Cheaper to Keep Her Part 3 Read Online Free Page B

was very gentle. He was somewhat different than the other assholes I had dealt with. He could be cool and gentle at times.
    Lying in the fetal position, I turned and faced him while my head lay in a comfortable spot on the pillow. I didn’t utter one word. I did however give him my undivided attention.
    He cleared his throat and said, “Baby girl, my life here in New Jersey is very complicated. I’ve got a lot of shit going on and it’s important that I have the right people around me that I can trust.”
    “First of all,” I began saying.
    “Can you let me finish saying what I have to say?” Bishop cut me off in mid-sentence.
    “Sorry. I thought you were done,” I replied nonchalantly.
    “Well, I wasn’t,” he replied. “Like I was saying,” he continued, “I’ve got several business ventures that are very important to me, so they require my full attention. I can’t afford to have any slip-ups. So everyone around me has to go through certain tests or be eliminated.”
    Hearing Bishop tell me I had no other choice in the matter or be eliminated was definitely a hard pill to swallow. At that moment, I realized I had just bit off more than I could chew. Bishop was on some mafia type shit and I’d better get down with the program or keep it moving. One part of me wanted to ride or die with him, but the other part of me wanted to tell him to go to hell since I knew he had another bitch he took care of. But hell, I had nowhere to go, so I figured I would just sit still until a better opportunity presented itself.
    After he fed me more reasons why he felt the need to have those niggas rough me up, he kissed me on the forehead and told me he was sorry. And finally after hearing something that made total sense, I felt good inside. Besides the fact that he apologized, and the way he said it, sealed the deal. He looked sincere and that’s all I needed.
    Once the air was clear between us, he instructed me to stay in bed and get some rest while he went into the living room to make a few phone calls. “I’m right in the next room if you need anything,” he told me.
    “Okay,” I replied and then I watched him leave the room and close the door behind himself.
    While I lay there trying to get some rest and hoping my headache would go away, I heard Bishop in the living room making small talk over the phone. It became obvious he was making business arrangements after I heard him give the caller instructions to have his money the following day. Bishop hadn’t mentioned how much the person owed him but his voice was stern, so it was understood that he was serious.
    Immediately after he ended that call, he was making another one. This time his tone was different. He was in a better mood than before. In fact, it sounded like he was pleading for someone’s mercy. Twenty seconds more into the conversation; I realized he was talking to Keisha. “Baby, why we gotta go through this?” I heard him say.
    My whole mood turned for the worse. After being knocked around by Bishop’s henchmen I was really not up for hearing him speak in that fashion. He was literally begging this bitch to cooperate with him and get with the program. In her heart I was sure she knew he was still with me.
    “Whatcha’ mean why it’s so quiet?” he questioned her. Then he said, “Look, I am not going to sit here and let you grill me like this. I am at my boy’s crib trying to handle some business that may keep me out part of the night, so don’t wait up for me.”
    After he lied to her about his whereabouts he told her he loved her and then he told her goodnight. He was cool about the way he handled that situation . . . but I wasn’t. I felt stupid to say the least. I mean this guy really had his Mack game in full force.
    And the more I pondered on it, the more it made me think about how Duke played me. In the last days of my relationship with Duke I felt robbed of my love and betrayed of my trust. If I didn’t learn anything from that