Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 (The Saga Continues)

by Kiki Swinson presents Unique

  He re-entered the living room immediately after he got off the phone. I pretended like I was engrossed in what was going on in TV land. “Yo' home boy, Neil, just told me that somebody blew up Magic City last night while people were in there.”

  I acted like I was surprised. I didn’t want Devin to know I knew anything about the explosion. I didn’t want to be associated with it at all. “Nah, I didn't know that,” I replied.

  I didn’t want to seem coldhearted. That would’ve been a dead giveaway. Devin would’ve either suspected I knew who did it or I was involved in it somehow. I was sure he heard rumors that I had gotten blackballed around town. After all the shit that went down with Duke, he made sure I couldn’t get a job bartending in any of the clubs in the Tidewater area. So I had to play my cards very carefully with this guy. He didn’t give a fuck about anyone but himself.

  When we dated, I was just another piece of pussy he could run up in. I didn’t mean shit to him. And I knew I really didn’t mean a thing to him now, especially since he wasn’t bending me over. He wasn’t loyal to me when we were fucking, so I knew he wouldn’t be loyal to me in the streets. So whatever secrets I had I knew I would be safer if I kept everything under close watch.

  He shook his head and sat down next to me. He looked as if he had just lost his best friend or something. I had to know what was on his mind, so I asked him what was he thinking about.

  He sat in a daze and then said, “I can’t believe people were in that joint last night when that shit blew up. People I knew, people I had talked to, chicks who gave me lap dances.”

  “What time it happened?” I asked.

  “Neil said the news people said it happened around seven or eight o’clock last night. He said he heard it was packed in there. And that a few niggas he knew said that they had just left before it happened.”

  “Wow! That's scary,” I commented.

  Devin continued to shake his head. And then he turned around and faced me, “Do you know that one of those dead bodies could’ve been mine? I would be dead right now if Kim didn’t call me and asked me if she could come by here last night.”

  “I realize that,” I replied.

  He took his focus off me and picked up the remote control. I sat back and watched him surf through at least twenty channels until he got to Channel 10.

  He waited for a broadcast to feature the story on Magic City, but nothing appeared in the thirty minutes while we sat around and watched. I had the urge to tell him I was there and I saw everything. I even wanted to tell him that Neeko’s brother got killed while I was waiting for him inside his truck. But again, I knew it would’ve been a bad idea.

  Devin wasn’t someone I could trust. I’ve known him to gossip more than a bitch. And for him to come back in the room and tell me all of what his friend, Neil, told him, I knew he’d get right back on the phone and call Neil up and tell him everything I told him. And then from there, Neil would be calling niggas he knew and before I knew it, I’d be the talk of the fucking town. And I didn’t need that type of attention. It was bad enough that I was trying to keep Duke and Chris off my ass.

  So I figured I’d be in good shape if I didn’t let this big mouth ass nigga know what I knew.

  Moments later, he got another call. This time it was Kim. She must’ve said something about what happened at Magic City last night, because he got up from the couch and said, “I know. I just heard about it from my boy Neil.” Then he left the room again. He didn’t go that far because I can hear every word of this conversation.

  The first part of the conversation made me sick to my stomach. He kept telling her over and over again how grateful he was that she called him last night and prevented him from going to the club. As much as I wanted to believe him, I knew what he was saying was bullshit. Yeah, he was grateful today, but he’ll be calling her a bitch tomorrow. That’s just how he rolled.

  After several minutes of kissing her ass, he fed her some bullshit ass lie about how he thought he was ready to settle down. He told her he also believed the only reason why God used her to prevent him from going out last night was so that he could have a chance to get his life together.

  I swear, if I had a violin I would have serenaded that whack ass conversation he was having with her. With all the shit he had done in his life, it was gonna take him two lifetimes to make up for it. So the only reason why I believed God spared his life was so he could find something for recreational to do other than exploit naked ass women with those measly ass dollar bills he fed them. In other words, God gave that bastard another chance because he felt sorry for his silly ass! That’s it! End of Story.

  Devin’s bullshit lies lasted approximately five minutes. But before he hung up with the dumb ass chick, he lied to her once more and told her I had left his apartment before he got up. I mean, if she believed that then she was sillier than I gave her credit for. And to add insult to injury, he even told her that he loved her. I swear, I almost laughed out loud and blew his cover.

  When he came back in the living room, I smiled at him and said, “So, you're in love, huh?”

  He smiled. “I might be,” he said and then he sat back down on the couch next to me. “I wonder if your girl, Diamond, was in the club when it blew up.”

  I hunched my shoulders as if I couldn’t care less. I knew she wasn’t there, but I wasn’t going to let him know it. “If she was, it served her right,” I commented, then I rolled my eyes. The sound of her name made me cringe all over.

  “Damn, that's kind of fucked up to say.”

  “It ain’t no more fucked up than how she carried me!” I snapped. “Me and her were like two peas in the pod. We did everything fucking thing together. We were inseparable. When she didn’t have, I had it for her. So for her to double cross me like she did was foul. I swear, I would spit on that bitch’s grave if I had the opportunity.”

  Devin started rubbing my back in a circular motion. I figured this was his way of telling me that everything would be all right. Whether he knew it or not, once upon of time I would’ve spit on his fucking grave too, especially with all the drama he caused me during our courtship. He better be glad he let me into this apartment last night, because I was on the verge of fucking up his car if he hadn’t.

  Devin allowed me to vent a little bit more and then he flipped the script on me and asked me what did I have planned today? I had to admit that he kind of caught me off guard with that question because I really didn’t know where I was going. I thought I would’ve come up with a plan overnight but it didn’t happen, so what was I going to do? I looked at Devin in hopes that he’d help me come up with an answer. But he was just as clueless as I was.

  “I was planning on calling my sister, Nita, when I think she’s off work,” I finally said. But it was an outright lie. I believed he knew it too.

  “I didn’t know that you and your sister, Nita, were back speaking again,” he commented.

  “We just started back talking before I got out,” I continued to lie. I did this because if I let on that I had no one in my corner, then he’d use that shit against me. He’d love to know that I needed him. He’d eat that shit up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Especially after all the times I dissed him at the club. He’d relish in the moment if he knew I had nowhere to go. And he’d try to milk it for what it’s worth.

  “How your mama doing?” he surprised me again. But I knew what he was doing. Devin and I dated for over a year, so he knew I didn’t fuck with none of my family. That included my mama’s money hungry ass too. So he either asked me that question to be nosey or he just wanted to make idle conversation.

  “I haven’t spoken to her. But Nita said she was fine,” my lies kept coming.

  “Do you think she found out about you copping that murder charge?”

  “I’m sure she did. But Nita didn’t say anything about it,” I replied.

  When Devin was about to ask me another one of his dumb ass questions, his doorbell rang. He looked at me very strange. “I
wonder who that is?” he said aloud as he got up from the sofa.

  I got up from the sofa as well, but I headed into the bathroom, because I needed to empty my bladder. Right after I closed the door to the bathroom and locked it, I heard Devin yell out, “Who is it?”

  I didn’t hear anything else because the sound of me peeing overpowered what was being said in the other room. So I handled my business and allowed Devin to handle his.

  And I wondered if kings of old ever made any big decisions while they sat on the toilet.

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

  Unexpected Guest-Chapter Eighteen

  Even fortunes of the stupid have to change sometimes.

  I flushed the toilet, washed my hands and exited the bathroom. But as soon as I re-entered the living room, Devin wasn’t anywhere to be found. I called his name out twice, but I still got no answer. So I walked to the front door and noticed it was cracked, so I grabbed a hold of the doorknob and pulled it open. I looked outside but he was still nowhere in sight. It really seemed weird that he’d leave his fucking front door cracked and then he disappeared. I mean, who in the hell does that?

  I didn’t know whether to close the door and lock it or go outside to see where the hell he went. But then it dawned on me that maybe Duke and Chris found out where I was and grabbed Devin up so he wouldn’t be in the way when they killed me. The thought of them being able to move on me like that gave me an eerie feeling. I wasted no time locking the door, and then I rushed into the kitchen to grab the sharpest knife Devin had. It seemed like everything I picked up was dull or rusty so I left them where they were.

  Then I remembered Devin had a .45 caliber handgun he used to tuck away underneath his white tees in the bottom left drawer, so I rushed into his bedroom to see if it was still there. With my heart beating a mile a second, I ransacked his tee-shirt drawer and found it. After I picked up that heavy piece of metal I let out a long sigh of relief, because I knew if what I believed was true, then I would be able to fight those bastards off me with no problems.

  Once I put it in my head which angle I was going to go at those niggas, I laid the gun down on the floor next to me and proceeded to place all of Devin’s t-shirts back where they were. I knew Devin didn’t check his tee-shirt drawer every day.

  After that was done, I got up from the floor with Devin’s gun in my right hand and I headed back down the hallway towards the living room. I honestly didn’t know whether to sit back down on the sofa or hide in a fucking closet somewhere. I really didn’t know what to do, so I decided to stand next to the front door and occasionally look through the peep hole.

  Five minutes went by and I heard nothing and no one came to the door. Then all of a sudden, I heard footsteps and just as fast as I heard them, they stopped. My heart seemed like it stopped too. I held my breath to prevent anyone from hearing me. I wanted to look through the peephole but I got cold feet. Although the person on the outside couldn’t see me, my eye against the peephole would prevent the reflected light from the inside of the house from appearing through the peephole, and whoever was on the other side of the door would know someone was inside.

  Seconds later, someone turned the doorknob and tried to push on the door. “Lynise, open the door,” I heard a guy yell. But it wasn’t Devin. So my heart sunk into the pit of my stomach. I didn’t know what the fuck to do. I knew I had Devin’s pistol, so if this man on the other side tried to break down the fucking door, then I’d have some hot lead for his ass.

  Whoever it was knocked a couple more times. “Lynise, are you in there?” the guy yelled through the door. But I didn’t budge. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out who the fuck this man was standing outside Devin’s front door. It didn’t sound like Duke or Chris, so who in the hell was it? This shit wasn’t cool. I didn’t like this feeling.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to risk being detected so I looked through the peephole and saw who this unidentified man was. I raced away from the door and then I yelled, “I’m coming,” after I realized it was Devin’s friend, Neil. Neil was his sidekick. So if he saw me with Devin’s pistol in my hand, he wasn’t going to receive it very well.

  I rushed back down the hallway and shoved Devin’s gun right back where I got it from and then I raced back down the hallway to open the front door. When Neil walked in, he looked at me pretty strange. “You all right?” he asked as he walked in slowly.

  “Yeah, I’m cool,” I lied.

  “You sure?” he said.

  “Yeah, I'm sure,” I replied sarcastically.

  “Well, why you sweating and shit?” he asked jokingly. Neil was a very handsome guy with excellent taste in clothing, but he was also a fucking wise guy. So, I never liked him. He had a huge influence on Devin’s decision making. When Devin and I were dating and I wanted him to hang out with me, Neil would always come up with some bullshit about how they had already made fucking plans. That shit used to burn me up. Not only that, whenever Devin and I got into fights, Neil always threw in his two cents. Truth be told, he was one of the main reasons why Devin and I broke up. I thought he was Devin’s undercover lover at one point, so I used to tease him about it. I knew he hated my fucking guts. But guess what? I hated his fucking guts too, so we were even.

  “Why the fuck are you always up in my space?” I responded.

  Neil walked away from the door and headed towards the kitchen. “Trust me, I'm not in your space,” he replied with his back facing me.

  I ignored his immaturity and switched the conversation around. “Do you know where Devin is?” I asked him.

  He walked back into the living room with a beer in his hand. “He's outside talking to some chick named Kim. He’s keeping her from coming in here and seeing you, so you won’t get your ass kicked!” he replied and then smiled.

  “You got your own opinions, and I got mines. And so you know, she was already here when I broke up their little rendezvous. So if she wanted to have a boxing match with me, she would have tried her hand last night. End of story,” I told him as I rolled my eyes.

  He took a sip of his beer and said, “So you’re proud that you got my homeboy to pull his dick out of her pussy just so he could push it up in you?”

  “Fuck you, Neil! For your information, I didn’t fuck Devin last night. I’m not skanky like those hoes you fuck with. I’ve got more class than any woman you ever been with. So get a grip on yourself! You’re looking really tacky right now sipping on a beer at ten-thirty in the morning. That's a sure sign of a broke ass alcoholic!”

  Neil took another sip of his beer and then he smiled. “Is this your way of venting your frustrations because your life is pretty much fucked up right now? And in order for you to feel good about yourself, you try to find fault in other people.”

  “Neil, please shut the fuck up! You don’t know shit about my life. So stay in your own lane please.”

  Neil was about to come back at me with another one of his sarcastic remarks, but Devin stopped all of the bullshit when he walked through the door. “Yo’! Yo’! Yo’! I can hear y’all when I was walking up the stairs,” he commented.

  I sucked my teeth. “If your best friend would mind his own business, then the world and everybody in it would be better off,” my sarcasm continued.

  “Come on now, let’s not fight, boys and girls,” he said with humor as he closed the door and took a seat on the sofa. He looked directly at Neil and said, “Yo’, dude, did you see how she was acting?”

  Neil sat down in the recliner across from Devin. “Yeah, I saw her. She’s gonna be unmanageable if you don’t get her ass straight now.”

  “I know. I’m gonna probably have to break up with her ass sooner than I thought,” Devin told Neil.

  I wanted to shake my head and ask Devin did he remember last night when he was talking marriage and shit because he thought Kim had saved his life. Short term memory. That was the shit too many of us suffered with.

  And to hear these two talking about this chick r
eally rubbed me the wrong way. Okay, granted, I didn’t exactly like her ass after she made that comment about how dirty I looked. Hell, I would have kicked Duke’s and a bitch’s ass for barging in on us in the wee hours of the morning. But still, it made me sick to my stomach that Neil had so much influence on Devin. I mean, mind your own business. Get your own girlfriend, you fucking loser!

  In the middle of their back and forth conversation about Devin’s new play toy, Kim, I interjected and asked Devin if he minded if I went into his room and laid down on his bed. He told me he didn’t mind, so I got up and left.

  While Neil continued to give jackass relationship advice, Devin’s Blackberry rang. He left it on top of his dresser, so I got off the bed, grabbed it and took it to him. But by the time I handed it to him, it had stopped ringing. He took it from me and then I returned back to his bedroom and climbed back onto his bed. I’m sure he knew I looked down at the screen to see who was calling. He didn’t mention it though. I laid there in silence and waited for him to call Ms. Olivia back. I shook my head as I wondered how men, but him in particular, could fuck two and three bitches at one time. It just angered me that he could never be faithful.

  While Kim had questioned him about me, she needed to be worried about all the other bitches he was creeping with. Niggas will never change!

  I dosed off for about an hour but Devin woke me up to tell me he had to make a run with Neil. “Don’t go snooping through my shit!” he warned me.

  “You ain’t gotta worry about that,” I assured him. And I meant that from the bottom of my heart. I will admit that I used to go through his shit but it was only because we were dating. Believe me, he gave me many reasons to search his pants pockets and look through his text messages to see what new bitch he was fucking behind my back. But now, I wouldn’t waste my time. He’s shown me at least five times within the last ten hours that he had not changed and he had no intentions of doing so.