Single Ladies (17 page)

Lisa walked down the hallway toward Naomi's room. It was quiet, so Lisa knew that Naomi was either playing in Lisa's makeup or she was asleep. She slowly opened the door to see Naomi fast asleep, dressed in one of her new outfits with her backpack on. Lisa laughed at how adorable she looked, and ran to her room, grabbed the phone, and snapped a couple of pictures.

“This will come in handy in a few years,” Lisa said to herself. She placed the phone in her pocket and began pulling off Naomi's shoes and removing the backpack. As she placed it on the bed, she noticed a cell phone on the side of the backpack. She pulled it out, and swiped the screen. The wallpaper on the phone was a picture of Naomi and Ralphy. Lisa turned the phone over.

“Galaxy 4?” she whispered to herself. She looked at the photo again; it appeared that they were at an amusement park, but it wasn't the local one. Ralphy was standing behind Naomi smiling and pointing to the camera. Seeing the two of them together brought up memories of the three of them. She sighed and undressed Naomi down to a T-shirt and panties. She pulled the covers up over her and kissed her cheek.

Before turning out the light, she noticed a laptop at the foot of Naomi's bed. He had really taken Naomi on a shopping spree. “What did you do, Lisa?” she asked herself as she watched Naomi sleep.

Every day, Lisa kicked herself for tearing her family apart. She hated sleeping alone, her heart ached for her husband, and at times the pain was so intense she had actually thought about suicide. Naomi's face would enter her mind, and save her from committing something so stupid.

She looked at Naomi's phone. She wanted to put it down, but curiosity took over. She swiped through the pictures on the phone. Ralphy and Naomi smiled at her from each one. She went to contacts and saw Ralphy's phone number under My Daddy in Naomi's contact list. She stared at the number with her finger hovering over the call icon. She thought better of it. After all, what would she say to him? He would probably hang up as soon as he heard her voice anyway.

She lay back on the bed with Naomi and took a photo of the two of them. She attached it to a text message and typed, I miss my family. She hit send and then cuddled up with her daughter for the night.

* * *

Darious parked his Charger on the street, a few houses down from Tammy's due to the orange cones and blue flags in front of her house. The city was working on the water line, and the asphalt had been torn up. He began walking toward her house, not paying much attention to the two hooded men standing at the stop sign smoking. He pulled his cell phone out and called Tammy to let her know he was outside. Tammy told him she would be heading downstairs to open the door for him. When he got to her building, he called again, to let her know that he was outside.

Darious was oblivious to the two hooded men. Outlaw and his boy, Ratchet, had been waiting all day to see if anybody showed up at Chris's house. Outlaw recognized the white Charger from when Tammy had dropped the kids off at his mama's house a few times.

“You ready, li'l nigga?” Outlaw asked, pulling out a black Glock 9 mm.

Ratchet reached in his waist and pulled out his back automatic .45 and cocked a bullet in the chamber. Neither one of the men said another word as they both proceeded to walk toward Tammy's house with their guns out.

As Darious approached Tammy's house, he noticed the men walking quickly toward him with guns drawn. His heart began to pound; he couldn't see the men's faces, but he could clearly see their guns. He froze at the front door, bracing himself for what was to come. He held his breath as they got closer. He felt the wind on his back as Tammy opened the door, but he didn't look away from the approaching guns.

* * *

Lamar rolled the cock ring to the base of his dick, and then stuffed it in his G-string. He looked at himself from the side and was satisfied with his member's appearance. The harder and bigger the bulge, the bigger the tips.

“Yo, you're up,” Chip, the manager of the club, walked in and told Lamar.

Lamar put the rest of his outfit on and headed for the stage. It was ladies' night, so he didn't have to drink alcohol the way he had to in order to perform in front of the gay community. He was on a natural high and his game face was on.

Lamar stood behind the curtain, waiting for the MC to introduce him. He popped his neck and stretched. After a few moments, he realized that it was quiet on the other side of the curtain. He peeked out and noticed the silhouette of a woman sitting in the chair on the stage, but he couldn't make out the face from where he was standing. He looked out in the club, and no one was there: no servers, security, or DJ. He walked closer to the woman in the chair, and realized it was Kim. Lamar laughed and exhaled.

Kim knew the owner of the club, and she had decided to call in a favor. Her law firm had represented the owner, Moose, in a tax evasion case. She had put together the motions needed to get his case dismissed. When she called him, he didn't hesitate to oblige her request to give her the club for the first thirty minutes.

“What you doing, Kim?” Lamar asked, looking out into the empty club.

“I came to see you dance,” she said seductively, tossing twenty dollar bills at him.

“How am I going to dance without any music?”

Kim raised her hand, and Lil Wayne's “Lollipop” song rushed through the speakers. Lamar looked at Kim as she uncrossed and crossed her legs.

“Dance; entertain me,” Kim said as she let the twenties flow from her hands. She had a few stacks, and showering Lamar with them was nothing. Lamar moved around her like a panther on a prowl. He had to admit dancing for her like this was making his dick even harder. He leaned down to kiss her, and Kim raised her hand. She moved away from his lips and stuffed a few more twenties in his G-string, then pushed him back. She stood up, pressed her breasts against his chest, and looked into his eyes.

“Eventually, Lamar, you will have to make a choice, and you will need to do it sooner rather than later,” Kim said, tracing his lips. “You see, I'm a woman who can do this,” Kim said, pointing to the empty club. “I'm about my business, but if you like fucking little girls in a hospital room bathroom, to each his own. Get your shit together and do it quickly. So by the time you get off tonight, you need to have made a decision, or I will make it for you.”

Kim walked off the stage, leaving a trail of twenties behind her.

Lamar watched her disappear into the darkness. The doors of the club opened, and women began to fill the club. Lamar stood center stage with a hard dick, and a lot to think about.

Darious looked down the barrel of the gun, closed his eyes, and braced for impact. Right before Outlaw began to fire, Tammy opened the front door, causing Darious to fall inside the home. She had the baby in her arms, so Outlaw decided not to start shooting wildly at the house. Instead, he walked up on the steps to get a better shot at Darious.

“No, Outlaw!” Tammy yelled, standing over Darious to shield him from the danger. “Please!” she pled, holding out her hand.

If Tammy didn't have his niece in her arms, Outlaw would have shot Darious right there. Looking into Sinniyyah's eyes, Outlaw backed off, but not before letting Tammy know what was on his mind.

“Next time I catch ya boyfriend 'round here, I'ma blow his fuckin' head off. You gon' show my brotha some fuckin' respect, whether you like it or not. Make this the last time we have this conversation,” he told Tammy, before tucking his gun back into his waist.

He gave Darious a stern look before he and Ratchet turned around and walked off into the night. Tammy kneeled down to help Darious up, but he snatched his arm away from her, got up off the ground, and headed for his car. Tammy ran behind him, looking over her shoulder in the direction were Outlaw and Ratchet went.

“Darious, please don't leave,” Tammy begged, knowing that it wasn't quite safe for him to leave yet.

“He was about to shoot me,” Darious said, stopping at the driver's side of his car. “Ya people is crazy. I ain't got time for this.”

“I know, I know, and I'm sorry, but please don't leave right now,” she said, looking over her shoulder again.

She knew Outlaw, and was well aware of what he was capable of. Chris had told her enough stories of his and his brother's murderous ways. She knew that as soon as Darious pulled off from the block, Outlaw was the type of nigga who would be waiting for him, to finish what he had started. The best thing for Darious to do now was go inside her house, where he was protected by the presence of Chris's kids. After Tammy had a chance to explain all of that to him, Darious did just that.

* * *

Visiting hours were almost over for Ms. D. She had been given the good news that she was being discharged the following morning. Falisha decided to head home for the night and wait for Lamar to get off work. She had something special planned for him, and it involved some new lingerie she had purchased earlier in the day. She had it all planned out how she anticipated the rest of the night would go, and what she was going to do to Lamar.

“Damn, wassup, stranger?” a familiar voice said from behind, while Falisha was waiting for her cab.

She turned around, and there was Fox, standing there with his phone up to his ear. It had been awhile since Falisha had seen him, and she couldn't quite put her hands on it, but he definitely looked different for some reason. It wasn't his clothes, or the new haircut he was rocking, nor was it the fact that he had lost some weight. It was something else.

“How have you been, Fox?” Falisha greeted him, leaning in for a friendly hug. “Is everything all right?” she asked him, looking up at the hospital.

“I've been doing all right. My dad had a heart attack a couple of days ago. He's good, though,” Fox answered. “So what about you? How have you been?”

Falisha explained that there was the same old stuff going on, and how she was trying to get back into school. They sat there and talked for a minute, forgetting about their prior engagements. Conversation was something that came naturally for them, and if it weren't for Falisha's cab pulling up, they would have been there talking awhile longer.

“It was nice seeing you, Fox,” Falisha said, walking over to the cab.

He reached out and grabbed her hand, stopping her before she got into the car. He honestly missed Falisha, and didn't want to let her go right away. “Let me take you home,” Fox offered.

Falisha thought about it for a second, but declined the offer after thinking about what Lamar would do if he saw her in the car with him. She knew there would have been drama, the kind of drama Falisha didn't feel like going through, especially now when she was trying to win over Lamar's heart.

“Well, since I can't take you home, can I at least call you . . . as a friend?” Fox choked up. “I really need to talk to you about something important.”

Falisha didn't hate Fox, nor did they break up on bad terms. She didn't see any reason why he couldn't call and talk as a friend, of course as long as Lamar wasn't around. She also knew that Fox followed instructions to a T.

“Call my phone in the morning, around ten o'clock,” Falisha told him before walking over and getting into the cab.

Fox nodded his head with a smile as he backed away from the curb. He'd rather take that than nothing. He also knew that when he did call her, he was going to make what he had to say count. He definitely had something on his mind that he'd wanted to get off his chest for a while now, and if Falisha wasn't careful, she could easily get caught up again.

* * *

“You should be good to leave,” Tammy told Darious as she looked out the window.

Darious sat on the couch, still zoned out about having a gun pointed in his face. He was from the hood, but he was more of the square type, not really getting into too much trouble. That was actually the first time he'd had a pistol pointed at him, ever.

“If ya brother-in-law would have shot me, what would you have done?” Darious asked out of curiosity.

“I would have called the cops on his dumb ass,” Tammy answered. “Look, I'm sorry, Darious. My baby father probably sent him around here.”

“So you didn't tell him about us yet?” he asked, referring to Chris.

Tammy took a seat on the couch next to him. “I wanna tell him, but I'm scared,” Tammy began.

“You shouldn't be with a man you got to be scared of. That's no way to live,” Darious spoke.

Tammy had not been all the way upfront with the uncertainty she was feeling inside. “I'm not scared of Chris, Darious. I'm just afraid that once I leave him to be with you, you may leave me, and then I'll be alone. I really wanted to make sure I was good enough for you, before I said anything to him,” Tammy confessed.

“Damn, Tam. You really think I tell you the things I do because I wanna hear myself talk?” Darious said, turning to face her. “Look, I told you that I love you and I meant that. You just gotta believe me, and trust me. If you can't do that, then what's the point of us being together? Let me ask you something, Tammy: do you love me?” he asked, reaching over and turning her chin so she could face him.

“Damn, I almost took a bullet for you tonight. Doesn't that count for anything?” Tammy said and laughed.

Darious had to chuckle at her comment as well, and in some crazy way, that was a way to show her love, but Darious wanted to hear the words come out of her mouth. “Nah, seriously,” he said, getting back to the question.

Love was a big word to be throwing around and, for days, Tammy had contemplated whether her feelings for him were at the stage of love. At times, it got a bit confusing because she also had love for the father of her kids. It was like Tammy's heart was being torn down the middle, but at the end of the day, she knew she was in love with Darious, and she didn't want to hide it anymore.

“Yes, I love you, Darious,” she said, then leaned in and kissed him softly.

* * *

Ralphy looked down at Johanne's head bobbing up and down on his dick. Her long, black, curly hair was pulled back in a ponytail, so nothing was getting in the way of her stuffing his whole dick down her throat. She was pretty as all get-out, and in Ralphy's eyes, there was nothing like having a bad bitch suck on his dick.

“Keep going wit' ya nasty self!” Ralphy said, grabbing the top of her head and pushing his dick deeper within her mouth. “You better not stop!” he told her.

Johanne was a freak. She liked when Ralphy talked to her like that. It made her pussy so wet to the point where it began to feel orgasmic. Not too many females could have an orgasm just by sucking their man's dick, but Johanne was one of them, and that was one of the many things Ralphy liked about her.

After Ralphy's phone chirped on the nightstand a couple of times, he finally reached over and grabbed it to see who it was. That too was a turn-on for Johanne. She took it as a challenge, which made her want to suck his dick even harder.

“I miss my family,” Ralphy mumbled to himself, repeating what was written in the caption under the picture that was sent to him.

He looked at Lisa and Naomi lying in the bed asleep, and for a moment, he too felt like he missed his family. There wasn't a day that went by when he didn't think about being back at home, but the reality of the matter was that Ralphy wasn't going back. He was reliving an era in his life where he was having his way on the street. That, along with the fact that he would never be able to trust Lisa again, was more than enough for him to want to stay exactly where he was.

* * *

It was almost seven o'clock in the morning when Lamar pulled up to the block. After he got off work, he drove around all night thinking about what he was going to do. He always knew that it was going to come down to choosing either Kim or Falisha, but what he didn't expect was for Kim to go hard with the ultimatum she gave him. Even at that very moment, while parked at the top of the block, Lamar still didn't know what he was going to do.

It was a sure thing that both of them were waiting up for him, and no matter which house he finally went into, the other person was going to be hurt. He didn't want to, but today he was about to lose one of the two. Which one? He still didn't know.

“Come on, Lamar. What are you gonna do?” he mumbled to himself as he grabbed his gym bag out of the trunk. “Think, dummy, think!”

Lamar walked down the street with his workout bag over his shoulder. The street seemed shorter today for some odd reason, because after only a couple of steps in, he was already pushing up on both houses. Living directly across the street from each other didn't make things any easier for Lamar, who was only a few feet away from making one of the most important decisions of his life.

Standing in the middle of the street, Lamar stopped right in front of their homes. He could feel both sets of eyes looking at him, and as he looked up at Falisha's house, then back over at Kim's, Lamar made his choice. He lowered his head and walked up Kim's steps, praying and hoping he hadn't made the wrong selection.

* * *

Tammy got up bright and early in order to catch the van service that took the families up to the jail. This wasn't a family visit for Chris, as Tammy had dropped the kids off at Chris's mom's house. She wanted to talk to him alone this time, and didn't want the kids interrupting the conversation.

When Tammy got into the visiting room, she became even more nervous, not knowing how this was going to turn out. She felt in her heart that Chris had the right to know about Darious, and it was best, and more respectable, that he heard it from her mouth instead of someone else's. She knew it was just a matter of time before Outlaw or one of his friends said something.

Chris walked out onto the visiting room floor with the standard federal-issued khaki set, his freshly groomed haircut, and tan Timberland boots. He looked so good, Tammy almost forgot what she came there to do. Chris, however, quickly reminded her of her mission when he walked over and took his seat without even attempting to give her a hug.

“Wow, no hug, no kiss?” Tammy asked.

“Nah, I'm good. Wassup wit' you, Tammy?” Chris asked in a nonchalant way, sitting back in his chair.

“You want something to drink or something to eat?”

“Tammy, why are you here?” he asked, cutting her off.

This was going to be harder than she'd thought. It was obvious that Outlaw had beat her to it. She didn't see a way to break the ice and have this conversation, but he was already five steps ahead of her.

“Are y'all together? I mean, are you in a relationship with this nigga?” Chris asked, getting straight to it.

Tammy paused before answering. “Something like that,” she said, putting her head down in shame. She could see the disappointment and hurt in Chris's eyes. “I was tired of being alone,” she spoke softly, trying to hold back her tears.

She knew that what she was revealing to Chris was killing him, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt the person she'd been in love with for years. The pain increased almost immediately in Chris's eyes and, for a second, Tammy thought about getting up and leaving the visiting room. She could barely stand to look at him. In all their time together, she had never seen Chris cry. He was always a rock with his emotions.

“Do you love him?” Chris asked, wanting to know the whole truth of the matter.

That's when it hit Tammy. She couldn't hold back the tears, and as they fell from her eyes, Chris knew that his worst fears had come true. Tammy couldn't even speak. All she did was nod her head up and down, as she wiped the tears from her cheek. Chris felt like all the air had been removed from his chest. Even when the judge had given him his sentence, he took it on the chin. But the reality of losing the one woman he really loved and the mother of his children was overwhelming, and his eyes began to fill up with water.

“I'm sorry,” Tammy managed to get out, looking over at Chris, who wiped his eyes.

All kinds of thoughts ran through his mind. After the hurt, he felt anger. He wanted to jump up and beat Tammy's ass until the cops pulled him off of her, but he didn't. He knew he couldn't. He even thought about spitting in her face, but he didn't. Instead, Chris just kept his cool. He wiped his face and cleared his eyes then looked over at Tammy. He searched his mind for the words that he wanted to leave with her, if he never had the chance to say anything else.