Two Tears in a Bucket (12 page)

“
And what the fuck you callin’ me for?”

“
Kevin! He got a muthafuckin’ shotgun and my baby in here! He tryna tear my door down! He illin’ for real.”

“
If you don’t stop screamin’ in my ear. Shit! Where the fuck is your piece? Shit, shoot that muthafucka!”

“
Kevin, I’m scared,” she cried.

“
Shit, man,” Kevin said more so to himself. “Who there with you?”

“
It’s just me, the baby, and Tuffy. Tuffy’s the one who told me to call you,” Felicia cried. “He said you was cool wit’ Mike and them Jamaicans.”

Scared-ass muthafucka,
Kevin thought. “Look, Felicia, Toby ain’t gon’ do nothing. If he was, he’da already done it. I’ll come up there later and talk to him. Just don’t open the door if he comes back.”

“
Kevin, no.” Felicia sobbed into the phone. “This muthafucka crazy. He got me and Tuffy in this bitch scared for real!”

“
Shit,” Kevin moaned into the phone. “Page James’s ass.”

“
I did, but he ain’t calling me back. Please, Kevin,” Felicia begged. “Please come talk to him and get him away from my door.”

“
Damn, girl!” The infamous tears of a damsel in distress did it every time. “I’ll be up there in a minute.”

Kevin kicked back the covers and forced himself from the bed he’d settled into less than an hour ago. Beatrice walked out of the bathroom just as he pulled his gray sweatshirt over his head.

“
Where the hell you ’bout to go?”

“
To Felicia’s,” he said as he stepped into his shoes. “This nigga Toby’s banging on her door looking for James, and she scared.”

“
Kevin, keep your ass right here in this house. That mess ain’t got nothing to do with you.”

“
Ma, I know the dude. I’m just gonna talk to him to calm his butt down.”

“
Kevin, listen to me for once in your life. Let James handle his own mess,” Beatrice ordered.

The front door closed. Kevin knew it was his brother coming in.

“
Hey, Count,” Kevin called as he brushed past his mother. “You driving, man?” LeCount always had some female’s car.

“
Yeah, why?”

“
Run me up to the strip right quick.”

“
Why? What’s up the strip at five o’clock in the morning?”

“
Nothing but trouble,” Beatrice said. “So don’t take his ass nowhere.”

“
Stop trippin’. It’s not gon’ be no mess. I’ll be back later.”

“
Lord have mercy,” Beatrice mumbled as she watched her sons walk out the door.

● ● ●

Kevin rested his throbbing head against the window of the car.

“
Kevin.” LeCount slapped Kevin on the arm as they pulled up in front of Felicia’s building.

“
I ain’t sleep, man,” Kevin mumbled. “My head just banging like a muthafucka.”

“
You need me to go wit’ you?”

“
Naw, everything’s cool,” Kevin said, hopping out of the car. “Don’t pay Ma no mind.” Closing the door, he headed into Felicia’s building and took the steps two at a time until he stood before her badly beaten door.

Damn, he lunchin’ for real
, Kevin thought as he knocked.
What the fuck is wrong with Toby’s ass?

“
Yes?” Felicia asked.

“
Bitch, open the door! It’s me, Toby!” Kevin joked. “I’m playing, girl. Open the door. It’s me.” The dead-bolts turned. Felicia swung the door open with her baby resting on her hip.

“
He been back?” Kevin asked, walking into the apartment to see Tuffy sitting in the living room on the edge of the couch.

“
Naw, not yet,” Felicia said as she quickly closed the door and secured the locks.

“
Kevin, man, you need to talk to your peeps,” Tuffy said. “I couldn’t even leave this bitch! Me and my girl got into it, I came up here to get Felicia to do her thing on my shit, and this nigga fucked it up, banging on the door like a fuckin’ loony!”

“
What the fuck you tell her to call me for? Where your raggedy-ass pistol at? Better yet, have y’all heard from James’s ass yet? Why the hell Toby lookin’ for him anyway?”

“‘
Cause James robbed him,” Tuffy said.

“‘
Cause he what?”

“
Kevin, don’t listen to Tuffy,” Felicia said. “He don’t know what the hell he talkin’ ’bout.”

“
Man, c’mon. That’s why he ain’t go to the club wit’ you and Ed. Remember he said he had some business to tend to? Some paper to collect? That’s what that shit was,” Tuffy informed. “You see his ass ain’t around, and he ain’t calling Felicia back. He somewhere hiding.”

Damn, Ma. Why didn’t I listen to you?
Kevin screamed to himself as he plopped down on the couch.
Shit, I can’t even call a fuckin’ cab to take me home.
Not only was Kevin pissed, he was stuck. He could’ve called his mother but the last thing he needed was the lecture.

That’s a’right. I’ma call a cab in a few hours and take my ass back home,
Kevin thought as he laid his head on the arm of the couch and dozed off.

A few hours later, Kevin awoke and headed into the kitchen to call a cab just as he’d planned. As he switched on the light, he saw what seemed like a million roaches scatter, trampling over the sink full of dirty dishes and baby bottles.

Damn, these muthafuckas trifling
, he thought as he reached for the rotary phone on the wall.

“
Your cab should be there within twenty minutes,” the operator informed him.

As he hung up the phone, the thought of the baby sipping on a nipple that had been trampled over by a squad of roaches made Kevin’s stomach weak. He rolled up his sleeves, placed the stopper in the sink, and turned the hot water on full blast. While the sink filled with water, he squeezed nearly half the bottle of dish detergent into the scalding-hot water and swished it around with his finger.

Damn, let me look out for my cab,
Kevin thought as he shook the excess bubbles from his hand and opened the kitchen blinds.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The apartment shook.

Kevin jumped, caught off guard by the sudden outburst.

“
Open this muthafuckin’ door!” Toby yelled, hammering the door with his shotgun.

“
Shit,” Kevin said, heading out into the living room.

“
See, that muthafucka back,” Tuffy said, sitting up on the floor. “Listen at his crazy ass. That’s how he was doing last night.”

“
Damn. He making the whole building shake.”

“
You’da thought one of the neighbors woulda called the police or something,” Tuffy said.

“
Yeah, right. They just as scared as y’all are. Let me go talk to Toby’s crazy ass,” Kevin replied.

“
No, Kevin.” Felicia ran out from her back bedroom, her baby on her hip. “Don’t open the door.”

“
What, you think I’m stupid?” Kevin asked, heading to the sliding glass door. “I’ma climb down the balcony and run around to the front.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Kevin eased the glass door open and stepped out onto the second-floor balcony.

“
Hold up, Kevin,” Felicia yelled. “Tuffy, gimme your piece.”

Tuffy jumped from the floor, pulling his gun from his waistband.

“
I don’t need no gun.” Kevin threw his legs over the railing.

“
No, Kevin. Take it, please,” Felicia pleaded, handing him the gun, a Luger 9mm.

“
Yeah, man. Take somethin’ wit’ you,” Tuffy said, standing in the doorway next to Felicia.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

“
Let me get down here ‘fore he breaks the door down.”

Kevin shoved the gun in the waist of his pants and lowered himself onto the patio underneath Felicia’s balcony. As he ran around to the entrance of the building, Kevin spotted James ducking in between the cars in the parking lot.

“
Man, where the fuck you been?” Kevin asked, full of rage. “Felicia was paging you all fucking night.”

“
I was out wit’ this girl last night, man. I thought she was paging me to see where I was.”

“
Go somewhere wit’ that bullshit, man. Toby been lookin’ for you all night. What the fuck you rob him for?”

“
Kevin, man, I ain’t rob no muthafuckin’ body. I’m just getting home. I heard that nigga tryna bust my door in, so I went and got my shit.”

“
He should be pounding on your door looking for your bitch ass!”

“
Man, I’m telling you. I ain’t rob him.” James’s voice shot up two octaves, the way it always did when he was lying.

This shit ain’t good
, Kevin thought.
If Toby sees me with James’s ass, he gon’ think we in cahoots.

Toby’s lunges at the door echoed throughout the building.

“
Look, just stay the fuck out here,” Kevin ordered as he entered the building alone. He crept up the steps until he stood on the landing that separated him from Toby. He called his name.

“
Hey, Toby!”

But Toby was in a daze, pounding the door over and over again as if he was possessed.

James crept up the steps behind Kevin and yelled, “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY DOOR!”

“
What the fuck you doing?” Rage turned Kevin’s face upside down.

James had done some cold-blooded shit, and now Kevin stood knee-deep in the pile of crap right along with him.

Toby spun around, his face full of hatred as he pumped a bullet in the chamber of the shotgun. James shot his pistol and missed.

“
Ah, shit,” Kevin growled as Toby shot toward the stairwell, lodging the bullet inside the mortar of the brick wall inches away from Kevin’s head. Kevin pulled Tuffy’s gun from his pants. He tried to shoot, but the gun jammed. James fired again, casting a bullet in Toby’s shoulder.

“
Argh!” Toby screamed, leaving a trail of blood down Felicia’s door as he slid to the floor. Kevin pulled the gun’s slide to the rear, clearing the jam while Toby struggled to his feet and scrambled to the top level, pumping another bullet into the shotgun.

Chaos broke out. Bullets ricocheted all over the building.

“
Open the door! Open the door!” Toby yelled frantically, banging on every apartment door.

“
What the hell is going…”

“
Let me in! Let me in!” Toby screamed to the neighbor as he forced his way inside the apartment. Kevin and James fired as Toby disappeared behind the door.

Sirens echoed off in the distance. Blood spilled from underneath the apartment door.

“
Shit! C’mon!” Kevin said. He and James took off down the steps and out the building. “Man, we gotta split up. Hop in the car and get the fuck outta here
’fore they get here,” Kevin ordered.

“
Man, that shit stolen! How the fuck I’ma leave in a stolen car?”

“
I don’t know, man, but go some fuckin’ where!”

Scrambling around to the back of the building, Kevin grabbed the metal rails and pulled himself back up to Felicia’s balcony.

“
What happened, man? What happened?” Tuffy hopped around nervously.

“
Man, that piece-of-shit gun jammed. Where the fuck is Felicia?”

As if on cue, Felicia pounced from the back, a sea of tears flowing down her face as she screamed into the phone.

“
Shit,” Kevin said, noticing the gunpowder burns on his hands. He rushed to the kitchen and dunked his hands in the sudsy hot water he’d prepared for the bottles. “Felicia, who the fuck you talkin’ to?”

“
It’s the police!”

Water flew all over the kitchen as Kevin yanked his hands from the sink and snatched the phone from Felicia.

“
What the fuck is wrong wit’ you?” he screamed in her face. He slammed the cordless phone to the ground, shattering it to pieces. “Why you ain’t call those muthafuckas last night?”

“
I heard the gunshots. I didn’t know what else to do. I ain’t know if you got shot.”

Shit!
Kevin thought. The situation was getting out of control.

“
Here. One of y’all do something with this,” Kevin ordered, passing Tuffy’s gun to her.

She scanned the room and hid the gun inside the baby’s diaper bag. Just then, mayhem broke out in the hallway.

“
Shit, man,” Tuffy said, nervously pacing back and forth. “What we
’pose to do?”

“
Man, just calm the fuck down,” Kevin ordered.

There was a tap at the door.

“
Oh my God,” Felicia cried.

“
What the fuck I tell you,” Kevin mumbled through gritted teeth. Heading to the door, he roared like a lion, “Who is it?”

“
It’s the police. There’s been a homicide, and we need to ask you some questions.”

Ah, shit. Toby died,
Kevin thought as a horn blew outside.
And there go my fuckin’ cab
.

Chapter Eleven