Wifey (10 page)

***

By the time I reached the jail to visit Nikki, I only had fifteen minutes left to sign in. I wasted no time by flashing to the deputy my ID and telling him who I was there to see.

Nikki was escorted down about five minutes later. I couldn’t believe it but when I laid eyes on her, she smiled at me. I rushed up to the glass partition and picked up the phone. “What’s up, girl?” I said smiling.

“Hey.”

“You look like you picking up some weight.”

“Trust me, I haven’t.”

“Your hair is cute. Who braided it?”

“This girl in here named, Shelly.”

“Is she gay?”

“I think so.”

“Well, then, you better watch out,” I advised Nikki as I smiled at her. “Because she’s probably got plans to turn your ass out!”

“She can give me some head if she wants to. But trust me, I won’t be doing her.”

“Well, you better be careful then. ‘Cause I heard a lot of chicks on lock throw their guns like niggaz!”

“Well, I guess I’m gonna have to keep that in mind, just in case she tries to come at me.”

“I think that’ll be a good idea.” I began to giggle and then I said, “Did you get to talk to Mr. Shapiro today?”

“Yeah.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing but that the U.S. Marshals gon’ be transferring me outta this jail real soon.”

“Where he’d say they gon’ take you?”

“He doesn’t know. But he said it could be anywhere between Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, since all three of their city jails got government contracts to house federal prisoners.”

“Did he say anything else about your case?”

“Nothing but that I needed to consider talking to the U.S. Attorney about what I know.”

“And what did you say?”

“I told him I would let him know.”

“And why would you tell him that?”

“Because, I’m not sure what I want to do. That’s why.”

“Well, I don’t think telling on Ricky gon’ get you a lesser sentence. And even if it did, I know once you open your mouth, shit gon’ get real ugly.”

“What you mean by that?”

“Look, Nikki I love you like you’re my sister. But if and when Ricky finds out you snitched on him, he gon’ have something done to you.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I’m dead serious. And I can’t let that happen.”

Nikki laughed at me like I said something funny. “You gotta be kidding!” she asked me again.

“No, I’m not.” I told her in the most sincere way I knew.

Instead of commenting, Nikki put her head down. I knew she was on the verge of crying. It was her nature. But what could I do? I had to be up front with her about what was going to happen if she flipped the script on my husband. Besides, in this game, when you told on one person, you’d end up telling on somebody else. That’s when shit would get really ugly. So, to prevent all that nonsense from happening, I felt like I had to nip this shit in the bud right now. “Nikki,” I said.

“What?” she replied as she lifted her head back up.

“I know I ain’t telling you shit you wanna hear. But trust me, it’s for your own good. And not only that, but what am I going to do while Ricky’s locked up?”

“When did you start caring about what happens to him?”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is it? ‘Cause, I need some answers being as though I’m the one on lock.”

“But, it’s not going to be like this for long.” I started telling Nikki.

“Well, you tell that to the judge,” Nikki replied, as the tears fell.

Before I could respond to Nikki’s comment, the female deputy who escorted her down to see me, came back and told her visiting hours were over. “Call me later,” I told Nikki, but she didn’t respond. All she did was hang up the phone and walk away. This, of course, stunned the hell out of me. I went home and waited up almost all night for the phone to ring. But she never called.

Ricky came home about two o’clock in the morning and made a whole lot of noise trying to take his clothes off in his closet. By the time he got in the bed, I was fully awake and could smell at least ten bottles of Corona on his breath. And then he tried to get close to me. I moved my body a little in the opposite direction of him.

“You up?” he asked me.

“I am now.”

“Well, can Daddy get some head?”

“Why didn’t you get some from one of your hoes?”

“Now, why would I do that when I gotta wife at home?” Ricky replied, slurring his words.

“Yeah. Whatever!” I kept my back to him and didn’t utter another word.

He must’ve caught the hint that shit wouldn’t be jumping off in our bedroom tonight because he was sound asleep about three minutes later. Unfortunately I was unable to do the same and that was because Ricky’s cell phone kept vibrating every other damn minute. I got really frustrated by it. I got out of bed to cut it off but when I looked for the power button, I noticed the word “duplicate” flashing on and off. I scrolled down to the menu option and found out what number was blowing up Ricky’s phone.

The name keyed in below it was “Cinnamon.” Now, she must have been a new one. Somebody Ricky done added to his harem, and probably another one of his hoes, which of course got me a little pissed off. Just when I was about to press the power button, her number started ringing his cell phone off the hook again.

Now it was three-thirty in the morning, so what could this trick have possibly wanted other than a late night fuck? To get the answer to my question, I answered the phone.

“Hello,” I said, but didn’t get a response. So, I said hello again. That time, she said something.

“Can I speak to Ricky?” she asked in a low and childlike tone. I guess that was supposed to be her sexy voice.

“He’s sleep. Who is this?” I tried to be nice as I could because if I came off nasty, she’d probably hang up on me. And that’s what I was trying to prevent.

“His friend.”

“Okay, friend. I know you gotta name.”

“It’s Cinnamon.”

“Hi, Cinnamon. I’m Ricky’s wife.”

“I know who you are.”

“Oh, you do?”

“Yeah. Ricky told me he was married.”

“Well, what else did Ricky tell you?”

“That’s it.

“Okay, since you know who I am, won’t you tell me how close you and my husband is?”

“We’re pretty close.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that why you’re calling him this time of night?”

“I’m only returning his call from earlier.”

“And when did he call you?”

“It was about an hour and a half ago.”

Before I could say another word my body got real warm. It felt like my blood was starting to boil. I took a deep breath and tried to hold my composure for dear life. “Look,” I said to her in a bold way, “I’mma just cut to the chase. Are you fucking my husband, or what?”

“Are you?” Cinnamon asked, sarcastically.

“He’s my husband ain’t he?” I snapped back.

“Look, I ain’t trying to get in a fussing match wit’ you. All I’m doing is trying to speak wit’ Ricky. Now, since you say he’s sleep, then I’ll call him later.”

“Wait, before you hang up. Are you gon’ answer my question?”

“What question?”

“The ‘are-you-fucking-my-husband’ question!”

“Yeah! We’re fucking! Why?”

Wait! Hold up! No this bitch didn’t just tell me she’s fucking my husband! What a low blow. And she hit me hard with that shit, too, because soon after she said what she said, a huge-ass knot appeared right in my stomach. I felt sick, just like that. So, what could I do? Nothing. Here I was on the phone with a chick named Cinnamon, and I didn’t know shit about her. I didn’t even know how she looked. All I knew was that she was fucking Ricky. Boy, what a world we lived in.

“How long ya’ll been fucking?” I finally asked her.

“We had been seeing each other for about a year and a half now.”

“What!”

“Yeah.”

“So, you don’t care he got a wife?”

“Why should I, when his money is long enough to take care of both of us?”

Here this chick went again, coming off at me with another low blow. I couldn’t think of nothing else to do but go off on her ass. “You know what? You are one nasty bitch! And you got plenty of nerve, too. But, go ‘head and keep fucking Ricky. I’m giving you permission.”

“I don’t need your permission, if I ain’t got it in all this time.”

“Yeah. Keep it up, you smart-ass hoe! Just remember, I’m his wife! And when the shit boils down to it, everything’s in my name.”

“I already know that! That’s why I’m gon’ live the life wit’ him as long as I can.”

“You know what, bitch?” I tried to fire back but before I could get anything else out of my mouth, she hung up. So you know I was furious. But, why be mad at her? It was him. Ricky was the slimy bastard out there running around with his pants down. And to think I defended his ass earlier when I was talking to Nikki. But it was all good because I was done with letting this nigga make a fool out of me. This shit had been going on long enough. After I took two deep breaths, I threw Ricky’s cell phone down on the floor and took my ass to the guest room to get some sleep. Because if I would’ve stayed in the room with him another second, I probably would’ve tried to set his ass on fire.

Change Of Heart

It was about eight o’clock in the morning. And I knew I had to hurry up and get to the shop in time for my nine o’clock appointment. But, I also knew I couldn’t leave the house without screaming on Ricky.

He crawled his slimy ass out of the bed around eight-thirty. And when he opened his eyes, I was the first thing he saw. “Why you looking at me like that?” he asked, as he rubbed and blinked both of his eyelids.

“I talked to your bitch last night!” I told him, as I stood at the foot of the bed with my arms folded.

“What bitch?”

“Cinnamon, nigga!”

“Cinnamon?” Ricky said, as if he didn’t know whom I was talking about.

“Don’t play stupid! You know who the hell I’m talking about.”

“Baby, I swear I don’t know no Cinnamon.” Ricky started pleading.

“Well, she sho’ know you. And she told me ya’ll been fucking for over a year now.”

“That bitch lying! I am not fucking her. Don’t believe that shit!”

“Don’t believe that shit?” I yelled out loud. “But, I thought you ain’t know who the hell she was?”

Ricky jumped out of bed and stood up in front of me with nothing on except his boxer shorts. He grabbed me by my arms and put on the most sincerest expression he could come up with. “Ma,” he said, “you know how bitches are! Don’t feed into that shit she told you.”

“Why you lie?” I asked him.

“Lie about what?” he replied, looking dumbfounded.

“About knowing who she was.”

“Because, I knew you was gon’ act like you doing now.”

“Get off me!” I said to Ricky and snatched my arms away from him. “‘Cause, you ain’t shit! Always lying about all them hoes you done fucked around on me wit’!”

“Kira she is lying!”

“That damn girl ain’t lying so shut up! Trust me, I already know ya’ll been screwing around for over a year and a half. And just the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach,” I yelled and swung my right fist at Ricky. “What you trying to get her pregnant too?”

“Nah, baby!”

“Fuck you! I ain’t cha’ baby! But, that’s alright! Pay back gon’ be a mutha! You bastard!”

Once I aired out all my anger and frustration at Ricky, I left the house. I knew I wasn’t in no mood to do anybody’s hair today. But, I also knew I needed something to take my mind off of what I was going through with Ricky. My shop was the place to do it.

My stylist Sunshine was already there when I came. She was curling one of her clients when I walked through the door.

“Anybody called me?” I asked.

“Nope. But, your nine o’clock just came and left. She did say she was coming back though.”

“A’ight,” I said and walked straight back to my office, which is in the back of the salon. The instant I closed the door and sat down in my chair, I cried my eyes out like a baby. Because after all these years of being married to Ricky, I finally realized the burdens that come along with being his wife, have become too heavy to carry. And this was strange behavior for me. Because when Ricky does his dirt, I’ll normally let it roll off my back. While I was wallowing in my drama, Sunshine came barging in my office. “Girl, you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” I replied as I began to wipe away my tears.

“You sure? ‘Cause, I heard you crying from the washbowl area.”

“Yeah. I’m sure,” I told Sunshine, trying to convince her. Because on the flip side, she’ll be the last chick I tell my damn business to. Quiet as it’s been kept, I know she wants to fuck with Ricky. And I know this because she done told another one of my stylist here that shit, which of course got back to my favorite stylist Rhonda. And if something is said around here about me or my man and Rhonda knows about it, oh trust me, I’m going to know about it too.

So you see, Sunshine’s ass ain’t to be trusted. That’s why hell would have to freeze over before I tell her I’m going through problems with my man. And boy, I know she would love to hear that.

“Well, you don’t look like you’re alright.” She pressed the issue.

“It’s just my cousin’s situation is weighing me down. That’s all,” I lied.

“Oh, girl. I thought you were having man problems.”

“Nah. I don’t get those problems very often,” I replied, attempting to confuse her and throw the skank bitch some disappointment.

Sunshine rubbed my back and threw on a fake smile. “Well pull it together! ‘Cause your nine o’clock appointment is back.”

“Okay. Tell her I’ll be wit’ her in a few minutes.”

“A’ight,” she said and then left my office.

It took me about ten minutes to get myself together and fix my makeup. I had to make sure I was up to par before I made my appearance. I couldn’t risk none of these chicks up in here trying to get into my business. It would ruin the business relationship I had with my stylists. Plus, the shop was doing too well to have something like this ruin it. No way. I couldn’t let it happen. So, I picked myself up, dusted myself off and then I walked out of my office with the biggest smile I could muster.