Single Ladies (9 page)

“Is it possible I can see the last transactions within the last couple of months?” Ralphy asked with a suspicious look on his face.

“Yeah, sure. I can do that,” Larry said, tapping away at the keys. “Here you go.”

He passed Ralphy the two pieces of paper as soon as they came out of the printer. Larry was well experienced in the field of banking and knew that Ralphy may have had some marital problems. It was pretty much confirmed by the way Ralphy looked strongly at the two pieces of paper.

“Look, Mr. Windsor. I know this isn't any of my business but you seem like a nice guy,” Larry said, sympathizing with Ralphy. “I know it's not professional for me to do this but we men gotta stick together,” he said, looking back on the computer. “I don't know if you know this, but your wife also has an open separate account at this bank.”

“Oh, is that right?” Ralphy said, raising one eyebrow.

He had no idea Lisa had another account open and, from what Larry was telling him, she had it open for about a year now. Larry even told him how much she had in the account, which was double what they had in their joint account.

Ralphy was hot as hell. The extra money she had in her separate account was one thing but the list of transactions made in the past two months was a whole other situation in itself. The credit card transactions showed purchases from Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Footlocker, and several other clothing stores, none of which Ralphy was at in the past six months. A million and one thoughts ran through his head at once, so much so he didn't even hear Larry talking to him.

“How much would you like to put into your account, Mr. Windsor?” Larry asked again, this time snapping his fingers to bring him out of his daze.

Words couldn't explain how Ralphy felt at that moment. All he wanted to do was leave; but, before he did, he answered Larry's question.

“All of it,” he said, grabbed his ID, and walked out of the office.

Tammy got off the bus and walked the rest of the way to Chris's mom's house. With Sinniyyah in the stroller and Anthony walking up front, Tammy pulled out her phone to check her text messages. Darious had sent her a text, basically checking up on her to make sure she was all right. She smiled at the text then hit him back to let him know that she was good.

“Anthony, slow down!” she yelled out to him.

“But Grandma house right there.” He pointed, then began running toward the house once Tammy got closer.

By the time she got to Ms. Elaine's house, Anthony was on the porch knocking on the door. It was a pop-up visit so Ms. Elaine didn't even know they were coming. Hell, Tammy didn't even know if she was home, but Ms. Elaine was there standing behind the door with her head in her hands.

“Grandma!” Anthony yelled out again as he continued to bang on the door.

Ms. Elaine couldn't ignore Anthony any longer, even if she wanted to. She just wanted to avoid the drama that was about to unfold. She swung the door open with a big smile on her face, reached down, and gave Anthony a big hug along with a few grandmom kisses.

“Hi, Ms. Elaine,” Tammy greeted her, carrying the stroller up the steps. “What, were you asleep?” she asked, pulling Sinniyyah out of the stroller and grabbing the diaper bag.

“No, I wasn't 'sleep. But I wish I was,” she answered, mumbling the last part to herself.

When Tammy got into the house she headed back toward the kitchen to make up a few bottles. When she got there, a young white female was sitting at the kitchen table standing a baby up on her lap. Tammy slowly walked by the girl and her baby, speaking to her before opening up the refrigerator.

Tammy couldn't see it at first because of the angle the girl was sitting at when she entered the kitchen, but on the side of the white girl's neck, big as day, was the name C
HRIS
. Not that she had to, but Tammy looked a little closer at the fancy cursive writing.

“Excuse me, but what's ya name?” Tammy asked, closing the refrigerator door and walking over to the female.

“Oh, my name is Amy. I'm Chris's baby mother,” she said, tilting her head to the side so that Tammy could see Chris's name on her neck, not that she had to.

Tammy looked down at the little girl and there was no denying the fact that Chris fathered that child. Her hair was long, thick, and curly just like Sinniyyah's, and she had his golden eye color along with his flat nose. The little girl and Sinniyyah looked almost like twins.

“Ms. Elaine!” Tammy yelled out.

She was so focused on Amy and the little girl, she didn't even notice Ms. Elaine standing at the entrance of the kitchen. “Now that you two finally met, I think it's best we sit down and talk,” Ms. Elaine suggested.

“Talk about what, Ms. Elaine?” Tammy shot back with an attitude. “You knew about this and didn't tell me.”

“It wasn't my place to tell you. It was Chris's and he promised me that he would, so I left it alone,” Ms. Elaine explained. “I'm sorry you found out like this.”

“Do she know?” Tammy asked, cutting her eyes over at Amy. “Do she know that me and Chris are . . . Let me rephrase that. Do she know me and Chris was together?” Tammy asked.

Ms. Elaine just put her head down. Amy knew as much about Tammy as Tammy knew about her. In both of their eyes, they both were Chris's girl. Tammy obviously had more time being with Chris than Amy did, and it was shown by the way Tammy took over the floor, and how Ms. Elaine was more sympathetic toward her. Amy, on the other hand, was so green to what was going on she didn't seem to care at all.

“You know what, you can keep his ass,” Tammy told Amy, then stormed out of the kitchen.

Just as fast as she unpacked Sinniyyah's things, she packed them back up. Ms. Elaine was trying to talk to her but Tammy wasn't trying to hear shit right now. She left without saying another word, leaving Amy and Ms. Elaine sitting and looking stupidly at each other.

* * *

Ralphy sat at the kitchen table listening to Luther Vandross sing “A House Is Not a Home” on the radio. He had been drinking all evening, sitting there, waiting for Lisa to come walking through the door, but she never did, even hours after he knew she had gotten off of work. The only thing he could think was that she was with Dre, probably getting her back blown out. The more he thought about it, the more he drank and the more he drank.

Right while Ralphy was taking another swig from the bottle of Jack Daniels, Lisa came walking through the door. At this point, Ralphy was so drunk he couldn't even talk, nor could he find the strength to reach in his back pocket and pull out the paperwork he had gotten from the bank. He was torn up.

“Baby, what's going on?” Lisa asked, putting her bag down and walking into the kitchen. “What's the matter?” she asked with a concerned look on her face as she pulled out a chair and sat next to him.

Everything he wanted to say was in his brain, but the words just wouldn't come out. He sat there with a look on his face like he was taking a crap, looking her right in the eyes. He couldn't talk, but his tears were working just fine 'cause the more he thought about it, the more he would cry.

“Baby, please talk to me,” Lisa pled, now wiping the tears falling from her eyes. She knew that she had hurt Ralphy and to see him sitting there drunk, and crying, was heartrending. She'd never seen him cry before, ever.

For a moment, it looked like Ralphy was going to say something, but he didn't. All he managed to do was crack a smile through the stream of tears falling down his face. He also found enough strength to get up from the table, knocking the bottle of whiskey over in the process. He stumbled toward the steps in an attempt to go upstairs and when Lisa tried to help him, he turned around and raised his fist. He only wished that he had enough power to punch her square in the jaw, but he didn't. He barely had enough strength to make it up the steps; but after two or three stumbles, a pause here, and a pause there, he finally make it to the bedroom. That journey took everything he had left in him, 'cause once he hit the bed it was lights out.

* * *

In the federal prison system, e-mailing is a feature everybody uses in order to communicate, aside from the phone calls and what many people now call snail mail, via the postal service. Any time Tammy needed Chris to call home she would e-mail him then get the phone call within an hour or so. She e-mailed Chris as soon as she left his mom's house so by the time she had gotten home Chris was calling. Tammy heard her phone ring the moment she stepped through the door. She hurried up and dug into her bag and pulled out the phone, leaving Sinniyyah still sitting in her stroller.

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

Tammy pushed 5 to accept the call, taking a seat on the couch with Sinniyyah in front of her.

“Wassup, babe,” Chris spoke, unaware of what was going on at home.

“I just left ya mom house like an hour ago and guess who was there? Ya white baby mom and ya daughter,” Tammy said as she unstrapped Sinniyyah.

It got real quiet on the phone. Chris was stuck. He didn't know what to say. It was pointless for him to even try to lie because he knew Tammy wasn't trying to hear any of it.

“So you don't have anything to say?” Tammy asked, breaking the dead silence on the phone.

“I mean, what you want me to say?” Chris answered, feeling the agony of defeat around the corner.

“I was faithful to you this whole time and this is what I get in return. I stood by you when you didn't have a damn dime in ya pocket. None of these bitches was around then. And you gon' sit here and have a fuckin' baby on me,” Tammy yelled.

“Yo, we can't do this over the phone. We'll talk about it on the visit. I'll explain everything then,” Chris said.

He didn't realize that it was a little too late to try to explain. Instead of being real and honest from the beginning, he lied and eventually got caught. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

“Chris, I know I said this before and you might even think that I'm lying, but it's over. I don't wanna be with you anymore. Please don't call my phone. Please don't write me letters, and please don't expect any visits from me. I'll drop the kids off at ya mom house so she can bring them up there from now on. Take care of yourself. Bye,” she said then hung up the phone.

She didn't even give him a chance to respond, not that he had a response anyway. Right then and there Chris knew for sure that he had lost his girl: the very thing he never wanted to happen.

Lamar got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist, and headed for his bedroom. It was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining bright and it wasn't hot and humid like it'd been all week, so Lamar was going to take full advantage of this time and do a little shopping downtown.

He walked over to his window and became irritated instantly once he saw Fox's truck sitting outside. Neither Fox nor Falisha was in the truck, which meant that he was inside of her house.

“I see you, playa,” he mumbled to himself, backing away from the window then heading out of the room to go downstairs.

As he walked down the hallway he stopped at the top of the steps and stood still. He thought his ears were deceiving him 'cause it sounded like a female was moaning somewhere in the house. It was odd because he thought Kim had gone to work; but, then again, when he woke up this morning the only place he had been to in the house was the shower.

“Ooooh yesss!” the moans continued.

Lamar quietly walked over to Kim's bedroom door, placing his ear up against it to see if the noise was coming from there. It wasn't though, which caused him to look around. He walked back to the top of the steps where the moaning got louder, indicating that it was coming from downstairs. Every step he took after that revealed more of where the moaning was coming from.

He cleared one step, and could see the couch, then another, by which he could see a pair of legs moving around. By the time he got to the bottom of the steps he could see everything. Kim was laying on the couch asshole naked playing with herself. She was rubbing her toy in and around her pussy with one hand and squeezing and pinching her nipples with the other hand. Her eyes were closed the whole time from the pleasure she was feeling, so she didn't even notice Lamar standing in the room.

The vibrator was cool, but Kim wanted some penetration, for which she had a dildo sitting next to her on the table. She opened her eyes to grab it and saw Lamar standing there looking at her. Surprisingly, Kim didn't stop. It was feeling too good and she was chasing the ultimate orgasm; plus, she was just horny as hell.

She grabbed the dildo, looked up at Lamar, then slowly slid the long, thick plastic dick inside of her. Lamar stood there stunned. He never really looked at Kim sexually until today and by the way his dick was rock hard under his towel, he was feeling her.

“Damn, Kim! You need my help?” Lamar asked, unraveling his towel to show Kim his dick.

Kim didn't say anything. She was zoned out. It was like she was high off something. Lamar dropped the towel and slowly approached the couch. She watched him the whole time, biting down on her lower lip. He kneeled down right next to the couch, reached over, and grabbed the hand that was pushing the dildo in and out of her. He grabbed the dildo, pulled it out of her, then tossed it across the room. Before Kim could say anything, he lifted her leg up, put it over his shoulder, then stuffed his tongue inside of her wet box.

Kim inhaled deeply, holding on to the back of Lamar's head with one hand. His mouth felt so good in between her legs. It didn't take but a couple of minutes for Lamar to make her cum. Her whole body locked up as he continued to lick and suck on her clitoris.

“Put it in me,” she whispered, pulling Lamar up to her.

He climbed on top of her, grabbed his dick, and guided it into Kim's soft, warm, wet vagina. He pushed it in inch by inch until Kim yelled out.

“Oooh. Yess!” she moaned grabbing on to his lower back.

His dick was two inches bigger than the dildo so after about seven inches of real meat Kim was barely able to take any more of it. Lamar couldn't see it going down no other way. He pushed the rest of his dick inside of her, all the way up to his balls. Kim stuffed her tongue in his mouth and kissed him passionately.

Feeling the lumps in the couch and the way it hindered his stroke, Lamar gripped Kim up off the couch, never taking his dick out of her, and walked her up the steps to his bedroom. When he got to his bed he fucked Kim each and every way for the next two hours. One leg up, two legs up, from the back, from the side, her on top, him on top, reverse cowgirl, up against the wall, on the floor slow, fast, medium pace. Lamar slayed Kim, then two nuts later for him and four explosive orgasms for her, they both fell asleep from exhaustion.

* * *

Ralphy woke up damn near twenty-four hours after he had passed out from all the alcohol he consumed. He never, in his life, drank that much alcohol at one time. He was vomiting in his sleep all night. Lisa stayed there with him all night and when the morning came around and Ralphy was still vomiting, Lisa had to call out from work. She didn't wanna leave him like that and for a moment she was about to call the poison control center thinking Ralphy may have had alcohol poisoning.

“What time is it?” Ralphy asked, sitting up on the edge of the bed and looking over at Lisa.

“It's two o'clock in the afternoon,” she answered, walking across the room with a cup of water and a pack of Alka-Seltzer.

“I gotta get to work,” he said in a groggy voice.

“Don't worry about that. I already called ya job and spoke to John. I told him you had a family emergency.”

That was an understatement. Ralphy and Lisa had more than just a family emergency. They were on the brink of a family split. Last night while Ralphy was knocked out, Lisa found the papers he had gotten from the bank. She read them and saw all of the transactions from the cabin she rented out for Dre when she and Ralphy did the getaway trip. She was caught red-handed with her hand in the cookie jar and the only thing that was left for her to do was confess to her infidelities.

“We need to talk,” she said, putting her head down to hide the shame of what she was about to say.

Ralphy looked over at his pants sitting on the chair, and then he looked back over at Lisa, who was now holding the papers from the bank in her hand.

“I guess you wanna talk now. If I never would have found out, you wouldn't have told me shit,” he snapped. “So I guess this is the part where you feel guilty and wanna tell me everything.”

“No, it's not like that, Ralphy. I just fucked up real bad. I don't know what I was thinking.”

Ralphy already had an idea about the events that took place, but he still wanted to hear it from her mouth, or at least he thought he did. “How long have you been sleeping with him?” he asked.

“Ralphy, that's not gonna make anything better.”

“How long?” he asked again in a more serious tone.

Lisa didn't want to answer him but she was tired of lying to him. He was her husband and for that Lisa felt like he deserved to know the whole truth. “I been sleeping with him since he came home about two months ago,” she brutally admitted.

“Did you sleep with him while we were on our getaway?”

“Come on, babe, don't do this,” Lisa pleaded.

Ralphy wasn't trying to hear it. He wanted to know everything. “Did you sleep with him at the cabins?” he asked again.

This interrogation was killing her. The tears began to fall down her face. The answer to this question was the worst of her affairs but, as a woman, she felt compelled to tell him.

“Yes, I slept with him while we were at the cabin,” she answered, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

Hearing that, Ralphy buried his face in his hand. To hear her admit to it felt like a dagger was being driven through his heart. It was the toughest blow yet, and in a sense he wished that she would have lied to him about it. He was finished.

* * *

“Yo, what da hell did we just do?” Kim joked, smacking Lamar on his arm as she lay next to him, naked.

They both found it amusing that for the first time since they lived together, they had sex. They flirted with each other a couple of times, but never did it get this far. Not only did they have sex, it was backbreaking and the chemistry between the two just clicked.

“Wake up, nigga. I know you hear me,” she said, punching him on the arm.

Lamar smiled, opening his eyes to see Kim staring at him. He too was still a little shocked that it went down the way it did. He wasn't mad, though. Kim had some bomb-ass pussy and looked sexy as hell without her clothes on. Hell, after having sex, Lamar looked at her totally differently.

“You better not say nothing to nobody, either,” Kim said, punching him again.

Lamar chuckled then climbed on top of her. She spread her legs apart for him, too. He looked down at her and shook his head. “You better not tell none of ya friends what I just did to you,” he joked.

“Boy, shut up,” she shot back. “So now what?” she asked, trying to get some clarity on where they stood now.

Lamar leaned down and kissed her. “I don't know, Kim. That's' up to you. We can look at it like it was a mistake and never do it again, or we can look at this as a benefit of being friends,” he said, leaning in to kiss her again.

Kim was surprised that Lamar was even giving her an option. She actually had to think about it for a moment and weigh the pros and cons. No relationship required, in-house dick just about whenever needed. Hell, those two things alone were good enough for Kim. The only thing she had to worry about was birth control, because Lamar had that good baby-making sex.

“So what you think we should do?” Kim asked, wanting to see what he thought before she committed to anything.

Lamar didn't say anything. He leaned over and kissed her again. The whole time Kim was in thought, weighing the pros and cons, Lamar's dick was getting hard all over again. When Kim opened her mouth to ask him again, Lamar pushed his member inside of her, then stuck his tongue into her already open mouth. Just like that, it was official. Kim and Lamar were now friends with benefits.

* * *

The room had been silent for over ten minutes now and Lisa hadn't the slightest idea what to say. She had hurt the man she loved and the only thing she could do was pray for his forgiveness. As crazy as it seemed, she still loved Ralphy and wanted to make things work out between them, but at the same time she knew the cut was deep.

“Ralphy!” she called out, ending the silence in the room. She was looking for something, anything to let her know what he was thinking.

Ralphy took in a deep breath then exhaled. He got up from the bed, walked over and grabbed his pants from the chair, and put them on along with a T-shirt he grabbed from his dresser. When he came walking over to Lisa, she thought that he was going to put his hands on her, but he didn't. He leaned over, put both hands on the arms of her chair, and looked her right in her eyes.

“I want a divorce,” he said without remorse. “I swear I hope that shit was worth it,” he said, leaning up then walking over to the closet to get his suitcase.

Lisa feared this was going to happen, but expected it when it came to Ralphy. He was a no-nonsense type of guy so anything short of a divorce wouldn't be like him. Lisa just sat there silent as he packed his things then left the house without saying bye.

* * *

Fox thought that Falisha invited him into the house so that they could fuck, but Falisha had some other shit on her mind. She had to get down to the bottom of something before she messed around and missed out on something good, that being Lamar. Fox was the only obstacle standing in the way and if he didn't answer this one question right she was done with him. Falisha made up her mind that she wasn't going to waste another minute being with Fox if he wasn't willing to be the man she truly needed in her life.

“Fox, I'ma ask you something and I want you to keep it a hundred with me. You know you talk all that shit out here in the streets about how real of a nigga you are, so I need you to be real with me just this one time,” Falisha said, turning to face him as they sat on the couch.

“Yeah, wassup, shawty. Talk to me, I'll talk back,” he said with his slick Southern accent.

“Do you love me, Fox?” she asked with a serious face.

“No,” he answered, flat out without having to think about it.

It was so cold the way he said it, Falisha felt some type of way about it. He just didn't say no, but he also looked at her like he didn't give two shits about how she felt about it. The only girl Fox loved was his daughter and the only woman he loved was his mother. All the rest of the females in his life were expendable, even Falisha, whom he did take a liking to.

“Damn, Fox, that was the wrong answer,” Falisha said, getting up from the couch and walking over to the door.

“What? You told me you wanted me to keep it real with you. I care about you and I think you're a nice chick, but that love word is crazy.”

“You don't gotta explain, Fox. I'm cool,” she said, opening the door. “I just need you to do me one favor and I promise I will never ask you to do anything else for me.”

“Yeah, and what's that, shawty?” he said, getting up from the couch.

“I need you to lose my number and don't ever try to contact me again. I'm done with you, Fox,” she said, stepping to the side so that he could walk out the door.

“You can't leave Big Fox. Bitch, I made you,” he said, walking up to her. “Who else gonna treat you like me?'

One person popped up in her mind immediately. She knew that there was somebody out there waiting for her to treat her the way she wanted to be treated. That person was Lamar. Even though he didn't have nearly as much money as Fox did, Falisha knew that she could count on Lamar to do one thing and that was love her, something no man had yet to do.

“I'll take my chances. You have a nice life, Fox,” she said with a smile on her face as she slammed the door behind him.