Cheaper to Keep Her Part 3

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Cheaper to Keep Her part 3. Copyright 2012 by Kiki Swinson. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without written consent except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Publisher’s address:

K.S. Publications

P.O. Box 68878

Virginia Beach, VA 23471

Website: www.kikiswinson.net

Email: [email protected]

ISBN-13: 978-0984529087

ISBN-10: 098452908X

First Edition: February 2012

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Editors: J.Wooden & Letitia Carrington

Interior & Cover Design: Davida Baldwin (OddBalldsgn.com)

Cover Photo: Davida Baldwin

Printed in the United States of America

Don’t Miss Out On These Other Titles:

I’m Still Wifey

Wife Extraordinaire Returns

A Sticky Situation

Sleeping with the Enemy (with Wahida Clark)

Life Styles of the Rich and Shameless (with Noire)

Cheaper to Keep Her part 1 – (Series)

Cheaper to Keep Her part 2: The Saga Continues

Cheaper to Keep Her part 3: More Money More Problems

Cheaper to Keep Her part 4: America’s Most Wanted

Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 Unique

My New Stomping Grounds – Chapter One

Leaving Virginia to go with Bishop to New Jersey was the best decision I could’ve made. While Bishop, Torch, Monty and I were in transit, I went through my cell phone, transferred a couple of important phone numbers on paper, including Lil Rodney’s cell phone number and then I discarded it from our moving vehicle. Rodney was a young cat from my old neighborhood but he had enough clout to get shit down when he needed to. The fact that he covered my ass when I sat back on the sidelines to watch Diamond and the second time when I brought Bishop and his team back to handle their business. So, I planned to reach out to him later to get the 411 on what was going on back in Virginia since I knew he kept his ears to the streets. Nothing got past Lil Rodney and everyone knew it.

Other than that, Bishop has shown me around his hometown of Newark for the past two months and I had to admit that I loved every minute of it. He introduced me to a couple of cats he hung out with from time to time and I even met his sister, Bria, after he posted the money she needed to get out of jail. I heard through various conversations Bishop had with the cats in his circle that Bria was pulled over in a traffic stop by local police and was busted and charged with a couple grams of heroin and ten thousand dollars in cash. Bishop was more upset about the money than he was about the dope. Either way you looked at it, he lost out twice.

My first visit to Bria’s house was somewhat pleasant. She seemed cool but she came across to me like she was a stripper. In my years of being around strippers, I had known them to be cunning and scandalous. They acted like they had game on the surface, but underneath all that make-up and cheap ass lingerie, those hos were dumb as a thirty-year- old nigga in the fifth grade.

During our formal introduction, she smiled and I instantly saw a strong resemblance to Neeko. I swear it scared the hell out of me. She and I spoke briefly about where I was from and how long I would be in town. I found her to be too inquisitive for words. She wanted to know everything from, how Bishop and I met, what day we met and whether or not I had intentions to get serious with him. I started to tell her to mind her damn business but I decided against it when Bishop interrupted our chat and told her to stop being nosey. She ended up leaving me alone and chimed in on him. “When are you going to put me back on the payroll? You know I need the money so I can pay my lawyer,” she told him.

I’m not the one for making assumptions but I knew what she meant when she asked him to put her back on the payroll. But Bishop wasn’t feeling that conversation at all and immediately left the room. She seemed humiliated after he left her standing there. I wanted to say something but I just didn’t know what to say.

After one hour into the visit, Bria started acting really weird and Bishop finally told me that it was time to go. So, I said my goodbyes to Bria and then we got out of there. But I have to say that my overall visit with Bria was somewhat cool. She acted like she was on drugs, which was probably why Bishop stopped her from making moves on behalf of him. Things were definitely coming to the light for him. There were some things he liked and some things he didn’t like so he dealt with them accordingly. And when it was all said and done, I was rolling with Bishop because he was the one that paid the bills.

For the first three weeks in Jersey, Bishop had me staying at an Extended Stay hotel. And then he found me a one bedroom spot about twenty miles from where he resided with his main chick Keisha. Bishop didn’t grant me the privilege of meeting Keisha, but that bitch made it her business to call Bishop every time he was in my company. Like today for instance, he and I were eating lunch at this little spot inside of Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall when she called and got really irate. I couldn’t hear everything she was saying, but I heard her screaming through the phone. Thirty seconds into her rant, Bishop said, “Keisha, I don’t have time for this shit right now!”

Keisha yelled back through the phone and before she finished saying whatever she had to say, Bishop disconnected their call. I sat there in my chair and wondered what she said that made him upset. I wanted so badly to ask him but I decided against it. I’d only known Bishop for a few months and in that short period of time I found out that he was an extremely private person. Very seldom you’d get him to answer a few questions, so I left well enough alone.

I continued eating away at my slice of cheesecake and when I was done, he asked me if I was ready to continue shopping. When I assured him that I was, we got up and headed towards the Burberry store. It was early spring, which meant a lot of rain so I asked Bishop to purchase a five hundred dollar raincoat for me. Money was no object to him so he practically gave me everything I asked for.

Before we walked over to the check out counter Bishop pulled his wallet from his pocket and opened it. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a Virginia driver’s license that belonged to my ex-best friend Diamond. Her face magnified from the I.D. card the longer I stared at it. I couldn’t help but wonder why Bishop had it, so I asked him and his response was, “When I get rid of people who are a threat to me, I always take their I.D. cards.”

“Why?” I continued. I needed to know why he’d much such a huge risk to hold on to his victim’s driver’s licenses.

He smiled as if he found humor in our conversation. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way but I feel that it’s necessary that I take all the I.D. cards from the people I snuff because that’ll make the police work extra hard to identify their bodies. And then on top of that, I get to keep their I.D.’s as souvenirs.”

I gave Bishop a blank facial expression. I couldn’t believe the words that had came out of his mouth. He sounded just like a fucking psycho a very seconds ago. Was he for real? I swear I hoped he was joking. “Well, don’t you think that that’s a little too risky? What if the cops pulled you over in a traffic stop, how would you explain to them why you have her I.D. or anyone else’s I.D. for that matter?”

“Look Lynise, I can’t worry about that now. I’m a firm believer that when shit happens, it happens for a reason and we can’t do anything about it. So, stop being all paranoid. Everything is going to be alright.” He assured me and then he moved Diamond’s driver’s license to the back of his wallet.

After he gave me the money to pay for the raincoat, he told me he’d meet me outside of the store. I watched him as he walked away from me and wondered was I really ready to be with this guy? He was definitely a sweetheart and a protector but I got this gut feeling that I might be in over my head. Okay sure, he bought me some clothes, he put me up in a hotel, he fed me and he even saved my life back in Virginia. But it wasn’t just a one-way street. I looked out for his ass too. And I provided a sense of loyalty to him. I figured as long as he had my back and never disrespected me, we’d forever be on easy street. But the minute he tries to play me, all bets are off. I’d go into bitch mode and he won’t like that side of me. Not too many niggas I fucked with in the past hadn’t saw that side of me because I was gullible as hell. But, I’d grown a tough skin in these recent months, so he’d better watch out.

Soon after I paid for my merchandise I exited the store I met up with Bishop in the middle of the mall and then we headed over to the Lacoste store. Bishop said he wanted to get a few shirts from there so I helped him pick a few of them out.

On our way out of the store, a full-figured woman approached us with two other women in tow and started screaming at Bishop. Immediately after she opened her mouth I knew it was Keisha. But judging from her appearance, I was taken aback a little. I’d never pictured Bishop to be attracted to big girls. He seemed like the type who’d only date chicks like me or maybe just a few pounds bigger. Well, I guess I didn’t know him after all.

While I stood there quiet as a mouse, I took inventory of Keisha’s overall appearance. She was a pretty, brown skin woman. She was about five feet seven in height and I loved the way she wore her hair. She rocked the silk wrap. But her wardrobe definitely needed a facelift. Her two friends were my height and size but they weren’t attractive at all. I figured one woman couldn’t have it all, and in that case, I was truly blessed.

“I knew it!” she spat as she got within two feet of us. “I knew you were fucking around on me with some low budget bitch!”

I stood there and tried to remain quiet. The fact that she’d just called me a bitch warranted her to get the shit smacked out of her, but since she had her little entourage with her and it was only one of me, I kept my cool and allowed Bishop to handle her big goofy looking ass.

“Keisha, you better get your ass out of my face right now and take your ass back home. You know I don’t play this type of game,” he said calmly. He was desperately trying to keep a lid on the confrontation with his woman.

“And you know I don’t play these fucking games either. Got this bitch parading around the fucking mall with bags from Burberry and Saks. Whatcha’ took her shopping for, so you can fuck her stinky ass later?” she barked.

I swear I couldn’t take it any longer. This had gotten personal. She had just called me a bitch for the second time and I had to do something about it. “First of all, I ain’t gon’ be too many more bitches! And whether or not he’s going to fuck me after we leave here is none of your business being as though I don’t see a ring on your finger!” I snapped as I pointed my finger in her direction.

She wasn’t too happy about my comment and went into a rage. I couldn’t believe how belligerent she became so fast. She leaped at me and would’ve knocked me down if Bishop hadn’t gotten between us.

“Bitch, you don’t need to be worrying about a ring. Worry about this ass kicking I am about to give you,” she said and then lunged at me again.

I ducked down and dodged the blow to my face. But when I came back up Keisha’s left hand landed on the top of my head. Literally caught off guard, I lost my balance for a second, but after I regained control of my situation, I started swinging at everything around me.

“Bitch, you really fucked up now!” I roared as I threw a couple of jabs into Keisha’s direction. Unfortunately, none of my blows hit her. Two of my punches did however land in Bishop’s back. He called himself trying to keep the confrontation to a minimum by getting between Keisha and me. I wasn’t pleased at all because Keisha got a chance to hit me in my fucking head and I wasn’t able to retaliate the way I wanted. I instantly became livid and tried to move Bishop out of my way so I could get a clean shot of really hurting Keisha.

Keisha stood on the other side of Bishop laughing at the fact that she snuck and punched me and I wasn’t about to hit her back. And to add insult to injury, she even threatened to do more harm to me. Her dumb ass girlfriends stood on the sideline and laughed at me too.

Bishop was more livid than I was. “What the fuck is wrong with you Keisha? Whatcha’ trying to get locked up? You know if the police finds you in this mall fighting they’re going to haul your silly ass out of here in handcuffs,” he spat.