Cheaper to Keep Her (part 1) (7 page)

“
I’ll be damned,” I mumbled. J-Rock was fucking selling drugs to that ugly dude who was probably an undercover narc and the reason for the raid. Neeko was pissed, I could tell. It took a while but they eventually hauled J-Rock out of the restroom in handcuffs. He held his head down in shame. Then some of the narcotics cops came over to where we were all laying and they grabbed up a dude from the floor.

“
Where’s the fucking gun?” one of the cops yelled at the dude. The dude just lifted his shirt and right there in his waistband was a pistol. He was arrested too. They got Neeko up off the floor and led him into the back to his office. I guess they wanted to question him about the goings on in his club. I was sick of being down on that fucking dirty floor at gunpoint but finally the cops that had been talking to Neeko came back out.

“
Everybody needs to stay down on the floor until we are all out the door,” one of the cops yelled to us. People started sucking their teeth and groaning, but everybody listened. Nobody was trying to get shot. The cops started to file out. They were walking backwards towards the doors with their guns still out. There was no way they were going to take their eyes off any of us. When the last narco was out the door, we all started to get up off the floor. I brushed off my clothes and listened to all the customers and working girls start speculating about who was the snitch that had caused the raid. I heard one of the customers say, “it must’ve been that nigga that went in the bathroom with J-Rock.”

Another man agreed saying that nobody had ever seen him in the club before. Some of the club’s regulars started complaining to Neeko and telling him that he needed to be more selective about who he let up in the club.

All the fucking chaos and now the talking, plus Duke not calling and Diamond being mad at me had me stressed the fuck out. I walked my ass back to the bar shaking my head. With my hands still shaking, I picked up a shot glass and a bottle of premium Patron. I poured myself a shot, picked up a slice of lemon and took that fucking shot to the head. I hurried up and sucked on the lemon to counteract the strong tequila. It burned going down, but I needed it right now. Neeko was trying to get people to stay in the club and spend money but muthfuckas was trying to get far the hell away from the Magic City right now. I couldn’t blame them.

Pretty soon the club was almost completely empty. Even the strippers started taking the rest of the night off. The DJ started packing up his shit too. In the time the police had shut the club down, mad people had gotten turned away, which meant I wasn’t going to make any money anyway.

I looked around and decided I was going to head out with everybody else. Shit, wasn’t any use in wasting my damn time there. Another night of bullshit at the Magic City. Once again some shit had jumped off and I didn’t make much money in tips. I was pissed the fuck off. Coming to the club night in and night out was getting less and less worth it. I was tired of the bullshit—at the club, with Diamond and with my fucking life.

“
I ain’t gon’ be able to take much more of this shit around here at this club. I don’t know if they ever gon’ see my ass again,” I said out loud as I snatched my purse and stomped towards the door.

Cheaper to Keep Her Unique

Chapter 7—Ain’t No Nigga Like the One I Got

After all the drama in the club I just wanted to get as far away as possible.

When I got outside and headed to my car I heard a horn tooting behind me. At first I ignored it but then I heard gravel crunching as the car pulled up aside me. “Hey, Beautiful, why you leaving work so early?” a familiar voice called out.

It was Duke! My heart immediately started pumping fast. I was kind of shocked to see him there since I thought he had written me off. I quickly put that shock aside and showed Duke that I was more than happy to see him.

“
There was major drama up in there tonight. I just can’t do it no more. I don’t know what I’m gonna do about a job, but I can’t take the bullshit that be going on up in there,” I said sadly.

“
Come with me and let me take your mind off this shit here,” Duke suggested.

“
How? What? But I have my car here,” I stammered. I was caught off guard by his offer to take me away from the club.

“
Beautiful, in a few you ain’t gon’ need that hoopty,” he replied. “You damn sure ain’t gonna need no fucking bartending job. Especially if you keep looking as good as you do. Now get ya ass in here and ride,” Duke said laughing afterwards.

I busted out laughing and blushed at the same time. Duke was so charming. I gladly slid my ass in his car and when I was all the way in the seat I exhaled.

“
So tell me all about what happened up in there tonight,” Duke said as he peeled out of the Magic City’s parking lot. I started telling Duke about the raid and everything that happened. I even had enough time to get into what had happened between me and Diamond. He told me that good friendships were hard to find and that I shouldn’t let a man come between me and my best friend. He was right about that. I promised to call her and make up with her as soon as I had a free minute.

I was so into the conversation with Duke that I wasn’t watching where we were driving to. I was so happy he had surprisingly pick me up. I started thinking this man really must like me a lot. I got kind of angry when I started thinking about Diamond telling me to make him wait longer. I now realized from her statement during our argument that she was just jealous that Duke, a man of substance, wanted me and not her. I had made it up in my mind that the next time he went for the ass, I would give it to him. Fuck what Diamond was talking about! I screamed inside my head.

My jaw almost dropped when Duke pulled up to the exclusive Cosmopolitan building in the heart of Virginia Beach. “What’s here?” I asked, looking up at the building.

Duke smiled. “I live here too. I told you I have a few places to live here and there,” Duke said, pulling his car into his reserved spot. He got out and I waited. Sure enough, he opened my door and helped me out of his car. We went into the beautiful condominium building. It was such a nice, clean, upscale building. Not like my ghetto-ass apartment complex. When we got on the elevator, Duke pressed five and then turned his attention to me.

“
C’mere, Beautiful. I missed not speaking to you for all that time. We can’t be doing shit like that again . . . I don’t want you to stay away from me ever,” he said sexily.

He placed his hand under my chin and pushed it upwards towards his face. I lifted my face to his in response. He looked into my eyes and I closed them. Duke then bent down and placed his lips on top of mine. I opened my mouth slightly, accepting his tongue. It tasted so sweet like cinnamon Altoids. We moved our tongues in and out of each other’s mouths rapidly. Our breathing became labored and I could tell we were both growing hot in our pants. We kissed passionately until the elevator door dinged and opened on Duke’s floor. He pulled away from me and urged me out of the door.

“
Damn girl, you make a nigga wanna get married. Your ass is fine as hell and you can kiss,” Duke said almost breathlessly. His sweet words sent a funny feeling down my spine. I had never had a man even mention marriage and my name in the same sentence. Niggas in the ’hood that I was used to messing with weren’t trying to hear shit about marriage. Duke just didn’t know how much I was feeling him too.

He led me down the end of the hallway to his condo. Prior to putting the key in the door he pushed me up against it and started kissing me again. I was loving every minute of it. I wrapped my arms around his neck and caressed the back of his head while I feverishly returned his kiss. His skin was smooth and buttery. He smelled good and his body was strong, like a real man should be.

He rubbed his hands over my chest and when he felt my nipples were rock hard he squeezed them slightly. That shit made me gasp. Now I could tell my pussy was soaking wet. Everything about Duke was intoxicating. I couldn’t think straight. “Let’s go inside,” I said, moving away from his kiss.

Duke smiled at me seductively. “A’ight, baby, but I don’t know what a nigga will do to you once we get inside. You got me on swell,” he said. Then he put the key in the door and we stumbled inside. He stopped for a minute and punched some numbers into a keypad. I guess it was the alarm. Duke didn’t waste any time turning his attention back to me. He held my hand and led me to the same type of expensive leather sectional that he had in his other house. I was yet impressed me with yet another of his homes.

The condo was decorated in an art deco style with all the furniture having that ultra modern look. However, one thing struck me as strange. Looking around the condo, I didn’t notice any photographs or signs that the house was his. Even stranger, I noticed the same thing at his other house. Just expensive artwork on the walls and every type of high priced electronics you could imagine. I started wondering why none of Duke’s homes were personalized with little signs of him. No shoes lying around, no pictures, nothing that said he lived at either location. I looked at his fine ass and quickly put my paranoid thoughts out of my mind. I wasn’t trying to drive myself crazy thinking negative thoughts about Duke. I decided to go with the flow when it came to him.

“
Wait right here. I’m gonna get us something to drink to cool us down,” Duke said jokingly. His ass knew he was the one who really needed cooling down. I could still see his rock hard dick through his pants when he stood up. I just nodded. I don’t know who had told him I wanted to be cooled down. I wanted to tell him fuck the drink, come back and get this, but I played it cool.

When Duke disappeared to get the drinks I looked down at the magazines on the coffee table and flipped through a few of them. I quickly scanned GQ and Essence before I noticed copies of Woman’s Health and Vogue magazines. My face crinkled at that the sight of the women magazines. Why would a single man have copies of girly magazines?
Girly magazines that weren’t porn. Duke surely didn’t look like the type to read that kind of material. I heard Duke’s footsteps so I hurriedly put the women’s magazines back under the pile. That shit was bothering me, but I wouldn’t have dared questioned him. I was nowhere near that status with him yet, but I surely did make a mental note to myself.

“
Here you go, Beautiful,” Duke said, handing me a beautiful crystal glass with a pink drink in it.

Being the drink connoisseur that I am, I sniffed the drink and said, “This is Nuvo, huh?”

Duke laughed at me. “Damn you’re good,” he said.

“
I love Nuvo. Thank you,” I replied, lifting the glass to my lips and taking a sip. Duke slid down on the couch next to me. He took a swig of his drink as well. “You have really beautiful homes, Duke,” I complimented.

“
I try. I’m really into real estate. I came up in the ’hood in Virginia Beach, barely having a place to live, knocking from pillar to post so I wanted to buy as much good property as possible, feel me?” Duke explained.

It was the first time he ever revealed anything about himself to me. “Yeah, I can relate. I didn’t have an easy childhood myself,” I reported.

I had to take another sip of my drink just thinking about some of the shit I had endured as a child. My mother was a mean bitch and she never gave me shit. When I turned fifteen she told me I had to go because she had a new man and she thought he would be more attracted to me than to her. I had been on my own since then, knocking from place to place.

“
Hey, the past is the past. To new beginnings,” Duke said, lifting his glass and tapping against mine in a toast. He got me to stop thinking about my bitch of a mother.

“
Yup, to brand new beginnings,” I whispered seductively.

I think that was enough for Duke. He downed his drink and so did I. Then we turned our attention to each other. Duke came close to me and placed his hand behind my head. I closed my eyes as he ran his fingers through my naturally long hair. No weaves or wigs for me. I think that was something he liked the most about me. He had told me on our first date that he always preferred natural women.

“
You are so fine,” he said as he drew his hand from my hair. I opened my mouth to reply but Duke quickly stuck his tongue inside of it. We kissed like two animals in heat again. He finally moved his lips off of mine and began licking down my neck. Oh God! I couldn’t take that shit. My neck was one of my weak spots. I started squirming as the hot feeling in my loins caused me to wanna just grind my hips.

Duke pressed against me and I could feel his rock hard dick against my pelvis. I began grinding my hips upward towards his dick trying to press my clit on his rock hard shit. I wanted him to know that I wanted to feel him inside of me real bad. Duke lifted my shirt and with one touch he had the front clasp on my bra loosened. He had skills. My size C cup breasts jumped loose and Duke put his mouth on my nipples. “Ohhh,” I sang out. The heat from his mouth was sending me over the top. He sucked on my nipples so hard he caused me to grind harder and faster. It felt so good I had to move my head side-to-side. Each time I moved, Duke sucked harder and harder. I couldn’t control myself.