Cheaper to Keep Her (part 1) (11 page)

“
What bitch? Fuck you! You ain’t all that!” the man barked, getting closer to me as if he was going to lay hands on me or something. I jumped off the stool and stood toe-to-toe with him. I didn’t want to be sitting down just in case he tried to get slap happy. I was on my defensive. Diamond jumped up too. But I didn’t even give her a chance to say anything.

“
Get the fuck out of my face you dirty, little dick piece of shit!” I cursed right in the loser’s face.

“
Ya friend wasn’t saying that shit when my big dick was down her throat last night!” he spat cruelly. I shot Diamond a look. “Excuse me for thinking hoes of a feather, flock together!” the man continued.

Diamond looked as if she wanted to just run away. Before I even thought about it I threw my drink in his face. Then I threw the glass at him. It bounced off his jelly belly and crashed to the floor.

“
You fucking bitch! I will fucking kill you!” he screamed and then he lurched towards me.

Before he could put his hands on me I heard a loud crack and all of a sudden the ugly stranger crumpled to the floor. He was holding his head and screaming. My eyes grew wide. I looked to my left and Duke was standing there shaking his hand. His knuckles were bleeding from hitting the asshole.

The guy scrambled up off the floor. “Oh, is that yo’ bitch? This ain’t the end of this shit!” he screamed at Duke.

“
No bitch ass nigga, that’s my woman,” Duke said in a scary calm voice. “You know, something you’ll never have. Now nigga, you better go ’head. I’m not one of these average cats up in here.” By then the club’s security had their hands on the dude and was carrying his ass towards the door. He was still screaming obscenities about what he was going to do the next time he saw me or Duke.

My eyes were wide and I had my hand over my mouth. I don’t know if I was more shocked to see Duke there or that he had hit the guy to defend me.

“
So Beautiful, whatcha doing up in here?” Duke asked me. He seemed a little annoyed with me being there. I opened my mouth but no words came out. “I told you that you needed to quit this job. I thought I hit you off with enough dough and shit that you knew you didn’t have to be up in this shithole trying to work no bar,” Duke chastised.

I couldn’t even explain to him that I was only there to spend time with Diamond. Duke grabbed my arm kind of forcefully and told me we were leaving. “See you later girl,” I said to Diamond. She didn’t even respond. Duke and I left the club together.

“
You didn’t have to basically snatch me up outta the club, Duke,” I complained. “I could’ve just walked out if you would’ve said let’s go home.”

He walked me to my car. When I was about to get in he finally spoke.

“
From now on when I tell you something . . . listen. I think I know best right now,” Duke said sternly.

Was he kidding me? He sounded like a father, not like a brand new ass boyfriend.

“
I wasn’t there to work! But you never said you were going to provide for my every need either, so if I was there to work it’s because I’m not even sure about us Duke! I have been at the condo for days and I only see you for minutes,” I shot back.

“
Well, I’m gonna provide you what you need! No woman of mine needs to be working in a shithole where niggas gonna be disrespecting you,” he said firmly. “If you wanna see your little girlfriend tell her to come by the condo or meet you at the mall. But you are not to come back to this place.”

I felt all mushy inside when he said that. I thought it was so cute that he was putting his foot down to take care of me. He was demanding that I not return to the club . . . how manly was that. I loved that man and I knew it for sure now. Only real men stepped up and told a chick she didn’t have to work. I had been waiting all my life for a man like Duke Carrington to come along. Finally! I said in my mind as I pulled my car out of the parking lot.

“
A man that wants to act like a damn real man. I can definitely dig that,” I mumbled out loud with my new car smell wafting in my nostrils.

Duke and I went our separate ways in separate cars. It wasn’t until I returned to the empty condo that I remembered something . . . I had forgotten to ask Duke what the hell he was doing up in the strip club himself.

Cheaper to Keep Her Unique

Chapter 13—Mo’ Problems

Six Months Earlier.

Once again, I woke up to an empty bed.

I rolled over and looked at Duke’s side of the bed, still neatly made up, not even an indentation in his pillow. I sighed loudly and looked over at the clock. I closed my eyes in disgust. I couldn’t even get used to sleeping late anymore. It was six in the morning and I was up with no place to go and nothing to do except wait on Duke to come hit me off with some money or another guilt gift. That’s what our relationship had become. He was becoming more and more scarce around the condo, so I had come to expect those sorry I fucked up gifts every time I saw him now. His routine was so predictable now. He’d disappear for days, one time even an entire week, then he would come to the condo with some expensive gift, a long story and his dick and I’d be his again.

It was so bad I gave Diamond some of the make up gifts. Sometimes he would buy the same gift in a different color because he couldn’t remember what he had purchased last. That was a damn shame. If I had two or three of the same item I would give Diamond one. So far she had acquired two David Yurman ring and bracelet sets, a fur stole, numerous bags from various premier designers and a bunch of diamond jewelry.

I picked up my cell and there was not even one missed call from Duke. He had come two nights prior and he seemed to be in a crazy rush. He had disappeared into the den and locked the door, which was strange. Initially when he put the fucking door on the den I had become suspicious, but I never ventured in that room. The last night he was here, I was so glad to see him I didn’t even question his apparent urgency to get in and out.

But laying in the bed with nothing to do, lonely and bored, I started to think about how frantic Duke seemed to be. Even his sex was different that night. That fact alone made me very curious about what the fuck he had going on. I got up and pulled myself together, brushed my teeth and got the sleep cobwebs out of my head. Then I wrapped a silk robe around my body and shuffled my feet to the den door. I jiggled with the knob and the door popped open. I didn’t have shit else to do so I decided to snoop. It was something I had never had the urge to do until now. Duke hadn’t given me any real reason to suspect him of anything other than maybe his shady business with Dr. Gavin. I mean, shit had been great between us for a while.

After Duke made me quit the job at the club, he was very attentive to me for a good long minute. We spent our nights going to dinner at exclusive places and having wild uninhibited sex, and I spent my days spending Duke’s money at various malls and boutiques. I had taken several trips to New York to shop at some of the swanky, one-of-a-kind boutiques in SoHo. I can’t front, I was living the good life. Duke had even sent me on an all expense paid trip to Turks and Caicos Islands. I had offered to take Diamond but she wouldn’t dare leave Virginia Beach without that piece of shit man she was still carrying.

I lived each day as if shit was all good and I didn’t have time to complain. So snooping into Duke’s business wasn’t high on my list of priorities. I had long since put what I had learned about him to the far ends of my mind. I just wanted to enjoy the shit he was providing. I wanted to work my way to being his wife, so I kept my mouth shut and my legs wide open. But six months after I had given up everything for Duke, I found myself alone and wondering what the fuck was keeping him away from me all the time. I told myself that my burning desire to know was human nature. Curiosity killed the cat, but is also a natural part of life. Anybody would’ve gotten nosey by now, especially a woman bored as hell.

I walked into the den and looked around. Nothing looked amiss. Well, it wouldn’t have since Duke paid a cleaning lady to come into the condo every other week. I didn’t even have to clean, that’s how deep this shit was. I walked over to Duke’s desk. Of course, all of the drawers were locked. “Shit!” I cursed, disappointed. I flopped down in his leather swivel chair and turned it towards the big window. Looking out towards the beach, the view from the condo was simply breathtaking. But it caused me to shake my head. I didn’t have my man there to enjoy the beach with me.

“
Fuck this bullshit,” I grumbled. I was mad, somewhat pissed off. This wasn’t what I envisioned. I jumped out of the chair and raced into the kitchen. I opened all of the counter drawers looking for a knife. It was a damn shame I didn’t even know where the knives were, because I had never had to cook a meal in the condo.

“
Finally!” I gasped as I located a steak knife. With my heart racing, I rushed back to the den. I immediately started jimmying the locks. My hands were shaking which was making it nearly impossible for me to get the damn locks popped. “Dammit!” I cursed, pushing my hair out of my face. I was exasperated. I stood up and looked around.

“
Where would somebody with a billion places to live leave the keys?” I verbally asked myself. I stopped and tried to focus, get my thoughts together. And that’s when it hit me, I was thinking like me and not like Duke. That’s what I needed to do, think like Duke Carrington.

I knew the keys were there in the house. Then it came to me as if it was a vision from God. Every time Duke came to the condo he went straight into our closet and then he would go into the den, put away whatever he had to put up and then come to me.

“
So fucking predictable,” I growled as I rushed back to the bedroom. First, I opened the nightstand drawers on his side of the bed. Duke had opened the drawers several times during his visits to the condo. The drawers were empty. I went into our closet and rifled through the pockets of the three pairs of pants he left at the condo. Another dead end . . . I didn’t find anything.

My shoulders slumped in disappointment. Then I spotted the black Armani blazer hanging all by its lonesome a few feet away from the pants. My heart skipped a beat because I knew I was on point with the blazer. I raced over to the blazer and dug in the outside pockets. Shit, nothing. Then, I reached into the inside, breast pocket.

“
A-fuckin’-ha! Bingo!” I screamed, as my hands shook uncontrollably. There was a set of keys in the blazer’s inside pocket. My mouth was as dry as the scorching desert as I gulped a lump of fear. I don’t know why I was so scared, because I was alone and the alarm was on so if Duke tried to come in I would definitely hear him. I gripped the keys tightly for a minute. I was hesitating.

This sucked. I had racked my brain looking for these fucking keys and now that I had found them, I was hesitant to use them. “Lynise put the keys back,” I whispered to myself. No! I was going to open that damn desk. I had to open those desk drawers. I ran through the condo as if someone was chasing me. When I reached the den, I fumbled with the keys. The first key didnThe t work. Then the second key didn’t work. It was the fourth key that finally opened the drawers on the desk. I bent down and pulled open the first drawer. Inside was just a little composition notebook. I opened it and read some of the pages. I placed my hand over my lips.

There were names of clients . . . damn, there were definitely names. Names of the rich ones who wanted to buy babies on the black market. There were also money amounts next to the names.

“
What the fuck,” I gasped when I saw an amount as high as two million dollars scribbled in Duke’s handwriting next to the name Barkers. I dropped the book back into the drawer like it was a poisonous snake ready to fill me up with venom. Then I opened the big drawer on the bottom. I found a black lock box. The kind storeowners used to transport their cash to banks after a profitable night. I quickly found out the box was locked as well. I picked the keys up and immediately noticed the round safe key. I slowly and deliberately inserted the key into the lock box.

My eyes grew wide when I looked inside. There were about ten stacks of money bonded together with thick black rubber bands. Underneath the money were T-Bills—some as large as five thousand dollars. I couldn’t understand why Duke had money in that box. Then I noticed a folded up piece of paper. I unfolded it and read it.

Wine and Dine Cash. Lynise. Dana. Audrey. Amber. Lisette.

I threw the paper down, back into the box. My head was spinning. I immediately felt sick to my stomach. What the fuck he means wine and dine cash? Why the fuck are there so many bitches’ names on this fucking list! I was ready to explode. My mind was in overdrive. I didn’t know what the fuck to do. In a blind rage, I reached down into the box and grabbed two stacks of money. I took a stack of bills right out of the middle and set the money on the desk. They were all one hundred dollar bills.

“
Muthafucka!” I managed through my newly formed tears. I quickly locked the box back up and put it back into the drawer. I went through the drawers on the other side of the desk. In those I found paperwork related to Duke’s businesses, utility bills and his other homes. I took a bunch of stuff with me. I was going to keep everything, including the money. I had to find a safe place to keep everything. My investigative thinking cap was on now. I was starting to have a good fucking idea of why my so-called perfect man was disappearing so much. I understood the disappearing acts now. It was on.