Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 (More Money More Problems)

by Unique, Kiki Swinson presents

  From the moment I crossed the threshold into my room, I could tell that Bishop had been in here. The mattress on my bed was moved. I could tell because the flat sheet was no longer tucked completely between the mattress and box spring. I learned in jail how to make and tuck your sheets the way the military does, which was exactly the way I had it before I left the apartment. I rushed over to that side of the bed and struggled to lift up the king size mattress. I grunted, struggling to hold up the mattress while looking to see if Bishop hid money or dope under the big ass mattress.

  When I realized he hadn’t, I let that heavy ass mattress go and watched it as it flopped back down on the box spring. I was breathing really hard because I was tired. That mattress was heavier than I thought. But that didn’t stop me from continuing my search. I stood by the bed and wondered why the mattress was moved when there was nothing out of place but the sheets? Then it hit me. Bishop wanted me to find the bed messed up to throw me off track. I kind of smiled inside. That motherfucker didn’t trust me and that was cool with me. I wasn’t going to disappoint him. So I continued my search.

  I began to look around the room. The thing I noticed was my perfume bottles on the dresser were moved. I always positioned them three inches apart from each other and I made sure all the bottles were faced forward. Now they weren’t the way I left them. I rushed towards my dresser because the only reason Bishop would have to rearrange my perfume bottles were because they fell down. And the only reason they would fall down was because he opened up one of the three drawers on the right side.

  I didn’t waste another second as I opened the top dresser drawer that stored my socks and footies and noticed he hadn’t stuck or tried to hide anything in there. Next, I opened the second drawer with all my bras and panties in them and realized he hadn’t hid any money or drugs in there either. For some reason, I knew my bottom drawer might be the hideaway spot I was looking for, because it stored all my lingerie and I had a lot of that.

  Before I opened up the last dresser draw I noticed my heart was beating faster than normal. I couldn’t tell you whether it was my adrenaline rushing or because I feared the possibility of Bishop walking in here and catching me looking for his stuff. Whatever it was, I knew I knew I needed to get a handle on it and take care of my business.

  “Come on, Lynise, let’s find Bishop’s stash,” I said out loud to give myself that extra push. I needed the self-motivation.

  Immediately after I pulled the drawer open, I noticed that none of my lingerie had been moved out of place and I was completely bummed out. I was literally disappointed when I realized I hit yet another brick wall.

  I sat back on my legs and racked my brain trying to figure out whether or not Bishop sent me out of the apartment so he could hide his shit. And if that was the case, where in the hell was it?

  Frustrated by walking into another dead end, I pushed the drawer back in place and to my surprise it wouldn’t go all the way back in. What the hell? The light popped on in my head. Immediately, I knew something was keeping me from shutting the drawer properly and it had to be something that Bishop had placed there.

  I pulled the drawer back out and when it was completely pulled out, I was stunned to find a gray package taped to the bottom of my drawer. The package was half the size of an iPad but it was thick in width, which explained why it jammed the drawer when I tried to push it back in place. With the entire drawer in my hand I turned it upside down to smell it, but the scent was completely blocked. Whoever wrapped this thing up definitely knew what they were doing.

  Since I had nothing to go on but assumptions, I figured it couldn’t be anything else but a block of heroin or coke. I wanted to pry it open to see exactly what it was, but I didn’t think I’d be able to wrap it back up the way that I found it. So I left well enough alone. Either way I looked at it, it was worth a pretty penny.

  I continued to inspect the package when all of a sudden the doorbell rang. I nearly jumped out of my damn skin. I didn’t know whether to put the drawer back or ignore whoever was at the door. But when the doorbell rang two more times, my heart fell into the pit of my stomach as I shoved the drawer back into the dresser and stood on my feet.

  “Oh my God! Who could that be?” I mumbled underneath my breath as I tried to make sense of what was going on around me.

  “Oh my God! It could be the fucking police coming in here to raid the place,” I panicked. “I swear, I can’t lie down and let them lock me up behind another nigga’s dope. Hell nah! I can’t let it go down like that. And especially after the way he’s been treating me lately. I’d be a damn fool.” I don’t know why I was tripping or why I went in panic mode. I was hoping to calm down as I tiptoed my way towards the front door.

  DING! DONG! DING! DONG! Chimed the doorbell. Whoever it was on the other side of the door, made it pretty obvious that they weren’t leaving until I answered the damn door. My heart rate continued to climb with each second that passed. And then the unexpected happened, “Lynise, open the door. It’s me Sean,” I heard the familiar voice yell out.

  Relieved that it wasn’t Bishop or the cops trying to come in, I raced towards the door with a newfound sense of joy. Hearing Sean’s voice felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. From the moment I opened the front door everything seemed blissful.

  “What took you so long to answer the door?” he wanted to know.

  “And who gave you the balls to ring my door bell? Do you know you’re playing with fire?” I commented.

  “If you’re talking about your man, I saw him when he hopped into his ride and jetted down the block about five minutes before you came back.”

  “Don’t let me find out you’re a stalker,” I joked.

  He smiled and said, “I’m far from that. But if I see something I like and want, I’ve gotta make sure the coast is clear.”

  I giggled. “That’s really cute,” I replied bashfully.

  “Not as cute as you are,” he commented.

  I smiled. “Cut to the chase. What’s up?”

  “I came over here to see if you’ll go to dinner with me tonight, since you didn’t accept my movie date.”

  “Can you give me some time to think about it?”

  “How much time do you need?”

  “Not long. I’ll let you know within the next hour or so.”

  “Well, do that. And don’t keep me waiting.”

  “I won’t. Now, hurry up and get back over to your spot before Bishop pulls up and catches you over here.”

  Sean looked over his shoulder and then he cracked a smile. “Trust me, I’m not worried about him,” he commented as he walked off.

  I’m playing with fire!

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 Unique

  I Need More Proof – Chapter Six

  Relentlessly thinking of ways to catch Bishop with his pants down, gave me an appetite, so I took Sean up on his dinner offer. But it was only under the condition that we drove in separate cars. He agreed and so it was settled. I wanted to change into something more casual but with a sexy twist. However, I decided against it. I would have had a lot of explaining to do to Bishop if he came back to the apartment and waited for me to return, only to see that I changed attire. It would be World War III up in this apartment. And I wasn’t in the mood for any of that drama.

  It was Sean’s idea for us to dine at this Italian restaurant about twenty miles across town. It was also his idea to select our entrée. I thought it was romantic and gave him the green light. The waiter poured us a glass of red wine while Sean started a warm conversation with me.

  I looked at him closely as he told me how long it had been since he had been in a serious relationship. The way he licked his lips and looked me directly in the eyes, spoke volumes to me. I was sure this was his normal way of communicating with women, but there was something else about him. I couldn’t quite put my fingers on it but I vowed to figure it out before the night was over.

  While he and I talked, my Blackberry rang. I l
ooked down at the caller ID but the number was blocked, so I ignored the call and pressed the END button. Several seconds passed and my phone rang again. I figured it was the same caller, because the number was blocked again.

  “Sounds like someone is really trying to contact you,” Sean commented.

  “They don’t want to get in contact with me that bad by blocking their number,” I replied.

  “Maybe they don’t know their number is being blocked. I saw on TV that some cell phones do that because of minor glitches in cell phone towers.”

  I thought about what Sean said, but by the time it registered, my phone stopped ringing. “Oh well, I guess I’ll never know who it was,” I commented, and before I stuffed my Blackberry back into my handbag, it started ringing again.

  Sean smiled. “I see they’re not giving up.”

  I smiled back and then I pressed the SEND button and placed the phone next to my ear. “Hello,” I said.

  “Help me,” the voice said. It was barely audible.

  I became alarmed by the woman’s voice. “What did you say?” I asked, hoping I could get a clear understanding of what I had just heard. “Who is this?” I continued, also hoping the caller would identify herself. Unfortunately, the call was disconnected.

  Immediately panic-stricken, I held my phone in my hand and looked directly at Sean, who by this time had started eating his food.

  “What happened?” he asked, after swallowing his food.

  “I’m not sure,” I began to explain. “Right after I said hello, I heard a woman’s voice say ‘help me.’ But when I asked her who she was, the phone hung up.”

  “If you sat back and thought about it, do you think you’ll be able to recognize her voice if you heard it again?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said, as I began to wrap my mind around the entire phone call. The thought of someone calling me and asking me to help them and then hang up seemed rather spooky.

  “Can you think of anyone you know that could possibly be in trouble?” Sean pressed the issue.

  “No, not really. I mean, I’ve only had this number since I’ve been here in Jersey and the only people who has it is the guy I mess with, who put me in that place, a couple of boys that work for him and his sister. Other than that, I couldn’t really say.”

  “So, you don’t have any female friends here in New Jersey except for your boyfriend’s sister?”

  “No. I really don’t,” I acknowledged, and then I fell in deep thought.

  “What’s on your mind?” he asked me.

  “I hope I’m not putting too much into what I’m about to say, but I haven’t spoken to his sister in a couple days now and when I went by the salon earlier, the lady she works for said she hadn’t been to work in two days. So, what if that was her on the phone asking me to help her?”

  “Hold up. Let’s not jump to conclusions. There’s probably a good explanation why his sister isn’t at work. For all we know she could be out of town or hanging out with her boyfriend.”

  I let out a long sigh. “I don’t know Sean. Something just ain’t right.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I just remember that I got the same call earlier. But whoever it was didn’t say anything. I said hello about two or three times and they didn’t say anything. So I hung up.”

  “It’s probably just someone pranking you.”

  “I hope so,” I said and then I tried to block the whole incident out of my head, so I could enjoy the rest of my date.

  As the night ended and Sean and I stood in the parking lot of the restaurant near our cars, Bishop made it his business to get me on the line. I answered his call while Sean stood next to me. “Hello,” I answered.

  “Where the hell you at?” he didn’t hesitate to ask.

  “I ran out to get myself something to eat. But I’ll be back at the house in about thirty minutes.”

  “Yeah, a’ight,” he said and then he hung up before I could utter another word.

  After Bishop hung up on me, I casually dropped my phone back into my handbag and then I turned my focus back to Sean. “I take it he summoned you to get back to the apartment.”

  “Something like that,” I responded nonchalantly.

  Sean extended his arms. “Can I get a hug before you leave?” he asked.

  I extended my arms and stepped towards him, but then I stopped in my tracks. “Oh, nah. I can’t do that.”

  “You can’t give me a hug?”

  “No. Because your cologne may get on my clothes and I wouldn’t know how to explain my way out of that one.”

  “Well, can I give you a kiss on the cheek?”

  “Sure. Why not?”

  Sean leaned towards me and planted his semi-wet, soft lips on my left cheek. When he pulled back from my face we looked at one another and smiled. “Maybe next time I’ll give you some lip action,” I commented.

  “That would be nice,” he replied.

  He watched me get in the car and waited for me to pull out of the parking lot, before he got into his SUV. I blew him a kiss and made my exit. As I drove away I checked him out through my rearview mirror and noticed how quickly he grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and placed it up to his ear.

  That move definitely raised a red flag for me. And it led me to believe he had to check in with his woman, despite the fact he claimed not having one. The more I thought about it, the more turned off I was getting.

  Okay, granted, I was supposed to be fucking with Bishop. But guess what? I made that known from the very beginning. But I really couldn’t say the same about Sean. And as I thought back on dinner, his phone hadn’t rang the entire time he and I hung out together, which was probably because he had it powered off.

  Realizing this placed a nasty taste in my mouth. “Niggas are always talking about how much they keep it real when they’re lying the entire time,” I uttered from my mouth and then I shook my head in pure disgust. I was pissed that I was risking what little security I had with Bishop for a bitch ass nigga like Sean. This so-called lunch date was a bad idea.

  The radio took my mind off my bad move for a minute. During my drive I came up with a good story to tell Bishop if he asked me how long I had been gone and where exactly was I? Oh yeah, I had my lie mapped out to a tee. I figured lying to him wouldn’t do our relationship much harm since he started lying to me first. And in the end, things would play themselves out the way they supposed to. That’s called divine nature. And no one escapes that. Not even me.

  What’s yours is yours!

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 Unique

  Method To The Madness – Chapter Seven

  Bishop, Monty and Torch were sitting in the living room when I walked into the apartment. My heart kind of fluttered when everyone’s attention turned towards me. My first reaction was to run but Bishop told me to come in and close the door. I felt a little at ease because his tone was somewhat calm.

  I stepped completely into the apartment and closed the door behind me like I was instructed, but I didn’t move too far from it. “What’s going on?” I asked, still standing within arm’s length from the front door, holding a McDonald’s bag in my hand I had just picked up.

  “Remember when you told me you went looking for Bria at the shop earlier?” Bishop spoke first.

  “Yeah, why?” I asked as my heart began to pick up speed.

  “We think she’s gone missing.”

  “Get the fuck out of here! You can’t be serious!” I blurted out.

  “No, I’m serious. And we think it’s the niggas that I got a beef with across town who kidnapped her.”

  My heart stopped cold turkey and collapsed in the pit of my stomach. I wasn’t nearly as close to Bria as Bishop was but the thought of her being kidnapped and possibly hurt was gut-wrenching to think about. And what if it was me? The same way those niggas snatched Bria up could have very well been the same way they could’ve gotten me.

  “Oh my god! I got two calls today and it was probably her trying
to tell me where she was at,” I announced to everyone in the room.

  Bishop sat up in the chair. “When did that happened?” he asked me.

  Wanting to help him as much as I could, I rushed over to him and showed him in my call log the two calls I received hours apart from one another. “If this was her, this was the first time she called me,” I began to explain. “But for some reason she didn’t say anything. And then we got disconnected. And this was the second time she called. And when I said hello, I heard a woman whisper, ‘help me,’ and when I asked her to repeat herself, the phone hung up again.”

  “Did you hear any noise in the back ground?” Bishop asked me.

  “No, I didn’t hear anything. It was completely quiet.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “Because it didn’t dawn on me that it could’ve been her.”

  Looking a little frustrated, Bishop got up from the sofa and walked into the kitchen. I turned around and watched him leave. Several seconds after he walked into the kitchen, he turned back around and re-entered the living room. “Are you sure you didn’t hear any background noise?” he wanted to know.

  “Yes, I’m sure. All I heard was when she said ‘help her’.”

  Bishop started pacing back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. It was evident that he was trying to devise a plan. The details of this plan remained unclear as he kept quiet in thought.