Dallas straightened his collar. “Other than that, nigga, how I look?”
“Man, you really going through with this?” Kohl asked. “I know I said do it, but this ain’t right, D. Let’s just leave now.”
“And walk away from the quarter of a mil you promised me if you win? Same goes for you, Blitz.” Dallas’s face was tight.
Mine too.
“Y’all suited like somebody died,” Dallas said.
“If you follow through with your plan, you might be signing up for your funeral,” Kohl joked.
When they found out the mil wasn’t there, they might kill me. I was ready to get it all over with.
A lady came outside, announced, “Places, everyone.”
I escorted some female I didn’t know down the aisle. She went her way. I went mine. Stood near the front pew. D looked good.
The doors at the rear of the church opened. Debbie was pretty. She was a good pick for Dallas. Too bad this was all a game.
The pastor asked her, “Do you take this man . . .”
Debbie glanced at me, then gazed into Dallas’s eyes. “I do” softly escaped her lips.
My brother slid that ring on her finger. Tears streamed down Debbie’s cheeks. Wanted to tell her to lighten up.
The pastor asked my brother, “Do you take this woman . . .”
D looked at us, nodded his head toward the door. One by one, we stood in a single-file line.
As we followed Dallas, people gasped. Mumbled.
“Where’s he going?”
“Is he coming back?”
“He can’t be serious.”
“This had better be some sort of joke.”
The one thing nobody did was laugh.
Soon as we got outside, Kohl said, “That’s fucked-up, D. Hope it was worth it.”
“I’ma catch y’all later,” I said.
Didn’t want anyone to see me heading to the bus stop. I went inside this sports bar across the street to chill.
“Surprised to see you in here,” the bartender said, pointing at the flat screen above.
Seeing my dad in handcuffs didn’t bother me as much as seeing my mom.
THE CONCLUSION
The Crewe
Trymm
Life after the death of Kandy—capital k, small y—was the same for Trymm. He didn’t make her commit suicide. Nothing could bring her back. But he realized he was right and wrong.
Black women easily fell in love, easily slept with strangers. They were easily brokenhearted. Just as they were easy, black women were equally, if not more passionate.
Losing the quarter of a million turned out to be a valuable lesson learned. What he couldn’t learn was . . . how to love his wife. But following his father’s advice, he’d heed and keep Francine first.
There would always be a pecking order. For now, until she decided to no longer be by his side, Atlantis would be in his life.
Dallas
Dallas discovered that young black women weren’t easy. They were loving and trusting. At times Debbie Carter had more strength than he. She was helping him, one day at a time, cope with his PTSD.
Church had never been his thing, after his mother died. Worshiping with Debbie, joining her church, and being baptized gave him hope and purpose. Losing a father whom he’d never known, Dallas vowed to always be there for his wife and unborn child.
He still didn’t give a damn about Uncle Sam. But Debbie had convinced him to collect his earned retirement and disability.
Kohl
Big black gurls weren’t easy. They were easygoing. There was a difference.
Looking back on all that had happened, he knew relocating to Los Angeles was a fresh start, and a step up. Kohl used his insurance settlement to negotiate an offer-in-compromise with the feds. With the money he had leftover, he opened a cannabis club and hookah lounge adjacent to a New Orleans Creole Restaurant. The strip club was no more.
He had lots of Ramona look-a-likes to choose from. But there was only one William Bartholomew. Kohl set up a travel account in William’s name and promised his son he could visit him in California anytime he wanted, but under no circumstance was Kohl going back to the NOLA.
Blitz
Blitz never figured out what happened to his accounts.
In a way that was a good thing. The crewe didn’t blame him, and the government couldn’t charge him, his dad, or his mom with money laundering, because they never found the money.
His parents always had and still supported him. His mother repaid the voodoo woman. Where his mother got the million dollars from, she refused to say. Blitz lived in the same house. Purchased a new car. Paid his gambling debt. Successfully invested in new stocks.
What Blitz missed most was his crewe. They’d each gone separate ways. One day, maybe when they were closer to eighty years old, if they reunited, he’d tell them what really happened. For now, life went on....
“Put whatever she’s having on my tab.”
Acknowledgments
I gotta do this like this bay-bay (dragging out the first bay), the way we say it in Nawlins. When you hear someone say it, this signifies the person feels strongly about what they are about to say. I am fanatical about my hometown, the Saints football team, and Le-Bron James!
For all the women speaking up and out about sexual misconduct, I support you. As a victim I understand why some females suffer in silence for up to decades. I encourage you to find resolution within yourself. Bad things happen to good girls and women.
All of my novels are empowering for females. I’ve published two nonfiction life-changing self-help books that females are raving about. If you read Dicks Are Dumb: A Woman’s Guide to Finding the Right Man or Never Let a Man Come First: A Female’s Guide to Understanding Male Behavior, you will understand why a lot of females suffer from what I call “baby doll love.”
Shout-out to all my people at The Trolley Stop Café on St. Charles Avenue. Special thanks to my gurl Dana for holding it down and serving me way too much shit to eat!
My world revolves around family, friends, and fans. You are forever in my heart. Robert E. White, Shirelle Atkins, Maveita Richards, Victor E. Simmons Jr., Kysh Robinson Clemons, Hillary M. Denson, and all librarians—I appreciate your welcoming me into your branch to speak and read.
My career and continued success in the industry is made possible by my editor, Selena James, Steve Zacharius, Adam Zacharius, Lulu Martinez, Vida Engstrand, Claire Hill, Robin Cook, and everyone at Kensington Publishing Corporation.
Like mother, like son. Jesse Byrd Jr. has published several books for children. Sunny Days, Werewolf in New Orleans, and the award-winning (Paris and Los Angeles Book Festival) King Penguin, to name a few, are entertaining and educating the minds of our youngest readers. Visit Jesse at: www.JesseBCreative.com. I continue to pray all great things for Jesse and his beautiful wife, Emaan Abbass.
I have amazing siblings. Wayne Morrison, Andrea Morrison, Derrick Morrison, Regina Morrison, Margie Rickerson, and Debra Noel, I love you guys.
My true friend, Richard C. Montgomery, I love you, man!
To my gurlz: Vanessa Ibanitoru, Brenda Jackson, Cassandra Guy, Tina Robinson, Marion Whitaker, Marissa Monteilh, Carmen Polk, Kimbercy Marie Harris-Jones, Aje Huru, Yevonna Missy Johnson, Christal Jordan, Jessica Holter, Wendy Rogers-Curtis, and Numbiya Aziz.
Kendall Minter, no entertainment lawyer reps like you. Congratulations on the release of your book, Understanding and Negotiating 360 Ancillary Rights Deals.
What’s life without social media, baby! Follow me on Facebook and Snapchat at TheRealMaryB, Twitter at HoneyBHonest, and Instagram at MaryHoneyBMorrison. Blessings to all of my Mc-Donogh 35 Senior High fellow Roneagles. It was awesome seeing my class of 1982 at our thirty-fifth reunion.
Wishing each of my readers peace and prosperity in abundance. Visit me online at MaryMorrison.com. Sign up for my newsletter. Until we meet between the pages again, all praises to the Divine Power Who loves us unconditionally
and gives us the power to choose whether we will love ourselves.
Discussion Questions
1. Have you encountered guys that play head games? Did you fall prey to their manipulation, or did you flip the script? Details, please.
2. What type of head game did Trymm, Dallas, Kohl, and Blitz play?
3. Which female character do you relate to most?
4. Did you have empathy for any of the male lead characters? If so, which one(s) and why?
5. Was Trymm’s view of black women better or worse than the slave masters he despised?
6. Do you think Dallas was emotionally capable of having a healthy relationship with any woman?
7. Are you or have you been in a relationship with a person that has PTSD? What is your understanding of PTSD, and what is the best way to deal with a person who has PTSD?
8. Who’s the weakest woman you know? The strongest? What makes these women different?
9. Do you believe Dallas loved Debbie; Trymm loved Francine; Kohl loved Ramona?
10. Are highly successful women more vulnerable in a relationship than women who are less successful?
11. In the case of Trymm and his older brother Walter, can a family member make you do right by your woman/man?
12. What impacted Dallas more—losing his mother, or being in the military?
13. How deep were Kohl’s adoption issues?
14. What was more important to Blitz? Money or his image?
15. What would you do if you discovered that a photo and/or video of you in a compromising position was in the hands of someone who intended to expose you?
16. Are black women easy? Explain.
HEAD GAMES
Money. Love. Sex.
Spirits. Broken.
Rewind . . . Shattered.
Scratch. Spirits.
Hearts. Crushed.
Intentionally? Not. Yes.
Women. Invisible.
Pussy. Matters.
Bitch. Laugh. Cry. Trick.
Pussy. Matters. More.
Rape. Love. Women. Whores.
Matter. Not.
Got head?
Pussy. Matters.
Raw. Best.
Coming. Matters.
Not. Most.
Men. Win.
Head games.
Women.
Matter.
Not.
Really.
Boning is a sport handed from generations of men groping, grinding, dickrespectful, desperate to come inside when it’s cold, to come inside when it’s hot, liquid frustration erupts, seeds splatter, fertilize, grow, reproduce more game, more girls, the hunt is best when the prey is new, the younger the better, the game is old, yet the game never gets old, players scout, fucking is a competition, not really ED, justify the lie, single, married, cheaters never take all, nor can they, no matter how much she gives, he never gives his all, walk away, the game, sex addicktion, real, they want to come, they have to come, they need to come, they live, molest, breathe, rape, die, to come, without forethought, she’s a victim with no thought, whore, tramp, slut, thot, prostitute, trick, cunt, only after, his deposit, no return, consensual doesn’t matter, absent her thinking, is he good, kind, my kind, what’s left behind, is her behind, to perform CPR on her mind, heart, soul, body, pussy, pussy, pussy, nobody gives a fuck, bitch man up, get ready for the next game, gamer, who will fan her flame, who will change her last name, whose to blame.
DON’T MISS Mary B. Morrison’s
If I Can’t Have You series
If I Can’t Have You
What really makes a man plunge headlong into obsession? And what does he do once he’s past the point of no return? Find out in this seductive, mesmerizing tale of “love” gone dangerously wrong.
I’d Rather Be with You
With Madison’s marriage on the rocks, Loretta couldn’t resist looking after Chicago’s interests and reigniting his passion for life. But now Madison wants to take back what’s no longer hers....
If You Don’t Know Me
The scandalous story of two women, a sizzling wager, and the fallout that’s turned lives upside down. Now, with the only man they’ve ever wanted at stake, who will go one step too far to claim him?
Available wherever books and ebooks are sold.
Head Games Page 29