Single Ladies

by Blake Karrington

  Darious looked over at her, not really hearing what she said. “What’s that?” he asked.

  “I said you never answered my question,” Tammy repeated. “That night I asked if you were you trappin’, you never answered me,” she said, reaching into her Gucci bag and turning on the recording device. She adjusted her pocketbook so that the little camera on the outside of the bag was aimed at him. Agent Grant had called her earlier and told her that she need to come up with something before the deal came off the table. Up until now, she hadn’t provided anything that was of use to their case, so the DEA was starting to become a little impatient.

  “You’re right. I did avoid the question, and that’s only because I felt that the less you know the better. If the wrong person got a whiff of what I’m doing, the feds would be knocking at our door in no time,” Darious said.

  “I just want you to be able to trust me, and I don’t want us to have any secrets between us,” Tammy spoke.

  Darious looked out to the highway, thinking about what Tammy was saying. In a sense, she was right, and there were times when Darious hated the fact that he couldn’t share certain aspects of his life with her. Even though what he was doing wasn’t considered to be a violent crime, Tammy did deserve to know the truth.

  “I trap, but it’s not the kind of trappin’ that you think,” Darious began. “I sell pills. Percocet, Xanax, oxycodone, and every now and again I get my hands on some Molly. I got a doctor in the hospital who forges prescriptions for me, and most of the time I go down to the hospital’s pharmacy to get them. Other times, so I won’t draw any attention to myself, I take the scripts to the—”

  “The neighborhood pharmacies,” Tammy said, finishing his sentence. “Damn, boo, is it really a lot of money in pills?” she asked with a curious look on her face.

  “Put it this way: I make five dollars off of each pill, wholesale, and I’m moving close to one thousand pills a day. In some cases, depending upon the quality of the pill, that number doubles,” Darious explained. He went into detail about his operation, but the information he gave was basic compared to what was going on behind the scenes.

  Tammy recorded every word of it. This was sure to be enough for her to get back in good graces with the DEA, and if they needed more Darious was more than comfortable enough to share just about everything with Tammy.

  * * *

  “What’s ya problem?” Kim asked, nudging Lamar, who was sitting on the couch with his face balled up. “So you not gon’ talk now?” she said after he glanced over at her then turned his focus back on the television without saying anything to her.

  The idea of Kim getting an abortion behind his back was the only thing that was on his mind all day. A part of him wanted to know, but then another part wished that it weren’t true. So many nights Lamar lay in the bed with Kim talking about wanting to start a family with her, and telling her how good of a father he was going to be. Kim had also expressed her desire to have a child with Lamar, and didn’t object when he came inside of her just about every time they had sex. Lamar was confused, and being confused was one of the things that made him so upset.

  “Yo, I’ma ask you something, and if you love me as much as you say you do, you won’t lie to me,” Lamar said, grabbing the remote control and turning the TV off.

  “Sure, babe, what is it?” Kim asked.

  Lamar didn’t know quite how to formulate the question to her without being ignorant. He simply said it the way he felt it: “Did you kill my baby?”

  Kim almost choked on her spit when he asked her that. It wasn’t what he said, it was how he said it that messed Kim’s head up. It was bad enough she had to live with what she had done, but now in the eyes of her soon-to-be husband, she was considered a baby killer. It was a little too harsh, but Kim stood by her decision, and was willing to face the music.

  “Yes, I was pregnant by you, and yes, I got an abortion,” Kim confessed, putting her head down in shame.

  Lamar’s heart sank into his stomach after hearing those words. He looked over at Kim, who couldn’t find it in herself to even look at Lamar. All the emotions she experienced after the procedure came back, this time tenfold.

  “Damn, was I not good enough for you? Did I do something wrong that made you not want to carry my seed inside of you?” Lamar asked, looking over at her.

  Kim just sat there for a few minutes saying nothing.

  “Oh, now you don’t have anything to say?”

  “I’m sorry, Lamar. I fucked up, and I regret ever doing it,” Kim cried, letting her tears flow freely. “I was scared, and I didn’t know if we were going—”

  “Kim, I haven’t done nothing but love you up until now,” Lamar said, cutting her off. “I told you that I wanted a child. Shit, I got down on my knees and asked you to marry me,” Lamar snapped.

  Kim tried to say something, but Lamar got up from the couch, grabbed his keys off the table, and left the house before she could think of anything. She sat there crying her eyes out, thinking how she might have ruined their relationship. Lamar was crushed, and Kim didn’t even know where to begin to try to fix it. All she knew was that the most important man in her life had just walked out the door, and she wasn’t sure if he was coming back.

  * * *

  “I don’t know what Kim did, but Lamar sure looked mad as hell,” Lisa said as she sat on the couch looking out the window.

  “You so nosy.” Ralphy chuckled, walking over and peeking out of the window too.

  “Shut up. And where do you think you’re going, dressed like that?” Lisa asked, seeing that Ralphy had on all black.

  Ralphy leaned over and kissed Lisa on the forehead. “I gotta take care of something. I’ll be back in a couple of hours, babe. You gon’ wait up for me?” He smiled.

  “You know I am, and I think I might be ready for you,” she said, biting her lower lip and giving Ralphy a wink.

  Lisa had been feeling extra horny as of late, and not even a bullet wound to the gut was going to stop her from trying to get some tonight. It had been a minute for Ralphy also, considering everything he had been going through lately. He really didn’t have sex on his mind, because all he wanted to do was kill.

  “You know I love you, right?” Ralphy asked, pressing his forehead against hers.

  “I love you more, babe,” Lisa responded, grabbing the sides of his face. “Now what are you about to do?” she asked, pulling her head back away from his so she could look him in the eyes.

  “Nothing!” Ralphy answered, leaning in and stealing a kiss from her before turning away and walking out the door.

  “Do you got ya phone wit’ you?” she yelled out the window as he walked down the street.

  He held it up in the air right before he got into a rental car. All that leaving the house with no way to contact him was out of the question.

  * * *

  Lamar didn’t even bother getting in his car. Instead, he took a walk, hoping that the cool night breeze would calm him down. The night breeze was cool, but it wasn’t working at all. He found himself walking into a local playground where several kids were still out playing basketball. Lamar took a seat on the bleacher by himself, checking out the game. Everything that Falisha had told him about Kim turned out to be true, and he couldn’t help but to think that maybe the baby that was growing inside of her was his. Thinking back, he was a little out of pocket with his reaction toward the news, and Lamar couldn’t blame her for being mad at him. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through it until he got to Falisha’s number. Her phone rang several times before going to her voicemail. Lamar tried again but there wasn’t an answer.

  If anybody had an excuse to get an abortion, it would be Falisha, due to the way Lamar had been treating her. It was crazy, but in Lamar’s mind, he hoped that she wouldn’t do it. The more he thought about it, the more he needed to talk to Falisha to see what she was going to do.

  * * *

  The west side had a big party over at Club 935 and just about ev
erybody was going to be to see the rapper Young Jeezy. Ralphy knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lick was going to be there repping his crew. One thing about the west side boys, they showed out at parties, clubs, and whatever events that went on in the city.

  “My man, you can’t come in here dressed like that,” the bouncer said, stopping Ralphy at the door.

  “Dressed like what?” Ralphy responded, looking around at other partygoers who were admitted with no problem.

  “No jeans, no boots, and you damn sure ain’t coming up in here with no hood on,” the bouncer informed him.

  Ralphy sized the bouncer up. He had to be every bit of six feet four inches, 300 pounds, and all muscle. Forcing his way in was out of the question, so Ralphy spoke in a language just about everybody understood. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of money about an inch thick, nothing but twenties. The bouncer thought that Ralphy was going to peel off a couple hundred, but he didn’t. He extended his hand, offering the whole wad. The bouncer’s eyebrow went up, then he looked around before grabbing the money from him.

  “Don’t start no shit up in here,” the bouncer said, stepping to the side and letting Ralphy in.

  Ralphy walked right by him, throwing his hood over his head. Inside was a whole lot better than the outside. The party was off the chain, and there had to be well over 1,000 people there, some of whom were females walking around with the least bit of clothing on. Ralphy was like the sore thumb by the way he was dressed, but there were so many people there, nobody seemed to notice him.

  Ralphy was like a wolf walking through a herd of sheep. He looked around attentively as he made his way through the crowd of people on the dance floor. Lick wasn’t anywhere in sight at first, but then several waitresses parted the crowd as they walked by with sparkle-lit champagne bottles, heading for the VIP section. Ralphy followed the last waitress, but veered off once he got close enough to see Lick, his boys, and a bunch of women holding down the biggest VIP section in the building.

  Ralphy went straight to the bathroom, and when he got there he went into one of the stalls. He pulled down his pants to reveal a small, compact .45 automatic that he unstrapped from under his nuts. He cocked it back slightly to make sure he had a bullet in the chamber before tucking it into the front of his hoodie. He had ten shots, plus one in the head, and he needed to be sure that each and every one of them counted for something. Ralphy had to, because after he initiated the gun battle, somebody out of Lick’s crew was sure to be blazing back.

  “Show these niggas what you’re made of,” Ralphy mumbled to himself before exiting the stall.

  “Dis shit jumpin’ tonight. Who you goin’ home wit’ tonight?” Lick asked the female who was sitting on his lap. “You roll wit’ me tonight, I’ma change ya life,” he said, looking down at all her thickness.

  She leaned in close to his ear and spoke. “If I go home with you tonight, I’ma fuck da shit out of you,” she said, and licked his earlobe.

  Lick’s dick got hard instantly, and if it weren’t for the second wave of champagne coming through the crowd, he would have called it a night and taken her straight home. “Yeah, I’ma hold you to that,” he told her.

  Waitress after waitress, all in a single-file line, walked up and dropped bottles of champagne off at the table. Lick was so focused on the female he had sitting on his lap he didn’t notice that the last of the waitresses was actually Ralphy, holding a bottle in one hand and the gun in the other. When he got close enough, Ralphy dropped the sparkling bottle, clutched both hands around the gun and aimed at Lick.

  Hearing the bottle crash to the ground, Lick looked up and saw nothing but a gun aimed at his face. He tried to hide behind the female, but Ralphy’s aim was superb.

  Everybody in VIP dropped to the ground. The first of the three bullets hit Lick in his chest, the second one struck the female he had on his lap in the ass, and the third knocked a chip of wood off the top of the booth they were sitting in. People scattered like roaches, screaming and running out of the VIP area for dear life. Lick sat in the booth holding his chest, trying to put some type of pressure on the wound. It hurt like hell, and he found it hard to breathe. Ralphy kicked the table that stood between him and Lick to the side. Blood from his chest started to fill his lungs, causing Lick to cough up blood. Ralphy walked up on him and pointed the gun at his head.

  “Look at me,” Ralphy said through clenched teeth. Lick didn’t want to. He didn’t want the last person he saw to be the person who killed him. Ralphy had to physically lift his chin up to look Lick in his eyes. Ralphy backed up and fired the fatal shot to Lick’s head, sending brain matter all over the booth.

  When Ralphy turned around to leave, the bouncer who had warned him not to start no shit was standing there with a 12-gauge pump aimed right at him. Ralphy went to drop his gun, but his movement startled the bouncer, forcing him to let off one shot from the shotgun. The impact from the blast lifted Ralphy off his feet, sending him crashing into the table he had previously kicked. The bouncer walked over, unsure of what he had just done. Ralphy lay there struggling to take his last breaths.

  Within a few minutes, while waiting for the medics to arrive, Ralphy died with his eyes open, and only two people were on his mind before his final breath, and that was Lisa and Naomi.

  Chapter 40

  Stressed out to the max, Kim and Tammy took the day off from work to go to the mall and do a little shopping. There was something about spending money that made life a little easier to live, and that was the common bond that they shared.

  “So did y’all even plan the wedding date yet?” Tammy asked, picking up a sundress off the rack and holding it up.

  “No. He told me that whenever I was ready, just let him know. Girl, I’m not gon’ lie. I don’t think it’s going to be a wedding,” Kim said, looking down at her ring.

  “Dat boy just mad right now. He loves you, and I think that all he needs is a little bit of time—”

  “He didn’t come home last night,” Kim said, cutting her off. “He didn’t call, leave a text, or anything, and when I tried to call him, he didn’t answer.”

  “Yeah, that’s crazy, but it’s typical. Men do dumb shit like that when their little feelings get hurt,” Tammy said, shaking her head at the dress’s color blend. “I’m telling you, girl, he’s going to walk through that door today and he’s going to be fine.”

  Kim hoped so. Since Lamar agreed to move to Philadelphia with her, Kim called her boss early that morning to let him know that she was accepting the offer. She thought that the move would give them a chance to start fresh, and if Lamar got her pregnant again anytime soon, she would be sure to keep it.

  “So what about you and Darious? How are things going with y’all two?” Kim asked as she headed for the register with a couple of items in her hand.

  Tammy couldn’t even get into the details of their life. She was confused herself about wanting to tell Darious that the DEA was watching them. There was even a time during the course of their nightly pillow talk when Tammy almost slipped up and told him. Agent Grant’s voice continuously repeating, “twenty years in federal prison,” always seemed to keep her in check.

  “Everything’s good. He bought Anthony an Xbox—” Tammy was interrupted by her phone buzzing in her bag. She reached in, grabbed it, and saw that the screen read number unavailable. At first she wasn’t going to answer it but she decided to take the call just in case it was Agent Grant.

  “You have a prepaid call. You will not be charged for this call. This call is from—”

  The operator didn’t have to go any further before Tammy pushed 5 to accept Chris’s call. This was the first time he’d called since her visit.

  “Damn, stranger!” Tammy answered, paying for her stuff then excusing herself away from Kim.

  “Wassup wit’ you?” Chris replied, leaning back against the wall. “How are you doing?”

  Tammy was smiling from ear to ear. He sounded so good, all she wanted to do was sta
y quiet and let him talk. Being honest with herself, she missed Chris a lot, and thought about him daily, wondering if he would ever call her again. The current situation Darious had her in made her appreciate Chris even more. There was no way he would have ever involved her in his illegal activities.

  “I’m good. The kids are good, and I’m still working my ass off. I got some pictures right here in my bag, and as soon as I see a mailbox, I’m going to send them out to you,” Tammy said, taking a seat in the food court.

  “Yeah, thanks. I haven’t seen my kids in a while and, believe it or not, I do love them.”

  “I know you do, and I’m sorry for not bringing them up there. You know me and ya sister got into a fight a few days ago, so I haven’t had a chance to see if ya mom wanted to ride out there with me. You know I don’t like to drive by myself.” Tammy smiled.

  “Yeah, I heard about that, and I told my sister just because we not together no more, you still the mother of my children, and don’t make me fuck somebody up for fucking with you. By the way, I miss you,” Chris said, putting his head down.

  Chris had always been so protective over her. Tammy’s eyes started to water and the ball in her throat prevented her from being able to swallow. She missed him too, and wished that he were home to enjoy watching their children grow. She hated him being locked up in prison.

  “I know you don’t have long on this call, and I give you my word that I will bring the kids up there to see you this weekend, even if I gotta come by myself,” Tammy spoke.

  “That would be so nice,” Chris responded.

  “I want you to know that no matter what I do out here, and no matter what you hear from anybody else, Chris, I do and will always love you no matter what. And whenever you get home, I’ll be right here to help you in any kinda way I can,” Tammy said, wiping the single tear that fell down her cheek.

  Chris stayed quiet on the phone. He didn’t think that Tammy would ever love him again, nor did he expect for her to be there for him when he came home. As far as he knew, it was over between them; but listening to her, he couldn’t help but feel that there was some hope for them to get back together.