Single Ladies

by Blake Karrington

“I really don’t feel like going out tonight, babe. Plus, I need to talk to you about something,” Kim said.

  “That’s crazy, ’cause I wanna talk to you about something too,” Lamar shot back, dipping his hand into the bathwater and twirling it around.

  Kim looked as Lamar stared aimlessly at the bubbles floating in the tub. She wondered if he’d already found out about the abortion from somebody else, such as Falisha, or whoever else Mrs. D probably told. Before she went into her defense mode, she had to see what Lamar knew, if he knew anything at all. “But what do you want to talk about?” Kim asked, wiping the suds off her arm.

  Lamar sat there thinking about it. He wanted the moment to be right, but at the same time, he didn’t want to waste another minute before asking for Kim’s hand in marriage. It was now or never, and there was nobody or nothing that could interrupt him.

  “Kim, I really need you to know that I love you, and there’s nobody else in the world I would want to spend the rest of my life with,” Lamar said, reaching into his back pocket for the little box.

  Kim’s heart started beating erratically when she saw the suede box and, from its size, she knew that it had to be a ring. Lamar got off the tub and got down on one knee. Kim sat up in the tub, cupping her hands over her mouth in shock.

  “I just don’t wanna spend the rest of my life without you. I wanna stand by your side and truly be the man who makes you smile from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed at night. I wanna be the person you can depend upon to be there for you through it all and be more than just your boyfriend. I wanna be your husband, Kim. Will you by my wife?” Lamar asked, opening the little case.

  Kim was in tears and, for the first time ever, they were tears of joy. She had a few boyfriends in her time, some good and some bad; never did any of them propose to her. She was speechless, all except for the one word Lamar hoped to hear.

  “Yes!” Kim said, then leaned out of the tub to kiss him.

  * * *

  Tammy didn’t go and pick the kids up right away like she planned to do after she’d dropped the medication off to James. She called Darious, who told her to meet him at his job, because he was about to get off anyway. As soon as she pulled up in front of the hospital, Darious walked out and got right into the car. He could tell something was wrong by the look she had on her face.

  “What did I do now?” Darious asked in a playful way.

  Tammy wasn’t up for too many games right now. “Are you selling drugs?” she asked flat out.

  “Tam, you know I work in a hospital,” Darious spoke.

  “No, Darious, that’s not what I asked you. I just came from Milton Road and James’s house looked like a trap spot. He got money all over the table, bitches walking around with guns in their back pockets like it’s legal,” Tammy snapped. “I swear, if you got me delivering drugs and ain’t telling me—”

  “Tammy, I’m not selling drugs. James just had a disc put into his back, and the medication I gave him came from a doctor,” Darious said, cutting her off. “I wouldn’t do that to you, babe,” he said, placing his hand over hers. “Do you really think I am a drug dealer?”

  Tammy didn’t question him on what he said. If James had a disc in his back, then that’s what it was. With Darious, Tammy felt like she could trust him, and there hadn’t been a time yet that he’d lied to her. For those reasons alone, Tammy left it dead, but one thing she knew for sure was that under no circumstances would she be making any more deliveries to Milton Road. Ever!

  * * *

  Ralphy pulled up to the hospital to pick Johanna up and take her to the house that he shared with her. She was waiting out front in a wheelchair, with her cousin, DeeDee, standing by her side. Ralphy felt somewhat bad that the niggas who were looking for him came after her as well. It showed Ralphy that whoever it was really meant business.

  “Damn, mommy,” Ralphy said, walking over and scooping her out of the wheelchair. “I’m sorry this happened to you but, rest easy, I’m going to find out who did it, and I’m going to bury them,” he assured her.

  Johanne didn’t want that, not now or ever, for that matter. She was carrying a child, and couldn’t afford to lose Ralphy to the streets. Johanne wanted her child to grow up with a father just like she did, and at the rate Ralphy was going that wasn’t going to happen. She spoke the only words she figured could change his mind about getting revenge.

  “Babe, I’m pregnant!” Johanne exclaimed.

  Ralphy almost dropped her after hearing those words. To be sure, he made her repeat what she’d just said, which was the same as he thought. He stood curbside, holding Johanne in his arms, at a loss for words.

  “Damn, you’re not gonna say anything?” Johanne asked with a slight attitude, seeing that he wasn’t excited as she was.

  Ralphy wasn’t excited because he didn’t want to have a baby by her. Johanne was cool, and she looked good as hell, but Ralphy wasn’t even sure if he loved her, let alone wanted to have a baby with her. His heart was always with his family, and that’s something that would never change, no matter what. It wouldn’t even be fair to give Johanne the impression that he wanted this baby.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll talk about it when we get home,” Ralphy said, putting her into the back seat of the Range Rover.

  On the strength that DeeDee was with her, Ralphy opted to not embarrass Johanne with his disapproval. He had enough respect for her to do it in private, which he was sure to do just as soon as they got home.

  Chapter 35

  “Damn, homie, you ain’t going out to the rec yard?” Willow, Chris’s celly, asked while walking into the cell.

  Chris wasn’t too pressed about going outside right now. He had just received a letter from his lawyer, stating that the court of appeals wanted to have oral arguments on the several issues he had raised on his appeal. It was a bit of good news for him, as his issues were strong enough to either get a new trial or possibly even walk out of the front doors with time served.

  “Yo, how often do people actually win their appeals?” Chris asked Willow as he stared at the letter.

  “It depends, homie. If you got good issues, then you got a chance. Wit’ these dudes around here, everybody has that crazy notion that appeals are easy, but they aren’t. You really gotta box the government into a corner to the point where they can’t legally respond to what it is that you’re arguing,” Willow said, as he changed into his basketball clothes. “Just stay focused, homie, and try not to be the defendant. Play devil’s advocate and look at it through the eyes of the prosecution,” Willow said before leaving the cell for the recreation move.

  Chris sat there after Willow left, pondering what he had said. Looking at his case through the eyes of the prosecution was crazy, but it made sense. If Chris could figure out from what angle the government was attacking his appeal, he could prepare a better defense for the oral argument hearing coming up.

  “Damn, let me make this rec move,” Chris mumbled to himself, hoping to get a seat in the law library.

  * * *

  Darious sat in the driver seat, waiting for Tammy to come out of the pharmacy with a hundred oxycodone pills, all to be delivered to another one of his clients on the other side of town. Moments later, Tammy came out with the white and blue pharmacy bag in her hand. She got into the car holding it out, and then snatched it back before Darious could grab it.

  “Now explain to me, why in the hell can’t Mr. Mason pick up his own medication?” Tammy asked, waving the bag in front of Darious’s face as he pulled off.

  Tammy wasn’t dumb by a long shot, and she knew that Darious was doing something he had no business doing with the medicine. To what extent, Tammy didn’t know, but by how limited her role in helping him was, she didn’t think that it was anything that serious. She felt that, in the worst-case scenario, Darious would lose his job if he got caught. That was something he was going to have to deal with in the event that happened. Until then, Tammy was going to continue to help, just as l
ong as the money kept rolling in.

  “You know what? You too much for your own good.” Darious smiled as he snatched the bag from her. “Now, listen, you got a full day tomorrow,” Darious said, opening up the console and grabbing a wad of money from it. “You gotta pay the rent, the bills, and you gotta take ya car to the shop for a tune-up,” he said, peeling off some money.

  Tammy loved the fact that Darious depended upon her to take care of important things pertaining to their home. She felt more responsible than she’d ever felt in her life, and not only did she feel good about it, she embraced it. Until the day she started dealing with Darious and since Chris had been locked up, Tammy struggled to pay bills, let alone had a few thousand dollars in her own bank account. Not only did Darious treat Tammy like his partner, he had transformed the young-minded girl into a woman.

  “You know I love you, boy,” Tammy said, looking over at Darious.

  “Yeah, how much?” He smiled, concentrating on the road ahead of him. Tammy leaned over, kissed him on his cheek, and then kissed the side of his neck. She sat in the passenger side on her knees, reached down, and unzipped his pants.

  Darious kept his eyes on the road while Tammy pulled his dick out and began kissing it. It didn’t take long for his member to become erect, and once it did, she took all of it into her mouth.

  “Ohhh, shiiiitttt,” Darious moaned, steering the car with his left hand and placing his right hand on the top of her head. “Damn, girl.”

  Tammy’s head bobbed up and down on his dick, and the only thing that could be heard in the car was the slurping sound her mouth made from all the spit she was using. Nothing but the soft tissue of her mouth wrapped around his dick and, like a pro, Tammy made sure his mushroom head hit the back of her throat when she went down on it.

  After about five minutes in, Darious had to pull over, feeling himself about to explode. Tammy could feel it too, so she sped up, sucking it deeper down her throat and moving faster. Seeing her full thick lips wrapped snug around his dick, Darious splashed off without warning.

  “Don’t make a mess,” Darious said, feeling his cum fill her mouth.

  Tammy didn’t waste a drop, swallowing every last bit of it. She continued sucking, even after it was all gone, forcing Darious to grab a handful of her hair and pull her head up off him. Tammy came up chuckling, knowing Darious couldn’t take any more of her dick sucking if he wanted to. She tried to lean in and kiss Darious, but he playfully palmed her face before she could, as he thought about all the cum he’d just shot in her mouth. They laughed and play fought for a minute, before Tammy eventually sat back in her seat, and Darious pulled back onto the road.

  * * *

  Lisa sat at the kitchen table, sipping on a glass of Gallo Moscato while she listened to Shirley Murdock and looked at a bunch of old pictures of her and Ralphy. There were a few things she knew that Ralphy had to take care of in the streets but, for the most part, he was home, and that’s all that truly mattered. It had been rough for the past few months, being deprived of the love she and Ralphy once shared. It was pure torture, but then came the relief Lisa had only longed for.

  “What are you in here doin’?” Ralphy asked, walking into the kitchen with Naomi on his back and a smile on his face. He leaned over and kissed Lisa on the top of her head, then allowed Naomi to do the same, while she was still on his back.

  “I’m not doin’ anything. Just sitting here looking at some pictures.” Lisa smiled, pouring more wine into her glass. “Remember Jamaica?” she asked, pointing to the pictures.

  Ralphy did remember; it was one of the best vacations he had ever taken. He wanted to sit down and reminisce about the good times with her, but knowing Lisa the way he did, she was trying to have some alone time, which he was more than happy to provide her.

  “I was thinking about taking Little Miss Thing here to the mall with me. We should be back in a couple of hours,” Ralphy said, hiking Naomi up higher on his back.

  “Daddy said he was going to buy me some new shoes. Do you want some new shoes, Mommy?” the excited Naomi asked.

  As Lisa was answering Naomi, Ralphy’s phone began to ring in his back pocket. He usually didn’t answer blocked numbers, but just out of curiosity, he hit the accept button. “Yeah,” he answered, kneeling down to let Naomi off his back.

  “Hola, papi. Did you forget you were supposed to be taking me to my doctor’s appointment to see how far along I am?” Johanne asked while brushing her teeth in the mirror.

  “Damn, I forgot that it was today. What time do you got to be there?” he asked, opening up the refrigerator door.

  Lisa knew that he was talking to Johanne, but she wasn’t the least bit upset. She knew that Johanne was some of the baggage he had accumulated during their time apart, and she accepted it, only because Ralphy promised to end their relationship in the coming days. Giving him the time that he needed was a sacrifice Lisa was willing to endure to secure her family being back together. Plus, she didn’t want to dig up any old bones by being demanding and nagging Ralphy to expedite the process.

  “Just give me like twenty minutes, and be ready ’cause I got something else to do,” Ralphy said, looking down at Naomi.

  Johanne got an attitude quick, thinking of the way he’d been treating her ever since she told him about the pregnancy. It had been a week since she came home from the hospital, and during that week, it had been nothing but arguing. He only stayed at the house with her for about two nights, the other five were spent with Lisa and Naomi. If it had not been for DeeDee, Johanne didn’t know how she would have survived being out of commission.

  * * *

  “Kim, I need to see you in my office,” Mr. Wilson said, walking past her cubicle and straight into his office.

  Kim logged out of her computer immediately, because it sounded urgent. When she got to his office, he was standing up by his window undoing his tie.

  “Have a seat,” Mr. Wilson offered, pointing to the chair sitting in front of his desk.

  For a minute, Kim thought that she was about to be fired. She had a speech already formulated in her head that she would give in the event this day would ever come. Fortunately for her, today was the total opposite.

  “Look, Kim, what I’m about to offer you is a once-ina-lifetime opportunity,” Mr. Wilson said, taking a seat behind his desk. “I got a friend out of Philadelphia who’s looking for a paralegal to join his firm. His name is Denis Cogen, the highest paid lawyer in that city—”

  “But I like it here,” Kim said, cutting him off.

  “And I’m not firing you, Kim. What he is offering, I can’t give you. Guaranteed seventy grand a year, medical benefits, one year free housing; and, here’s the kicker, he wants to pay for you to go to law school. Free ride all the way through,” Mr. Wilson explained.

  “Damn!” Kim wanted to go back to school and her dream was to pass the bar and become a lawyer. Mr. Wilson was right, this was a chance of a lifetime, and it had Kim thinking about it hard.

  “I’m not complaining, and God knows I’m not declining the offer. I’m curious to know why me? I mean, you got Patty, Mitch; and Ray is an animal in the civil department,” Kim spoke.

  “He’s a good friend of mine, and he asked me for the best. I don’t know a soul in Charlotte who could research and put a motion together as good as you, and that’s the God’s honest truth,” Mr. Wilson replied.

  Kim was flattered, and almost started to tear up. “So how much time I do I have?” Kim asked, knowing there had to be a deadline before this offer was off the table. “And please don’t say I have to decide—”

  “You got until the end of next week when he comes back from his vacation,” Mr. Wilson interrupted. “That’s about ten days from now.”

  Kim really wanted to say yes on the spot, and almost did until she thought but Lamar, who was now her fiancé. She didn’t know how he would feel about moving to Philadelphia while she pursued her career in the legal field, but this definitely was going to be th
e topic for the little getaway they had planned for the weekend. After leaving Mr. Wilson’s office, Kim had more than enough on her plate to cipher through.

  * * *

  DeeDee and Johanne were standing in the doorway waiting when Ralphy pulled up with Naomi. He wasn’t going to let Johanne ruin his plans to take his daughter shopping today, and despite the fact that Lisa didn’t have a problem with Naomi staying home with her, Ralphy brought her along for the doctor’s appointment.

  “You gon’ be one of those kind of fathers, huh?” DeeDee said in a smart manner when Ralphy got out of the car.

  “And what kind of father is that?” Ralphy shot back.

  “The kind who don’t wanna be a father.”

  Before they got into an arguing match, Johanne stopped both of them. She really didn’t feel like hearing the two of them go at it. The only thing on her mind was her doctor’s appointment.

  “Is that the prettiest little girl in the world?” Johanne chuckled, rolling up to the back door of the Range Rover and seeing Naomi sitting there with her seat belt on.

  “Hi, Ms. Johanne,” Naomi responded in a low tone, not really wanting to speak on account of Lisa making it clear to her that they weren’t to become friends.

  “Come on, NayNay, you can sit up front with Daddy,” Ralphy said, helping her out of the back seat.

  The sound of tires screeching to a halt grabbed everyone’s attention, and when Ralphy looked over, one old-school Chevy Impala and a black minivan had stopped at the end of the driveway. The two occupants in the black minivan hopped out first, clutching large, fully automatic assault rifles, aiming them at everyone as they ran up the driveway. Ralphy noticed one of the men off the bat, remembering him from the shooting at the dentist’s office. He was the one who got away. Ralphy knew that his time was up. The only thing he could think about was Naomi, who he still had hoisted in his arms.

  The gunmen got within a few feet, and the only reason the man from the dentist shooting didn’t open up fire was because of Naomi. “Put her down!” the shooter demanded, not wanting to hit an innocent child by accident.