Single Ladies

by Blake Karrington

  “What you know about this?” Darious said, pushing play on the remote control.

  Dru Hill’s song “Beauty” flooded the car. This was something else that she noticed about him. He was somewhat of a hopeless romantic. Tammy was feeling that too, and if she didn’t get some control over the situation immediately, it would be possible for her to fall into temptation.

  * * *

  Falisha sat on her steps, sipping on a bottle of Moscoto and enjoying the quiet night, as she did one or two nights out of the week. Things had been a little quieter since she broke up with Big Fox. She expected Lamar to stand by all the promises he made to her, but as of right now he wasn’t showing up. Falisha barely saw him during the day because he was always ripping and running around, and by the time she did catch up to him in the evening, he was too tired to do anything. That’s part of the reason why she was sitting out on the steps tonight. She was hoping that she could catch him before he went to work. And like clockwork, at about 9:45 p.m., he was stepping outside with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

  She got up off the steps and walked over to his car while he was putting his bag in the trunk. “Damn, Lamar! You don’t know me anymore?” she said while leaning against the vehicle.

  Lamar looked at her then chuckled. “Shouldn’t you be out somewhere with Big Fox?” he asked, digging into his bag to get his identification.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she shot back.

  “Just what I said, Falisha. I know any minute now he’s gonna be bending the corner in his truck, and you’re gonna go running to him. To be honest with you, that shit is getting old,” he said, and slammed the trunk.

  “I broke up with him,” Falisha told him.

  “Yeah, right! You love that nigga,” he said. He was so caught up with sexing Kim that he didn’t even notice Fox not coming around for a couple of weeks now. He didn’t know if he even cared at this point. His brain was somewhere else, but Falisha snapped him right back to reality. She walked up to him, wrapped her arms around him, and looked him right in the eyes.

  “I swear, it’s over between me and him. I realize who I wanna be with now, and that’s you,” she said with a sincere look in her eyes. She got up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips up against his. This was the first time that she had ever purposely shown him public affection.

  It caught Lamar by surprise, but it didn’t stop him from returning the kiss. “Oh, shit, you’re serious!” he said after pulling away from her.

  Falisha nodded her head with a big smile on her face. He pulled her back in to hug her. This was some of the best news he had in weeks.

  But while he was standing in the middle of the street and holding on to the woman of his dreams, his happy moment was ruined in an instant when he looked up at his building and saw Kim looking out the window at them. He could see the sad look on her face before she closed the shades, leaving him wondering if he had done something wrong.

  * * *

  Ralphy and Scoop sat in Scoop’s car with their seats leaned back and the car turned off. Ralphy had done his homework on Dre, and found out that he was back in his old neighborhood, doin’ his thing again. It took him about a week, but he eventually narrowed it down to a two-block radius where Dre was hustling. It was all about the waiting game right now, because Ralphy was sitting there in the passenger seat, waiting for him to show his face.

  “Damn, brah! Dis shit’s just like old times!” Scoop said as he looked over at Ralphy in the passenger seat.

  “Yeah, dis shit crazy. Dis bitch got me coming out of retirement on some bullshit,” Ralphy shot back. His mind had been made up a long time ago that he was going to kill Dre. He didn’t know any other way to ease the pain that he was feeling. Not only was his heart broken, but he was mentally drained dealing with the situation. Visions of Dre fucking Lisa from the back constantly made their way to his thoughts, breaking him down even more.

  “Yo, is dat da nigga right there?” Scoop asked, lifting his head up to see over the dashboard. “I think it’s him.”

  Ralphy looked over the dash to see a red Chevy Tahoe LS pull up and park on the corner of the block.

  When Dre jumped out of the truck, he headed right for the deli where a bunch of young trap boys were standing around.

  Ralphy wasn’t sure if it was him, so he whipped out his phone and went straight to Instagram to see a photo of him.

  Meanwhile, Dre stood outside in front of the store, kicking it with his boys.

  “Yeah, dat’s da nigga right there,” Ralphy said, holding the phone up so that Scoop could see the picture.

  “A’ight, brah! Let’s go air those muthafuckas out!” Scoop said, pulling out twin Glocks.

  Ralphy looked over at Scoop like he was crazy, then remembered that he actually was a little crazy. This was part of the reason why Ralphy didn’t want to bring him along in the first place. He knew that Scoop was the type who would make a mess out of things, whereas Ralphy was more of a smooth criminal. The only reason why he brought him along was because the west side of Charlotte was the most dangerous. Niggas killed over there for less than nothing.

  “Hold up for one second, li’l brah,” Ralphy said, checking out his surroundings. “A’ight, let’s go,” he said, exiting the car with a compact .45 automatic.

  Scoop and Ralphy were about a half block away from the store. They both pulled their hoods over their heads as they walked unnoticed down the street.

  Dre was coming down the front steps of the store when he noticed the two hooded men dressed in all black. Everything went into slow motion, and right before the storm came, it got real quiet.

  Bullets began firing into the crowd. Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Boom! Boom! Boom! Pop! Pop! Pop!

  Ralphy was more focused on his target, whom he hit with the first few rounds he fired.

  Dre took the first bullet to his side, causing him to stumble down the steps onto the sidewalk.

  All the little trap boys scattered, most of whom took off running down the street in the opposite direction. One of the li’l homies whipped out his gun and started firing back, but Scoop ended that relatively quickly, giving the young shooter double action.

  Dre ran to his car holding his side, but he didn’t even get a chance to get the door open before Ralphy ran up on him with the gun pointed at him. He grabbed Dre by his shoulder and swung him around to face him.

  Dre’s face was twisted up on some gangsta shit, ruthless ’til the end. “Fuck you, nigga!” he yelled right before spitting at Ralphy, but only getting the side of his hoodie.

  Dre still didn’t know who was behind the hood; that was, until Ralphy pulled it off. He wanted Dre to see who it was who was about to take his life. This shit was personal, and Ralphy wasn’t going to waste another moment. Without saying a word, he lifted the gun up and pulled the trigger. Pow!

  The bullet crashed through the center of Dre’s skull and rested in his brain. He was dead before his body hit the ground.

  Ralphy wasn’t done yet. He stood over Dre and emptied the rest of his clip into his face, and when he ran out of bullets, he began kicking him and stomping what was left of his face into the ground. Scoop had to run over and stop him.

  “Yo, he’s dead!” Scoop said calmly as he grabbed hold of Ralphy’s arm. “Let’s get da fuck out of here,” he screamed as he pulled him away from Dre’s lifeless, bloody, bullet-riddled body.

  Both men took off down the street, jumped back into Scoop’s car, and pulled off into the night, leaving behind two dead bodies, three wounded, and the night sky full of gun smoke.

  Chapter 17

  Kim looked back at Lamar as he pounded away, stuffing his long, hard dick in and out of her from the back. She held on to the headboard with one hand, and then reached under her and began playing with her clit with the other hand.

  Lamar raised his hand and smacked the top of Kim’s ass as he continued to stroke deeply into her guts.

  Morning sex was the best for Kim. She couldn’t lie
; Lamar had that golden dick, and he knew how to work it. It was starting to become addictive, but she wasn’t willing just yet to allow him to dictate the rules.

  “Damn, Kim!” Lamar said, looking down at his shiny, wet dick going in and out of her.

  Kim knew that he was about to cum. She looked back at him and began throwing her ass back at him. She too was about to cum, and preferred that they did it at the same time.

  “Take dis dick!” Lamar said, speeding up his strokes. He raised his hand and smacked the top of her ass again.

  Kim’s walls tightened up, and a river of her juices lubricated his dick. He couldn’t hold off any longer. Her pussy was too wet. He started banging away until he splashed his thick white cum inside of her.

  Kim could feel the warmth of his fluids filling her insides, which almost made her want to keep going. “Damn, boy!” she said, pulling away from him and releasing his dick from her suction.

  Lamar flopped down on the bed, expecting her to do the same, but she didn’t. Not this time. She wanted to make it very clear that she was running the show, and not him.

  She got off the bed, dressed, and was headed out the door within thirty seconds of Lamar cumming inside of her. This was her way of establishing the tempo and not allowing her feelings to get involved.

  What this did for Lamar was the total opposite, though.

  * * *

  Tammy woke up to Sinniyyah trying to eat her face. All she could feel were her wet gums and the spit running down the side of her face. It actually kind of tickled a little. “NaNa, what’re you doin’!” Tammy giggled while her baby sucked on her face.

  Sinniyyah was so cute. Right now she was probably the best thing Chris had ever done for her, and it was times like this when she appreciated him for that. A lot of the love she had for him came from their kids, and there wasn’t a second that went by that Tammy didn’t look at them and then start to think about Chris.

  She looked over at her cell phone vibrating on the nightstand next to the bed. She grabbed it, looked at the screen, and saw that the number was unavailable. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that it was Chris calling. It was crazy how she was just thinking about him, and now he was calling.

  She stared at the phone, not knowing whether to answer it. She hadn’t spoken to him in a few weeks, so she didn’t know how the conversation was going to turn out. But after a few more rings, she decided to answer it.

  “You have a prepaid call. You will not be charged for this call,” the prerecorded voice announced.

  Tammy pushed 5 to stop the automated system. “Hey!” she answered as she shifted Sinniyyah to the other side of the bed.

  “So I see you’re doin’ ya thing out there, pulling up in new cars and shit like that,” Chris said.

  Tammy knew that was going to get around to him eventually. His mom told him everything that was going on with Tammy and the kids. The only thing about his mother was that she blew things out of proportion sometimes. “It’s not like that, Chris,” Tammy responded.

  “Yeah? Well, I hope things work out between y’all two,” Chris said in a slick tone.

  Tammy saw that he was trying to be smart, so she copped an attitude real fast. “Is this what you called here for, Chris?” she snapped. “How about ya kids? You haven’t said one word about them!” she went on.

  Chris knew that his kids were good. He had just seen them last week. He was more concerned about who Tammy was messing around with while he was locked up. At the same time, he didn’t feel like arguing with her either. There was no way he could win, nor would it help the situation. “Man, I’m not tryin’ to fight with you, Tam. All I’m saying is that I hope dude is making you happy.”

  “Who are you talkin’ about, Chris? I’m not messing with anybody. My friend let me use his car to drop the kids off to your mom. I know she said something to you. She needs to mind her own damn—”

  “Watch ya fuckin’ mouth, Tammy! Don’t get beside yaself! That’s my mom you’re talkin’ about!” Chris blasted, checking her before she got any further out of pocket.

  “Well, she should have thought about that when she was harboring ya little secret,” Tammy responded, but not in a nasty way. She definitely still felt some type of way about the whole situation. There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t. She had always thought that Chris was different from the rest of the men out there, but as it turned out, he was just like most of them: unfaithful, untrue, and very disrespectful.

  “Look, Tam. I see you got ya life in order right now, and I really don’t wanna be a burden to you. I guess you can say that I’m officially letting you go. I’m not gonna call you and bother you anymore. You don’t even gotta worry about dropping the kids off to my mom so she can bring them up here.”

  “Hold up! Wait, Chris. You don’t have to do all that,” Tammy said, hearing the sincerity in his voice. She could hear the change in the way he was speaking and in his attitude when he said that. He sounded sad and tired. She’d never heard him sound so down.

  “Take care of yourself, Tammy. Good-bye,” he said, then hung up the phone before she could say anything else.

  All that hardcore shit that Tammy was talking was now out the door. The shit had gotten real, and she was already feeling the effects of what just happened. Not only was Chris done with her, he was also done with the kids, and that’s what hurt the most.

  * * *

  Ralphy thought that killing Dre would make him feel better, and it did a little, but it still didn’t take away the fact that Lisa had cheated on him. The pain from that remained in his heart.

  “Ralphy, what’s good, homie?” Lamar yelled before Ralphy got up the steps.

  “What it do, Mar?” he shot back after turning around.

  “Yo, I need to holla at you about something,” Lamar said, walking across the street. “Ay yo, I’m in a li’l dilemma right now,” he said, looking from left to right to make sure that it was just them out there.

  Ralphy looked around too with one eyebrow up.

  “Yo, I need you to keep this between me and you, brah,” Lamar said. “You know I’m fuckin’ Kim right now,” he said with a big-ass smile on his face.

  “Oh, yeah? I thought y’all was just roommates,” Ralphy inquired.

  “Yeah, we were. But guess what?” he said, looking around again. “Yo, I’m fuckin’ Falisha, too, homie!” Lamar told him, sticking his hand out for some dap.

  “Damn! You fucked Falisha and Kim? What in da hell can ya dilemma possibly be?” Ralphy asked.

  Kim was a nice-looking chick with a sexy body. She had a good job, and there weren’t too many niggas who could say that they hit it. She was more of a conservative chick, and was very careful of who she dealt with. A lot of niggas tried, but most of them failed.

  Falisha, on the other hand, was bad in every sense of the word. Her body was crazy thick, and she was cute in the face. She didn’t have a job, nor could she cook that well, but she was young enough to mold, and she had the potential to be loyal.

  “Homie, I think I’m in love with both of those bitches, ya feel me?” Lamar said, rubbing his hands together.

  Ralphy scratched his head. He was having trouble staying in love with one girl, and here Lamar was, trying to love two women.

  “I know eventually I’ma have to pick one of ’em. I just don’t know who,” Lamar said with a confused look on his face.

  Ralphy shook his head and chuckled. He really didn’t know what to tell Lamar. Females and love were the last things on his mind right now. But he had to tell Lamar something. He came to him for some advice, and that’s what he was going to get.

  Ralphy dug deep down and put as much of his own situation to the side, and then found some good words to say. “Whoever you feel can complete you, that’s who you should be with,” he said, sticking his hand out for a dap, which Lamar gave him in agreement.

  On that note, Ralphy went into his house, and Lamar walked back across the street thinking about what Ralphy
had just said. “The one who can complete me,” Lamar mumbled to himself as he took a seat on the steps.

  Just as he sat down, Kim came out of the house, on her way to work. She had on a black Balenciaga leather pencil skirt, a white blouse, and a pair of Yves Saint Laurent peep-toe pumps.

  She looked a little overdressed for work, which made Lamar raise an eyebrow. “You goin’ to work like that?” he asked, standing up to get a better look at her, and also to help her down the steps in her heels.

  “Boy, you ain’t my man. Don’t worry about how I’m dressed,” she playfully snapped back at him as she walked toward her car. “And don’t wait up, ’cause I got a date tonight.” She smiled right before she got into her car.

  Lamar just sat there. He didn’t know how to respond to that. All he knew was that he didn’t like the sound of her going out on a date.

  Chapter 18

  Lisa sat at work thinking about Ralphy, as she did every day. Today she even thought about Dre, wondering why he hadn’t called in a couple of days. When she tried to call his phone it went straight to voicemail every time.

  “Lisa, I need you to certify Ms. Thompson’s insurance for an extraction,” Dr. Crosby said, coming out of the operatory.

  “Sure, Dr. Crosby,” she said. As soon as she got up from her desk, her cell phone started to ring. Her instincts made her reach for it. When she looked on the screen, it was Kim calling. She answered it only to tell her to call back. “Hey, girl. Can you call me back in like twenty—”

  “Did you hear what happened?” Kim said, cutting her off.

  It sounded too juicy, and Lisa couldn’t resist. “What happened?” she asked, looking over at Ms. Thompson sitting in the waiting chair.

  “Oh, shit, girl! You really don’t know! Dre was murdered two nights ago in his neighborhood. My boss just told me five minutes ago,” Kim told her.

  The news was such a shock that Lisa had to sit back down in her chair. She was sick.