Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 (The Saga Continues) (2 page)

Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

Playing Mind Games- Chapter Two

I devoured a couple slices of pizza while I watched rerun after rerun of Jamie’s old show.

Bishop took off his shoes and sat back on the bed with his back pressed against the headboard. He started off making small talk during commercial breaks between the shows but then the seriousness of the conversation picked up. And for the first time in my life I was at a lost for words. “Are you ready to help me bury that cock sucking nigga for what he did to my brother?” he asked.

Even the anger in his voice came out smooth and unpretentious. Before I answered Bishop, I looked into his eyes and saw the pain he had buried in his heart. I had no clue how close Neeko and Bishop were, but I knew that they were blood related and that was enough to avenge his brother’s death. I tried to avoid answering his question, but it didn’t work. Bishop continued to press the issue.

“I swear, I can’t wait until I get my motherfucking hands on that piece of fucking shit! I’m going to take his fucking head off and feed it to a couple of stray dogs!” he continued to bark. I knew his bite was far worse than his bark. I literally saw steam coming from his nostrils like he was a raging bull. This guy was beyond livid and so was I but I remained quiet. I figured the hurt that I had suffered at the hands of Duke would be vindicated sooner than later. And I’d be very grateful when it was all said and done.

Just being around Bishop was intense and overwhelming on a level I couldn’t describe. He was danger, trouble and destruction rolled up in a lean package. I hadn’t seen the man in action but something told me his reputation was well-deserved.

After Bishop had calmed down from his ranting, he came out of left field and asked me what kind of deal had I worked up with the police? He totally caught me off guard with the question. I didn’t know whether to be honest with him and tell him I agreed to work with the police or lie and act like I was some ride or die chick and I walked out of jail because my lawyer worked a miracle for me. Bishop came across as a no nonsense type of cat that took the law into his own hands. But then again, I could’ve read him wrong. So to test the waters, I took a death breath and told him what I thought he’d want to hear.

“I don’t fuck with the police like that. They’re the ones who locked me up,” I began to explain. “I had some court appointed attorney who actually did his homework and realized that the state didn’t have shit on me. All that bogus ass evidence they thought they had wasn’t worth shit. So the judge let me go free.”

“How long were you in jail?”

“A couple of weeks.”

“That wasn’t very long,” he commented and then he sat straight up in the bed. He looked as if he was about to stand but when he lifted his butt up from the bed and tugged on the hem of his shirt, I let out a sigh of relief. I mean, I was in this state of mind that I couldn’t trust anybody. Especially after all the shit I’ve been through. Because of motherfuckers I thought I could trust . . . and one nasty bitch I thought I could trust. But from this day forward, I was going to start looking out for Lynise since everybody seemed as if they were out for themselves.

I cleared my throat and then I said, “It may not have been long to you but it seemed like forever for me.”

Bishop smiled at me. But it wasn’t the kind of smile you’d see on a picture. It was a sneaky looking kind of smile. “Think you could do some hard time?” he asked me.

Once again this nigga came out of left field with another crazy ass question. I knew this was another test to see if I could be trusted and was I the type of woman who’d hold my own in the heat of the moment. Now I wanted to clown his ass and turn the question back on him so he could answer it. But again, I held my tongue and told him some shit he wanted to hear.

“The only way I’d do some hard time is if somebody did something to me or somebody I love and I had to kill their motherfucking ass! So, to answer your question, yes, I’d gladly sit my ass down in a cell behind protecting and defending something or someone I love.”

Bishop sat there and listened to my response but he didn’t flinch. He acted as if he wasn’t impressed by one word I said. So my mind was running around in circles trying to read his facial expression. Finally, he said, “Let’s say you and your man were in a car together and a cop pulled you over, would you take the charge if he told you that there was a gun inside the glove compartment?”

I knew the clock was ticking after Bishop asked me that dumb ass question. I wanted so badly to tell him hell nah! I wouldn’t take a charge for my own mother! So he needed to back the fuck up. But for the third and final time, I fed him a dumb ass answer and prayed that our Q and A session was over. “He wouldn’t have to ask me to take the charge for him, especially if he’s already been to jail or was out on parole or something. Better yet, I would still take the gun charge because I know how judges are more lenient with women than men.” I sat straight up on the sofa as if I was the shit because I knew I had said some good shit. I knew I fucked Bishop up with that answer. He wasn’t ready for me. But little did he know, I was lying my ass off. Shit! If he jaywalked across the fucking boulevard and the cops asked me who he was, I would give his name up in a heartbeat. He didn’t mean shit to me in no way, form, shape or fashion. And that’s the way I intended to keep it.

I assumed Bishop bought my answer because he seemed a little more relaxed now than he did when we started the conversation. If he were one of those people who could read a person’s body language and could detect if they were lying or not, he would have failed miserably. I called him a dummy underneath my breath and then I turned my attention back towards the TV. Apparently he wasn’t done speaking to me because he chimed right back, “You know I’m going to need you to bring Duke to me right?”

For a moment there it seemed like Bishop spoke a different language. I mean, I heard him quite clearly but I couldn’t quite wrap my thoughts around his question. Is he on drugs or something? Does he think I was stupid enough to let him use me as bait? Duke was a very dangerous man and he had a lot of insane men that worked for him. Does he think that I would risk my life to serve Duke on a platter to him? Okay, granted Duke railroaded me and had me arrested for some shit I had nothing to do with, which is enough to kill him over. And Duke also made the call to have Neeko killed so I kind of felt sorry for Bishop, but I realized in jail that I was there all by my lonesome. No one came to my rescue so I figured that my best bet was to stay in my own lane because at this point he couldn’t provide me a safe house like the police could. So I wasn’t about to make any deals with him. No way.

“I take it you’re not feeling what I’m saying right now,” he commented.

“It’s not that,” I began to lie. “I’m just trying to gather my thoughts. I mean, I just got out of jail for something I didn’t have a thing to do with. So, you know I’m angry as hell. But I figure if I’m going to make Duke pay for all the shit he’s taken me through, then I’m going to have to play my cards right. I can’t afford to fuck up like I did the last time.”

“Why don’t you let me do all the thinking, then we’ll both come out on top.”

“The last time I let someone else do the thinking for me, I got crossed up. I can’t let that happen again.” I stood my ground. But Bishop possessed this air of influence. He even looked convincing to the point where I wanted to believe that he’d handle my situation. But then I figured that the last time I judged a book by its cover I got railroaded. So I had to be strong-minded with the notion that it was best to keep myself guarded. This world we lived in was cold and infested with heartless people. No one gave a fuck about Lynise. Not even my family or Diamond, whom I thought was my best friend. With the way things were looking right now, I figured I could pretend as if I was down with all that rah-rah bullshit Bishop was talking, but I was going to do things my own way. It’s about Lynise now. Fuck the world and everything on it.

I allowed to Bishop to layout his plan for Duke. I could tell he wanted Duke dead but he was very careful about saying the actual words. All he kept saying was that he wanted Duke to pay for Neeko’s murder. And then he sketched out a scenario about how he’d love to catch Duke coming out of his house late at night and kidnap his ass. He didn’t say exactly what he’d do to him but when I looked in Bishop’s eyes, I could see death as clear as day. I knew then that once he got his hands on Duke, that Duke would die very slowly. The thought of it was like music to my ears.

After Bishop said what he had to say, he got up from the bed and stepped out of the hotel room. When the door closed behind him I sat there and became very suspicious. I mean, he didn’t utter a word about what he was about to do. He had just gotten up and literally walked out of the room. I had gotten paranoid for a second, but when I heard his voice, I knew he stepped out of the room to make a call. Without hesitation, I eased up from where I was sitting and tiptoed to the door so I could hear his conversation. When I reached the door I placed my right ear against it. I held my breath because in my mind I felt as if I was making a lot of noise and I didn’t want to bring any unwarranted attention to myself.

“Did you make the call like I asked you to do earlier?” I heard him say to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

“What did he say?” his questions continued. “Nah, tell him he’s gonna have to do better than that. I got a lot riding on this and I ain’t gonna let nobody fuck that up for me. So call him back and tell him I said that if he ain’t going to come correct then there’s nothing else to say.” He stopped talking and everything went silent. I could hear the frustration in his tone. He was not at all happy about whatever he was discussing. I figured if he found me standing next to the door eavesdropping on his phone call, then who knows what he would have done to me. I wasn’t about to find out how powerful his wrath was. So I eased my way back from the door and sat my nosy ass back down on the chair. Thank God for a woman’s intuition because as soon as I sat back down he grabbed a hold of the doorknob and opened the door.

He looked directly at me as he held his Blackberry pressed against his ear. The way he stared at me made me feel uneasy. I guess he sensed that I might have been eavesdropping on his conversation, but when he noticed I was sitting in the same spot he backed himself back out the door and closed it.

Right after he closed the door, I let out a long sigh. And I thanked my lucky stars that I went with my first gut to sit my ass back down. If I hadn’t, I couldn’t tell you what he would’ve said or done.

Before he reentered the room I heard him tell the caller that he wanted to hear from them by the end of the day. Then he said, “And if you ain’t got my money right by the time I get back there then you’re going to have some problems too.”

Immediately after, the door opened while he simultaneously stuffed his phone into his front pocket. I didn’t say one word to him. I pretended as if he wasn’t there and continued to look at TV. He took a seat back on the bed. I could still see him staring at me though my peripheral vision. I started to ask him if there was a problem, but I decided against it for fear he might say something I didn’t want to hear. So I damn near bit my tongue to keep me from opening my mouth. But finally he said something, so I was able to let go of the urge.

“How well do you know Katrina?” he asked.

I was thrown for a loop when he asked me that question. I mean, why would he ask me something like that? I really didn’t know Katrina at all. She hardly ever showed up at the club. She was more behind the scenes. Now we knew she was in the picture, she just wouldn’t make herself seen. So, I turned towards him and told him the truth. And after I told him how she’d only come to the club maybe once or twice a month, he gave me a weird look.

“What would she be doing when she did come around?” he questioned.

“Nothing unusual. She would take inventory of the liquor and beer, check the sales tape from my register and then she’d go back to the back office where Neeko was.”

“Have you ever seen her steal money from him?” he blurted out. I swear I had no idea he was about to throw that power ball at me. And I really didn’t expect for him to give me that sinister look either. I was starting to feel uncomfortable all over again. But I held on to my cool and pretended I could handle whatever he threw my way.

“No, I’ve never seen her take anything from him. I mean, if she did, she must’ve done it while she was in his office. But out in the opening where everybody could see her, nope, I didn’t see her lift a finger.”

Bishop looked away from me and focused his attention on the TV. I knew he wasn’t interested in the show that was airing because his body language spoke volumes. Two minutes later, he turned his attention back to me. I thought at one point he was about to say something but his mouth didn’t open. I felt uncomfortable with him sitting there looking at me and had nothing to say. So I got up the gumption to say something on my own. I had to clear the air if nothing else. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“Don’t I look okay?” he reserved the question.

I thought for a second because I heard the sarcasm reeking from his tone. I had no idea where this conversation was going but I knew it was going somewhere. If I wanted to stay on his good side then I felt it would be best to handle him with kid gloves.

“You appear to be fine. But I could be wrong,” I replied and then I hunched my shoulders. I didn’t want to come across to Bishop that I was some smartass chick with a chip on her shoulders. I knew I was in his world. And I knew I couldn’t call any shots. So I did what any woman would do in a situation like mine: I kissed his ass and got what I could get while the getting was good.

“Look Lynise, I’m gonna be straight up with you. I came here to help bury my brother, Neeko. Now I know who put the hit out on my brother, but I need to know who fired the shot that killed him and I need to find out what’s going on with Katrina.”

Surprised by his comment, I said, “I’m confused. What’s wrong with Katrina?”