The Eleventh Commandment Read Online Free Page A

drink.
    â€œAw, hell. I might as well tell you since I might need you to cover for me one of these days.” A pause and then, “I’ve got a new boo.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œA tenderoni, girl, with a big, thick, black dick that he knows how to use!”
    â€œFrieda!” Hope jumped off the bar chair where she’d been lounging. “Tell me you’re not serious.”
    â€œAs serious as a blod clot on its way to the brain.”
    â€œFrieda, Gabriel is a good guy, a wonderful man. He’s the man supporting your lavish lifestyle, the father of your child!”
    â€œMaybe .. .”
    â€œWhoa!” Hope’s voice went from a low G to a high C in no time flat. “Okay, I know you’re joking but, girl, that’s not funny.... You are joking, right?” Before Frieda answered, Hope’s phone beeped, indicating an incoming call. “Don’t hang up,” she warned Frieda before switching over. “Hello?”
    â€œHey, girl.”
    â€œStacy!” Hope was glad to hear her bestie’s voice. “Hold on a minute—Frieda’s on the other line talking crazy. Let me do a three-way.”
    â€œOkay.”
    Hope clicked back to the other call. “Frieda, you there? It’s Stacy. I’m going to click her into the mix. Frieda? Cuz, you there?”
    Cuz wasn’t there. Cuz had dropped two bombs and then left the building.

4
    Sistah-Girls, Sistah-Chats, Part 2
    H ope clicked back over to Stacy. “She hung up.”
    â€œOh, dang. I was looking forward to talking to her. You know it’s been way too long since the three of us have gotten together.”
    It was true. Six years ago, when they all lived in Los Angeles, Frieda Moore-Livingston, Hope (Jones) Taylor, and Stacy Gray-Johnson were as thick as thieves and as close as triplets, chatting by phone almost every day and getting together at least once if not several times a month. Stacy had been busy chasing her baby daddy and dreaming of living life with this R & B star. Frieda had been footloose and fancy-free with no desire to have husband or baby, and Hope had wanted the latter so badly that she’d nearly lost her mind. Actually, some (specifically her neighbor, Millicent, her husband, Cy, her mother, Pat, and her therapist) would argue that she had lost it for a moment. Thankfully, therapy, prayer, and the twins had calmed her down and brought her mind back from crazy to normal. A true testament to the fact that life happened while people were busy making plans.
    â€œSo what is she tripping about today?” Stacy was all too familiar with Frieda’s wild antics.
    â€œYou don’t even want to know,” Hope said, repeating what she’d earlier told her PT when it came to her history with Millicent Kirtz. “I think she was joking anyway.” At least I hope to God that Frieda wasn’t being serious about having an affair. And Gabriel Jr. being someone else’s baby. The three women shared everything, but if and when Stacy heard this madness, it would be from Frieda and not her. “So what’s going on in Phoenix, besides the heat?”
    â€œYou said that right; not even July yet and today we’re already at a hundred-five degrees. It’s ridiculous. Makes me think about moving back to Cali.”
    Hope’s ears perked up. She’d love nothing better than to have her best friend move back to LA, or even San Diego, which would be better still. “You guys thinking of moving?”
    â€œI don’t know what we’re going to do. Tony is still pretty upset at being cut, doesn’t want to face the fact that his days in the NFL may be over. That’s one reason why I’m calling you. We’ll be in LA at the end of next month.”
    â€œReally? Why?”
    â€œHe’s hoping to do a walk-on at the Sea Lions’ training camp.”
    â€œThat’s great, Stacy! Cy loves sports; his company has a