A Hustler's Wife (21 page)

XOXO,

Sweetness

"That Bitch," he screamed, dialing her cell phone, but the phone starting ringing in the house. He looked on the night table and the phone was there on the charger. He flipped through every single contact in her cell phone, and he called every number on the caller ID looking for Yarni. He called Cara, but Cara hadn't heard from Yarni since the day before at "Awful Arthur's".

Suspicious of Cara, he rode pass her house to see if Yarni's truck was parked anywhere in the vicinity. Yarni nor the truck was nowhere in sight. He called Gloria, and of course she's going to say she didn't see Yarni. Later he drove pass Gloria's house at 4am to see if Yarni's truck was there. He even parked three houses down the street, walked to Gloria's house, and crept around the back to see if Yarni's T.V. was on in her old room. He knew Yarni couldn't sleep without the T.V. on, so if the T.V. was on, she would be there. There wasn't any T.V. playing, which meant no Yarni. Bengee returned home to lay in the bed awake all night long. His mind started playing tricks on him as he laid there.

He'd hear a noise as if someone could've been at the door. He jumped out of the bed; only to realize, it wasn't anything at all.

He saw a light through the bedroom window. He got up to look, wishing it wasYarni's car lights.

Eleven a.m. Sunday morning, Bengee got dressed to go to her church. If Yarni did nothing else, every single Sunday she was at church, but this Sunday. Yarni wasn't there. Maybe something happened to Yarni. Did the truck get a flat? Yarni doesn't know how to change a flat. Did she get car jacked?

Yarni coasted down the street to scope out the house, after her long journey from seeing Des. She didn't see Bengee's car anywhere in sight. There was no need in calling him. She knew he would be bothered that she didn't come home the night before, especially since it was now 11:15 pm the next night.

That's exactly what she wanted. Now he's got a taste of his own medicine.

She was a little frightened when she approached the house.

She kept in mind that Bengee was on the psycho side. He had never pulled any crazy stunts with her, but she heard rumors of him being abusive in his other relationships. He'd even admitted some of it to her. He'd promised her that he'd never put his hands on her. So far, he had kept his word. She never gave him a reason to fly off the handle at her. She was the perfect girlfriend. At the same time, just because she was obedient and very submissive to him did not mean that she was weak. The walk up the sidewalk was a very long one. Yarni's heart was beating three times its normal rate. She was prepared for whatever was about to happen. She had already drawn the conclusion that things were about to hit the fan. Men always try to reverse the charges and put everything on the woman when they are the ones who are wrong. This is exactly what she was expecting from Bengee.

She started laughing as the thought, he may fight, he may fuss, but nothing he can say or do, can take away how he felt laying in that bed lonely by himself worried about me!

Yarni entered the house. The kitchen light was the only light on. She walked through the living room. She could tell that Bengee had a tantrum. One of her lamps was broken along with a couple of her crystal figurines. She proceeded down the hall and noticed a clothes hanger on the floor. She took three more steps. There was another clothes hanger. She walked in the bedroom. The bed was unmade. There were hangers and some empty shoeboxes all over the bed and the floor near the closet.

She looked in the closet. All Bengee's clothes were gone.

She laughed to herself and came to the conclusion that if he took his things, that was something he wanted to do anyway.

Rest assured. It's Not over yet. It's too easy. She smirked knowingly as she shook her head in amusement. They had too much invested. Bengee could be unpredictable, but one thing she knew, he'd be calling. Maybe not tonight, oh, but trust and believe, Bengee is going to call. He's going to want an explanation about where I've been. Yarni unpacked her bag took a shower and pulled out a book, and began to read.

At 2am, the phone rang. She looked on the caller ID and it was an unavailable number. She answered. The caller hung up.

Thirty minutes later, the phone rang again. She saw Bengee's number on the caller ID. I knew he'd be calling. I know him like a book. She thought as she picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Yarni said.

"Oh, you'd finally remembered where you lived, huh?" Bengee said in a sarcastic tone.

"You moved out, so why do you care when I come home?"

"Yeah, I might've moved out, but the last time I checked, you had a routine, out by 9 in by 5, playing housewife and shit, so where were you? You got lost, took a wrong turn or what?

"What is this the third degree? You wanna play 20 questions?

I didn't bother to question you about the other night, did I?"

"On the real, you can't question me, I'm the man. I'm the one who makes all this possible. I pay the mortgage and every other bill and tab you run up."

"Yeah, you right. But keep this in mind, what's good for the goose is good for the gander."

"Yarni, we're not going to get into a heated debate because there is just no win with you. The bottom line is, I was worried about you. I didn't know if you were dead or alive."

"It ain't so nice when the tables are turned. Reminds me of that old saying it ain't fun when the rabbit got the gun," Yarni said.

"You always got something slick to say out of your mouth.

Look baby, I'm on my way home." As upset as he was and determined to leave Yarni, he just couldn't.

"Home? Look, Bengee this house isn't a revolving door.

Either you're here permanent or you can stay wherever the hell you are at."

Bengee returned home and Yarni never had another problem with him pulling an all nighter.

LOVE IS BLIND

After the all nighter episode with Bengee, Yarni knew that he
could not be trusted.
Yarni ran to Ukrop's in Bengee's car, when she opened the trunk to put her bags in it, "Oh my God!" she got the shock of her life. She stood in the parking lot in astonishment as she stood there looking at the explicit photos that she saw scattered across the trunk of the car. She guessed they were taken while she was locked up. Some of the explicit photos were of stripper broads, and some were of Darchelle.

Darchelle was planning a shock of her own. She called Yarni at the beauty parlor and told her that she was pregnant with Bengee's baby, although she really wasn't. Plus, she played the dirty drawers trick. She went and purchased a duplicate pair of Bengee's boxers, washed them to make them look worn. And when she saw Yarni's truck parked in the mall, she hung the boxers on her side view mirror with a note, "are these your man's boxers?"

Yarni would not be outdone. No, No, No, I won't get mad, I'll just get even. She pulled out her address book, and addressed a bunch of envelopes to all the guys she knew that was in jail.

She made copies of the photos she found in Bengee's trunk, extra copies of the one of Darchelle with her legs wide open, and mailed them off. She sent the extras along with a chain letter so they could pass it on to their homeboys locked up with them.

Yarni also acquired Bengee's code to his cell phone voice mail. It was easy for Yarni to figure out the code. Men would like to think they are so smart, but they really don't apply themselves. Men codes are usually their kid's birthdays, their address, mother's address, last four digits of their social security, 6969, 1234, 9999, or something to that effect. She'd listen to his messages secretly. Never would she speak on anything she heard, nor would she erase any of the messages. She'd leave them new and would only use the information to her advantage, like if a female left a message about a time they were supposed to meet.

Yarni would simply have something planned for Bengee and herself to do around that same time.

When Yarni arrived home from her friend Cara's baby shower, Bengee was lying across the bed with a nonchalant look on his face. Immediately, she knew that there was something wrong. She drew the conclusion that Bengee was a little frustrated because the past week, she'd been taking so much time planning the shower, that she hadn't spent much quality time with him. She jumped on the bed and gave him a seductive kiss. He kissed her back, but she could tell by his body language that something was wrong.

"What's wrong, baby?" Yarni asked, in a whiney tone.

"I need to tell you something, but I just can't." She could see the hurtful expression on his face, and was trying to read the look. It was a look she'd never seen before.

"Baby, all the things we've been through, it's nothing that you can't share with me. You know that." She was as comforting as she knew how to be. What could it be? Bengee just shook his head, as his eyes got tearful.

"Oooohhhh, baby, it's going to be all right. I can't help you if you don't let me know what's bothering you," Yarni said putting her arm around Bengee to console him. "Is it someone else?

Did you get somebody pregnant? Is it something I did? Do you want me to move out? Did somebody pass away and die? Do you want to break up?"

Bengee shook his head in disgust, "No Yarni, I love you so much. Everyday I'm around you I realize just how lucky I am to have you in my corner. I never want to live life without you."

"Then, what is it?" She was anxious to know just what had him so distraught. He kept hesitating to tell her and he wouldn't speak a word. There was a lump in this throat and now he was sweating. Tears started rolling down Yarni's face as she sat on the edge of the bed beside Bengee. She had her arms around him, hugging him tight to show him security. Bengee had never been so afraid in his life. What was he to do?

Bengee took a deep breath, and pulled himself together. The look she saw on his face was enough to confirm that Bengee was carrying something heavy around.

He couldn't look Yarni in the eyes as he told her. "I can't tell you." He continued slowly. "If I tell you, you are going to leave me!"

"No, I am not. I am not going anywhere," she assured him.

"But stop the act and tell me right now!" He gazed into Yarni's eyes then looked a way, in shame.

"Yarni, I fucked up," dropping his head rubbing his temples.

"I let this girl suck my dick and I got gonorrhea."

"What? You got what?" Yarni yelled. "Oooh, hell nah!!!!

Oooh, hell No!!" She picked up her shoe and clucked him upside the head. She started picking up anything in sight to fight him, but Bengee wasn't fighting back. He tried to restrain her, grabbed her and took her into his arms.

Yarni burst out in tears, screamed, and struggled to get away.

She couldn't stand the touch of him. He only held her tighter and wouldn't let her go. "Let me go! You dirty dick motherfucker." She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"No, I won't let you go," he tried to comfort her.

"Get off of me, I can't stand you touching me. You touching me makes me feel so filthy."

"Yarni, I love you so much. Can't we work through this?"

"Hell No!!" She pushed him away. "You, you love me? Stop Lying!"

"Yarni, I do love you!"

"How could you possibly love me when you broke your promise to me? You fucked somebody else, and told me a lie that it was some chic sucking your dick. You don't even have enough respect for this relationship or even love yourself enough to wear a damn rubber. You could have given me my death warrant. Is this what you do to the people you love?"

"Baby, I apologize," he said in a soft apologetic tone. Yarni never said anything. "Baby, I promise. I'll never do anything like this again. I swear on everything I love." Yarni finally got herself together. She wanted to get as far away from him as possible. Bengee went into the kitchen to get her a cold bottle of water. Then he went to the front door as well as the back door. He removed both of the keys from the dead bolt locks and hid them in the living room. Bengee was fully aware that if Yarni left the house that night, his chances to keep her would be about as good as a snowball in hell. By the time he returned, she was dressed and looking for her keys. He'd hid her car keys as well as the spare set.

"Where are my keys?" She growled through her pain.

"I don't know where they are," Bengee responded in an unconcerned tone.

"Bengee, give me my keys." She stood there holding her hands out.

"I don't have your keys. I wasn't driving your truck. As a matter of fact, didn't you use your keys to open the door?" Bengee said as he sat on the couch with his arms extended out on the top of the sofa. He knew she couldn't go anywhere.

"Bengee, unlock the door so I can leave." He blocked her out as if he didn't hear her. She stood there with her arms folded. "Bengee, I am not playing. Give me my damn keys." She raised her voice, as frustration sat in, but he still didn't respond.

"Why can't you just let me leave? I don't want to be around you.

If somebody didn't want to be bothered with me, I wouldn't want that person anywhere near me. Why can't you just let me go?"

"Because this is where you live and no respectable woman would be out in the streets this time of night." Bengee expressed this in a relaxed, calm voice.