Single Ladies (4 page)

Kim danced her way over to the bar as well and tried her best to encourage Tammy to take a load off and dance. Again, Tammy refused, this time with a sadder look on her face.

“Walk me to the bathroom,” Falisha told Tammy and Kim so that they could get away from the loud music.

When they got to the bathroom, Falisha waited for a female who was in there to finish using the toilet before she started talking. She didn't want anybody in their business.

“What's going on, Tam?” Falisha asked while watching the young lady leave the bathroom.

Tammy shook her head, not really up for talking about her problems. Life was pretty much kicking her ass right now, and the only thing she could do was roll with the punches. Chris not being around made life so much harder, and every time she tried to do the right thing, something always knocked her down. “I really don't feel like talking about it,” she responded in a low voice.

“Come on, Tammy. Don't do that to us. We're family,” Kim butted in. “If something's wrong with you, give us a chance to help you.”

Tammy just stood there in a daze, thinking about her situation. The Cîroc was doing its part, too, because the more she thought about it, the more she started to cry.

When Falisha saw the tears coming down her face, she knew it had to be serious.

“My life . . . is so fucked up right now,” Tammy began, letting out a sob. “I can't even pay my damn rent. I can't find a job for shit no matter how hard I try. I'm tired, y'all. I'm tired of everything!” she cried.

Tammy had Mr. Louis threatening to have her evicted. When she finally did open up the utility bills, there was a shut off notice for the electric if she couldn't come up with $342 by the end of the month. The other day when she was at work, she watched two employees walking into the manager's officer with a smile, and then exit without a job, and they were full-time workers. The rumor got around quickly that the firings were actually layoffs. Chris's people didn't bring the money they were supposed to, and the kids were in desperate need of some new clothes.

Tammy just sat there and let it all out. She had so much weighing her down, so much that, at times, she wished she didn't have any children.

“Tam, we're gonna get you right, girl,” Falisha said, comforting her with a hug.

“Yeah, we got you, sis,” Kim added, joining the hugging session.

These were true friends, the kind of friends Tammy needed right now.

* * *

Lisa crept out of the cabin in the middle of the night, only having the moon as her light to guide her down the trail about a quarter of a mile east. The sounds of the wildlife screamed through the air, and the only thing that she had for protection was an ice bucket she brought from the cabin.

As she approached another cabin she could see that the lights were on. She walked up, tapped the door twice, and waited.

A huge smile came over her face when Dre opened the door wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants. His stomach was so inviting, and the bulge in his pants let her know that he was thinking about her.

After she entered, Dre closed the door tightly, and then grabbed her by the throat and slammed her back up against the door. “Where da fuck you been?” he snapped, and leaned in to kiss her. His lips locked on to hers, not giving her a chance to answer the question as he passionately stuck his tongue into her mouth.

Lisa was submissive to his will, watching as he took one hand and yanked her pants down to her ankles. The sight of her blue satin panties made his dick even harder. Lisa was frozen. She couldn't fight her way off of that door if she wanted to, not that she did, because this was the kind of shit she liked.

Her body trembled when Dre ripped her tank top straight down the middle, exposing her breasts. He grabbed a handful of one of them and then bit down on the other, sending her into a trance. “Dre!” she whispered, feeling her moist cookie getting softer.

He stepped on the middle of her pants so that she could climb out of them, grabbed both of her thighs, and lifted her up against the door. He wanted to fuck her with her panties on, so he just moved them to the side and stuffed his large, thick, rock-hard member inside of her.

“Aaaaaaaawwwwwwwww!” Lisa yelled out, feeling every bit of his long dick inside of her. He dug into her pussy with every stroke, bending his knees and pushing his dick up into it as far as he could. She came within minutes of him being inside of her. She bit down on his shoulder in pleasure, only wanting him to keep going.

He did, too, all the way to the point where Lisa could no longer feel her legs that were now too weak to wrap around his waist.

Lamar was in front of his door with a hose and a bucket, washing his car early in the morning. Lately, he had been thinking about what he wanted to say to Falisha the next time that he saw her. It was bothering him that ever since they had sex together that night, neither one of them had much to say to the other. When they saw each other they spoke, but it was obvious that they had some unresolved business.

In the midst of him detailing the inside of his car, a cream Escalade turned onto the street, catching his attention. The large SUV stopped right in front of his car, and paused for a minute before the passenger side door swung open.

“I'ma call you later,” Falisha told the driver before slamming the door shut. She didn't notice Lamar sitting in his car until the truck pulled off. She didn't know why, but she felt like she had just gotten caught cheating on him, and that was pretty much the look that he gave her. “What's up, Lamar?” she asked, crossing the street.

Lamar didn't say anything, but rather nodded his head and then leaned back into his car to clean under his seat. For a moment, he was mad as hell that he had to live directly across the street from her.

“Oh, you can't speak?” Falisha asked, walking up and standing over him. She was feeling some type of way that all she got was a nod from him.

Lifting his head to see her, he said nonchalantly, “What up, Falisha?”

“What, you mad at me or something?' she asked while taking her keys out of her bag.

“Why would I be mad at you? We're friends, right?” he asked with an eyebrow up, trying to be smart.

Falisha could tell that he had an attitude. If it weren't for the fact that she'd been out all night long she would have stayed there and unleashed a verbal attack on him. She did have a few things she wanted to get off of her chest, too, but now wasn't the time for all that, especially since it looked like he was ready to go a few verbal rounds with her. She didn't say anything. She just turned and disappeared into the house.

* * *

Lisa's heart damn near jumped out of her chest when she cracked open her eyes and Dre was lying in the bed next to her. The sun was shining through the window curtains, letting her know that she had fucked up and fallen asleep last night after Dre ravishingly had his way with her. She sat up in the bed and put her head in her hands. She had told herself that she was only going to lie there for a couple of minutes before she headed back to the cabin with Ralphy, but exhaustion had gotten the best of her. “Shit!” she mumbled to herself before jumping out of the bed to look for her clothes.

She ran into the living room only to find her jeans and the ripped-up tank top on the floor, balled up by the door. She covered her face with both of her hands, damn near ready to cry. She didn't know how she was going to explain this to Ralphy. The thought of her entire marriage ending because of something like this brought tears to her eyes. She knew Ralphy, and there was no way in hell he would ever forgive her if he found out that she was cheating on him. That was a guarantee beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“Think, Lisa. Think!” she said to herself, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

She had to try to find a way out of this situation, and the way things looked, it wasn't going to happen. It was already eight-thirty in the morning, her clothes were ripped, the sun was up, her hair was sweated out something crazy; and who knew how long Ralphy had been awake and waiting for her to come back in?

“Think, Lisa! Think!” Lisa mumbled to herself as she looked around the cabin.

She jumped at the first idea that popped into her head, and stormed back into the bedroom where Dre was snoring away. She walked over, grabbed his pants, and dug into the pockets, finding a wad of money, which was needed. There had to have been a couple grand there, but she only needed a hundred dollars, which she peeled off quietly before putting the money back in his pocket.

On her way into the Forrest Tree campsite, she remembered passing by a surplus mini market that sold just about everything. It's sad, but the only idea she could come up with was to bring Ralphy some breakfast, hoping that he wasn't awake by the time she got back to the cabin; or, if he was awake, he hadn't been for that long.

Lisa ran to the store in record time, covering the half-mile walk within a couple of minutes. By the time she got there she had begun to sweat both from the walk and out of fear she was about to get caught.

The store was actually bigger on the inside when she entered. She looked around and went straight to the food section, grabbing a small basket to put her items in.

It wasn't until she grabbed one of the hot breakfast sandwiches from the food counter that she realized the entire breakfast excuse wasn't going to work. Ralphy wasn't the least bit slow. Plus, he already had the whole weekend planned out, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

“Ma'am, can I help you?” a store worker asked as he walked over to Lisa and saw the obvious stress written all over her face.

Lisa didn't hear him at first. She just stood there in a daze, thinking about Ralphy and Dre killing one another once they found out what was going on.

“You know, we have a beautiful trail that runs about four miles alongside a creek,” the man said, trying to be polite. “Sometimes I run that trail when I'm feeling down,” he said, finally getting her attention.

In situations like this, a woman's brain thinks faster and more deviously than a man's does. Before the clerk could even finish telling her about the trail, she had a plan B brewing in her head. She looked around the store, but she didn't know if they carried what she was looking for. “Do y'all sell running shoes and jogging pants?” she asked the young clerk, who was more than happy to direct her to the small clothing section of the store.

Lisa only had a hundred dollars, so she had to make it work. She grabbed the cheapest running shoes she could find, along with a pair of sweatpants. They didn't have sports bras so she bought two tank tops and a S
AVE THE
W
ILDLIFE
T-shirt.

“How long does it take you to run that trail?” she asked the clerk as she placed her items on the counter.

“Well, I'm not a fast runner so it takes me about an hour. If I'm walking, it'll take me about two hours, only because I like to take in nature's beauty,” the man answered in a chipper tone.

Lisa dug into her pocket and pulled out the money she took from Dre, and paid for her items. She looked up at the clock hanging on the wall behind the counter. It was 8:55 a.m., and at this point she knew for sure that Ralphy was awake and probably wondering where in the hell his wife was.

She was on her way, and she only prayed that her plan would work. It was either that, or prepare for the worst.

Tammy sat in her bed with her laptop, searching for jobs on the Internet. The kids were asleep, so she used this time wisely, knowing how difficult it could be to do anything while the kids were awake. A full-time job was needed, and not just any full-time job, but a good job with benefits.

She quickly learned that she needed to have a trade or even some college education, which she didn't have. It was only a year ago that she had gotten her GED, and she got it by the skin of her teeth.

“Who da hell is it this early in the morning?” she mumbled while looking over at her phone blaring on the nightstand next to her bed. “Hello!” she answered.

“Damn, bitch! What you doin'?” Falisha replied as she looked through her bedroom window blinds at Lamar carrying all of his car washing supplies back into his house.

“What do you want, Falisha?” Tammy shot back playfully as she continued to look at her computer screen.

“I need you to ride wit' me to go see my brother. The feds sent his ass all the way out to Pennsylvania to a jail called Canaan or some shit like that,” Falisha said, frustrated about the recent move.

Falisha's brother had been down for almost eight years now and was wrapping up his bid. But a recent fight got him kicked out of Butner, the jail he was in, which was closer to home. Falisha used to go see him at least twice a week when he was in Butner, but now with a six-to eight-hour drive to the new jail, she'd be lucky to make it up there once a month.

“Girl, I can't go out to no damn Pennsylvania. Besides, I have to go see Chris tomorrow. You know I'm there every week to see my boo,” Tammy shot back. “And how in da hell did Mac get sent all the way out there?” she asked.

“You know the feds will send you anywhere. I had to go online to find out how da hell to get there,” Falisha said as she walked over to her bed. “Shit, you better get a head start and find out where they're gonna send Chris's ass. They got this Web site where they let you know everything, from where he's at to when his earliest release date will be,” Falisha explained.

“Well, what's the Web site? 'Cause I'm on my laptop right now,” Tammy asked out of curiosity.

“It's FBOP.com. All you have to do is type in his name and register number, and that's it,” Falisha said.

Tammy wasted no time typing in his register number. It took a few seconds, but in an instant, Chris's information popped up on the screen clear as day.

“You see it?” Falisha asked, breaking the silence on the phone.

“Yeah. Hold on, girl. I'm reading,” Tammy replied, looking at the screen.

When she got down to Chris's earliest release date her jaw dropped. She had to go back and check to see if it was her Chris, and not somebody else by mistake. There he was: Christopher Douglas, born March 3, 1990. He was the only one in the federal system with that name and date of birth.

“Yo, let me call you back,” Tammy said into the phone, and hung up before Falisha could even respond.

The earliest projected release date for Chris was June 22, 2020, which was seven years from now. Tammy honestly didn't have any idea that he was looking at all that time. He had told her that he only had another year and a few months to go. He was lying the whole time, and she couldn't figure out for the love of God why he would do something like that.

The tears began pouring out of her eyes at the thought of his release date. It was hard enough on her as it was, but to have to go through another seven years without Chris was like torture.

The tears poured out even more as she began to think about the kids. Sinniyyah would be seven years old by the time he came home, and Anthony would be eleven.

So many thoughts ran through Tammy's mind. Tomorrow, on the visit, Chris was going to have some explaining to do, and Tammy wasn't in the mood for any bullshit.

* * *

Lisa ran all the way from the store back to the cabin at top speed. That, along with dousing her head with a bottle of spring water, gave her the effect like she had been running for a while. A little water under her armpits and some in the front of her sweatpants really made it look convincing.

When she got to the cabin, the front door flung open before she could even get up the steps. Ralphy stood at the entrance with fury in his eyes. Lisa leaned over and put her hands on her knees like she was tired from the jog. She played it cool, not looking suspicious or nervous.

“Where da fuck was you at? I been up since seven-thirty waiting on you to come back!” Ralphy snapped.

Again Lisa just kept her cool. She sat down on the steps for a moment, faking like she had to catch her breath and acting like she didn't notice his attitude. She looked at the cheap watch she had bought and saw that it was 9:05. “Baby, you gotta run this trail with me tomorrow. It's so beautiful out there. It runs along the side of a creek for about four miles, and the scenery is so amazing!” she said, remembering the details that the clerk at the store described them to her. She began walking up the steps, still huffing and puffing like she was tired.

Ralphy was so mad at first that he didn't realize how wet her shirt was until she said something about running. At this point he was convinced that she was telling the truth about the whole running thing, but he was still mad, mainly because he was more worried about her safety and well-being than anything. “Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you wake me up?” he barked.

“I didn't want to wake you because you looked so peaceful lying there,” she said, walking up to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. “Oh! Plus, I had to go see my
other husband
down the road!” she dangerously joked, seeing that he was buying everything else.

He reached up and placed his hand on the back of her head, grabbed a fistful of hair, and pulled her head back so that she looked up at him.

“Hmmmm! Just how I like it, daddy!” Lisa moaned while looking up at him with lust in her eyes.

“Don't get fucked up!” Ralphy shot back, looking down the road toward the other log cabins in the distance.

Lisa didn't want him looking too hard, so she leaned in and softly kissed his neck, knowing that he would turn his attention back to her. She pushed him back into the cabin and closed the door behind them as she continued kissing him.

His attitude and anger slowly started to dissipate, and before he knew it, Lisa was peeling off her sweaty clothes. “Come get in the shower with me,” she said in a seductive manner, leading Ralphy to the bathroom.

Lisa was slicker than a can of oil, but what she did was typical among women who cheated on their spouses. Never in a million years could men cheat as well as women. It would never happen. A woman's thought process was on a whole other level of play. Most of the time if they ever did get caught, it was because they wanted to get caught, whereas when men got caught, it's because they were sloppy.

The most dangerous tool a woman could possess in this world was the power of the pussy. It literally short-circuited the brains of men daily. That's the reason why Ralphy was joining Lisa in the shower, and thrusting his dick inside of her without the slightest clue that another nigga just got finished having his way with her less than eight hours ago. At that moment, all he was worried about was getting his dick wet, and that was all fine and dandy as long as it kept the attention off the reason why Lisa had been missing for half the night.

* * *

Falisha came sashaying out of the house and right across the street to where Lamar was cleaning out the trunk of his car. He didn't even have to look her way to know that she was approaching. The house shoes skipping across the street gave her up; that and the cracking sound of the gum she had in her mouth. She walked right over and leaned up against the back end of the car.

“What do you want, Falisha?” Lamar asked, not really in the mood to be playing the flirting game.

“Don't be talking to me like that!” she responded, throwing a playful punch at his arm.

He flinched and smiled at her, then threw a T-shirt at her that he took out of the trunk. He tried his best not to pay any attention to her body, but it was hard considering the fact that all she had on was a tank top and a pair of spandex shorts. Too much skin was showing for him to ignore.

“I need a favor from you,” Falisha said, throwing his T-shirt back in the trunk.

“What? The almighty Falisha needs a nobody like me to do something for her?” he joked.

“Boy, shut up! I need you to ride out to the prison with me to go see my brother.”

“Who, Mac?” Lamar asked. “He still out in . . . um . . .”

“No, he's not out in Butner. They moved his ass to Pennsylvania. Some jail called Canaan,” she replied.

“Pennsylvania? Got damn, shawty! That's like an eight-hour drive,” Lamar shot back. “Who's supposed to be doing all that driving?”

Falisha began whining like a child. “I was gonna drive down there, but I was hoping you could drive back,” she said, walking around to the back of the car and standing right in front of him.

Lamar thought about it. This was going to turn into a mini trip. He did want to spend some time with her in order to get a few things established concerning the possibility of them being together. And the more he thought about it, the more perfect the idea sounded. On this trip, he would get a clear understanding of where they stood. It was going to be a make or break it for him. They were going to be either together or not, and if they weren't going to be together, then this would be the last time he would try.

“You gonna owe me for this one,” he said, agreeing to take the ride with her. “And I'm not paying for the hotel this time!” He smiled, closing the trunk of his car.

“Thank you, boo!” Falisha cried out, throwing her arms around his neck.

She then got up on her tiptoes and reached up and kissed Lamar. Her soft lips pressed up against his, making his dick get hard. She didn't even realize what she had done until her feet landed flat on the ground.

They both stood there for a moment looking into each other's eyes. Falisha couldn't believe that she just publicly showed affection to a man. That rarely ever happened. She even cut her eyes in a shy manner to see if anybody had seen her. Luckily, nobody was out there, and as she walked back across the street to her house, Lamar grabbed a handful of his dick as he watched her thick ass switch from side to side. The trip to Pennsylvania was gonna be worth it!