Forever a Hustler's Wife

by Nikki Turner

  “I can never thank you enough,” Unique said as she got inside the car, kissed Lootchee on the cheek, and then began checking out the car before snuggling into the leather, which hugged her body like a glove.

  “Don’t worry. Nothing comes without a price.”

  “It ain’t nothing.” Unique shrugged, not moved by her new owner’s comment. “I’ve been paying all my life—sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, but something tells me that this is going to cost me, sho ’nuff.”

  “Good that you know that.”

  There was a moment of silence before they got down to business. “Listen, first and foremost, your loyalty is to me,” he told her.

  “Of course. No doubt.”

  “You hear what I’m saying? I gotta have unconditional loyalty.”

  Unique nodded. “You got that. I promise. You got that.” She ran her hand along his leg. “You got whatever you want,” she said seductively, thinking that he was a completely different person when she had him at her mercy in the bedroom.

  “Anything other than that, I’m going to consider treason, and I approach treasonous people with extreme prejudice.”

  “You…you don’t have to worry about that,” she said nervously, starting to feel the wrath of Lootchee’s threatening tone.

  “I’m going to pay you,” he said.

  She interrupted him, shaking her head. “Getting me out of here and giving me freedom is more than I can ask for.”

  “That’s nothing. I’m going to pay you beyond your wildest dreams, but you gotta understand that if you cross me, no U.S. laws or South American president, bishop, dictator, ruler, or king can protect you.”

  “I get it. I’m on your team,” she said without hesitation; she looked into his eyes to reassure him. “Now, what do you need me to do?”

  “There’s an American minister and his wife over at the hospital distributing medicine from the States. I need you to go give them your sob story and get them to take you back to Virginia with them. Once in Virginia, I need you to place yourself in their inner circle.”

  “Once I do that, then what?” Unique asked.

  “Just keep your eyes and ears open.”

  “Is it anything in particular that you’re looking for?”

  “No. I’ll know when I hear it.”

  “So, that’s it? Listen for information?” she questioned.

  “Pretty much.” He looked at her.

  “The way you were talking, I thought you wanted someone killed or the president’s daughter kidnapped.”

  “What if I had asked you to do that?”

  “Then, I would have played my position.” She looked into his eyes again. Though her hazel eyes were beautiful, there was an ugly story behind them. Unique was a trifling, shysty, low-down dirty bitch. In her day, she had pulled off some scandalous and grimy stunts. She would have done any-and everything for money, which was how she had ended up in the whorehouse three years ago. Her then boyfriend, Took, took her on a paradise vacation, but before it was all over, she’d found herself without a passport, and the property of Miguel Villa. Took had sold Unique to him for two chickens, a mule, and a key of coke as a way of giving her a dose of her own medicine. She was a first-class snake, and she would have done anything to get herself out of that hellhole.

  “Let’s play ball, then,” Lootchee stated.

  “The last dude that bailed me out left me here,” Unique said, almost feeling sorry for herself.

  “Well, we’ll have to get him back, huh?” Lootchee smiled, stroking the back of his hand down the side of Unique’s face.

  She smiled at him. “That would be lovely, but he’s in the States.”

  “It doesn’t matter where he is. Nobody who betrays me or anybody I care about has immunity.”

  “Sounds real good, but you don’t have to say that you care to get me to do the job. I’m going to do it.”

  “I know that. You’re going to do what I need you to do, or you’ll have to pay me a bigger debt. In return, I’ll protect you and make sure whoever fucked you over gets what’s due to him, plus you’ll get a handsome piece of money in the process. All you have to do is play fair with me.”

  Her heart was set on getting back to the United States to try to get revenge on the people who had betrayed her. She had nothing to lose. She said, “There’s only one thing: I don’t have a passport.”

  “I can take care of that.”

  “All right, then, what else do I need?”

  “We’ll play this as we go along, but always know that I’ll never be far away. The main thing you have to do is make them embrace you and welcome you into their world.”

  “Done.”

  As Lootchee drove Unique to the hospital, he described Des and Yarni and relayed to her all the information he had dug up on them. Unique ran over and over in her head what she would say to the couple in order to convince them to take her back to the States with them. By the time they made it to the hospital, she had her lines down pat.

  “Don’t let me down, baby” were Lootchee’s last words to Unique as she got out of the Range Rover.

  “Let you down?” Unique asked. “My job is to get you up.” She winked and then disappeared into the hospital.

  Upon walking into the hospital, Unique looked around until she found what she was looking for. In a room with several children she saw an attractive black man and a woman who looked perhaps to be his wife. They were surrounded by sick children, and the woman was reading a storybook out loud.

  “All right, Unique,” she whispered to herself. Do your motherfucking thing, bitch!

  As disgusting as Unique’s plan was, she really didn’t give a solitary fuck. She had a job to do. And not only did she have to do the job, but she had to do it well.

  Unique slowly backed out of the room and went to prepare for her grand entrance. Five minutes later the velvet curtain opened, and it was time for the performance of a lifetime.

  “Help me! Oh God, help me!” Unique yelled as she fell into the room where Des and Yarni were with the children, sprawled out on the floor.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Yarni said, dropping the book she had been reading to the children and running over to Unique, who appeared to be in excruciating pain. “Des, go get a doctor!”

  Des exited the room, passing Unique, who was clutching one arm, out of which blood seemed to be pouring.

  “What happened to you, sweetie?” Yarni asked as she lifted Unique’s head and placed it in her lap, getting blood on her designer dress. “Who did this to you?”

  Unique just looked up at Yarni with tears pouring out of her eyes. “Just let me die. He’s going to find me and kill me anyway if I live. So just let me die, please.”

  “Don’t talk like that,” Yarni comforted her and began to rock her. She looked down at the arm Unique was clutching. Blood was seeping between her fingers. “Somebody help us!” Fear took over Yarni; she did not want this woman dying in her arms. When she looked over at the kids, she realized the situation was scaring them to death. She prayed help would arrive quickly.

  Des returned to the room followed by a team of help.

  “Let us take her,” one of the nurses said, as they proceeded to lift Unique from Yarni’s arms.

  “No!” Unique screamed. She then looked to Yarni, having figured out already that she could play on her emotional strings. “Don’t let them take me.”

  “Calm down,” Yarni told her. “Look, I’ll go with you.”

  Unique looked to the team of medical personnel around her and then back at Yarni. “Okay,” she said.

  “Fine,” the nurse said as they carried Unique out of the room, “but you’ll have to wait outside of the examination room.”

  Yarni was satisfied with that. “Des, finish reading to the kids to calm them down,” Yarni said to him. “I’ll be back.” She followed the doctor and nurses out of the room and was directed to wait in an area outside of the examination room where they were taking care of Unique.

>   A little while later the doctor and nurses emerged from the room. Yarni stood. “How is she?” she asked.

  “She’s fine,” one nurse replied. “The wound to her arm, anyway. She’s a bleeder, so the blood made it look far worse than it actually was.”

  “You say her wound?” Yarni questioned. “Did something else happen to her?”

  The nurse’s eyes lowered. “I know I shouldn’t be telling you this, but we believe the woman was raped as well, although she refused an examination. It’s awful how these women are made to feel ashamed of something they have no control over.” The nurse shook her head. “You can see her now. She looks like she could use a friend.” She smiled and patted Yarni on the shoulder.

  A little choked up, Yarni entered the room where Unique was lying down with her back toward the door. Yarni spoke softly, “Hello.” The girl didn’t budge. Yarni walked to the other side of the bed to face Unique. Tears were streaming out of Unique’s eyes.

  She looked up at Yarni. “He raped me and tried to kill me” was all Unique said, and she began to cry loudly.

  “It’s okay,” Yarni assured her. “You’re okay now.”

  “But I’m not. The man who did this to me, he’s going to kill me.”

  Yarni’s heart went out to the distraught girl. She was angry at whoever had done this to her and wanted to kill him herself. “No one’s going to kill you. Not if I can help it.”

  Unique let out an unconvinced chuckle and said, “What are you going to do? Stay here in South America and protect me? I heard the doctor and nurses talking about the couple from America. You won’t even be around to protect me. You’re a liar just like everyone else in this world who has promised to help me but done nothing but hurt me. So how are you going to protect me? Are you going to take me back to the States with you? Huh?”

  Yarni just stood there, feeling helpless.

  “I thought so.”

  “Listen—”

  “No, you listen,” Unique cried. “Do you know what it’s like to be forced to be a sex slave in a whorehouse? To get beaten and raped, and now almost killed? Nobody’s ever going to help me. Never.”

  Yarni’s heart had been opened wide since her involvement with Des and the church. Her heart wept for the girl lying before her. She had no idea what Unique had been through, but what she did know was that she didn’t want to be one of those people who turned her back on her. So before she knew it, the word yes fell from her lips. “Yes,” Yarni repeated. “I am going to take you back to the States with me, if that’s what’s going to keep you alive; if that’s what’s going to let you know that you are worthy.”

  Unique had a look of disbelief in her eyes. Damn, this shit worked out better than I expected…and quicker, too, she thought to herself. Once she’d spotted Yarni and Des after arriving at the hospital, Unique had found the bathroom and gone inside a stall, but not before locating a pair of scissors and taking them into the stall with her. There she cut her arm, but not too deep. She had been subjected to enough pain in her life; she wasn’t about to inflict more than she had to on herself.

  Because the cut was actually more of a scrape, there wasn’t much blood, but fortunately for Unique, it was that time of the month. She simply pulled the plug out and smeared the menstrual blood onto her wound. It made her gag, but that blood and its scent only made her claim of rape even more believable.

  Before leaving Unique’s side, Yarni promised her that she would take her back to Virginia with her and her husband, help her find a job, and get on her feet. Unique embraced Yarni and thanked her repeatedly until she walked out the door. Then Unique lay there in the hospital bed with a smile of victory on her face. Indeed, she had done her job…and well.

  CHAPTER 28

  The First Lady

  Ever since he returned from his unsuccessful South America trip, Des couldn’t think about anything or anybody except Felix’s killing Nasir.

  Des was so deep in thought, it took him a minute to realize Yarni had walked into the room.

  “You okay?” she asked after studying him for a moment.

  He nodded.

  Yarni sighed. “Well, if I can help you in any way, let me know.”

  “Actually, you can,” Des said, sitting up in bed. “I gotta take care of something.” He looked in her eyes, and she knew that whatever he had to take care of was the source of his preoccupation. “I have to do it. I don’t really want to, but it’s got to be done.”

  “Is there some way I can help you?”

  “Just stand by me, the way you always do. You can’t help me with my problem, but you can go by and see Sister Robin Lyles for me.”

  “Okay. Does she need prayer?” Yarni had gotten used to being part of Des’s newest game. Although she still wasn’t totally in favor of it, she took her first lady duties very seriously. In 1 Corinthians 7:14 it said, “For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through the wife.” Yarni’s hope was that she could be sanctified enough for the both of them.

  “Yes. She’s been calling me saying that she’s sick and needs prayer.”

  “Okay, baby, I got that.” She kissed him on his forehead and gave him a hug.

  “Once I get this thing taken care of, I can spend some time with my two favorite girls.”

  “Okay.” Yarni said, smiling encouragement at him. She turned to leave, but just as quickly, she turned around to face Des again. She reached into the pocket of her robe, removed something, and tossed it onto the bed. “Maybe this will help you. Sometimes you need to practice what you preach.” She turned and left the room.

  It was a small custom-made Bible with his initials engraved on the front in gold leaf. Des looked at the Bible for a few seconds before picking it up. As he flipped through the pages, he came across Psalm 23, and read aloud, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” and thought about what he had to do.

  The next day marked the beginning of the Samuel Johnson trial. Yarni got up early and was at the jail before seven to meet with her client.

  Samuel came into the attorney visiting room with a smile on his face.

  “My, your spirits seem to be up,” Yarni said.

  “Today I get to find my destiny. It’s the first day of the rest of my life.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” She looked sternly at him.

  “Don’t tell me you want to plead me out.” He shook his head, looking at her in disgust.

  “No, just listen. I finally got my hands on the file that Sledge was holding hostage.”

  Samuel’s face lit up. “And?”

  “I’m going to need you to listen to what I’m about to tell you.”

  “All ears,” he said.

  “First, I think I can get you off on your charges. However, I’m going to need your help—make sure we have all our avenues covered. The information that Sledge was holding should be enough, but you never know, so what I need you to do is first get showered and shaved. I need you to look good.”

  “What? I look good now,” he said, stroking his freshly braided hair.

  “Yeah”—she nodded—“you look okay, but I need you to look GQ good. Get the braids cut off, and shave all that hair off your face.”

  “A’ight,” he said, somewhat reluctant.

  “Your girlfriend, Angie, left you shoes and a suit up front. Put them on. Once we get in the courtroom, make eye contact with the jury, look sincere and innocent, not intimidating, especially to the younger women.”

  “I’ve never had any problem with looking sincere to women.”

  “Well, good. My goal was to get as many older and younger women on the jury as possible, and to strike out the white men and middle-aged women. I did the best I could, but you have to do your part.”

  “Good looking.”

  “Also, if you need to ask me something or make a comment in court, write me a note.”

  “Don’t worry, I got you,” he said reassuringly.

  “So, since we’r
e clear, I’ve got to get going. I’ve got a few things I have to do before the trial.”

  “I saw your husband on television. I was shocked as a motherfucker. He in the big time now, preaching and shit.”

  “Yeah, he’s doing some great things in the community. I have to go do my first lady duties now.” Yarni grabbed her bag and was about to leave, when Samuel called out to her.

  “Look, I want you to know I ’preciate everything you’ve done for me. Regardless of what happens, I owe you. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, for real. Nothing! I mean that shit. You went beyond the call of duty to help me, and that’s real. I owe you.”

  “Just doing my job.” She smiled on the outside, but inside his comments let her know that what she was doing was not in vain.

  Yarni made her way over to Sister Robin’s house as Des had requested. On behalf of Des and the church, she held a get-well gift basket, and she waited impatiently for Robin to answer the door. Someone called, “It’s open,” and Yarni went in. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw what was behind the door. It was “Sister” Robin wearing a red negligee with red stockings, lying seductively on the couch, grinning wickedly. She looked into Yarni’s eyes and jumped up, trying to cover herself.

  “Uhhh,” Robin stuttered, embarrassment all over face.

  “‘Uhhh’ is right,” Yarni said, placing the gift basket on the coffee table. “Surprise, baby. You weren’t expecting me, huh?” Yarni moved in closer, looking Robin up and down. “You were expecting my husband, huh?” Tears filled Robin’s eyes as Yarni got up in her face. She tried to cover herself, but her outfit was so skimpy there was no point. Yarni laughed at the attempt.

  “I’m sorry,” Robin said.

  Yarni shook her head. “No, you’re not. You’re just sorry you got caught.” She circled Robin, inspecting her seduction outfit a little more closely.

  “Please don’t hurt me,” Robin said. “I promise you it will never happen again.”

  “Naw, baby, I ain’t gon’ whip your half-naked behind. I’m a woman of God. I trust I won’t be seeing you at church anymore. You need to find you another place of worship and repent for your sins. Trust me, if I see you up in my husband’s church again, the next time you’ll be in there, it’ll be for your funeral.”