“A whole lot, actually. I’ll probably go out with the girls on Friday. It’s my girlfriend’s bachelorette party. It’s going to be at a strip club, so you know it’s gonna be turned up,” Lisa laughed.
“You know, I’ll never get tired of hearing you do that.”
“Do what?” Lisa asked, tossing the rolled up pair of socks onto the table.
“Hearing you laugh like that,” he answered, leaning against the kitchen sink.
Lisa smiled, and was about to say something, but was interrupted by the doorbell. “Who da hell is at my door?” she said, keeping him on the line.
“It better not be ya other boyfriend,” Nate joked.
“Shut up, boy,” she replied, pulling the curtains back to see who it was. “Aaaahhhhhh!” Lisa screamed and rushed to the door. “Heyyy, bitch!” she greeted, swinging the front door open for Kim.
“Heyyy, bitch,” Kim responded, dropping her bags and giving Lisa a big hug.
“Why didn’t you call me? I would have come and picked you up from the airport.”
Lisa had forgotten that Nate was still on the line, but Kim’s nosy self reminded her. “Who you talkin’ to?” she asked, pointing to Lisa’s phone.
“Oh shit. Damn, I’m sorry, Nate, are you still there? I’m going to have to call you back.”
“Yeah, I’m here. Go ahead and holla at ya folks. Call me later,” he said, then let her go.
“So, who da hell is Nate?” Kim asked as she headed up the steps. “Does he have a brother?”
Lisa followed her upstairs to the guest room. It was established months ago that when Kim came back for the wedding, she would stay with Lisa instead of checking into a hotel. Lisa wouldn’t dare have that, especially since she had an extra room.
“Girl, don’t worry about Nate. I’m about to call up the girls so we can go out,” Lisa said walking toward her bedroom.
“Where’s Naomi? I miss my pie face,” Kim said, pulling out the stuffed animal she had bought her.
“She’s with Ralphy’s mom. But since you’re here, I’m going to pick her up in the morning,” Lisa answered, coming back into the room with the phone up to her ear. She put it on speaker so Kim could hear.
“Heyyy, bitch,” Tammy yelled through the phone. “You don’t know how to call no damn body.”
It felt good to be back home with friends and family. Up North was cool, but down South was where it was at. Everything was different. The food, the people, the Southern accent, and the warm hospitality; even the air smelled different.
“We gotta get together,” Tammy said.
“Girl, I’m getting dressed right now,” Lisa shot back. “Tell Darious that yo’ ass is coming with us tonight.”
“Shut up, old lady. Give me about an hour,” Tammy said before hanging up the phone.
It was Sunday, and no spots were open, but the girls definitely were going to make it a fun night out. The only person that was missing was Falisha, and there was no telling where she could be, messing around with Fox. With or without her, the girls were going to have a good time. There was a whole lot of catching up to do.
Chapter 7
Though the United States Marshals were on the scene, the Charlotte Drug Task Force made the arrest on Bizz and Malcom. The case was sure to be adopted by the feds, but for now, Bizz had to sit in the county jail until he saw a judge and was formally charged with numerous drug offenses.
Chris entered the front doors of the Charlotte county jail on a mission to visit Bizz. The first and only phone call Bizz made was to Chris, and he told him that he needed to see him as soon as possible. At first, Chris was a little skeptical about it, wondering what Bizz could possibly want. The last thing Chris needed was to get caught up in his case. He had already dodged a major bullet when he wasn’t arrested with them.
“Damn, homie, I didn’t think that you was going to come,” Bizz said, walking into the visiting room. “Shit is crazy right now, li’l bro.”
Chris stood up and gave Bizz a handshake and a thug hug before sitting back down. “Yeah, well keep ya head up, and if you need me to do anything for you, just let me know,” Chris told him.
“I really appreciate that, homie. And since you said that, there is something I need you to do for me.”
Chris thought to himself that he had offered too much too fast. “Yeah, well, just as long as it don’t end up having me up in here wit’ you,” Chris spoke, looking around the visiting room.
Bizz smiled. “Nah, homie, I wouldn’t do no shit like that to you. In fact, I need you to be out there. What good are you to anybody if you sittin’ up in here wit’ me?”
Bizz looked around the room to make sure people weren’t being nosy, then leaned in closer to Chris. “The police didn’t take everything from me. I still got some money stashed away in the halfway house,” he whispered.
“How much money are you talking about, and what do you want me to do with it?” Chris asked in a low voice.
“I got like 150K stuffed in a cubby hole behind one of the boilers in the basement. Look, brah, I’ma be in here for a minute. I just need you to hold me and my daughter down. The lawyer want like twenty stacks for the case, and I need you to take my baby mom thirty for Kiara,” Bizz said.
“And what do you want me to do with the rest of it?” Chris asked, hoping it wasn’t anything crazy.
Bizz looked Chris in his eyes. “I want you to do something positive with it. Invest it into a business or spend it gradually if you want. I really don’t care. Just make sure my books stay tight and my daughter don’t need for nothing,” Bizz told him.
Chris had been nothing but a good friend to Bizz throughout their bid, and he was probably the most thorough dude Bizz had ever run into. He had faith and confidence that Chris was going to do the right thing with the money and wouldn’t piss it off like the rest of Bizz’s friends that were out on the streets.
Chris didn’t even have to think about it. “I got you, homie, but you gotta give me ya word on something. You gotta give me ya word that you’re not gonna stop fighting to get up out of here.”
Bizz smiled. Chris always was on some positive stuff, but that’s exactly what Bizz needed during these tough times. “You got my word, homie,” Bizz promised, sticking his fist out to lock it in with a dap.
* * *
Lamar’s phone almost vibrated off the nightstand as he and Jordan lay in bed. He already knew who it was and really didn’t feel like being bothered with Falisha’s foolishness. She was relentless though, calling him back to back to back. Finally, Lamar answered. “What?”
“Oh, so you’re not answering ya phone now?”
“What do you want, Falisha?”
Attitude was the only thing she’d been getting from him lately. “Have Jordan ready and dressed, because I’m about to come pick him up.”
“He’s asleep right now,” Lamar shot back, looking over at Jordan rolling around on the bed wide awake.
Falisha didn’t care about any of that. “What dat got to do wit’ anything? Just have my son at the door in twenty minutes,” she snapped, then hung up the phone.
Lamar took in a frustrated deep breath, knowing that she was on her way. He really didn’t want her to take Jordan, mainly because he didn’t know where she was going to take him. She wasn’t staying at her mom’s house like he thought she would be. Not knowing where his son was going to be at all times was a problem.
A knock at the door got Lamar’s attention, taking him away from his train of thought. When he got to the door and opened it, Kim and Lisa were standing on the porch.
“Wassup, nigga?” Kim greeted, opening the screen.
Lamar had little Jordan in his arms, and he looked so cute, Kim almost started crying. This was the first time she’d seen the baby in person. “Oh my goodness! Let me hold him,” she said, reaching out for the baby.
“Yup, that’s my godson,” Lisa bragged, kissing Jordan’s head.
Jordan was adorable. Light skinned like Fali
sha, but with all of Lamar’s features. He had dark curly hair, thick eyebrows, and some fat cheeks. His big brown eyes could make anybody melt. It looked like Lamar spit the boy out himself.
“When did you get in town?” Lamar asked Kim.
“Yesterday. You know me and my girls had to go out last night. Speaking of, where is ya baby mom? I haven’t seen her, and she’s not answering the phone.”
“And she’s supposed to be doing my hair today,” Lisa added.
Lamar took a seat on the edge of the porch and shook his head at the thought of Falisha’s foolishness.
“Falisha don’t live here anymore. We broke up the other day,” he told them.
Both Kim and Lisa’s jaws dropped. Especially Lisa’s because she lived right across the street from them and never knew anything was going on. They just knew Lamar had to be lying.
“Lamar, stop playing,” Lisa said, playfully punching his arm.
The serious look on his face made it clear that he wasn’t playing.
“What da hell happened?” Lisa asked in shock.
Kim stood there rocking baby Jordan, looking at Lamar while shaking her head. It was the kind of headshake that spoke volumes, without a single word uttered.
“She’s about to come and pick Jordan up, so you can ask her when she gets here,” he said, not really wanting to be the one to put Falisha’s business in the streets.
Kim hadn’t been back in Charlotte for twenty-four hours, and she had already gotten an earful of gossip. So much had happened since she’d been gone. She still wasn’t up on Lisa and her little sexcapades with Nate. Getting caught up was going to be fun, and Kim had thirty whole days to do it.
* * *
“Oh God, I’ve never seen water that looks so blue,” Tammy said, looking down at one of the resorts in a brochure for vacation destinations.
She and Darious had been in the travel agency for the past several hours trying to solidify where they were going for their honeymoon. They looked at resorts in Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Miami, and other places Tammy had never been to or even heard of. They were all so beautiful, and had so much to offer.
“So, what do you think, babe?” Tammy asked.
“I don’t know. The one thing that I’m certain of is that I’m not going anyplace where I need a passport. My probation officer won’t let me leave the country on such short notice.”
“Well, that’s good, babe, because now we can narrow it down to a couple of places. So that leaves us with Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Miami, and I saw a nice place in California you would love.”
Darious didn’t want to fly on an airplane at all, and he damn sure wasn’t trying to be driving to California, so that left one spot: Miami. With hundreds of resorts to choose from, Tammy was sure to find the ideal place. Darious really didn’t care where he spent his honeymoon, just as long as it was with the love of his life. Anything to make Tammy happy. That was the sole purpose for just about everything he did. He just wanted to maintain that smile on her face.
* * *
The white F-type Jaguar sped down Walton Street, kicking up dust in the process. It came to complete stop right in front of Lamar’s house. No one knew whose car it was, so Lamar, Kim, and Lisa all looked and waited for the driver to do something. Everyone was shocked when Falisha stepped out of the car looking like a bag of money. She had on a floral, thigh-high wraparound dress, and a pair of St. Laurent sandals. Her hair was tossed up nice too, draping down one side of her face, which covered up the almost healed bruise on her chin. On her face was a pair of Victoria Beckham shades and a cute Michael Kors watch lay right on her wrist.
“Damn, bitch, you ridin’ nice,” Lisa said, looking at the car.
Falisha had a straight attitude though and didn’t feel like doing any talking, not even to Kim. She spoke, but that was about it before she walked over and took Jordan from Kim’s arms.
“Where’s the car seat and his bag? I told you to have his stuff ready by the time I got here,” Falisha snapped.
Lamar was seconds away from spazzing out on her, but he didn’t want to make a scene in front of company, so he bit his tongue, reached in the doorway, and grabbed Jordan’s overnight bag. One thing Lamar wasn’t going to do was let Falisha leave without telling him where his son was staying and when she was bringing him back.
“When I feel like bringing him back. And don’t worry about where I’m staying. It’s not here with you, remember?” Falisha based.
Lamar came down off the porch and walked up on Falisha, who was trying to strap Jordan in. Kim reached out and grabbed his arm before he got to her, and Lisa helped by standing between him and Falisha.
Falisha picked her head up and saw the look of the devil in Lamar’s eyes. He never played any games when it came down to his son.
“Whacha gonna do, hit me, Lamar?”
They stood there staring at each other with the evil eye. “What da fuck is goin’ on wit’ you two?” Lisa yelled, breaking the silence.
“Nothing at all,” Falisha answered. “Look, I will bring our son back in a couple of days,” she said, walking around to the driver side of the car and getting in.
As soon as she got her seat belt on, Falisha pulled off, leaving Kim, Lisa, and Lamar’s asses in the middle of the street. It was official now. Falisha and Lamar hated each other. The love and respect for each other was gone, and they were so caught up in their feelings that they didn’t realize that the only person their madness was going to hurt . . . was Jordan.
* * *
Chris sat on his bunk looking down at $150,000 in cash. Even when he used to sell drugs, he had never touched this much money at once. The money was broken down into tens, twenties, and fifty-dollar bills. Mostly tens and twenties, so 150,000 looked like 500,000. He was rather fascinated by it and kind of nervous to have it in the halfway house with him. If the staff was to walk in on him and see all that money, he was going back to jail.
“Damn, that’s a lot of money,” Mohamed said, staring at the cash as well. “You paid, brah.”
Mohamed was a good Muslim brother who was on the same type time as Chris. All he wanted to do was find a job and stay out of jail. Chris had taken a liking to him from the first day he moved into the dorm.
“So, what are you going to do with it?” Mohamed asked.
“I’m not sure yet. I think I might start a business or something.”
“Like what? I mean, you can do whatever you want.”
After taking care of what Bizz asked him to do, Chris would have 100,000 left. That was more than enough to start any kind of business. He just needed to be smart and make good decisions, because not all legal businesses were successful. At this stage in his life, losing wasn’t an option, and he was going to make the money do what it do.
Chapter 8
“Can I ask you something?” Nate said as he and Lisa lay in the bed naked. “You don’t have to answer it if you don’t feel comfortable. I mean, I would like to know—”
“Boy, would you just ask the question,” Lisa said, cutting him off. “And no, we ain’t having a threesome,” she said and laughed.
Nate had to laugh at that one himself. However, at the same time, something had been bothering him over the past couple of weeks, and now that they were getting a little closer, he figured he’d ask about the bullet wound.
“What happened to you right here?” he said, rubbing his finger over the bullet wound.
Lisa flinched as an initial reaction. Then out of nowhere, memories of that day rushed through her head. Visions of Ralphy being shot also popped up in her head. She could literally taste the gunpowder that was left in the air. Her heart began to race, and then thoughts of her and Ralphy being together rushed her as well.
“I gotta go,” Lisa said, jumping up from the bed like she had just seen a ghost.
“Hold up, Lisa, what’s going on? You don’t have to answer it,” he pleaded, trying to get her to stay.
Lisa made re
cord-breaking time and was out the door before Nate could get his pants on. She didn’t have to say anything for Nate to know that he had messed up big this time. This time it was really bad, because he’d hit a very sensitive spot. It was like taking four steps backward, and Nate didn’t know how he was going to climb out of this hole. It may have been too much this time.
* * *
Lamar sat on the couch rubbing his hands together, mad as hell that Falisha hadn’t brought baby Jordan back yet. It had been three days already, and not only didn’t she bring him back, she wasn’t answering the phone. In fact, she had turned her phone off altogether for the last two days. Her mom didn’t even know where she was . . . so she said. Lamar was hot. He jumped up and went outside to try to get some fresh air. He could give a fuck about Falisha and what she was up to. All he wanted was his son.
“Hey, Lamar,” Carol greeted from the upstairs window. “What are you looking so mean for?”
“Have you seen Falisha?” he asked, hoping she knew something. “I’m trying to find my son.”
“Hold on, I’ll be down in a minute.”
It took a couple of minutes, but eventually, Carol came downstairs, opened the front door, and waved Lamar in. Carol could see how vulnerable he was and played on his weakness.
“So you looking for your son, huh?” she said, taking a seat on the steps.
“Yeah, where is she?”
Carol licked her lips and gave him a seductive glance from head to toe. “If I tell you, what are you going to do for me?” she asked as she continued giving him that look.
“Come on, Carol, stop playing. I really don’t feel like that shit right now.”
“Boy, ain’t nobody playin’ wit’ you. You gotta at least let me suck it,” she said, looking at his crotch area.
Lamar couldn’t believe Carol. He always knew that she was a whore, but he never thought she would stoop this low for some dick, and the bad part about it was he knew she wasn’t joking. Lamar’s dick was probably the only dick she hadn’t sucked in the neighborhood.
She curled her finger, motioning for him to come over to where she was. He didn’t want to, but if it meant finding out where his son was, he had no other choice but to entertain Carol’s crazy ass. He was hoping she’d change her mind once he pulled his dick out, but she didn’t. Seeing it only made her thirst for it even greater.
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