Wifey (21 page)

By the time we made it to the Benz dealership, I was not in nobody’s mood to get out and see nothing. I sat in the car and waited for Ricky to do what he came there to do. The guy Ricky normally dealt with was this Arab cat named Nick, which was short for Nickolas.

Nick wasn’t around, so Ricky had to settle for this fat, white dude named Paul. Now, Paul wasn’t your average, savvy–looking, white-collar cat. He put you in the mind of an insurance salesman. I could tell by Ricky’s body language that this guy wasn’t giving him the prices he was looking for. “When is Nick coming in?” I heard Ricky ask the guy.

“I’m not sure,” Paul told Ricky.

“A’ight,” Ricky replied and threw his hand up in the air. “Well, can you tell him that I need him to call me?”

Paul nodded his head and said, “Yeah, I can do that.”

“A’ight.” Ricky walked back to the car. “Yo, that fat dude is crazy!” he commented as if he was frustrated.

I didn’t respond. I wasn’t in the mood to say anything. So, I just listened to him.

“That cracker trying to peck my head!” Ricky said. “Talking about, he can’t let that red convertible SL 500 go for nothing less than 85 Gs.”

“What year is it?” I was curious enough to ask.

“It’s a 2004 model.”

“How much they want for it?”

“The ticket on the window say $91 Gs. But I know if I talk to Nick, he’ll be able to take off at least ten or fifteen grand.”

“So, what you gon’ do wit’ this car?”

“I’mma keep it.”

“But, I thought you didn’t like two-door cars.”

“I don’t.”

“So, why you trying to get it?”

“Because, I’mma give it to you.”

Wait! Hold up! Did this no-good-ass nigga just tell me he was trying to get that joint for me? Yeah, he done did something wrong. They said you can tell when your man done did something wrong because gifts would start coming from out of nowhere.

Yeah, he probably got somebody else pregnant with his nasty ass! I wouldn’t find out about that until the baby was born. So, yeah, he could go right ahead and cop that joint for me because sooner or later, the truth was gonna come out. And when it did, I wasn’t even gonna worry about it because I was gonna be in the wind. And I wasn’t gonna look back.

“Oh, so you ain’t got nothing to say?” Ricky said, trying to get me to comment.

“What you want me to say?” I threw the question right back at him.

“Well, damn! I mean, you can at least say thanks!”

“For what?” I said, sarcastically. “You ain’t bought it yet!”

“But I am.”

“Okay! Well, I’ll say thanks when you give me the keys,” I replied and sucked my teeth in a sassy type of way.

“You are a trip! You know that?” Ricky commented as he shook his head. “I done created a monster!”

Yep! He sure did! He just didn’t know he done created a whole lot of other shit, too. But, he was gonna find out soon enough. Sitting over in the passenger seat like he the man, wearing a hundred-thousand–dollar, iced-out Chopard wrist watch with the ring to match.

“Come on. Let’s go and get something to eat.” He picked up a CD and stuck it in the CD player.

I drove out of the parking lot of the dealership and jumped back on the highway, taking the Downtown Norfolk exit. We got to Alice Mae’s in about fifteen minutes. The guy for the valet parking was standing at the curb ready to park our car when we pulled up. I gave him the keys when we got out of the car. Ricky reached in his pants pocket and gave him a twenty-dollar bill.

There was a band playing jazz when we walked through the door. It sounded good as hell, too. Ricky must’ve liked them too, because he kept nodding his head.

“What will you be drinking this evening?” our waitress asked us.

Ricky ordered a shot of Rèmy Martin. I ordered a peach daiquiri with whipped cream and a strawberry on top.

“Let me know when you two are ready to order,” our waitress told us.

“Oh, we’re ready,” Ricky assured her.

“Yeah. We’re gonna eat from the buffet,” I told her.

“Okay. Then help yourself,” she replied.

“Okay, thanks.” Ricky and I got up from our chairs.

The food on the buffet looked so good. I picked up two pieces of fried chicken, a spoonful of macaroni and cheese, some cabbage and candied yams. Ricky got a plateful of beef spareribs, some cabbage and a little bit of the macaroni and cheese. When we got back to our table; hot buttery rolls were sitting in a bowl, waiting for us to tear them apart.

Now while we was eating, I caught our waitress staring at Ricky from across the other side of the restaurant. She was all in his face. His jewelry probably had her star struck. But, I was gonna nip that in the bud! When she brought her ass back over here, I was gonna blind her with the rock on my finger. Then I was gonna let her know that I was
wifey!

I wasn’t gonna flip out on her, though. I was gonna be just as nice and nasty as I could. I couldn’t let her see my ghetto side. But most of all, I had to let her know that I was the bigger woman and I was not insecure by a long shot. Those days were long gone. I was truly numb when it came to Ricky screwing around.

“Would you like to have another peach daiquiri?” she asked me.

“Yes. Please,” I replied, using my left hand to give her my used cocktail glass. And just like I knew she would, she got hypnotized when she saw my jewels.

“Your ring is nice,” she complimented me.

I threw on my fake smile and said, “Thank you. I just hope it gets bigger on our tenth-year anniversary.”

“Ya’ll married?” she asked, like she was surprised.

“Yep. It’s going on eight years now,” I continued as I poured more and more salt on her phony ass.

“Dag. That’s a long time. I mean, I ain’t never been wit’ nobody that long. How do ya’ll do it?”

“Trust me it ain’t been that easy,” I commented as I looked Ricky dead in his face.

The waitress must’ve caught the hint, so she said, “Well, whatever ya’ll been doing, it’s been working.”

“Thank you.” I put another forkful of my macaroni and cheese in my mouth.

“Well, I’mma let ya’ll get back to your food. But, just let me know if you need something.”

“Okay.” I kept on eating.

When she walked away from out table, I made sure I kept my eyes on Ricky because sometimes his eyes tend to get away from him. “You know you wanna look at her ass!” I said.

“What you talking ‘bout?” He sounded surprised.

“Don’t play games wit’ me! I saw you staring at her ass when she walked away from us the first time. But, I ain’t say nothing.”

“You seeing things, ‘cause I ain’t do shit!”

“Whatever! Because I know I ain’t seeing things!”

“Look, Kira, can we just go somewhere without all the drama? I’m trying to enjoy myself and you sitting over there looking for shit to fuss about!”

“You sho’ know how to shift the blame don’t you!” I responded sarcastically.

“Look! Can you just please let me eat in peace?”

I didn’t reply to Ricky’s plea to eat in peace. I just rolled my eyes and continued on eating myself. He did have a point. And by him making it seem like I was the one starting up an argument, it kinda worked. So, I just sat there with a stupid expression and tried not to let it seem like what he said bothered me.

What really helped me out was that my cell phone started ringing. That kind of cut real deep into the tension at our table, which was what we needed. I looked down at my Caller ID and saw it was my stylist, Rhonda, trying to get through.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hey girl!” Rhonda said to me.

“Hey! What’s up?”

“Guess who I saw a few minutes ago?”

“Who?”

“Tabitha.”

“Where you see her at?”

“She was at the beauty supply store. And you will not believe what she told me.”

“What she say?”

“Is Ricky near you?” Rhonda wanted to know.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Well, I’mma have to get wit’ you when he ain’t around you.”

“Why?”

“Because, when I tell you what Tab told me, you gon’ go the hell off.”

“No, I’m not.” I tried to convince Rhonda to tell me what was going on.

“You at home?”

“Nah. I’m at Alice Mae’s.”

“Well, can you call me back?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because, I’m talking to you now.”

“Look, Kira, what I’m about to tell you is going to be really ugly. And since Ricky is sitting right next to you, you might haul off and smack the shit outta him.”

“Okay. Hold that thought!” I looked over at Ricky and said to him, “I’ll be right back, ‘cause I can’t hear from the music.”

I walked completely out of the restaurant so I could get every drop of information Rhonda was trying to tell me. I didn’t wander off too far because where I was standing was the perfect spot for me to see all movement around our table.

“Go head and tell me. I’m outside the restaurant now,” I told Rhonda.

Rhonda took a deep breath and then she said, “Look, you gotta promise me that you won’t tell Ricky you got this information from me.”

“Okay. I promise.”

“Well, Tab told me she heard Sunshine talking to Ricky on the shop phone yesterday.”

“She was talking to my Ricky?”

“Yeah. And, she said she heard Sunshine telling him how much fun she had wit’ him in Myrtle Beach two weeks ago.”

“Wait! Hold up! Slow down!” I instructed Rhonda, because my heart started racing real fast. But my mind wasn’t registering everything I just heard.

“Are you alright?” Rhonda wanted to know.

Before I answered her, I looked through the window of the restaurant to see what Ricky was doing. I watched him stare at every chick’s ass that walked by him while he was eating; my stomach began to turn.

“Kira!” Rhonda said.

“Yeah,” I finally said.

“What you doing?”

“I’m just standing here looking at that piece of shit-ass husband of mine. And trying to think of what I’m gon’ say to him when I walk back in this restaurant.”

“Wait! Don’t say nothing!”

“Come on, now. You know I ain’t gon’ be able to be quiet about this! I mean, how low can you go? It’s bad enough that he done screwed every hoe in the Tidewater area. But, to sneak around and go behind my back and fuck a trick I work wit’ everyday is real grimy.”

“Well, if you think that’s grimy, Tab also told me that Sunshine is over at her shop bragging to everybody about all the jewelry and clothes Ricky bought her. And that he peeled off twenty grand for that shop she got and all the accessories in it.”

“You sure she talking about my Ricky?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Because, she said she seen him come by the shop this’ past Saturday. She said Sunshine got in his car and left wit’ him and then he dropped her back off about two hours later.”

“So, Sunshine is fucking my husband! And laughing about it behind my back, huh?”

“That’s what it sounds like.”

“Well, I’mma have the last laugh!”

“So, what you gon’ do?”

“I don’t know. But right now, I feel like putting a gun up to both of their heads and emptying out the whole magazine on their asses!”

“Well, it’s natural to feel like that. But, please don’t do it. Ain’t neither one of them worth you spending the rest of your life in jail.”

“I know. But when will it stop? I mean, I’ve been going through shit wit’ Ricky for almost eight years now. And he says he gon’ change, but he never does.”

Rhonda sucked her teeth and said, “Girl, they all say that, sounding like broken records. That’s why you gon’ have to handle this another way.”

“Like how?”

“I don’t know. But, we’ll come up wit’ something. So, try not to let Ricky know his cover is blown until after you set his ass on blaze!”

“Now that’s gon’ be real hard.”

“I know it is but try. So, before you got back in the restaurant, take a deep breath and count to ten.”

“Yeah, like that’s gon’ work.”

“Just try it,” Rhonda instructed me. “And I’ll call you later on this evening after I get wit’ Tab.”

“A’ight,” I said and then we both hung up.

Before I walked back into the restaurant I did exactly what Rhonda told me to do. But it seemed like the closer I got to Ricky, everything Rhonda advised me to do was slowly going right back out of the window. That’s when I got struck by a reality check. It was revealed to me that all the pain and agony Ricky done took me through was slowly riding on him. And since I was seeking a plan of revenge, all the information I done gave to the Feds was gonna take care of everything.

That’s when I was able to put a smile on my face. Figuring out what I was gonna do to Sunshine, though, was another story.

“What you smiling for?” Ricky asked me the minute I got back to the table.

“Because of a joke I just heard,” I replied, as I continued to smile.

“Who was that you were talking to?”

“One of my clients,” I lied.

“Well, can you hurry up and eat? Because, I’m gon’ need to make a quick run.”

“To where?”

“The barbershop. I told Brian to meet me there.”

“What time did you tell ’em you was gon’ be there?”

“In about thirty minutes.”

I sat down at the table to finish eating what I had started before I got my phone call from Rhonda. It was not as warm as I wanted it to be, but it was okay. And once I was down to the last little bite on my plate, Ricky asked our waitress for the check.

“Keep the change,” he told the waitress after he handed her two twenty-dollar bills.

“Thanks!” she replied, as giddily as she knew how.

“Wit’ a tip like that, she might slide you her phone number before we leave,” I commented after the waitress walked off.

“Please, Kira, don’t start it up again!” Ricky begged me. And I didn’t. Because I had another plan for his no good ass.

***

Brian hopped in the back seat of Ricky’s car the second we pulled up. He looked like he had something really important to tell Ricky. And since I was sitting there, I was about to hear what he had to say.

“What’s up, peoples,” Brian said to me and Ricky as he sat down in the seat.

“Hey,” I spoke to him without even looking in his direction and the way I said it was quick and very short. Brian could sense that he was on my shit list, because of the way he carried my cousin. So, instead of pressing the issue with me, he turned to Ricky and said, “Yo, I know who ran up in your spot and robbed Mike and Remo.”