Single Ladies 3&4

by Blake Karrington

  Tammy wasn’t slow by a long shot though. She knew that this was a date, and Darious was going at it under the friendship card to ease any pressure. It was cute and innocent, and she didn’t mind entertaining it for just one night.

  __________

  Ralphy walked into the house, went straight upstairs and got into the shower without saying a single word to Lisa, who was sitting on the couch. This had been his routine for the past week, and the only reason why Lisa didn’t question it was because she didn’t feel like she was in a position to. In her mind, she thought that he was sleeping with another woman, but even if he was, who was she to say anything? It was her fault that things were the way they were.

  “Are you coming back?” she hurried up and asked as Ralphy came running back down the stairs towards the door.

  “Naw. I’ll see you tomorrow. I got some shit to take care of,” he said, throwing the black hood over his head. “Is ya mom still watching Naomi this weekend?” he asked, stopping at the door.

  Lisa took a closer look at him and noticed the unusual attire he was wearing. He had on all black from head to toe, and the look he had in his eyes was different. It was a look that she had never seen before, and it made her concerned. “Ralphy, what’s wrong with you?” she asked, getting up from the couch and walking over to the door.

  He gave her an empty look and shook his head. “I’m good. I just gotta take care of something,” he answered.

  Lisa had known Ralphy long enough to know when something wasn’t right with him. It was one thing to come into the house, take a shower and go straight to bed, but it was another thing to be dressed in all black and leaving the house with a deranged look on his face. “Ralphy, is this about us? ‘Cause if it is, I can fix it, babe. Just give me a chance; I promise!” she pleaded, not wanting him to do anything stupid.

  “I gotta go,” Ralphy said, reaching for the doorknob.

  Lisa stood in front of the door, blocking it. She was still very much in love with him and didn’t want anything to happen to him. If she could take back everything she did, she would in a heartbeat just to have things back to normal. “Please, babe, can we work this out?” she pleaded while wiping the tears that fell from her eyes.

  The crying wasn’t going to help. Ralphy didn’t have a place in his heart for sympathy when it came to her anymore. This whole ordeal forced him to dig into his past and be somebody that he used to be. There weren’t too many people that knew how vicious he once was in the streets of the Queen City. He used to go hard, and he was part of the reason why Charlotte’s murder rate was so high back in 2002, 2003, and 2004. It was as if Lisa had woken a sleeping giant. “Look, man, I gotta go,” he said before moving her to the side, opening the door and walking out of the house.

  Lisa just stood at the threshold and watched him get into his car and pull off. She was sick. She didn’t know what he was going to do. But whatever it was, she could only pray that it didn’t get him killed or thrown in jail.

  __________

  “Do you have to go straight home?” Darious asked Tammy as they approached his car.

  Stopping at the passenger side door, she asked with a curious look on her face, “Why? Where are you tryin’ to take me?”

  “I know this little spot where we can grab something to eat. I know you’re hungry as hell, working in there all day,” he said with a smile.

  The truth of the matter was that she was starving. The only problem was that she didn’t have any money to be eating take-out food. Rent was right around the corner, along with the electric bill, gas bill, and her cell phone bill. Money was tight right now. Plus, she already had a refrigerator full of food and her cabinets were stocked to the max. It wasn’t take-out, but it was free courtesy of Welfare. “Boy, I ain’t got any money for take-out,” she chuckled before opening the car door and getting inside.

  Darious got into the car too. He looked over at Tammy and shook his head. “How about dinner on me tonight? You need to stop worrying about money all the time,” he smiled. He grabbed the remote control off the center console and began changing the CD’s in the changer.

  Tammy couldn’t help but to find him attractive. The more time they spent together, the more things she began to notice about him… small things like the way he walked with a slight ditty-bop, the way he always talked in a calm manner, and how confident he was in himself, not to mention the fact that he had his own car, his own apartment, and he was financially stable. Plus, he was single. He was a good catch, but she wasn’t at that stage in her life right now.

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

  “…Sorry, didn’t notice you there.

  Then again, you didn’t notice me.

  So we’ll remain passersby,

  Until the next time we speak.

  I hope that I can make you mine,

  ‘Fore another man steals your heart.

  And once ya beauty is mine,

  I swear we would never be afar…”

  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 was possible for her to fall into temptation.

  __________

  Falisha sat on her steps, sipping on a bottle of Mascoto 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 on 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 9:45pm, 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 whether or not 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 tip-toes and pressed her lips up against his. This was the first time that she had ever purposely showed 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 onto 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 its 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, dats 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 that 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 kill over there for less than nothing.

  “Hold up for one second, lil’ brah,” Ralphy said, checking out his surrounding. “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 so 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 lil’ homies whipped out his gun and started firing back, but Scoop ended that relatively quick, 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 till the end. “Fuck you, nigga!” he yelled right before spitting at Ralphy, but only getting the side of his hoody.

  Dre still didn’t know who was behind the hood… that is until Ralphy pulled it off. He wanted Dre to see who it was that 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 of 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 pulling off into the night, leaving behind two dead bodies, three wounded, and the night sky full of gun smoke.

  Chapter 2

  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 feeling 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 30 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 Siniyyah trying to eat her face. All she could feel was her wet gums and the spit running down the side of her face. It actually kind of tickled a little. “Na-Na, what’re you doin’!” Tammy giggled while her baby sucked on her face.

  Siniyyah was so cute. Right now she was probably the best thing Chris had ever did for her, and it was times like this that 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 or not 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 Siniyyah 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 h
is 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 saw 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 turns 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 never heard him sound so down.