Single Ladies 7 & 8: " That's What Friends Are For" (6 page)

“Damn, I forgot that it was today. What time do you got to be there?” he asked, opening up the refrigerator door.

Lisa knew that he was talking to Johanne, but wasn’t the least bit upset. She knew that Johanne was some of the baggage he had accumulated during their time apart, and she accepted it, only because Ralphy promised to end their relationship in the coming days. Giving him the time that he needed was a sacrifice Lisa was willing to endure, to secure her family being back together. Plus, she didn’t want to dig up any old bones by demanding and nagging Ralphy to expedite the process.

“Just give me like twenty minutes, and be ready, ’cause I got something else to do,” Ralphy said, looking down at Naomi.

Johanne got an attitude quick. Thinking of the way he’d been treating her ever since she told him about the pregnancy. It had been a week since she came home from the hospital, and during that week, it had been nothing but arguing. He only stayed at the house with her for about two nights, the other five were spent with Lisa and Naomi. If it had not been for her cousin, DeeDee, Johanne didn’t know how she would have survived being out of commission.

__________

Kim, I need to see you in my office,” Mr. Wilson said, walking past her cubicle and straight into his office.

Kim logged out of her computer immediately, because it sounded urgent. When she got to his office, he was standing up by his window undoing his tie.

“Have a seat,” MR. Wilson offered, pointing to the chair sitting in front of his desk.

For a minute, Kim thought that she was about to be fired. She had a speech already formulated in her head that she would give in the event this day would ever come. Fortunately for her, today was the total opposite.

“Look, Kim, what I’m about to offer you is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Mr. Wilson said, taking a seat behind his desk. “I got a friend out of Philadelphia who’s looking for a paralegal to join his firm. His name is Denis Cogen, the highest paid lawyer in that city—”

“But I like it here,” Kim said, cutting him off.

“And I’m not firing you, Kim. What he is offering, I can’t give you. Guaranteed seventy grand a year, medical benefits, one year free housing, and here’s the kicker… he wants to pay for you to go to law school. Free ride all the way through,” Mr. Wilson explained.

“Damn!” Kim wanted to go back to school and her dream was to pass the bar and become a lawyer. Mr. Wilson was right, this was a chance of a lifetime, and it had Kim thinking about it hard.

“I’m not complaining, and God knows I’m not declining the offer. I’m curious to know why me? I mean, you got Patty, Mitch, and Ray is an animal in the civil department,” Kim spoke.

“He’s a good friend of mine, and he asked me for the best. I don’t know a soul in Charlotte who could research and put a motion together as good as you, and that’s the God honest truth,” Mr Wilson replied.

Kim was flattered, and almost started to tear up.

“So how much time I do I have?” Kim asked, knowing there had to be a deadline before this offer was off the table. “And please don’t say I have to decide—”

“You got until the end of the week when he comes back from his vacation,” Mr. Wilson interrupted. “That’s about ten days from now.”

Kim really wanted to say yes on the spot, and almost did until she thought but Lamar, who was now her fiancé. She didn’t know how he would feel about moving to Philadelphia while she pursued her career in the legal field, but this definitely was going to be the topic for the little get-away they had planned for the weekend. After leaving Mr. Wilson’s office, Kim had more than enough on her plate to cipher through.

__________

DeeDee and Johanne were standing in the doorway waiting when Ralphy pulled up with Naomi. He wasn’t going to let Johanne ruin his plans to take his daughter shopping today, and despite the fact that Lisa didn’t have a problem with Naomi staying home with her, Ralphy brought her along for the doctor’s appointment.

“You gon’ be one of those kind of fathers, huh?” DeeDee said in a smart manner when Ralphy got out of the car.

“And what kind of father is that?” Ralphy shot back

“The kind that don’t wanna be a father.”

Before they got into an arguing match, Johanne stopped both of them. She really didn’t feel like hearing the two of them go at it. The only thing on her mind was her doctor’s appointment.

“Is that the prettiest little girl in the world?” Johanne chuckled, rolling up to the back door of the Range Rover and seeing Naomi sitting there with her seatbelt on.

“Hi Ms. Johanne,” Naomi responded in a low tone, not really wanting to speak, on the account that Lisa had made it clear to her that they weren’t to become friends.

“Come on, NayNay, you can sit up front with Daddy,” Ralphy said, helping her out of the back seat.

The sound of tires screeching to a halt grabbed everyone’s attention, and when Ralphy looked over, one old-school Chevy Impala and a black mini-van had stopped at the end of the driveway. The two occupants in the black mini-van hopped out first, clutching large fully automatic assault rifles, aiming them at everyone as they ran up the drive way. Ralphy noticed one of the men off the bat, remembering him from the shooting at the dentist office. He was the one that got away. Ralphy knew that his time was up. The only thing he could think about was Naomi, who he still had hoisted in his arms.

The gunmen got within a few feet, and the only reason the man from the dentist shooting didn’t open up fire was because of Nomi.

“Put her down!” the shooter demanded, not wanting to hit an innocent child by accident.

“Come on, dog. Don’t do this in front of my daughter,” Ralphy pleaded, as he lowered Naomi to the ground.

“Oh my God, please don’t shoot him,” Johanne said, holding her hands out while sitting in the wheelchair.

“Daddy,” Naomi cried out, wrapping her arms around his leg. “Daddy, Daddy,” she continued.

“Please dog,” Ralphy begged with tears in his eyes.

“Fuck you, nigga! You think dis shit is a fuckin game?” the shooter yelled out, pointing the rifle a mere two feet away from Ralphy’s face.

The shooter’s face was twisted up and you could tell that he was biting down on his teeth in anger. His finger hugged the trigger, and he was just about to pull it when Naomi spoke.

“Please don’t shoot my daddy,” she said with tears pouring down her fat cheeks.

“Man, fuck dat. Shoot dat nigga!” the other gunman encouraged as he kept his eyes on DeeDee.

The shooter looked in Ralphy’s eyes then glanced down at Naomi. Naomi didn’t realize it, but she had just saved her father’s life, because the shooter started to back up down the driveway.

“I’m on ya fuckin top, nigga, and I don’t care who you got wit you next time,” the shooter yelled out before getting back into the minivan.

The two cars both peeled out, leaving nothing but tire smoke in the air. Ralphy let out a huge sigh of relief then immediately got everybody back into the house where it was relatively safe. He would have to stay there until his boys came to back him up.

Falisha rolled Fox over then climbed on top of him, straddling his long thick baseball of a dick in order to get it over with. Fox had been fucking for the past 45 minutes straight, and didn’t plan to stop any time soon. The only way Falisha knew how to knock him down was by riding him. He loved the way she bounced up and down on his dick.

“Right there. Go faster,” he coached, feeling himself about to bust a nut.

Falisha braced her hands against his chest and rocked her hips back and forth, just how he liked it. Her breast swayed with every stroke, and just like second nature, Fox grabbed a handful.

“You gon’ cum for Mommy,” Falisha said in a seductive way, biting down on her bottom lip.

Fox couldn’t hold it any longer if he tried to. Falisha could feel his warm, thick nut fill her insides. She continued rocking back and forth, making sure she drained every drop from his sack. Fox reached up and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her face down to his and kissing her wet lips.

“I missed you,” he admitted, looking Falisha in her eyes.

This was the first time they’d had sex in months, but it wasn’t by Fox’s choice that he got some today. It was all Falisha. She was horny as hell and needed to relieve her thirst for some dick. Lamar was out of the question, and somebody random was a no no. Letting Fox tap it was the more reasonable thing to do. She didn’t have to worry about catching anything, because Fox stayed cleaner than the board of health, and since she was already pregnant, a condom wasn’t necessary at all. The most important thing for Falisha was that, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Fox was going to please her. If she couldn’t count on anything else, she sure could count on that.

“Come ’ere, where are you going?” Fox asked after Falisha jumped out of the bed, grabbed her clothes, and headed for the bathroom.

If she laid in that bed any longer, Falisha knew that it was going to start getting personal, something she was trying to avoid Fox doing. For her, it was just about the sex, and she didn’t want to confuse or mislead Fox into thinking it was going to be anything more than that.

“Falisha!” Fox called out, walking up to the bathroom.

By the time he opened the door, Falisha was fully dressed and standing in the mirror putting her hair in a ponytail. Fox stood at the door with his boxers on, showing the head of his dick.

“Hit and run, huh,” he said, walking into the bathroom.

Falisha smiled as he slid up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He looked at her reflection in the mirror, taking in her beauty. “I thought we was a little better than that,” he said.

“Don’t be like that. You already know my situation, and I’m not gonna bring that kind of drama into ya life right now,” Falisha responded, trying not to hold eye contact.

Fox insisted. “Look at me, Falisha,” he said, nudging her. “You don’t think I know ya situation? If it mattered to me, you wouldn’t even be here. You know me better than that, shawty.”

“Yeah, I know, Fox. I just don’t wanna—”

“Look man, I know a while back I fucked up big time when I didn’t fight for you. I shouldn’t have let you walk out of my life that easy.”

This was the exact thing Falisha was trying to avoid with him. She had to admit that Fox was a nice guy, and given different circumstances, Falisha probably would have tried to give it another shot. But the truth remained that her heart was somewhere else, and although a future with Lamar didn’t look that promising, Falisha wanted to make sure of it. She longed to be with Lamar, and with his baby growing in of her womb every single day, the only man that was on her mind was him.

__________

“So what are you going to do?” Tammy asked Kim as she drove down the street.

“I really don’t know yet,” Kim responded, looking out of her bedroom window at Lamar washing his car.

Kim had broke down the whole offer that was presented to her by her boss, hoping to get some good advice from a friend. Tammy was the only person Kim had told so far, and she wanted to keep it that way until she had a chance to talk to Lamar about it tonight.

“I’m not gonna lie, girl. If I was you, I’d take the job,” Tammy said as she turned onto the block where Chris’ mom lived. “Medical, college, and free housing. Girl, you be a damn fool. It ain’t shit goin’ on in this neighborhood anyway. I wish I was in ya shoes.”

Pulling in front of the house, Tammy could smell the drama brewing. Brea had two of her girlfriends out there with her, looking as jealous as they wanted. Tammy really didn’t feel like the bullshit today.

“Girl, let me call you back,” Tammy said, ending the call.

Tammy put her hazard lights on then got out of the car, only to be eye balled by everybody standing out there.

“Is the kids in there?” Tammy asked Brea as she headed for the steps.

“No. My mom took them out to eat. If you wasn’t so busy, you would have picked up ya phone when she was trying to call you,” Brea replied in a slick manner.

Tammy didn’t pay Brea’s smart tone any mind. “Well, just tell ya mom to call me whenever she gets back I’ll have my phone on me this time,” Tammy said, walking back to her car.

“I don’t know what ya brother saw in that bitch,” Aisha said to Brea, while watching Tammy walk off.

Tammy heard the comment and wasn’t going to respond, but the ‘bitch’ word somehow got under her skin.

“Everything he would never see in you,” Tammy shot back as she opened the driver side door.

“Oh no dat bitch didn’t,” Brea instigated, hyping Alisha up. “She’s so disrespectful,” Brea nagged on.

Before Tammy could sit down in the car, Aisha was tugging away at a handful of her hair. She pulled Tammy out from between the door and began swinging wildly at her face. Going toe to toe, Aisha didn’t stand a chance. Once Tammy got her footing, it was over. She pummeled Aisha, dropping her to the ground with just a couple of punches.

“GET DIS BITCH OFF OF ME,” Aisha yelled out from the ground. “BREA… KISHA,” she continued yelling through the punches to her face.

Feeling bad for Aisha, Brea and Kisha ran over to help. It took one wild punch from Tammy that landed on Brea’s chin to really get it poppin’. Brea and Tammy were instantly locked in a brawl, throwing punch for punch at each other. Neighbors started coming out of their houses and off their porches to see the fight.

While locked in battle, Kisha and Aisha seized the opportunity and started swinging on Tammy. In a three against one fight, they whooped Tammy’s ass, despite the lock hold Tammy had on Brea’s throat. Tammy really didn’t care about losing, just as long as she got the main culprit out of the bunch.

__________

“Look, I want you to take some money and go stay with ya folks for a few days,” Ralphy told Lisa, who had just walked into the kitchen.

Ralphy had been sitting at the kitchen table all afternoon replaying the events that happened at Johanne’s. He tried to think of an alternate way to handle the problem, without the use of violence, but none of his ideas mapped out a positive solution. It was only one way to deal with the problem, and that was by holding court in the streets.