I'd Rather Be Single 2 (23 page)

I
had just finished designing a dramatic green baby bow and I placed it on Mikayla and handed her to Michael. I heard the UPS truck pull up to the front. I was expecting new material to be delivered for my line. I collected my boxes from the porch and retrieved the mail from the mailbox.

I put my package down and was sorting through my mail.
Suddenly, there was another knock at the door.

“Hello?” I called out. I figured UPS must’ve missed one of my packages
and came back to return it. When I opened the door, no one was there. With my hand on the knob to close the door, I noticed a white envelope inside the mailbox that I had just emptied. I looked around again at the empty street, picked up the envelope and went back inside. While opening the envelope, I was laughing at Michael playing kissy face with Mikayla in the front hallway. The baby was laughing and drooling away. I pulled out the small white paper and written in marker on the lined paper was a note that read:

Michayla looks pretty in her green bow! Muah!

“Huhhhh!!” I dropped the letter and felt a bomb explode in my chest. Michael stopped spinning the baby and stared at my worried face.

“What’s wrong babe?” he asked.

“It’s Rosslyn. She’s back.” I whispered

“Aaaaaah
hhhhhhhh!!!!!” Rosslyn came screaming and charging from the kitchen with a huge machete in her hand. She wasn’t aiming at me or Michael, this bitch was aiming for our baby. She was intentionally trying to kill my child!

“POW!
” Michael hit her with a right hook, forcing her to flip to the floor. I ran over and repeatedly kicked her in the head. “You will not touch my baby, bitch!!!!” I was horrified, I couldn’t believe this demented bitch was still trying to ruin my life. Her face was full of deep cuts, which I assumed were from Stax. She was almost unrecognizable. Michael ran the baby in the living room and went to the closet in the hallway and retrieved his gun. Without hesitation he pointed it at her laying body and pulled the trigger.

“Noooo
ooo!!!” I shouted. But it was too late, the gun had already went off. I picked up my screaming baby and ran upstairs. Looking back at Michael at the bottom of the stairs, I could tell he was in shock. He stared at Rosslyn’s dead body as if what he had just done was a mistake. He probably didn’t mean to kill her, but at the same time, he was trying to protect his family. She had killed his unborn baby, tried to attack his family and now
he
killed her. Mikayla was screaming in my arms and I was crying too. It was the worst experience of my life. I placed her in her crib and called 911.

Epilogue

One month later, life as we knew it had changed dramatically. Michael was cut from the NBA and was charged with second degree murder. The judge sentenced him to three years in prison and when he looked back at me as they cuffed him, I lost it.

“Wait for me.” He mouthed.

“I ain’t going nowhere, baby. I’m going to be here, ride or die.” I said, meaning it with every bone in my body. I tried to hold myself together, but I felt my body shaking. My vision was fading like lights were flickering on and off in my head, and I passed out in the court room. When I came to, tears snuck out the sides of my eyes because I realized that this was really happening, it wasn’t a bad dream, it was my reality. I hated Rosslyn for what she had done to my family. It was a struggle to try to forgive her, but Dr. Raphael stayed in touch with encouraging words to help me through.

I guess
even in death, that crazy bitch got what she wanted, my Michael. His career was done, and so was his freedom, for the moment anyway. And even though we were still wealthy, no amount of money could replace his love of the game. It broke his heart that he would never be able to play for the NBA again. It was a part of Michael’s world that I wasn’t able to fix for him. All I could do was be there to support my husband a million percent.

What Rosslyn couldn’t
take from me was my family. Waiting for Michael went without saying. It was hard maintaining the house by myself and raising our daughter. I guess I could thank Dr. Raphael’s brother Jermaine after all, because I adopted his lifestyle. While Michael was incarcerated, I lived like we were broke. I budgeted our money down to the penny and lived every day with the mindset of thinking of wiser ways to generate and stay wealthy. I stayed on my grind, and each year that Michael was gone felt like a decade, but I held us all down.

The day that
my husband was released from prison was one of the best days of my life. As they say, what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger, well our bond was now unbreakable. As soon as he exited the prison gates, I hopped on him like a child. I kissed all over his face and nothing could unlock the grip I had on his neck. He had grown out a long unshaven beard and I kissed all over it too, I was just happy to have my baby back home.

“I missed you so much
, baby.”

“I missed you too
, T. It’s been three long years, man. I’m just ready to be back with my family.”

“We are happy to have you back
, husband.” I took his hand and led him to the car.

“Thanks for waiting for me
, Tyra. You’re really my ride or die.”

“Don’t ever thank me,
I told you I ain’t going nowhere, ever.” I broke down, thinking about how hard it was without him for three years.

“Aw don’t cry
baby.” He wiped my tears as we stood outside of the truck.

“I just love you so much
, Michael.” He kissed my lips and then peeked in the backseat at Mikayla. He opened the door and kissed all over her. She was asleep in her carseat and he just stared at her with loving eyes.

“I love this little girl
, man.”

“Aw babe, she loves you too.” I
rubbed his back.

“Get in
, Michael.” His mom shouted from the driver’s seat. He smiled and ran over to open the driver’s side door and hugged and kissed his mom.

“I’m sorry I let y
’all down.”

I sat in the backseat next to the baby.
“Baby you didn’t let us down, don’t talk like that. This wasn’t your fault.”

Suddenly
, Michael broke down, I had never saw him cry so hard, but he was hurting. He took care of me, his mom and most of his family. Basketball was his life and since he was the breadwinner of the family and he knew that the checks would stop coming, it fucked with his pride.

“Baby come
in the truck.” He sat in the backseat of the Escalade beside me and the baby and we held each other the whole ride home. He wiped his eyes and tried to be strong, but I knew he was broken inside. Rosslyn had really complicated our lives, but I wasn’t going to let it break us. I was determined that we would fight through this.

Michael’s mom sped through all the media that tried to approach the truck once we exited the prison gates. Everyone wanted to know what was next for Michael Slinks. He had his head down and didn’t even look outside.

I took his hand and broke through the sentimental talk and told him that I had something intimate and special planned for him after we attend dinner at his mom’s house, and he told me that he looked forward to it.

Michael’s mom invited his entire family over to her house for
a welcome home dinner. His teammates were more than happy to see him, and everyone offered words of encouragement. When night fell, Michael’s mom agreed to watch Mikayla for us, so that we could spend his first night home getting reacquainted.

We took leftovers home with us. Michael’s mom made all his
favorite food, steak, yellow rice, mashed potatoes and cornbread. When we got home, he got reacquainted in the house that he hadn’t been into in three years, while I put the food in the fridge and then ran some bath water. I lit candles around our Jacuzzi style tub and had a bowl of grapes and strawberries sitting on the sink.

“Damn
, I’m happy to be home.” Michael said, stripping out of his clothes in our bedroom.

“Well
, I’m happy to finally have my husband home with me.” I said, kissing him.

“Babe, that steak and rice is calling me, I’m about to warm me up another plate. You know a nigga hadn’t had food that good in a minute.”

I laughed. “Go get a plate babe, I’m not done setting up.”

Michael ran downstairs
with only his boxers on to get another helping of steak, and I went into my closet to retrieve the purple lingerie I planned to wear for my husband, while giving him a lap dance before the night ended.

I returned to the bathroom to turn off the bath water
, and hanging on the foggy mirror was a small white note. I smiled, thinking how sweet it was for my husband to also be romantic, leaving me notes of endearment. But when I walked closer to make out the words, it gave me fearful butterflies in my gut, it read:
You won’t get away with killing my cousin, bitch!

Michael walked behind me
, chewing on a piece of steak. “Ah!” I screamed turning around and dropping the note.

“It’
s only me baby, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“It- it’s Breal. She’s back!”

I’d Rather Be Single pt. 3…
Breal’s revenge
…

Coming soon
!!

Other LSDV Productions Titles:

A Hood Chick’s Story
1 by: LaShonda DeVaughn

A Hood Chick’s Story 2 by: LaShonda DeVaughn

A Hood Chick’s Story 3 by: LaShonda DeVaughn

If All Men Cheat, All Women Should Too! by: LaShonda DeVaughn

When A Woman’s Fed Up by: Tracee Boyd, LaShonda DeVaughn & India

Married But Available by: Tracee Boyd

Daddy’s Baby, Mamas Maybe by: Tracee Boyd

I’d Rather Be Single by: LaShonda DeVaughn, Mimi Renee, Kaie Golson & Tysha

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