Single Ladies 2

by Blake Karrington

  “Kim, you knew what you was getting into from day one. I never hid my life from you, and now, you sound like you’re trying to give me some type of ultimatum.” This wasn’t an ultimatum in Kim’s eyes. It just was a choice he had to make. Kim saw a lot in her lifetime. Lisa losing Ralphy, Tammy losing Chris to prison, and now Falisha with her baby daddy drama. She wasn’t trying to experience none of that.

  “Look, I have a beautiful home, a nice car, and a great job back in California. I’m flying back tomorrow, and I swear, I want you to come back with me. I truly do.”

  “Come on, Kim, I just can’t pick up and leave. I can’t just—”

  “Be at my place tomorrow morning at 6:00,” Kim said, cutting him off. “If you really desire to have a family to call your own, then I’ll see you in the morning. If not, then go on with your life, but without me,” she said, standing up. She didn’t give Brian time to say anything, grabbing her things and walking out the door.

  * * *

  Lamar woke up to what appeared to be a female screaming out in front of his window. Getting up to investigate, he walked over to the window and saw Carol crying on her knees in front of Ms. D’s house. He knew something was wrong. He quickly threw on some clothes and shot outside, only to fall to his knees as well when the medic was bringing Ms. D’s body out on a stretcher. The white sheet covering her face made it obvious that she was dead. Cries from several other neighbors sounded out throughout the quiet street. Carol had been the one who found the body when she was coming over to take Ms. D to a doctor’s appointment. This was a devastating blow. Not just for Ms. D’s family, but for the whole of the community.

  * * *

  Jordan woke Chris up, smacking him in his face with a stuffed baseball bat. Anthony and Sinniyyah could be heard in the other room yelling and screaming about some toys. Off the bat, he was irritated, and since he couldn’t get any sleep, neither was Falisha.

  “Yo, get up!” he yelled, smacking her on the ass. “Yo, get up!” he yelled again when she didn’t move fast enough. Falisha sat up in bed squinting her eyes. She had the kids all yesterday and was supertired.

  “Get up and make us all something to eat,” Chris demanded. Falisha looked at him like he was crazy.

  “Why can’t you do it?” she snapped back with an attitude. “I played house all yesterday.”

  Chris wasn’t good with the whole child nurturing thing. He left all that up to Tammy, and this was one of the reasons he really missed her right now. She played her part when it came to her motherly duties.

  Where da fuck is this girl at? he thought to himself.

  In protest, Falisha finally got out of bed and headed for the kitchen. Chris, on the other hand, lay back down, but not before grabbing his phone off the dresser. He had a feeling that Tammy’s phone was going to go to voice mail, but he tried calling her anyway. This time, Tammy answered. “Where da fuck is you at?” he yelled into the phone.

  His aggressive words didn’t seem to bother Tammy one bit.

  “I’m gonna ask you something, and I want you to be completely honest with me,” she spoke in a calm voice.

  “Fuck all that. Come get these kids. I got shit I’m trying to do,” he snapped.

  “Do you really love your kids? I mean, like, do you love them more than you love me?”

  “What da fuck kind of question is that? Where da fuck are you?”

  “Just answer the question and tell me the truth.”

  Chris scratched his head with a confused look on his face, more mad than anything that Tammy would be playing these types of games this morning.

  “Of course, I love my kids more than I love you. That’s because I don’t love ya dumb ass no more. Look at the dumb shit you doing right now. How da fuck am I supposed to have love for—Click!—Hello, hello,” Chris said into the phone, no longer hearing Tammy’s voice. She had hung up, and when Chris tried to call her back, the phone went straight to voice mail again. It made him so mad that he threw his phone up against the wall, breaking it into little pieces. This definitely wasn’t the way he had planned on that conversation going, and now he wondered if he had only made things worse. There was no way he and Falisha were going to make it another day with all three of the kids at the house.

  * * *

  Kim waited until 9:00, but Brian never came to her place. He didn’t call, text, or anything, leaving Kim to believe that he had made his decision loud and clear. When she got to Philadelphia International, her phone began to ring. She hoped that it was him, but it wasn’t. “Hey, girl,” Kim answered seeing that it was Lisa.

  The news of Ms. D’s death buckled Kim’s knees as she walked toward the jet. She found it hard to breathe for a few seconds, but when she finally got it together, she got on the jet and went straight up to the pilot. “Take me to Charlotte, North Carolina.”

  Chapter 25

  Ms. D’s funeral wasn’t until Thursday, so that gave Kim, Lisa, and Tammy some time to catch up on life. They had lunch at the Crab Shack, one of their favorite places. “So when can we come out to Cali and chill?” Lisa asked as she cracked into a king crab leg. “I know it’s nice out there.”

  “Yea, it’s beautiful. I got a dream home, but y’all gon’ have to give me a couple of months to get settled in, plus, I got work piled up to the ceiling, waiting for me to get back.”

  Mr. Price had to retrieve the jet for a business trip he had to take, but he gave Kim an extra week before she was needed back in Cali. When she did get back to Cali, it was going to be all work and no play, at least for the next month.

  “So what about you. How have you been?” Kim asked Tammy, still feeling sad about what happened to her.

  “I’m doing fine. I just got a lot on my mind right now.”

  “This bitch is on the run right now,” Lisa cut in jokingly. “She done left Chris with the kids for almost a week now,” she chuckled, thinking about him taking on that kind of responsibility. Tammy had to laugh herself. “He gon’ kill her when he catch her.” Lisa laughed with a mouth full of food. Kim didn’t want to ask about Falisha while Tammy was there, but Lisa was on a roll. “And that crazy-ass Falisha won’t let that boy see his son. I’m telling you, that girl got the devil in her. Even with a court order, she’s denying him visitation.”

  Kim shook her head, taking in all the juicy gossip. She could never get tired of it, sitting there getting the full scoop from them. It was times like this she missed being in Charlotte. For the rest of the afternoon, they all just enjoyed each other’s company. They talked about all that had been going on since Kim had been gone, and they also talked about Ms. D. The only thing that wasn’t brought to the table today was Kim’s pregnancy, and she wasn’t ready to tell anybody else about it because she wasn’t sure if she was going to keep the baby.

  * * *

  Brian took a deep pull of the marijuana, then exhaled it through his nose like a dragon. The recent murders of Fabian and Chicken had Eighth Street and Twenty-third Street and Diamond on edge. No one had plans on letting up, and Brian had it in his mind that he was going to kill any and everybody who tried to get at him.

  “Did you call her yet?” Dez asked, knowing Brian had been a little stressed about Kim moving to Cali.

  “Yea, I tried to call, but she don’t wanna talk to me right now. It’s crazy ’cause I miss my bitch,” he said, taking another pull of the weed. “You know, she told me that she was pregnant.”

  “Wow, bro, that’s big,” Dez replied, squinting from the pain of trying to move his arm. “So let me ask you this, and don’t take this personal, my nigga. If you got a bad bitch out in Cali with her own shit, a good job, and wit’ ya seed growing inside of her, why in the fuck are you still sitting here with me?”

  “’Cause I’m hood bound, my nigga. I don’t know nothing else but these streets, and for me to go out there, I feel like I would be out of place.”

  “I’ma keep it real wit’ you, my nigga. You sound like a damn fool. But guess what? I’ma let you s
it there and think about that dumb shit you just said out ya mouth,” Dez concluded, taking the blunt from Brian. He grabbed the compact .45 off the table and tucked it into his sling. He looked back at Brian, and the next few words he spoke out of his mouth were so powerful. First, he pulled the gun back out so Brian could see it. “I gotta be strapped walking to the corner store. If you think this way of life have any significance to it, how about you keep this shit and let me go out there with Kim?” Dez proposed sarcastically before turning around and walking out the door. It was a gut check, no doubt, and something Brian would have to process in his mind for sure.

  * * *

  “Get da fuck away from my door, Lamar!” Falisha yelled, all the while trying to comfort Jordan who was crying.

  “I got a court order to see my son!” he yelled back through the entrance. They’d been going back and forth like this for the past ten minutes, and the neighbors were starting to get a little irritated behind it. Falisha had no intention on opening up the door, especially since Chris wasn’t there to monitor the visit.

  “I’ma call the cops and tell them you trying to rape me. Ya ass is gonna go to jail today!” she threatened.

  Lamar looked to the sky, clutching his teeth and balling up his hands. He was frustrated no doubt, but more hurt than anything. He began to speak in a low tone in the corner of the door.

  “I swear, I don’t know why you’re doing this,” he began.

  Falisha put Jordan down on the couch, then walked over to the door to hear what Lamar had to say.

  “All I wanted to do was be a good father to our son and a good man to you. Where did I go wrong?” Lamar felt like he wanted to cry, thinking about all that he’d been through with Falisha. She could care less about how he felt. She too was dealing with some unresolved issues, one being the fact that Lamar cheated on her with Kim in the beginning of their relationship. She regretted the fact that the only reason why Lamar chose to be with her was because of the pregnancy. It wasn’t because he loved her as he claimed in the beginning, but rather by force. It ate at Falisha and scarred her for life. She would never be able to forgive him for that, and as long as she breathed the good gift of air, she was going to make his life a living hell.

  “Just leave, Lamar, before I call the cops,” Falisha spoke at the door.

  Though he did have a court order to have partial custody of his son, the judge specified that a hearing was to commence in order for the custody issue to be explained more in detail. Until then, there was nothing he could do about it, and instead of getting in trouble with the law and messing up any chance he had of getting his son, Lamar walked off.

  * * *

  Brian was awakened by the mailman who dropped several articles of mail through his door. Getting up from the couch, he walked over to the door. The first envelope that stuck out to him was one with Kim’s name on it. Curious, he opened it first. Inside was a one-way plane ticket from Philly to LAX. Kim had bought the ticket when she was at Philadelphia International, then dropped it in the mailbox while she was there. No letter, no note, just a plane ticket. Brian looked at it, thinking about what Dez had said to him. The only thing was, he really wasn’t trying to leave Philly.

  Despite all the drama he was going through, he loved his city and a lot of people in it. He didn’t want to start over or leave his boys behind. His feelings were similar to Caine in the movie Menace II Society, except that he was leaning more to the left. Getting him out of the hood was like a mission impossible. Ultimately, Brian crumbled up the ticket and threw it in the trash, then grabbed his gun and got ready for another day in the concrete jungle.

  * * *

  Lisa couldn’t believe Tammy didn’t show up to Ms. D’s funeral. Not only didn’t she show up, she didn’t even call anybody to say that she wasn’t going to make it. Tammy knew Chris was going to be there, and she didn’t want to deal with his foolishness, plus, she still had a lot of thinking to do.

  “So look, I’m trying to get everybody to come over to Ms. D’s house for dinner,” Lisa said as she, Kim, Lamar, Falisha, and Chris were walking away from the burial site.

  Kim thought about the last dinner they had at Ms. D’s and how messy things got. “I wish you would have said something to me about this a few days ago,” she responded, finding her way out.

  Falisha was next, crying that she had better things to do. Lamar jumped right in on the opportunity.

  “How about you let me see me son?” he said in a slight tone. Falisha looked at him and smiled, knowing that she had Lamar by the balls when it came down to Jordan. “Don’t you think that if I wanted you to see my son, I would have brought him here?”

  Kim felt sorry for Lamar and decided to say something.

  “Come on, Falisha, let that man see his son.”

  Falisha cut her eyes over at Kim. At this point, Falisha had forgotten that if it wasn’t for Kim, she would probably still be in jail right now. Nobody was safe.

  “Mind ya fuckin’ business, bitch. If you wanted him to see his son so bad, you should of kept the one you aborted,” Falisha barked.

  “Awe, shit, here we go again with this shit. Can’t you come up with something better?” Kim shot back.

  Lisa put her hand over her forehead and let out a frustrating sigh. They weren’t twenty feet away from Ms. D’s burial site, and they was already arguing.

  “Are y’all seriously going to do this right here, right now?” Lisa asked.

  “Why not? This is where she started it,” Falisha said, cutting her eyes over at Kim.

  Chris tried to check Falisha, but she wasn’t having it. He too was in her crosshairs.

  “Fuck you, Chris,” she snapped. “You think you got all the sense. Go look for ya baby mutha. I know you still love her. I know you still want her. You must think I’m a damn fool.” She turned back to Kim. She wasn’t done with her yet.

  “And take ya boogie ass to California. Don’t nobody want you down here anyway.”

  Chris threw his hands in the air, pretty much done with Falisha.

  “You know what, Falisha? You bitter as hell. You got looks but no brains, and that’s the reason why you can’t keep a man. And for the record, you’ve always been jealous of me. But guess what? I’ma pray for you. God knows you need it,” Kim said, then walked off, not allowing Falisha to respond.

  Lamar stood there for a moment, fighting the urge to put his hands on her. Reluctantly, he walked off too, and so did Lisa, leaving Falisha standing there by herself. Ms. D was probably in her grave shaking her head with a smile on her face thinking, This evil girl done struck again.

  * * *

  Brian walked up the steps to go into the house, but as he was turning the key in the lock, he felt somebody walking up behind him. He went to reach for his gun, but it was too late. He could feel a gun being jammed into his side and a hand pressed up against his back. “Open the fuckin’ door,” a voice spoke in a low tone. Brian did what he was told and opened the door. He was pushed inside, almost falling to the ground. The gunman was on his heels, so Brian couldn’t do too much of anything. He didn’t want to try to pull his gun for fear that the shooter would kill him.

  “What do you want, my nigga?” Brian asked sternly, trying to maintain his hardness.

  “I wanna see you die, you bitch-ass nigga,” the man replied, clutching the gun tighter. Brian could see it in the man’s eyes that he meant what he said about wanting to see him dead. A fresh RIP tattoo was on the gunman’s arm, so there was no wonder the motivation behind this encounter. Brian just couldn’t understand how the gunman got up on him that fast.

  “Yo, I didn’t kill ya man,” Brian lied, looking him in the eyes.

  “Even if you didn’t pull the trigger, you was the reason why.” The gunman backed off of Brian with the intention to shoot him, but when he pulled the trigger . . . The gun clicked.

  The gunman quickly cocked the gun back and pulled the trigger again before Brian had time to do anything. Again, the gun just clicked.
Brian saw the opportunity and didn’t want to let this chance pass him by. He jumped up from the couch, but the gunman cracked him right on the top of his nose with the side of the gun. It damn near knocked him out. Crrrraacckk! The gunman hit him again, this time with the butt of the gun on top of Brian’s head. The second blow didn’t knock him out either, but it dazed Brian long enough for the gunman to take flight out the door. Brian finally shook it off, but it was too late to try to get up and chase the guy. Plus, his nose was leaking blood all over his clothes. He grabbed his gun from off his waist, then went to lock the door. All he could think about was how easy it was for one of Fabian’s boys to creep up on him and kill him. It was something he’d never expect to happen, not at his home, anyway. But it did, and now it was time for Brian to respond accordingly.

  Chapter 26

  One week later . . .

  When Chris walked into the apartment, it looked empty. He walked into the bedroom, and every piece of clothing that belonged to Falisha and Jordan was gone. He didn’t know exactly what it was, but a noise in the living room caught his attention. When he walked back into the living room and looked down by the front door, an envelope was on the floor. It wasn’t there when he first walked through the door, so somebody must have slid it under there just now.

  “What da hell,” he mumbled, opening the door to see if somebody was out there. The hallway was clear and quiet. He thought that Falisha was behind it, but when he opened the envelope and started to read the letter, he darted back out the door, down the hallway, and into the parking lot, hoping he could have caught her. But she was nowhere to be found. Slowly walking back into the apartment building, he began to read the letter.