plops and plops made me think of drips. My bladder sent a code yellow flash flood warning up my spine. Ava would whoop me until I forgot my own name if I got up while she had company. She'll do a lot worse if I pee in this bed though.
With a huff, my toes hit the cold floor and I started a half-asleep, knock-kneed marathon walk through the dark house. Hot droplets of pee were already tickling their way down the inside of my leg. I flew into the dark bathroom and whirled around thankful Ava never put the lid down. It was one of the many random things she didn't do, like dusting or eating in front of people.
There wasn't time for me to close the door, fight with the light switch, or worry about the water monster. The water monster dripped down from the ceiling to steal little kids. Ava never told me where he took them, and I sure ain't want to find out.
Launching myself the last few feet into the bathroom, I fumbled with my panties. Eeew. My bladder let go early, wetting up my own fingers. I sighed and went full stream ahead onto what I could only register in my mind as the water monster. All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and probably fell off as my booty planted on something warm and smushy.
“Hey now! What in the . . .” His deep voice boomed through the house.
I shot up like a leaky yellow bottle rocket. That didn't sound or feel like water. Struggling with my panties I teetered toward the door, trailing pee on the way like Frito. Frito was Ava's half-senile teacup Chihuahua. He would forget who we were, bark like crazy, then remember and excite-pee while running all over the place. She had Frito put down.
“Psi?” Ava called out from the hallway.
“Bring me a towel please?” He replied from behind me.
A porcupine burrowed deep inside my chest. All of its little spikes stabbed me when I tried to breathe. I stopped just inside the door with my shoulders hunched praying she'd go get a towel so I could make a run for it. Ava didn't stop to get a towel; she kept coming.
“A towel? I'll get you one in the morning. I need you to come back in here and fin . . .”
The bathroom light clicked on. If I wasn't so sure I was about to die, I'd have made a face. My eyes shot down to the shiny pink points of her high heels. No amount of blinking could make me un-see it. Brown silver dollar pancake–sized circles down to the dark bushy triangle all showing through her pink shimmery nightdress. Not only did I see all her naughty bits, but I saw the smile come crashing down off her face, too. A crease appeared in her usually smooth forehead.
Ava didn't like her boyfriends to see me. I don't even think anyone knew she had a third daughter, especially since she didn't even like me to call her mommy. My other sisters didn't live with us. Ava said they stayed up in some fancy house with Eva's daddy. Since Eva's birthday would be in a few days, I was finally going to meet both my sisters for the first time.
“Destiny? What are you doing out of bed?” Her fingers wrapped around the back of my neck like an eagle scooping a fresh mouse out of a field.
Air hissed in between my teeth. She snatched one of the dusty dark green towels off the holder flinging it in Psi's direction and pulled me by my neck. Those towels weren't even meant for using. They were for decoration and had been hanging there so long the sun had faded spots on them. Either way, it meant she was super pissed. We went down the hall headed in the opposite direction of the extra bedroom. We were going toward the cellar.
“Ava?” Psi caught up with us in the kitchen. “Hold on, woman, calm down. I would have closed the bathroom door if I knew we had company,” he said in his smashed pea's accent.
All his words ran together in one long smashed-together sentence, reminding me of peas on my dinner plate. I frowned because I hated peas.
Ava spun around. I winced at her nails digging into my skin. She wouldn't put me in the cellar with him watching. It might make him wonder what was down there. Standing in the dim kitchen he looked a big, bald lady. His man boobs were bigger than Ava's. The towel barely fit around his big belly.
“It's fine, Sugar Bear.” Ava's voice was sugarcoated venom. “Go back to the bedroom. I need to deal with this. I won't be long.”
Psi ignored her altogether. His eyes were glued to me. The corner of his mouth lifted in a lopsided grin making me uncomfortable. He started studying his nails on his right hand. His voice was so low I could barely hear him over the buzzing and clicking sounds coming from the fridge.
“Don't you owe me a birthday present, woman?” he asked, picking invisible dirt from under his nail beds.
Her fingers against my skin. He looked up at her when she didn't answer. I tried looking so far up out the corner of my eye at her that it made my head hurt. The look on her face made something heavy and hollow plunk down into the pit of my stomach. I studied the cracks in the floor trying to figure out why her chin was shaking and her eyes looked like liquid glass.
“Why am I never a good enough present?” Ava snapped.
Psi looked around the room in a full circle like he was searching for the answer.
“It's bad enough you get Eva after she turns sixteen, but now you look at my youngest like she's up for . . . for that bullshit choosing you all buy into with Deacon.”
I'd seen Ava mad before but never like this.
“I've dealt with you for six long miserable years. The only thing I've ever thought about since the day you claimed me and got me pregnant was the day I'd take you out of this world.”
Psi's head swiveled from Ava back down to me. “But, how? At the hospital the doctor told me she was stillborn.”
“No idiot, she's right here, six about to turn seven and better off without you. It didn't take much to keep that joke with a degree from believing I thought you'd hurt her. He said exactly what I told him to, and I brought her home that night. Y'all weren't gonna take this baby away, and when that doctor got a little too high on himself, trying to force me into sucking and fucking. I threw him in the smokehouse right along with your brother D.J. We about to have a family plot back there.”
Before Psi knew he was in danger, she was across the room with a meat cleaver in her hand. It sunk into his chest cracking against the bones. I crawled under the table to hide, shaking worried that she'd come for me next. Psi dropped to the floor and tried to pull himself up using the leg of the table. A river of blood was running from his mouth. It was on his hands that he smeared everywhere and pooling underneath him.
“I'm sorry Destiny, baby. But this bitch-ass nigga is really your daddy.” Ava stood over him breathing like she'd just finished running laps around the house. “Now, ask daddy why we're out here poor as fuck while Eva and Leslie are living it up. Ask Daddy how much fancy shit he bought Eva for her sixteenth birthday with all that filthy money he got.”
Psi's eyes made a lazy line towards Ava. He looked like a wind-up whale on the floor that finally started running out of power.
“Ava, I can change everything,” he wheezed. I just need to sign–”
“You already signed your life over to the damn devil. Now tell him I said hi.”
Ava swung the cleaver and I squeezed my eyes shut.
 
I climbed into the backseat of the car up the road, remembering the sound of Ava hacking away at Psi over and over. She even made me help drag pieces of his body to the smokehouse. I never went inside, not since the day I'd gotten bored and wandered in. That was the day I found the pieces of the first two bodies.
Ava was crazy but she loved us in her own sick twisted way. I stood in the part of the basement underneath the kitchen table. It was the only part of the house where I could see through the floorboards. Eva, had looked right at me and still didn't see me. They'd all burn for taking Ava away from me, Eva even more so because she had all of my money.
Dontay turned and stared at me over in the backseat his eyes were full of confused happy tears. “When you called I thought someone was playing on my phone. I almost didn't come out here tonight.”
I'd called him from Ms. Lita's right after I'd gotten dropped off. I wasn't dumb enough to stay where I could be found. I had every intention of running away and not looking back. Ms. Lita was an accident. She tripped on her way upstairs to check on me falling into some new decorative gold and red braided ropes she'd started hanging from the banister. Her neck got caught in one of the loops and she was too heavy for me to pull back up. It made my stomach hurt to have to leave her like that, but I didn't have a choice.
“On the phone you were saying Toikea set me up and Eva was involved with it? How could they have worked together without me knowing?” He asked before staring off into the distance shaking his head.
I gave him a minute to get mad at the story I'd told him. I hadn't had the time to think through the part of my lie involving Eva. I leaned back against the seat stretching the tight muscles in my lower back.
“I'll tell you everything even how to get back what Toi took, if you help me. Once she finds out I'm not in that sex-slave house, she'll start looking for me. She has to pay for what she did to my step-parents.” I told him in a strong even voice.
Dontay was the only one that was like me. He was innocent. But I'd use him to help me get to all the names Ava would curse every time she'd beat me. We'd find Deacon, and Derian, and then Aunt Rose, Toikea, Leslie and last but not least Eva. Everyone would burn for the part they played making my life hell and in return I'd get back whatever was left of my inheritance.
Dontay pulled away from the side of the road while I studied him from my seat. He was still fine as all hell even though he looked a little skinny. All the stress of dealing with Toikea was probably taking its toll on him. My tongue wet my suddenly dry lips and I wondered how hard it would be to break him into fucking me. Ava would always say that you should use what you got to get what you need. Right now, I needed a hot bath, warm bed, and somebody as fine as Dontay to help me bust a quick one so I could fall asleep peacefully.
Leaning forward I turned on my daddy's girl voice. “Dontay, you ever thought about being with someone other than Toi? I mean, you deserve better than that.”
He jumped when my finger grazed his ear.
“What are you talking about girl, and sit back. Put your seatbelt on. How old are you anyway, Toi had me believing one thing and–”
“I'm sixteen but looks are deceiving I can pretend to be eighteen, twenty-three, whatever you want.” I traced his ear with my index finger. “Now that you know we aren't related don't you feel even a little relieved? I do. It was hell walking around that house thinking damn my
daddy
is sexy as fuck.”
His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he shifted in his seat. Stop was no parts of that kind of body language.
“So, are you gonna come put the seatbelt on me or no? We can talk about everything afterwards.”
I leaned closer letting the tip of my tongue replace the pattern my finger had been making. When he didn't pull away from me, I kissed my way down his neck until we pulled over to the side of the road. I could see how Toi manipulated him so easily. It only took a few cute words and he was climbing in the backseat. Shit, at this rate, I might not even have to get my hands dirty. If I gassed this fool up good enough, I could just throw the match and let him take everyone out.
Urban Books, LLC
97 N18th Street
Wyandanch, NY 11798
 
Church Girl Gone Wild Copyright © 2014 Ni'chelle Genovese
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-6016-2581-6
 
First Trade Paperback Printing October 2014
 
 
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
 
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