Single Ladies 7 & 8: That's What Friends Are For

by Blake Karrington

  “You’re already involved, and to be honest with you, you’re in over your head. Do you know how much time you’re facing if I go out there and file these charges against you? You delivered forty prescriptions, around one hundred pills per bag. The mandatory minimum for that is twenty years in federal prison,” Agent Grant lied.

  There wasn’t any mandatory minimums for that amount of pills, but Tammy didn’t know that. It was a scare tactic that had Tammy in deep thought. Agent Grant wasn’t done with his verbal assault. “You need to think about your kids, Tammy. Don’t lose them on account of a man you’ve only known for a few months. How do you think Anthony’s going to feel coming to see you in prison, or Sinniyyah, whom you’ll watch grow up from your jail cell? Their father is already in prison, what you think will happen to them when both of you are?” Agent Grant asked.

  He used her kids as a weapon, as most agents do when it comes to women. It was their weak spot, and Tammy wasn’t any different. When threatening to separate her from her two kids, the choice to cooperate was easy. She loved Darious, but she loved her kids and her freedom even more, and wasn’t going to risk losing them for anybody.

  “Just let me know what you need me to do, Tammy said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Chapter 4

  Kim’s asshole was still in pain when she walked out onto the pool deck with her towel wrapped around her waist. The only reason she came out was because she wanted to talk to Lamar. Too much was going on right now.

  “It’s hot as hell out here,” Kim said, taking the towel from around her waist and laying it on the ground right next to Lamar. “You gettin in?”

  She looked sexy as hell in her lime green and yellow Lenny Neimeyer bikini, and on her feet were a pair of green Chuck Taylors, which she took off before jumping into the swimming pool. Lamar took his shades off and dove right in behind her, swimming up and lifting her out of the water.

  “Ya ass still hurt?” Lamar chuckled, thinking about how funny her walk looked when she came outside.

  “Shut up,” she replied, pinching him in the chest. “Never again,” she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  Lamar walked around the pool holding Kim up with her legs wrapped around his waist. It was peaceful, and this was exactly how he’d hoped this getaway would go.

  “Babe, I need to talk to you about something,” Kim said with a serious look on her face.

  Still walking her around the pool, Lamar became attentive. “What’s going on?” he asked, seeing that something was bothering her. “Talk to me.”

  “I got a job offer the other day, but it’s not in the city. Shit, it’s not even in the same state, but it’s the chance of a lifetime,” Kim began.

  She broke down the whole proposal that was given to her by her boss, leaving nothing out, but when she got to the part about moving to Philadelphia, Lamar lost interest.

  “So what did you tell them,” Lamar asked, hoping that she didn’t already say yes.

  “I told them I had to think about it, and they gave me until next week to decide. I had to talk to you first, because how you feel matters to me.”

  “I’m not gon’ lie, Shawty. I’m not tryin to move to Philly. I’m a country boy, and those niggas up North move too fast for me,” he told her.

  Not surprised at all, Kim figured Lamar would say something along those lines. “So you’re telling me not to go?” Kim asked, wanting to be clear.

  Lamar turned his head, trying not to keep eye contact. “I’m not telling you that you can’t go. All I’m saying is that I’m not going with you to no Philadelphia.

  “Wowwww!” Kim said, pushing off him. “I didn’t expect that from you, but I’m good,” Kim said, before climbing out of the swimming pool and storming off back into the hotel.

  Lamar called out for her, but Kim kept trucking. He started to feel bad, and smacked the water in frustration before climbing out of the pool to head back into the hotel.

  __________

  Tammy walked into the bedroom where Darious was counting money on the bed. It had to be at least 70k in all denominations, and now the money that Darious used to call himself saving it for a rainy day, was sure starting to look like drug money to Tammy.

  “Can I ask you something, babe?” Tammy said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

  “Yeah, wassup?” he responded, not picking his head up.

  Tammy was nervous as hell, especially since she had a wire and a small camera hooked up to her Gucci bag sitting on the nightstand. All she had to do was reach over, grab the bag, and turn it on. She looked at Darious and thought about how much she really did love him, despite how long they had been together. Doing so made her not reach for the bag right away to turn on the device. She struggled with wanting to help him or throw him to the wolves.

  “Are you trappin?” Tammy asked flat out.

  Darious picked his head up from counting the money to see her looking at him dead in his eyes. The question kind of caught him off guard, but he played it cool.

  “What makes you think I’m trappin’?” he chuckled, looking back down at the money.

  “I know you might think that I’m green, Darious, but I’m not. I only turn a blind eye cause I love you,” she said, reaching over to lift his head up.

  “Why you asking, when you already know?” he replied.

  “I just want you to tell me the truth. I think I deserve to know, and should hear it from your mouth… Shit, I have two kids living here.”

  “You know I’ll never let nothing happen to you or the kids,” Darious spoke in a serious tone.

  He got up off the bed and walked around to where Tammy was sitting. He got on his knees and sat between her legs. “Tammy, I love you, and there nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for you. You asked me a question, and I’m going to answer it. Yes, I’m selling drugs right now, and have been for a while. I couldn’t afford all of this,” he said, looking around the room, working a regular 9 to 5 job. I want us to live comfortably, and I wanna be able to buy you nice things and take you nice places. It’s a sacrifice—”

  “It’s a sacrifice I don’t need you to make,” Tammy said, cutting him off. “I don’t need all of these things to be happy. All I need is you.”

  Tammy found herself giving Darious the same speech she gave Chris when he was out in the streets trappin’. She had been down this road before, and taking into consideration all that had happened today, Tammy could see that the same outcome was going to repeat itself with Darious.

  “Darious, I need to tell you something,” Tammy said, putting her hands over top of his.

  “What is it babe?” he asked, kissing her hand.

  Tammy looked over at her Gucci bag then back at him. She wanted to tell him so bad about the DEA and how they wanted her to get certain information for them, concerning his drug transactions, but the conversation she had with Agent Grant kept running through her mind. She kept thinking about her kids and them being taken away from her right before they threw her in federal prison. “I’m pregnant,” see lied, knowing that in a couple of months, Darious would be in jail.

  The thing Tammy didn’t expect from her little white lie was how happy Darious was to hear the news. He smiled from ear to ear then kissed Tammy’s empty stomach. It was almost as if he was trying to get her knocked up, and had finally succeeded. He was so happy, he kind of made Tammy feel a little happy too, as if it were true.

  The fact of the matter was, Tammy was telling a lie, and even though Tammy wasn’t reaching into her Gucci bag to turn on the device tonight, tomorrow was another day. One thing she wasn’t going to do was continue to play around with her freedom, because she knew from experience that the Feds were nothing to play with.

  __________

  Ralphy parked his rental car around the corner from Cedar street then sat there contemplating on what he was about to do. His instincts told him that Scoop had something to do with Dre’s people attempting
to kill him. He thought about it, and everything seemed to come back to Scoop. It was hard for Ralphy to swallow the fact that his close friend would set him up like this, but at the same time, that friendship shit went out the door the minute Scoop chose his side.

  Ralphy reached under his seat, grabbed a chrome .38 snub nose, and tucked it in his hoody pouch. It was his throw away gun, and out from the center console, he pulled his back-up gun, a 17 shot Glock 9mm. He was bringing that along, in case things got out of hand.

  “Do what you do,” Ralphy spoke to himself as he got out of the car.

  The sun was just below the horizon, so the sky was only minutes away from being dark, just the way Ralphy needed it to be. Everything in all black, Ralphy threw his hood over his head and proceeded down the street. Cedar street was the next block over, and instead of walking around the long way, Ralphy cut through an alleyway, which led to the top of the block.

  Scoop was sitting in his car watching the dope fiend traffic down the block. Ralphy couldn’t tell through the tint, whether he had somebody in the car with him or not, but at this point, it really didn’t matter. Ralphy emerged from the alley and walked right up to Scoop’s car. Only seeing a shadow out of his peripheral view, Scoop reached for his weapon.

  “It’s me nigga,” Ralphy said, pulling his hood back slightly so Scoop could see who it was.

  Even after seeing who it was, Scoop kept his gun in his hand as he got out of the car. Ralphy kept his hand in his hoody pouch, wrapped around the .38 with his finger hugging the trigger.

  “Damn homie, what you creepin’ for?” Scoop asked, still not sure of Ralphy’s intent.

  Ralphy never was the type to beat around the bush, and today wasn’t going to be any different, even if Scoop had a gun in his hand.

  “Yo, homie, let me ask you this,” Ralphy said, standing directly in front of Scoop. “How did you find out about them niggas who ran down on me at da spot? I damn sure didn’t tell nobody what happened,” Ralphy questioned.

  Scoop’s heart started pounding out of his chest. He couldn’t tell him that the reason he knew was because he was actually there when it happened. Scoop never got out of the Impala that day, but he saw everything go down. He knew that Ralphy would try to kill him if he knew that piece of information.

  “Come on, brah. What are you talking about?” Scoop said, trying to play it off. “Everybody knows about that.”

  From the look in Ralphy’s eyes, Scoop knew that the answer he gave didn’t sit well with him. They shared a quick awkward moment of silence before Scoop looked and saw Ralphy’s hand move in his hoody pouch.

  “What’s all that about?” Scoop asked, gripping his gun a little tighter. “What, you gon’ shoot me, nigga?” he said, hyping himself up for the gun battle he knew was about to erupt.

  Ralphy didn’t say anything, and in Scoop’s eyes, it was either kill or be killed at this point. Scoop’s gun was already out in his hand, so he felt he had the advantage. They stood there staring at each other like two cowboys in the old western days, waiting for the clock to strike twelve so they could start fighting.

  Feeling froggy, Scoop went to raise his gun up, but Ralphy blazed through his hoody pouch. Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Every bullet hit Scoop in his upper body area, knocking him backwards onto his car. Scoop still tried to raise the gun to get a shot off, but Ralphy grabbed it with his left hand, pulled the .38 out with his right hand, and gave Scoop a head shot.

  Scoop’s body went limp instantly, dropping to the ground between the parked cars. Seeing that the commotion got the attention of a few workers at the end of the block, Ralphy knew that he didn’t have long before they ran up the street, guns blazing. He took his sleeve and wiped down the .38 real nicely before tossing it next to Scoop’s body, and then walking off into the night.

  __________

  Kim and Lamar’s little getaway didn’t turn out to be all that great after Lamar ruined the mood with his rude comments about the whole moving to Philadelphia situation. It was quiet for the most part in the room, and the only real conversation they had was concerning what type of food they were going to order. If Kim didn’t care about wasting her money for the room, she would have gone home, with or without Lamar.

  “Babe, can we talk?” Lamar asked, breaking the silence in the room.

  Kim cut her eyes over at him. Seeing her mean face only made Lamar smile.

  “No, for real, babe. I wanna talk,” he said, scooting over a little closer to her on the bed.

  Sitting there in silence for most of the night had given Lamar plenty of time to think. He weighed the pros and the cons of moving so far away, and remained firm about him not wanting to go. But then reality set in.

  “Look, first I want to apologize to you for being selfish and not being understanding towards ya situation. You have a great opportunity to do something major, and I’m sitting here being an asshole not supporting you,” Lamar said. “I’m not going to lie, I really don’t wanna move that far away, but I love you, and if you really want to move to Philly, then I’ll ride out with you,” he told her, taking her hand into his.

  Kim sat up in the bed, holding her ring finger out. “We are about to get married, Lamar.”

  “I know, I know. And there’s gonna be a lot of sacrifices both of us will make. I get it, and I promise you that I will communicate with you better in the future,” Lamar assured.

  Kim’s frown turned upside-down. She leaned in and kissed him on his neck then laid down across his lap. She was so in love with Lamar, and it was moments like these, when she felt that Lamar loved her back. It made everything they went through worth it. At the end of the day, she had his back and he had hers, the way that it is supposed to be.

  __________

  Tammy’s phone vibrated on the nightstand next to the bed, waking her up out of her sleep. She wasn’t going to answer it, but it just kept buzzing to the point where it was about to wake Darious up too. She grabbed it and looked at the screen. It was Falisha, and it was also 2:00 in the morning, Tammy noticed from the clock that sat next to the phone.

  “Yeah,” Tammy answered with a scratchy voice.

  Tammy could hear Falisha crying and yelling at somebody else in the background, telling them to mind their own business. It was later determined that it was Falisha’s mom she was talking to.

  “Girl, I’m stressed da fuck out right now,” Falisha said, finally saying something to Tammy.

  “Talk to me, Falisha. What’s going on?” Tammy asked, getting out of her bed and walking to the bathroom so she wouldn’t disturb Darious.

  Falisha began pouring her heart out, something Tammy never seen before. “I don’t wanna have my baby by myself. I see young girls everyday struggling to take care of their children all by themselves. I don’t wanna be like that, and this asshole got the nerve to get engaged to Kim,” Falisha spazzed.

  “Whaaaat!” Tammy spoke; surprised this piece of gossip was just now hitting her ears.

  “So you still didn’t tell him yet?”

  “Not yet. And I don’t even know if I want to now. Kim gon’ think that I’m desperate and who knows what Lamar is going to think. I wanna tell him but… I don’t know. This pregnancy shit is fucking with my head right now,” Falisha said, wiping the tears away.

  Tammy called these the single mother blues. Everything Falisha was going through right now, Tammy had been there and done that. Raising a kid alone wasn’t easy at all, and Tammy wasn’t going to lie and make her think that it was going to be.

  “Look, Falisha, if you plan on keeping this baby, you gotta do what’s best for your child. Don’t worry about what Kim thinks or anybody else for that matter,” Tammy told her.

  The advice was a little tough, since all of them were friends, but Tammy did nothing less than keep it 100. What Falisha did with the advice was totally up to her, but in Tammy’s eyes, Lamar needed to know that he was about to be a father, and telling him now would be better than telling h
im later.

  __________

  Ralphy looked up and down the block carefully before entering in the house he had with Johanne. Once inside, he pulled the Glock from his waist and held it down by his side as he walked through the house. The light in the kitchen made it possible for him to see enough not to walk into things. He hadn’t been there in a couple of days, nor had he spoken to Johanne much.

  Feeling like the house was secure, he shot upstairs to his bedroom to see if Johanne was there or if she was staying over at DeeDee’s house like she said she would. When Ralphy got to the bedroom and opened the door, the sound of a heavy snorer filled the room. Knowing that it was physically impossible for that to have been Johanne, Ralphy reached for the light switch and turned it on.

  Johanne and another man were in the bed asleep. Ralphy walked up to the bed, and they still didn’t wake up. It wasn’t until he put the barrel of the gun on Johanne’s forehead that she cracked opened her eyes. It was like she had seen a ghost the way her eyes popped out.

  “Donny,” Johanne called out to the man she’d been sleeping with. “Donny,” she called again, this time waking him up.

  Ralphy had backed up to the foot of the bed, but he kept the gun pointed at both of them. His eyes were locked on Johanne until Donny said something.

  “Hold up, homie, we can talk about this,” Donny said, attempting to get up from the bed.

  “Lay ya monkey ass down,” Ralphy said, pointing the gun at him now.

  “I don’t have nothin to do wit it. Lick want you dead,” Donny yelled.

  Looking at him for the first time, Ralphy couldn’t believe Johanne was lying in his bed with another man. Not just any man, either. It was the second gunman who insisted on killing Ralphy in front of his daughter in the driveway. Ralphy never forgot a face.

  Johanne was literally sleeping with the enemy, and for that, she was going to die with him.

  Ralphy squeezed the trigger, sending a hot led ball at Donny, hitting him in the center of his forehead. His body slumped over onto Johanne, who began to cry out. She pled for Ralphy not to shoot her, and in a final attempt to preserve her life, Johanne yelled. “I’M PREGNANT WITH YOUR BABY!”