Single Ladies

by Blake Karrington

  She didn’t know if it was guilt that made her jump from his touch, or the fact that her whole lower body was aching. But, whatever it was, it caught Ralphy’s attention. He was so green to the fact that his wife had just gotten finished getting her back blown out by a nigga with a dick five inches longer than his.

  “Are you sure you’re good?” he asked again, rubbing his hand up and down Lisa’s thigh while still keeping his eyes on the road.

  Lisa sat there thinking about how horrible a person she must be to be an adulterer. “Naw, babe, I’m good. I just need a nice, warm bath, some rest, and I’ll be fine,” she told him before looking out of the window.

  * * *

  The welfare office was loud, stinky, jam-packed, and it was like that from the moment Tammy got there at nine o’clock that morning. Four hours later, the atmosphere was still the same, minus the old lady with a bad odor. Tammy couldn’t understand why her appointment was for nine, when she ended up having to sit there all day before she was seen. By the time the case manager did call out her name, she was hungry, irritated, and tired.

  “Hello, Ms. Green. Sorry you had to wait so long. As you can see it’s busy as hell around here,” Ms. Betty, the case manager, said, taking a seat behind her desk. “I needed you to come down here so that you can fill out these child support papers—”

  “But my kids’ father is locked up right now,” Tammy tried to explain.

  Tammy wasn’t aware that welfare couldn’t care less about whether Chris was locked up. In order for her to continue to receive cash assistance, she had to file for child support even if Chris wasn’t able to pay it. The government was definitely going to make sure that he didn’t have any money saved up in a bank, or maybe a lawsuit pending or any money anywhere. Welfare was going to get their fair cut, if not all of it.

  After about twenty minutes and a couple more papers to sign, Ms. Betty looked up. “All right, Ms. Green. Your new cash assistance will start next month—”

  “Next month?” Tammy snapped back. “What do you mean, next month?”

  “Ms. Green, as of two weeks ago you were taken off of welfare altogether. That’s why I wrote you and told you that you had to fill out this paperwork,” Ms. Betty said, pointing to the child support papers on her desk.

  “But I got bills!” she pled, damn near ready to cry. Tammy was somewhat new to the system; she didn’t understand that welfare worked like that. They were so unpredictable at times, and it was always something with them, especially when you had a case manager who didn’t care two shits about you or ya problems.

  Ms. Betty wasn’t one of those case managers, though. She knew the everyday struggle of young, single women with children. “Look, this is what I can do for you, Ms. Green,” she said, taking off her glasses and wiping the sweat from her eyes. “According to the possible outcome of this paperwork, you should be getting around six hundred fifty dollars a month in cash assistance, and a little more than three hundred dollars in stamps. On or about the sixteenth of this month, I will get you the six hundred fifty dollars in cash assistance you were normally getting, and I will get you the three hundred dollars in stamps. That’s about two weeks from today. I’ll have all of your paperwork processed by then. That’s the best that I can do.”

  It was a relief, but it was still two weeks away. That meant that Tammy was going to have to hear Mr. Louis’s mouth, along with paying the late fee on her rent, or she was going to have to really consider his offer. Just the thought of that made her stomach hurt. There was nothing about Mr. Louis that she found attractive. That, and the fact she had never cheated on Chris ever. Tammy’s mind went back to her problems.

  Anthony, her four-year-old, was going to be pulled out of daycare for this month, and the electric and gas bills were going to get paid late as well. All that, and she was still going to have to be broke for the next two weeks, not to mention the fact that the baby needed Pampers and the house needed a good cleaning.

  Tammy left the welfare office with more stress than she did when she walked through the door. But like all bad news that she received in her life, she had to just suck it up and try to keep it moving. She really didn’t have the time to cry over spilled milk, because in reality she knew nobody cared.

  Chapter 3

  “Hey, Ralphy!” Falisha yelled out from her porch in a sexy, sinister kind of way.

  Everybody on the street knew that Falisha was a stone-cold whore. She wasn’t just any kind of whore, though. She was somewhat sophisticated with her whorism, and had every right to be with an ass as phat as hers and a gorgeous face to match. She had light brown skin, thick, naturally curly hair that reached her shoulders, 36DD breasts, a flat stomach minus the baby fat around the edges, and she had the cutest dimples that sank into her cheeks every time she smiled.

  “I’ma give dat nigga some pussy one day,” she joked then chuckled, looking over at her girlfriend, Annet.

  “Ain’t he married?” Annet asked, knowing that it really didn’t matter.

  “Yeah, he’s married right now. But I don’t know how long that shit’s gonna last,” Falisha responded, watching Ralphy walk up his steps and then disappear into the house.

  She knew that Lisa was either cheating on Ralphy, or was about to. Falisha and one of her baller boyfriends were out one night and had run into Lisa and her ex, Dre, at Dave & Buster’s. When she saw Falisha she tried to clean it up and put some distance between her and Dre, but Falisha knew that they were together. The only reason why she didn’t blow up the situation was because Lisa was her friend also.

  Ralphy was a good friend of Falisha’s too, but she opted to take the side of the female first. That was natural for a woman. If Ralphy had gotten caught with another woman by Falisha, she would have told on him in a heartbeat, especially if the woman he got caught cheating with wasn’t Falisha herself. She was crazy that way.

  “Girl, it’s hot as shit out here. Let’s go in Ms. Dana’s house for a minute,” Annet suggested, wanting to soak up the air conditioning.

  Ms. Dana’s house was the house that everybody went to just to chill out. Her husband had passed away a couple of years ago, so she was lonely, and because he had a good job with the city, Ms. Dana had received a big settlement and still had his paycheck coming in monthly. So she kept a refrigerator full of food and a mouthful of gossip for whoever wanted to hear her. She had an open-door policy with everyone on the block.

  “Ms. D!” Falisha yelled out as she walked through the house.

  It wasn’t any surprise that Lamar was sitting on the couch finishing up a big-ass plate of tilapia fish and fried potatoes. That’s all he did when he was there.

  “You’re always eating!” Falisha joked, and walked over and took a few potatoes off of his plate.

  “When are you gonna let me eat you!” he shot back in a sexy tone, winking his eye at her.

  “Boy, you can’t afford to bite dis,” Falisha said, tapping her kittykat through her tight, coochie-cutter shorts.

  Lamar just chuckled at her remark. He always had a thing for Falisha, but she was all about a dollar. Even when they were young he always wanted her to be his girlfriend, but he was too dark for her. She liked light-skinned boys ever since she was young. They did have a couple of flirtatious moments as they got older, but it never went anywhere.

  As Falisha got older, her taste in men changed. And if a nigga wasn’t pushing a Benz or something close to it, he didn’t stand a chance. One thing she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was her worth, and because of it she became a little arrogant and conceited.

  “Let me get to work,” Lamar said, taking his plate to the kitchen.

  “Work? Nigga, where you work at?” Falisha asked, following him.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He laughed, putting his dishes into the sink.

  “Boy, you don’t have no job. You probably trappin,” she said, playing around.

  “Naw. You’ll never catch a nigga like me trappin’ again. I leave dat shit to dem
nut-ass niggas you’re fucking wit’ out there,” Lamar said, walking up to her. “And for the record, I can afford to do anything I want. Put a price tag on it, and I’ll show you what it do,” he said, tapping the side of Falisha’s ass.

  “Yeah, right!” she mocked. “Boy, don’t get beside ya’self.” She chuckled, tapping him on the chest.

  Falisha started to walk away, but Lamar grabbed her by her waist and pulled her back. Shit got serious real quick, and Lamar was pretty much at the end of his rope with her and the playing around. “Look, we’re both grown,” he said while looking directly into her eyes. “What will it take for you to spend one night with me? No games, no bullshit. I’m tryin’ to fuck,” he said flat out.

  It took Falisha by surprise for a second hearing that come out the way it did from Lamar. It was kind of crazy, but she actually respected his honesty. “Are you serious?” she asked with a curious look on her face.

  “Dead serious,” Lamar shot back.

  Falisha thought that he was still playing around, but he wasn’t. She said the first number that came to her mind, knowing that it was going to put an end to Lamar’s fantasy. “Shit. I need like a stack,” she said with a smile on her face. “You know I ain’t trickin’ if you got it,” she said with a smile.

  Lamar shook his head and walked off into the other room.

  Falisha kind of felt bad playing him like that. She knew that he couldn’t afford to spend $1,000 on some pussy. No one she ever dealt with, baller or not, ever gave her a grand cash up front to hit it one time, and she didn’t expect for it to happen now.

  Before she could walk into the other room and say that she was just kidding around, Lamar was walking back into the room with a wad of money in his hand, counting it. He counted out $1,000, and tossed it onto the table. He counted out another $500 for a total of $1,500, and threw them bills onto the table also.

  “Go find us a hotel. Get ya hair, feet, and nails done, and get a new outfit to wear tonight,” he said, tucking the remainder of the money he had into his back pocket. “Let’s make a date out of it,” he said before turning around and heading out the front door.

  Falisha couldn’t believe her eyes or what she just heard while looking down at the money. She didn’t think that Lamar would call her bluff, but he did, and he wasn’t playing any games, either. She really didn’t know how to take it. Up until now, she only halfway considered herself to be a whore. She didn’t want to fully admit it, but now Lamar had really made her feel like one: a high-priced whore, but nonetheless a real live whore in every sense of the word.

  “Shit, I’ll give dat nigga some pussy for that type of money!” Annet joked, coming into the dining room.

  Falisha was still a little stuck for a second, but she eventually scooped up the money. She counted it all before folding it up and stuffing it into her pocket.

  “So, what are you gonna do?” Annet asked.

  Falisha thought about it. “Shit. You feel like doing a bitch hair?” she asked Annet with a smile on her face.

  * * *

  “Damn! You shouldn’t be working here!” a voice said, catching Tammy’s attention. She looked up from the computer screen.

  Her job in the customer service section of Walmart required her to be able to deal with the people, but today just wasn’t her day to be friendly. She looked up with an attitude, not really in the mood for the smooth talk. She had heavier business on her plate, like how in the world she was going to pay her bills this month, especially the rent that Mr. Louis kept asking for.

  “Can I help you?” she asked with frustration visible all over her face.

  “Naw, I was just talking—”

  “If it doesn’t have anything to do with you returning items for a refund, I really don’t feel like talking,” Tammy snapped, cutting him off. She didn’t have time for any bullshit right now. The whole single mother thing was starting to take a toll on her, and things didn’t look like they were going to get better anytime soon. The last thing she wanted to do was entertain somebody tryin’ to crack on her.

  “Look, I am sorry if I made you upset. Here, take this,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a VIP card. “Find a babysitter for Friday, grab a couple of your friends, and come down to my club. You’ll sit in the VIP, and all drinks will be on the house,” he said, trying to pass her the card.

  “What makes you think I need a babysitter?” she asked while looking at the VIP card he held out to her.

  “You’re too pretty not to have kids. Besides, I know the signs of a mother when I see them,” he said with a smile.

  Tammy sat there, but didn’t take the card. As bad as she needed to take a break and have some fun, she didn’t feel like her rude manners toward him should have been rewarded.

  He did, though, so he placed the card on her desk after she refused to take it. On that, the man simply turned and left.

  Tammy couldn’t believe how generous the man was after getting nothing but attitude. She grabbed the VIP card off of the desk and looked at it. It had been so long since she had been in a club atmosphere, and she didn’t even recognize the name. “Club Live,” she mumbled to herself, looking at the card.

  A slight moment of excitement came over her; that was, until she realized that she didn’t have any money to go to the club, nor did she have any money to pay Ms. D to watch the kids. The little money she did have from her part-time job had to go toward the bills. It was a decision to either hit the club and possibly live in the dark, or pay the electric bill and sit home with the kids. For Tammy, it was a no-brainer, and with that she tossed the VIP card into the trashcan.

  * * *

  Lisa stood in the shower, letting the water run over her head. Thoughts of Dre hitting her from behind ran through her mind, causing a tingling sensation between her legs. After two months she still couldn’t believe that he was home. His body was so tight and so right, and his dick game was still the best she ever had, hands down.

  Dre wasn’t just Lisa’s ex; he was the love of her life, and had been up until the day that the judge gave him a life sentence for murder. Lisa could do time, but the one thing that she couldn’t do was a life sentence with Dre, and he understood. But before they separated they both made an oath that, no matter what their situations were, if he was to ever come home again they were going to be together. That was seven years ago.

  Three months back, Dre won his appeal and got a new trial due to a witness changing her testimony about the night she thought she saw Dre shoot and kill somebody. After she decided not to testify this time at his new trial, the DA didn’t have anything else but circumstantial evidence. It wasn’t enough to hold him for the new trial so they let him go, and the first person he came looking for was Lisa, the only woman he’d ever loved in his life.

  Lisa was startled by Ralphy pulling the shower curtains back. “Can I get in with you?” He smiled, taking his shirt off.

  She playfully sprinkled water in his face as he got in and stood behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her shoulder. It wasn’t anything sexual. He just wanted to spend some QT with his wife.

  “So, are you ready for this weekend?” Ralphy asked, taking the soapy washcloth and washing her back.

  Before he reminded her, Lisa had forgotten all about the little outing they were supposed to have. It was conflicting, too, because she had promised Dre that they were going to get together and figure out what they were going to do concerning their relationship. That conversation was something that couldn’t be put off any longer, because she couldn’t go on living a double life the way that she was. Love triangles are such hard work. “Of course I am ready,” she said, turning to face him.

  “Now, for the past few days I could tell that something has been bothering you. Is it something you wanna talk about?” Ralphy asked, pulling her closer.

  “I’m good, babe. Work, work, work!” she lied, resting her head up against his chest. She just stood there letting the water hit her
back. She hated the fact that she was lying to Ralphy and cheating on him. It was really starting to mess with her mentality.

  The love that she had for him was strong. He came at a time in Lisa’s life when she was just about ready to give up on love. None of the men who came after Dre were worthy of falling in love with, but then Ralphy came along and reminded her so much of the only man she ever loved. That was the reason why she fell for Ralphy so hard, and eventually ended up marrying him. Now that the real thing was back, she really didn’t know what to do.

  Chapter 4

  Falisha pulled into the Bally’s Hotel and Casino where Lamar had made reservations. She stepped out of her dark blue Charger looking like a celebrity. Her thick thighs and phat ass barely fit into the Dolce & Gabbana dress she wore, and her large breasts were cupped just right, showing a lot but hiding the best part.

  “Damn, Falisha!” Lamar said, coming out and meeting her at the door. “I guess you’re gonna be my eye candy for the night, too.” He smiled.

  “Why not? You paid for it!” She snickered, throwing her arm up under his while they walked into the building.

  Valet parking attendants took a minute to get her car out of the way. Everybody stopped to watch Falisha walk away, and it was worth all of the horns being blown by people who were trying to get their cars parked.

  Lamar had the entire night planned for them, starting with dinner at an upscale restaurant inside the hotel, then a comedy show, and then on to the grand finale. “Check dis out,” he said, stopping her before they got all the way into the restaurant. “Tonight, all the friendship shit is out the door. Even if it’s only for this one night, you’re considered to be my wife for the night. You got me?” he asked, grabbing a hold of her waist.

  Falisha looked up at him, threw her arms around his neck, and then leaned in to kiss him.

  Her lips were so soft and tasted so sweet that Lamar’s dick started to get hard. He pulled back and just looked into her brown eyes for a moment.