Scandalous Heroes Box Set (59 page)

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 able 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.

“Scotty!” Phonso yelled. “Somebody here to see you!”

Tino suddenly came out of the kitchen wearing just jeans and no shirt. He was holding a partially eaten sandwich and Vanessa swallowed past a lump in her throat. Her plan had not factored in the sight of Tino Tremont.

Currently his Afro had grown too long to stand up and it now flowed around his shoulders. His brown muscled torso and arms filled out impressively. He was handsome. This was her brother. Despite her fear she couldn’t avert her eyes. She searched his features for some similarities between them and was surprised to find that his brown eyes were very familiar to her; because they looked a lot like hers.

Tino leaned against the doorway and studied her as well. “You’re Vanessa?” He said past his chewing.

She nodded silently.

“Come here.”

What??? But her feet did as he had bid and carried her across the living room where she stopped just in front of him.

He wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug that surprised her and then he pulled back just enough to look sincerely into her face. “If you ever need me you let me know. You hear?”

She nodded quickly, still a little stunned but now also relieved. “Yes.”

He released her and gestured with his chin to Jalissa who watched in awe. “Who’s this?”

“That’s my cousin Jalissa.”

“Come here little cuz.” Jalissa’s eyes grew wide but she came to him as well and he did the exact same thing. “If you need me you let me know. If anybody messes with you you tell them that you’re Tino’s sister and cousin, you hear?”

“Yes,” she nodded happily. Jalissa had just gained the status that she had always wanted and at that moment her life was complete.