Single Ladies

by Blake Karrington

  Falisha thought about it. She didn’t want to make Lamar mad but, at the same time, she did want to show Fox some support. He’s not asking to sleep with me, and who says Lamar has to find out anyway? Besides, Falisha was a party animal, and she knew that if Fox rented out a club, it was going to be bananas.

  “Let me see what I got going on that weekend. If I’m free, then I’ll come through,” Falisha told him. “I’ll let you know in a couple of days. Is that cool?”

  “Yeah, that’s cool, baby girl. Make sure you do that so I can have ya VIP passes ready for you. And if you wanna bring ya boyfriend wit’ you, that’s cool, too. I don’t got no ill feelings toward him,” Fox assured her.

  This definitely wasn’t the Fox Falisha knew. The change that he was talking about became more apparent in his words and, oddly, it was somewhat attractive to her. It wasn’t to the point where she thought about getting back with him or anything; she just admired the maturity in an older man. It was definitely a good look on Fox.

  “A’ight, Fox, I’ll give you a call,” Falisha said.

  “A’ight, baby girl; and don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything,” Fox ended before hanging up the phone.

  Chapter 27

  Lisa and Naomi headed out the door, ready to start their day. Lisa had adjusted her work schedule in order to be able to take Nomi to school in the morning. It used to be Ralphy’s job, but just like everything else in her life, she now had to learn how to adapt.

  “Mommy, look,” Naomi yelled, pointing to the street.

  Ralphy had pulled up, getting all the attention from the little kids on their way to school. His Range Rover was a head turner, like most luxury vehicles rolling through the hood.

  “Daddy!” Naomi yelled, running up and jumping into his arms when he got out of the SUV.

  “Hi, princess,” he said giving her two fat-faced kisses.

  Lisa wanted to run up and kiss him too, but opted to just say hello with a smile. This was the hard part for her, standing there in front of him while he stood there looking sexy as hell to her. “You gon’ take ya princess to school this morning?” Lisa asked, smiling at how much Naomi looked just like him.

  “Yeah, I think I can do that. I really don’t have much to do today. If it’s okay, I’ll probably pick her up, too. What do you think about us going out for dinner?” Ralphy asked as he put Naomi in the back seat.

  “I think that would be nice,” Lisa answered.

  “I might as well take you to work too, then pick you up after I get Naomi. After dinner, I can bring both of you home,” Ralphy suggested.

  Lisa wasn’t about to protest that in the least. This was a big step in their relationship, and she was more than willing for them to spend time together as a family. Naomi needed that, so did Lisa, and, in all honesty, Ralphy needed it too.

  * * *

  “Wake up sleepyhead,” Lamar said, tapping Kim on the shoulder. “You gon’ be late for work.” He laughed.

  Kim cracked her eyes open and Lamar cupped his hand over his nose and made a stinky face. She punched him in the stomach for teasing her about her morning breath.

  “Boy, my breath don’t stink,” she defended, puckering up her lips for a kiss. “Stop playing,” she said after Lamar backed away from her.

  He leaned back in and kissed her anyway, and to his surprise, her breath really didn’t stink nor did her tongue taste salty. That was something new he didn’t know about her, and it was pleasing to find out that he could wake up every morning to her kiss. “So what time are you going on ya lunch break today?” Lamar asked, climbing out of bed.

  “Why, you gon’ bring me something to eat?” Kim asked.

  “I was thinking about it. Just call me and let me know what you want me to get you,” he said, heading for the shower.

  Kim stretched and yawned, then got out of the bed to join Lamar in the shower. When she got to the bathroom, Lamar was sitting on the toilet taking a shit. He looked up in shock when she walked in. Kim laughed at his facial expression.

  “We are a couple now. You don’t got no privacy anymore.” Kim laughed, climbing into the already steaming shower. “And since I’m on the topic of us officially being a couple, when are you going to tell her?” Kim yelled through the running shower water.

  Lamar hurried up and wiped his ass then joined Kim in the shower. This was the first time he’d been in the shower with Kim, and the way the water beaded off her body made his dick hard. She was looking so sexy.

  “I’ma get around to it. You know I’m not the kind of guy who intentionally hurts others. I just wanna do it at the right time,” Lamar said, wrapping his arms around Kim under the water.

  The only reason Kim didn’t object to his way of doing things was because she kind of felt the same way. Falisha was a very close friend of hers, if not her best friend, and when she found out that Kim and Lamar were together, it was going to hurt, despite how much Falisha would try to deny it. Kim knew she didn’t want to be the one to tell her, so she would respect Lamar’s timeline in revealing their relationship.

  “I love you, boy,” Kim said, turning around to face him.

  She looked down at his rock-hard dick and couldn’t help herself. She moved from the front to the back of the shower, out from under the water. Lamar’s eyes followed her as she bent straight over and held on to the edge of the tub. Her soft, wet, pink pussy spread apart, giving him a clear shot of it. A good, stiff dick was exactly what she needed to get her day started, and Lamar was more than happy to provide it for her.

  * * *

  Darious pulled up to Tammy’s house with another car following him. Darious wasn’t in the streets like that, but he did have a couple of his close friends who were, and they didn’t mind putting in work for him. When Darious got out of the car, so did they, and there wasn’t a question as to whether they had guns on them, because they were clearly visible, poking out of their waistline. They stood in front of Tammy’s house like they were guarding the president.

  “Why you ain’t dressed yet?” Darious asked when Tammy came to the door looking like she had just woken up.

  “I’m sorry. I fell back to sleep when I took Anthony to school and dropped the baby off at the daycare center,” Tammy said, stepping to the side so he could come in. Tammy looked outside and saw the two thugs standing in front of her door, then she walked back into the house with Darious. “What’s going on?” she asked, walking up to him.

  “It’s nothing. Just hurry up and get dressed. We got somewhere to be in less than an hour,” he said, leaning in and giving Tammy a kiss.

  Having already taken a shower that morning, Tammy went upstairs and got dressed. About ten minutes later, she was back downstairs and they were heading out the door. It didn’t take long for Tammy to look up and see that they were on the highway.

  “So where are you taking me today?” Tammy smiled, reaching over and softly scratching the side of Darious’s head.

  “You said you love me, right?” he asked, looking in his rearview mirror before getting off on the exit.

  “Of course I do, babe,” she answered.

  “Well, I love you too, and I wanna be able to chill wit’ you without having to look over my shoulders, wondering if ya baby father’s brother gon’ shoot me. I wanna be able to spend the night wit’ you and not rush to get up and leave in the morning because it’s checkout time at the hotel,” Darious said.

  “I understand how ya feel, but how do you plan on fixin’ that?” she asked with a curious look on her face.

  “Look around, Tammy,” Darious told her, pointing out the window “We’re twenty-five minutes away from the hood, and look at your surroundings.”

  She looked out of the window and noticed the quiet suburban area Darious was driving through. It wasn’t too upscale for the average white family to live in, but it was definitely better than the rough, drug-infested neighborhood Tammy had lived in all her life. It was hard for her to deny wanting to live in a better community.
Her only problem was deciding if she was ready to move into a house with Darious this early in their relationship. Before Tammy could even bring up that issue, Darious pulled into the garage of the first house he had on his three-house viewing agenda for the day.

  “Wow,” Tammy said, getting out of the car and looking at the beautiful townhouse.

  Tammy looked at Darious then back at the house. She could already picture herself coming home from work and sticking her key in the front door. So far, Darious didn’t fall short in any aspect of being a real man, and Tammy could see that he wasn’t going to make it easy for her to deny packing up her things and moving in with him.

  * * *

  After Kim went to work, Lamar tried to get some sleep, since he had been up all night and most of the morning. The doorbell ringing really put a monkey wrench in his plan, especially since he was almost 100 percent sure who it was. He started not to answer, but that wouldn’t have done him any good, because Falisha wasn’t going to let him sleep anyway.

  He shot downstairs and answered the door, and there she was, standing there with a miniskirt and tank top on, and some Chuck Taylors on her feet. Lamar couldn’t lie. She was making basic hood clothes look oh so good. He thought about how good her body always felt, and just her standing there made his dick start to get hard.

  “Nigga, where you been all night?” Falisha asked, brushing right by him and walking into the house. “Did Kim go to work yet?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

  “You know she’s gone already. Ay, listen. While you’re here, I need to talk to you about something,” Lamar said, taking a seat on the arm of the couch.

  Falisha didn’t pay him any mind. She walked over to Lamar and straddled him on the couch. She began kissing him with small pecks against his lips, which he was finding difficult to deny. She went from his lips to his neck, and for a moment, he almost forgot what he needed to talk to her about.

  “Hold up, Falisha. Chill for a second,” Lamar said, pulling his neck away from her lips.

  It was as if Falisha wasn’t hearing anything Lamar was saying. When she got into her sex zone, there wasn’t too much that could stop her. She pulled her tank top over her head, allowing her bare chest to flop out. Feeling them against his chest had Lamar at his breaking point. His dick was so hard, and Falisha could feel it through his sweat pants, right at the entry point of her pussy. She looked at him and bit down on her bottom lip in a seductive manner.

  “Stop playing, boy. You know you want this pussy,” she said, standing up and dropping her skirt to the ground. “I’m wet as hell.” She smirked.

  Lamar couldn’t take it anymore. It was like his brain shut down and his dick started running the show. In a lustful rage, he jumped up from the couch, grabbed Falisha by her throat and her waist and lifted her in the air. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held on to the back of his neck as he walked her across the room to the nearest wall. He slammed her up against it, dropped his sweatpants and pushed his dick deep inside of her. Mad at himself and at Falisha for seducing him like this, he viciously fucked her to the point where she could barely take the dick. He pounded away, making sure every inch of his meat dug inside of her. Falisha yelled out in both pain and pleasure, and within a few minutes of Lamar giving her the business, they both exploded at the same time: Falisha all over him, and Lamar all inside of her; but unlike every sex session that seemed so amazing between them, this one had a very heavy price tag on it. A price that Lamar knew he probably couldn’t afford.

  Chapter 28

  “Scoop, what it do, my nigga?” Manny greeted him, hopping out of his black Yukon Denali.

  Manny was from the west side, but had grown up all over Charlotte, and pretty much knew everybody. Scoop used to score dope from him awhile back when things dried up. He had some good prices, too. Ralphy had put a halt to all that once he got back in the game, so it had been a minute since Manny had been around this way.

  “Tell me something good,” Scoop said, giving him dap.

  “I know ya boy Ralphy got da block back, but I thought you should know that I got dat work for da low, low,” Manny said, lighting up a cigarette. “Whenever you ready to do ya own thing, just let me know. I got a steady connect who’s blessing me right now. I can get you right. All you gotta do is give me the word.”

  Scoop looked at all the dopefiend traffic walking up and down the block and thought how much he wanted his block back. Ralphy had his claws dug in deep, and he wasn’t trying to let go. Scoop was making good money too, just not as much as Ralphy was.

  “Ay, yo. You remember da boy Dre who got killed on the other side?” Scoop asked.

  “Yeah, yeah. Good dude, just gave back a life sentence before coming home,” Manny said, nodding his head.

  “Yeah, well, homicide detectives came around here asking a bunch of questions. They think Ralphy had something to with that. Between me and you, I don’t think my boy gon’ be out here much longer,” Scoop added.

  “Damn, you sure about that?” Manny asked, picking up on where Scoop was going with his comment.

  “Yeah, they said he stood over Dre and hit him up close range. Punk-ass police asked me if I gave him the gun to do it. I said, ‘Hell no.’” Scoop chuckled.

  Scoop didn’t have to talk direct in order for Manny to understand that Ralphy was the one who killed Dre, and Scoop was the one who supplied the gun and was possibly there. Scoop wasn’t trying to get Ralphy locked up directly, but he knew that if Manny spread the rumors to the right people, niggas was going to be gunning for Ralphy. With Ralphy all the way out of the way, Scoop could get his block back and probably be the number one man on the east side. Now that he had Manny ready to supply him with whatever he needed, there was no need for him to keep pinching pennies and riding Ralphy’s coattails. It was time for a change. This was the part of the game Ralphy had forgotten about; but he was going to be reminded of in the worst way, real soon.

  * * *

  Falisha sat in the waiting area at the OB/GYN clinic waiting for her name to be called. A lot of unprotected sex had been going on between her and Lamar, and since Falisha knew that Lamar and Kim were also having unprotected sex, it was time for her to get checked out for any STD she could have contracted from them.

  “Hey, Linda,” Falisha greeted her, walking into the room. She and her doctor were on first-name basis since Falisha didn’t hesitate when it came down to her health. After changing into her gown, lying back on the table, and getting an STD swab, Falisha sat there and waited for her results. After about twenty minutes, Linda came back into the room.

  “You got a clean bill of health, Falisha,” Linda said, looking at her clipboard. “Now, here’s your vitamins. Take one a day. Studies show that babies mature better when the mother takes her—”

  “Wait, did you just say ‘baby’?” Falisha interrupted.

  “Oh, my God! You didn’t know that you were pregnant?” Linda asked. “You’re about six months along.”

  “I can’t be. I just had my period about two weeks ago.” Falisha laughed, thinking it had to be a mistake.

  After Linda explained to Falisha that it was possible for her to get pregnant and still have some bleeding, the laughing stopped. Falisha sat there on the patient table and let her head drop into her hands. She didn’t know what she was about to do, and for the next fifteen to twenty minutes she continued sitting there, allowing the shocking news to settle in.

  * * *

  Tammy sat on her bed, looking at the set of keys Darious had just passed her, and still couldn’t believe that he had rented out a three-bedroom home in the country for them to live in. He put Tammy’s name on the lease along with his, just to let it be known that they were in this together.

  “What about my kids? Chris is going to always be in their lives and so will his family. I don’t wanna bring that kind of drama out there,” Tammy said, looking over at Darious standing by the window.

  “Look, we can keep this as a front. His famil
y can still come over here to check up on the kids but, at nighttime, I need you home with me,” Darious explained.

  “And how long is that supposed to go on?” Tammy asked.

  “Until ya baby father and the rest of his family get it through their head that I’m not going anywhere.” Darious meant every word of it, too. The lengths he was willing to go in order to be with Tammy had no boundaries, and Tammy was loving the fact that she had somebody like him willing to stand up and fight to be with her.

  “Come here,” he said, walking over and grabbing her hand and pulling her off the bed.

  When they got downstairs, Darious reached in his pocket and pulled out his car keys. Tammy looked at him with one eyebrow up. She wondered what he was up to now. They both walked out onto the front steps. Darious’s two homies were still standing in front of the house and, in the middle of the street, Darious’s white Dodge Charger was double parked.

  “Dis ya car now,” he said, separating his house keys from his car keys and passing them to her. “This is so you can get back and forth from here to home whenever you need to. I’ll transfer the title over to your name when I get off of work tomorrow,” Darious said, leaning in and giving her a kiss. “It’s team us. Is you wit’ me?” Darious asked, sticking his fist out for a dap.

  Tammy dapped him, looked into his eyes, and smiled. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down to give him another kiss. “Yeah, it’s team us,” she confirmed, kissing him yet again.

  Just when Tammy was in a state of bliss, she looked down the block and saw an all-black Chevy Impala creeping up. Knowing whose car it was, Tammy tapped Darious for him to pay attention to what was about to go down. Outlaw was back on his bullshit again but, this time, Darious was on point.

  * * *

  “Now don’t be over here cryin’ an’ shit,” Ms. D said, walking into the room where Falisha sought refuge. “Women get pregnant every day. All the fun and games are over. It’s time to put on ya big girl panties now,” she said, taking a seat in her love chair.