Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 (The Saga Continues)

by Kiki Swinson presents Unique

  I immediately turned around and noticed that it was a stripper. She had on a long sleeve shirt and it was completely on fire. She screamed for help. The guy beside me took his shirt off and raced towards her. Seconds later, he threw his shirt over her back and wrestled her down to the ground. From that point, I witnessed her crying while the smoke from the flames escaped her body. I was in awe. I couldn’t believe that I actually witnessed everything going on. But what really ate at me was that Bishop was still inside the club. And not even I could help him get out. I stood there speechless and I didn’t know whether to wait around for the firefighters to get there or hop in his truck and leave.

  A million things ran threw my mind. And the possibilities of Duke, his wife, Katrina and Bishop being burned alive gave me a bittersweet taste. I figured if he was in there with his new bride then they deserved to be in there. Although Katrina was a bitch at times, I didn’t think she deserved this at all.

  Bishop was on an entirely different level. I actually spent time with the brotha so knowing that he got caught up in that blaze put a damper on me. He was cool people. And he seemed like the type of cat who’d only fuck a person up if they messed with him. So to see this shit happen to him wasn’t right at all.

  Now that I think about it, it wouldn’t surprise me if he got set up. I mean, out of thin air he gets a call saying he needed to get to the club. Come on now, something’s not right with that. Then to see Duke’s wife go inside the club right after Bishop seemed even sketchier.

  While I tried to piece this whole scenario together, the firefighters finally arrived and asked everyone to move out of the parking lot and go to the other side of the street. I got back inside of Bishop’s truck and move it to the opposite side of the street and decided to wait until I could find out who was all inside that club and if Bishop was dead.

  My heart raced the entire time I sat there waiting to hear something. The thought of Bishop getting killed in that explosion became unbearable. And the one thing that kept nagging at me was the fact that Katrina had him come there. If she had never called him then he’d be at the hotel with me. It was too late to turn back the clock now.

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

  Throwing Shit in the Game-Chapter Seven

  It took the firefighters two fucking hours to put out the flames.

  The entire building was completely unrecognizable. It was damn near burned to the ground. I sat behind the wheel of the truck in disbelief and wondered when they were going to bring out the bodies.

  People started coming out of the woodworks to see what was going on. A few family members stood by awaiting answers from the firefighters and hoping by some miracle that their loved ones were alive and well.

  I recognized one woman who used to come into the club to borrow money from her daughter, who was a stripper. Her name was Ms. Dina and she was crying hysterically. All she kept saying was please don’t let my daughter be in there. Her daughter’s name was Kia, but her stripper name was Ecstasy. Ecstasy was one of the youngest dancers in the club and the prettiest one too. Her only downfall was that she let the niggas in the club feed her pennies. I used to tell her all the time that she was the prettiest chick with the baddest body out of all the other strippers in Magic City. If only she knew how to play her cards right, she’d be one paid bitch. I just hope she wasn’t in the club so she could have another shot at life.

  There were other people crying throughout the crowds. But I didn’t recognize any of them. Meanwhile, as I took in everything around me, my heart nearly jumped through my fucking chest when I saw a silver 911 Porsche slowly cruising by the club. I couldn’t see through the dark, tinted windows but there was no question in my mind that it was Duke behind the wheel of the car. I slid down in the front seat of Bishop’s truck just in case the car stopped. I wasn’t about to let him see me in no shape, form or fashion. So I quickly took precautionary measures.

  I completely took my focus off the fact Magic City had just burned down with Bishop inside of it and watched Duke’s Porsche as it combed the entire area. At one point I thought the car was going to stop, but it kept moving up the block.

  I watched his car until it crossed over the railroad tracks and jumped on the Portsmouth Boulevard’s ramp to get on the expressway. When his car disappeared around the loop that’s when I exhaled. Seeing him ride by the club to check things out had just reconfirmed that he had eyes all over the place. If something happened in this city, Duke Carrington was definitely going to be informed about it. Now I knew that son-of-a-bitch was in complete control, which also meant he knew his wife was caught up in the explosion with everyone else.

  So why the fuck didn’t he stop?

  His wife’s car was right there in plain sight. There was no fucking doubt in my mind that he saw it. I mean, that move was really suspect if you asked me. This muthafucka really was that sinister and coldblooded. Whatever his reason was for not stopping would never be good enough to keep my mouth closed. The more fucked up shit Duke did, the more he made it painfully obvious that he cared about no one else but himself. I couldn’t wait until the day I could see that man suffer.

  And when it finally came, I was gonna spit on him after I put a bullet in the back of his fucking head.

  It seemed as if time had been dragging along because an hour had gone by and not one body had been recovered yet. I had every intention to approach one of the firefighters but I knew it would be impossible to do. The police had the opposite side of the street blocked off with barricades and yellow tape. They had to make sure no one would be able to cross over into their crime scene.

  I had to be honest and say that I had become very restless. The fact that more time had gone by and still not one body had been recovered made me realize that Bishop wasn’t coming out alive. So what in the hell was I going to do about it?

  I didn’t have a cell phone in my possession, so I couldn’t make one single phone call. I guess it didn’t make any difference since I had no one to call. I did have keys to Bishop’s truck, but he had the key card to the hotel room in his back pocket, so I had no idea how I was going to get back into the room. I swear I was always finding myself in a ton of shit. One day I was in jail and the next day, I was witnessing a strip club going up in smoke and killing almost everyone inside.

  After three long hours had passed, several police officers asked everyone to clear the area. A few people started resisting. They knew they had lost their loved ones in the club fire. But everybody else left without giving the police any drama. I honestly didn’t want to leave. I had Bishop’s truck and it felt as if I was leaving him behind. Even though there was a great chance he hadn’t survived the explosion, I still wanted to wait around to see them bring his body out of the debris and rubble. But since the police officers were adamant about clearing the area, I decided to come up with Plan B.

  Tell me what’s going to happen next?

  My mind was racing and I was trying to stay cool. I presumed Bishop to be dead, while Katrina was missing in action and I was left in the dark with a lot of unanswered questions. As I drove away from the crowd, my mind went into overdrive. It wasn’t a coincidence that both Bishop and Duke’s wife walked into Magic City and five minutes later the whole fucking place blew up. And what’s even more puzzling to me was the fact that Duke rode by to check out the damages without stopping. The last time I heard, he was supposed to be the new owner of Magic City. Seeing him do a drive by wasn’t the type of behavior someone would do when it concerned his or her investment. They say what you do in the dark will come to the light. Whatever Duke had underneath his sleeve, he was going to reveal it in due time.

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

  I Need Some Answers-Chapter Eight

  I hopped on the highway and headed back towards Virginia Beach where I felt safe.

  This shit was surreal to me. If I had any fucking sense, I should have realized how crazy this whole thing was. I didn’t need to be in the mix. Duke Carrington
had cops and city officials behind him, and he was as slimy as they were. It was very hard to detect who was straight and who was crooked. Aren’t those people paid to protect and serve?

  During the course of the drive I rehearsed what I would say when I got back to the hotel. By the time I pulled up to the valet I was very confident the hotel clerk would give me a spare key card to get back into the room. When I walked inside the lobby I walked straight towards the desk clerk. Thankfully, the same night clerk was still on the clock because I didn’t need any problems. All I wanted to do was get the spare key, carry my ass to the room and come up with a viable plan.

  I cleared my throat while I looked directly at her nametag and then I said, “Hi, Amy, do you remember me accompanying the guy from room 504?”

  She smiled. “Yes, as a matter of fact I do,” she replied.

  I smiled back. “Good. I am so glad because I just dropped him off and forgot to get the room key from him. So I was wondering if you could either open the door for me or give me a spare, because I am exhausted and need to take a load off.”

  “I'm really not supposed to do that. But since I seen you two together a couple times then I’m gonna go ahead and make an exception.”

  “Thank you so much,” I expressed. I was so damn happy she decided to give me an extra key. If she would’ve turned me down, then I would've been up Shit's Creek.

  Immediately after she handed me the key I dashed towards the elevator. After I got on, I pressed the button for the fifth floor and waited for the elevator door to close. Moments after it closed, I felt a sense of relief throughout my entire body. The tension that had somewhat stiffened my neck had eased. This shit was crazy and madness and I was right smack in the middle of it all.

  Right after I locked the door I sat down on the bed and used the remote to turn the television on. I went directly to Channel 10, which was my favorite local news station. When I realized the news had been on for at least seven minutes, I became agitated and fumbled with the remote control to turn up the volume. I couldn’t tell if I missed the part about the explosion at the strip club, so I waited patiently and crossed my fingers, hoping that I hadn’t.

  After viewing the entire first and second segment, I knew I had missed the footage from the club. Frustrated, I tossed the remote control on the other side of the bed and decided to take another ride. I wasn't going back to Portsmouth. I knew that wouldn't be a good idea. But driving over to Katrina’s house would be. Finding out whether or not she was in the club at the time of the explosion became critical at this point. Something in my gut told me that things were really not what they seemed. One thing’s for sure, my gut didn’t lie to me.

  When I walked back to the lobby, I passed the desk clerk again. She smiled and said, “You leaving again?”

  I smiled back and told her that I needed to make another run. She advised me to be careful. I assured her that I would. After I got back in the truck and drove out of the parking lot, I noticed one of those standard types of police vehicles following me. It was dark out and the windows were tinted so I wasn’t able to get a look inside of the car. For all I knew, it could be anybody behind the wheel. One part of me wanted to stop, get out of the truck, walk over to the car following me and demand the driver rolled down his window, so I could see who the fuck he was. The other part of me thought it was a bad idea. These people here in Virginia are crazy as a motherfucker. I would be insane to try that stunt.

  I hit the steering wheel with my fist and cursed the day that muthafucka driving the other car was born. I mean, what was it with me? Why the fuck everybody and their damn mama wanted to fuck with me? For as long as I can remember I’d never done anything malicious to anyone. I was known for giving people my last. If I had it and you wanted it, then it was yours. Point blank and end of story.

  Two miles into the drive, I decided to get some distance between me and that asshole following me until I found an escape route. I pressed down on the accelerator harder and found myself with at least eight cars between us. My adrenaline pumped inside me like fuel. The further I gained distance on them the better off I felt. “Yeah, you bastard! You can’t fuck with me! I’m a beast!” I screamed out loud, even though I knew no one else could hear me. It felt good though.

  I noticed I was coming up towards Rosemont Road, which would be a perfect escape route to dodge the car following me. Has started to cross through the service station on the corner but there was too much light and the parking lot was filled with patrons, so I elected to make a sharp right turn at the street light and then I shot through the traffic light on Bonney Road. I then jumped on the ramp to head back towards Independence Boulevard. When I looked in the rearview mirror I saw a few cars behind me, but none of the cars was the one following me.

  I let out a sigh of relief but I dared to slow down. The nigga I was fucking crossed me. My best friend betrayed me. The one man I believed was on my side had just been lured into a death trap. So once again I was all alone. And not having any of the answers I was looking for made my journey a little bit harder to travel. Although I lost the car following me, it still bothered me that I didn’t know who in the fuck was tailing me. Not only that the thought that the car found its way back to the hotel and awaited my arrival made me feel uneasy. I figured the only way to avoid that from happening was that I couldn’t go back. But then I figured, if I chose not to return to the hotel, then where would I go? I had so many questions but not enough answers which made me sick to my stomach.

  Hell, it was a standard type of police vehicle but I didn’t know if it was the cops in a so-called unmarked car or one of Duke’s goons. I kinda laugh when I thought about the cops and unmarked cars. Every damn body in the ’hood knew when one of their whips came around. Regardless of how old, or new, the cops never fooled anyone with their so-called unmarked cars.

  After driving for approximately five minutes, I got off the Military Highway exit, made a U-turn, got back on Interstate-264 and headed back in the direction of Katrina’s house. Since there was no traffic, I arrived in her neighborhood in less than nine minutes flat. It seemed as if the closer I came to her house, the harder the flutter in the pit of my stomach jumped around.

  I held on to the steering wheel with my left hand and rubbed my stomach with my right. It seemed like every time I got myself mixed up with unnecessary drama, my body always found a way to shut down on me. As much as I wanted to turn around and leave this situation alone, I thought about those young women who had been victimized by Duke and his flunkies, and I knew it wasn't just about me, it was about them. So that alone gave me the courage to move forward and take Duke down by any means necessary.

  I noticed Katrina's house from a block away sitting in the cul-de-sac between two larger homes. I had to admit that the house was beautiful, but I didn't believe she deserved to live in it. I knew Neeko for years so I knew the blood, sweat and tears he put into buying this house. It was no secret he was a hard ass but everyone also knew he was no-nonsense when it came to his money. I remembered him telling me one day that he’d never get married, because he didn’t want to get a divorce and a wife walking away with everything he worked so hard for. And now that I thought about it, I didn’t blame him.

  I drove slowly towards the house and noticed all the lights were turned off, but Katrina’s car was parked in the driveway. Seeing this puzzled me. A couple of hours ago she called Bishop and told him to meet her at the club. From the way Bishop explained it to me, Katrina was already inside the club, which was why he and I suggested that her car would be parked around back. Now if all of this was true, her car shouldn’t be parked in her driveway. It should be buried underneath the debris from the fire and explosion from the club.

  Now here I was posted up outside the house my former boss owned, wondering whether or not I should call Detective Whitfield and tell him what I knew. I mean, it wouldn't hurt. And besides, what else was I going to do with this information? I had no one else to call. Even if I did, the last time
I put myself in that type of predicament, I was railroaded. Yes, bamboozled.

  If Diamond never taught me anything in life, she taught me that I should never trust anyone. Not even your best friend. I still couldn’t get over Diamond’s betrayal. I had known this bitch almost all my life and the thing I took away from the relationship was there was no such thing as loyalty. I was sure when she went to Duke and schooled him about my blackmailing scheme, he promised her the world on a silver platter. Additionally, I knew he even threw a few dollars at her so she could keep her fucking mouth closed. I swear, life had definitely taught me some valuable lessons. Too bad I had to learn the hard way.

  Shit, I hoped I didn’t have any more lessons to learn.

  When I saw all I needed to see, I turned Bishop’s SUV around and headed back in the direction I came. I hurried up and got out of the neighborhood before I was spotted by Katrina or one of her accomplices. It only took me about three minutes to jump on the nearest ramp to the expressway, which was good considering the distance from Katrina’s house. Once I felt I was in the clear, something on the inside of me convinced me to ride by the old apartment I used to share with Diamond. I had no plans to stop. I just wanted to see if I saw any type of movement from outside, since I couldn’t say for sure that she had gotten caught in the fire. I wanted to ask the other stripper who’d gotten a chance to escape the fire, if Diamond was in there. But she had gotten burned so badly that she wasn’t in any shape to talk at all.