Single Ladies

by Blake Karrington

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Ding Dong! Ding Dong! Ding Dong!

  “Fuck!” Kim yelled, throwing her head back on to the pillow, pissed that someone was interrupting her morning lovemaking session.

  Lamar jumped down off the bed, grabbed his pants, slid them up, and stormed out of the room and down the staircase. Kim was right behind him, grabbing the first piece of clothing she could get her hands on. Placing the red bathrobe over her body, she ran down the steps. Lamar did not look out the window to see who was at the door. He flung the door open and was met by a set of eyes that were full of shock, and then hurt. Falisha stood in front of him, looking like a lost child. All the anger he felt disappeared and was replaced by guilt and shame.

  “Who da fuck is banging on my door?” Kim shouted as she walked up behind Lamar and peeked her head around him to see who it was.

  Falisha looked at Kim and then back at Lamar. Neither of them was wearing much, and they were agitated at the interruption. She had obviously interrupted something, but what? Lamar was her man, and this shit was about to be answered.

  * * *

  Sitting in the passenger side, Tammy flipped the sun visor down to check her makeup and hair in the mirror. She had been looking forward to tonight all week. It was date night with Darious, and being with him was like floating on a cloud. She was free from kids, and no work tomorrow! It was the Lord’s day, and her day of rest.

  “Can you stop at the Rite Aid?” Tammy asked, looking over at Darious, who was humming to himself.

  “Yeah, sure, it’s one coming up in a couple of minutes,” he said, taking her hand and kissing it. “You know you don’t have to try so hard. You got a natural beauty,” he said, cutting his eyes over at her.

  Tammy smirked. She loved being complimented by him. It made her feel beautiful and desired. He was smooth enough not to make it sound corny or insincere. They had been spending more time together, getting to know each other, and Darious had been nothing less than a gentleman. Darius had catered to Tammy’s every need, and he had displayed great restraint in the sex department. There had been no pressure from him, and he seemed genuinely interested in getting to know her as a person. That made Tammy’s lower region tingle more for him, and she had made the decision that tonight she was going to put her rabbit away, and slide down on something bigger than two inches. She rested her hand on his thigh, leaned over, and kissed his cheek, sending a jolt from his thigh to his dick.

  Darious turned into the parking lot of the Rite Aid. He put the car in park and turned off the engine. “A’ight, missy, hurry up.” Darious said jokingly.

  Tammy laughed and got out of the car, headed toward the store. As she disappeared through the doors, her cell began to ring in the passenger seat. Darious looked down at it. The phone trilled like it was trying to make him pick it up and answer it. He bit his lip and looked out the window.

  “Damn, is her voicemail going to pick up?” Darious said, picking up the phone to swipe ignore. Instead, he hit answer. “Shit.” He looked toward the doors of the store and put the phone on speaker. “Yo.”

  The automated message stated, “You have a prepaid call. You will not be charged for this call. This call is from Chris.”

  Darious hung up the phone. He sighed and laid the phone back on the seat. He had planned this night for a minute, and he didn’t want anything to interrupt it. He picked the phone up again and pressed the power button. He wanted tonight to be perfect and flawless.

  Tammy chewed her bottom lip as the cashier rang up the condoms, four bottles of 5-hour Energy, chips, and the Fiji water she knew that Darious liked.

  “Umm, girl, you look like you ’bout to have a good night. That will be $22.50,” the cashier said, placing her items in the white plastic bag.

  Tammy laughed and swiped her ATM card. She keyed in her code, and the cashier handed her the receipt. “Thank you,” Tammy said and walked toward the doors.

  “You went in there to get some snacks?” Darious asked when Tammy got back into the car with a small bag. He was hoping that she didn’t notice that her phone was off, but Tammy picked right up on it. She looked at the blank screen then over at Darious. He had to think of something quick, and said the first thing that came to his mind.

  “Just me and you tonight.” He smiled as he grabbed his phone from the center console and turned it off right in front of her face.

  Tammy studied him for a moment. She caressed his face, and leaned over and kissed him slowly. She was glad they were on the same vibe. Darious slid his hand down her back. Her kiss almost made him forget about the jailhouse phone call. For now, he wasn’t going to think about it too much. However, at some point, they would have to talk about it.

  * * *

  Lamar applied pressure with the dishtowel to the right side of Ms. D’s head. There was a pool of blood on the floor, some on the sink, and blood on her face.

  “Come on, Ms. D, the ambulance is here. Stay wit’ me,” Lamar yelled as he cradled her head.

  Ms. D had been watching Tammy’s kids. Falisha had stopped by to check on them and found Ms. D face down in a pool of blood. Ms. D’s wound was bleeding so much that she had to grab a second dishtowel for Lamar.

  “Shit, she bleeding a lot!” Falisha said.

  The EMTs came into the kitchen. Lamar stood slowly as one EMT placed oxygen over Ms. D’s mouth. “We got it, sir,” the EMT said, placing an inflatable pillow under her head and a neck brace on her neck.

  Lamar walked out onto the porch to join Kim, and Falisha followed. Falisha looked down at the trail of blood that led from the kitchen; it looked like Ms. D was trying to crawl out of the kitchen and had collapsed. When Falisha saw her, she wasn’t sure if someone was still in the house, and she ran over to Lamar’s for help.

  “Shit, the kids! I need to go check on them,” Lamar said, stopping by the steps. The EMT had Ms. D on the gurney, and they were rolling her through the doors.

  “No,” Falisha said, grabbing Lamar’s arm. “You go with Ms. D; me and Kim gon’ stay here with the kids,” Falisha said, cutting her eyes at Kim. Even with the shit that was going down, she wanted to get at what the hell was going on with the two of them. Falisha was going to get answers as to what the fuck was going on with him answering the door half naked, and Kim wearing his robe, obviously with nothing on under it. She had to be cool about it, so Lamar wouldn’t pick up on how pissed she was, and she knew asking him what was going on would only result in a lie. She was going to get the truth out of Kim, and she needed his ass out of the way while she got her answers.

  Lamar looked at Ms. D on the stretcher and then back at Falisha. He walked slowly to the ambulance. Before stepping in, he turned to look back at the two women, and his stomach tightened. Leaving the two of them alone could not result in anything good, but Ms. D needed him. He stepped into the back of the ambulance. He had a feeling his cake was about to be destroyed; he had each woman thinking she was wifey. One thinking they had somewhat of a relationship, and the other thinking they were on their way to becoming an official couple. Shit was crazy with Ms. D, but he had a feeling that his head could end up bleeding like hers once the two woman talked to each other

  “Let me try to call Tammy,” Kim said, walking over to the house phone.

  “You fuckin’ Lamar?” Falisha asked bluntly.

  Kim placed the phone down and turned to Falisha. She was aware of the fact that they messed around from time to time, but that was it, or at least that was what she thought. “Why you asking me about Lamar?” Kim shot back.

  “Because Lamar is my man,” Falisha said, placing her hands on her hips.

  Kim laughed and waved her hand at Falisha, but the look in Falisha’s eyes made her stop laughing. “Are you serious?” Kim asked jokingly, thinking Falisha was playing.

  Falisha sat down. “Yeah, man.”

  “Oh, you serious?” Kim said, walking over to the couch. The look on Falisha’s face wasn’t that of a woman who was joking around. Looking in he
r eyes, Kim could see that Falisha was serious. She was shocked at this crazy turn of events. The room became silent, and all Kim could do was shake her head.

  Judging from the expression on Kim’s face, Falisha could tell that Kim, like her, had fallen for the lies Lamar spewed. Whatever the case may have been, all of Lamar’s dirty little laundry was about to come out.

  * * *

  Chris went back to his cell, sick as a dog with worms. After hearing another man answering Tammy’s phone, all kinds of thoughts ran through his head. He knew that Tammy had been seeing someone, but being hit in the face with the reality of it made his emotions run out of control. Hurt, anger, and betrayal all coursed through his body with each step he took. He felt his head spin, and his vision had a red haze.

  “Damn, my nigga. The police is about to call lockdown,” Chris’s celly, Deacon, said, coming into the room. “You gon’ heat ya food up?”

  “Nah, homie, I’ll eat dat shit in the morning,” Chris replied and leaned back on his bed. Food was the last thing on his mind. At the moment, the vision of Tammy riding another nigga’s dick played in his head like a 3D movie. The thought of her fucking another nigga, and the dude being around his kids, made his stomach tighten and burn. He stared at the ceiling.

  “Man, you okay?” Deacon asked.

  “I’m good, man,” Chris said, turning over to face the wall. There wasn’t anything he could do about the situation at the moment. He closed his eyes and prayed for sleep.

  * * *

  Falisha crossed her legs and listened to Kim break down everything about her relationship with Lamar. Kim expressed her love for Lamar, and how they were on their way to planning a life together. They had been seeing each other for a while, but had kept their relationship between the two of them. They wanted to ensure that it was solid before announcing it to the world. Kim sat back on the couch; the women were quiet. Kim thought she was playing it smart with Lamar. She knew that Lamar had some situations to handle, like his fling with Falisha. Kim had decided to sit back, be patient, and keep things private until he worked his issues out. In her heart, she knew that Lamar needed to get things in check, and she didn’t want any of his issues to become hers. At the end of the day, Kim had felt that she wore the crown, and would get the jewels because she did live with him, and he came home most nights to her bed.

  Kim made things crystal clear for Falisha, and it explained Lamar’s behavior lately. He had toggled between being friends, and being together. Lamar was the best at keeping her off keel.

  The best trick of the devil is to convince you he doesn’t exist, and Lamar’s trick was his honesty. He had told Falisha that he was still seeing other females because he wasn’t sure about how sincere Falisha’s feelings were for him. She had hurt him a couple times before, and he couldn’t bring himself to commit to her until he was sure she was really ready for there to be a “them.” She knew he had been playing around, but she thought the chicks were random. Now she was finding out they weren’t random, but one steady: Kim.

  “So now what?” Kim asked, having laid all her cards out on the table.

  Falisha looked over at Kim with one eyebrow up. She then reached for her tote bag over on the coffee table. She shook her head as she rummaged through the bag until she found what she was looking for. For a second, Kim thought that Falisha was going to pull out a gun and shoot her. If anybody was crazy enough to do something like that, it would have been her. But instead of a gun, Falisha pulled out a sandwich bag of some Ol’ Gran’ Daddy Kush, along with some swisher sweets to roll up with.

  “I’m not letting him go,” Falisha said as she crumbled up some weed on the table.

  Kim looked at her like she was crazy; she felt the same way. After all that was said, neither woman was ready to let Lamar go so fast, and the only reason the two women weren’t rolling around on the ground fighting like cats and dogs right now was because of their friendship and the love they had for each other. There was no way possible they were going to let a man ruin their friendship; but, at the same time, love was very unpredictable.

  “Well, I’m not letting him go either,” Kim said, which Falisha expected. “So may the best bitch win,” Kim said as she dug in the bag of weed and pulled out some Kush to roll up for herself.

  They both just sat there blowing on the weed, trying to figure out how in the world they were going to deal with this situation. It seemed crazy, but Lamar was the type of man most women hoped to have in their life. Kim and Falisha both knew his potential, and they knew that whoever he chose to give his heart to would be happy.

  * * *

  Ms. D lay back in the bed. She had eight stitches on the side of her skull, and an IV to replace the fluids and blood she’d lost. Lamar had spoken to the doctor; he told the doctor he was Ms. D’s son so that he could get the information he needed about her condition. She had gotten dizzy and fallen. She hit her head on the sink, and the last thing she remembered doing was washing the dishes and drying out NaNa’s bottles. Everything after that was a blur. Although she was getting on up in age, she told herself that she was healthy. She had been having dizzy spells, but none when she had been babysitting. She wasn’t on any medication and felt great most of the time. Lamar shook the doctor’s hand and took a seat beside Ms. D’s bed.

  “Did he say when I could get out of here?” Ms. D asked, looking at Lamar.

  “No. They need to run some more tests on you. So just sit back and relax. That is a nasty gash,” Lamar said as he poured a cup of water for her. The door opened and a petite brown-skinned nurse entered.

  “Excuse me, Nurse. When can I leave?” Ms. D asked, ignoring Lamar.

  “Dr. Patrick wants to check you out before he discharges you. I’m going to take some more blood from you in a few minutes,” the nurse answered.

  Ms. D smacked her lips, and began mumbling curse words to herself under her breath. Lamar tried to hide his smile as he watched her pout like a toddler.

  Ms. D looked out the window. Hospitals, doctors, needles, medicine, and fucking bills. The cherry on top is usually some kind of bad news about your life. That was why she had stayed away from doctors and anything medical for the last two years. Her head began to throb, reminding her that she had no choice now but to sit, wait, and pray about the damn tests they would be running on her. Patience wasn’t one of her strong suits, and waiting was going to be more painful than the stitches in her head.

  Chapter 22

  Lisa sat on the porch waiting for Naomi’s father, Ralphy, to drop her off from her weekend visit with him. This was the first weekend in two weeks that he had been able to spend time with Naomi, due to his schedule. Lisa wasn’t sure what his schedule was, but it was no longer her concern. They had filed for divorce, but it wasn’t official. Yet, Ralphy was living his life like the papers were signed by the judge and filed. He had a new look, new house, new cell phone number, and a new group of friends. His world was exclusive, and it excluded her. She had no way to contact him directly, so she communicated with him through his relatives, or on days like today when he would personally drop their daughter off. Despite everything, Ralphy loved Naomi with all his heart, and she was a daddy’s girl through and through.

  Her cell phone began to ring. She looked at the table beside her chair on the porch and then realized she had left it in the house on the chair by the door. She grabbed it in time to hear the click on the line. She checked the caller ID, but the call showed as private. She cursed, thinking she could have missed a call from Ralphy. She heard a horn beep twice, and she opened the screen door and stepped outside. The white 2012 Range Rover seemed to glisten in the sunlight. It had tinted windows and a set of twenty-four-inch rims complementing the already stunning SUV.

  As the SUV parked, the back door opened and Naomi jumped out beaming. “Mommy!” Naomi yelled, trying to grab the bags from the back seat.

  Lisa walked down the steps, and held her arms out for Naomi, who giggled and placed bags in her open arms. The driver�
��s door opened and Ralphy walked around the car to help Naomi get her bags from the back seat of the Range. Ralphy, like his truck, seemed to glisten. The dude had more than stepped up; he had flown up an entire level. The last car he had was a 2007 Buick LeSabre.

  “She gonna need some help with these,” Ralphy said, pulling the bags from the back seat.

  “Mommy, we went shopping.” Naomi said, taking a bag from her father.

  “Wow, I see,” Lisa said, looking at Ralphy. He wore a white fitted V-neck T-shirt under a black leather Polo jacket. The shirt hugged his slim waist, tight stomach, and broad shoulders. His dark True Religion jeans sat just on top of the Louis Vuitton sneakers. The aviator frames complemented his rich brown skin, low-cut wavy hair, and neatly trimmed beard. She inhaled the scent of Creed that emanated from him as he handed her the bags. She swallowed. The scent, the clothes, and his swag actually made it hard for her to focus.

  “You look good,” Lisa said, reaching over and grabbing the iced-out letter R Ralphy had dangling from his chain. “I see the single life treating you good,” she said, letting the piece go and looking over at the Range.

  “Who said that I was single?” Ralphy said, laughing as he walked back to his SUV. Ralphy got in and rolled the passenger window down. Lisa then noticed the dark-haired, young, beautiful Latin chick sitting in the passenger seat texting or something on her phone. She never looked up to even acknowledge Lisa.

  “Drop her off at my mom’s house next week at the same time,” Ralphy said to Lisa before rolling up the window.

  He pulled off before Lisa could respond. She was trying to process what had just happened. Her brain was playing catch-up as she stood on the sidewalk with her mouth open, watching the SUV head toward the stop sign.

  “Mommy, let’s go inside so I can show you my clothes. Mommy!” Naomi said, pulling on Lisa’s shirt.