His Work Wife

by James, Sapphire

  “Hmm?”

  “What am I gonna do if he IS cheating on me?” I asked her.

  “You know what? We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. What about mom? Have you told her what’s going on?” Jani asked.

  “Girl, now you know I can’t tell that Cora this mess right now! I will REALLY be in tears,” I answered as we both laughed.

  “Well, Presley, I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but I can tell you this… you are gonna have to stay prayed up. If Ty is in fact having an affair, the pain and suffering you will endure will not go away overnight,” she pointed out.

  I thought about what she said. If Ty was having an affair, I was going to have to consider my babies. It would be a very delicate situation. I had a bad temper and a fucked up attitude to go with it. People could get hurt messing with me, so I was asking for forgiveness in advance because I was a work in progress. Anyone who didn’t understand could kiss my ass… ALL of it!

  “Helloooo? Sis, did you hear me?” she asked.

  “Oh… yeah,” I said as I came back to life. “You sho’ right, but I forgot; I need to get Darren and Tyler from the daycare. I’ll call ya later.”

  “Okay, sissy. Bye.”

  We hung up.

  Ty continued to work late every night and on weekends, but this one particular Saturday, he said he had to work. It didn’t sit well with my left and right spirit. Immediately, I felt out of sorts. I couldn’t explain it, I just did. However, it was just another feeling, so I left it alone.

  Like any average day, I waited for Ty to call me on his lunch break and he did. Just like clockwork at four fifteen and six fifteen, but something was different. I didn’t hear the day-to-day commotion of co-workers nearby. The silence that greeted me was so much louder.

  Tyrone kept talking to me as if I hadn’t noticed he was alone wherever he was. Again, I tried not to say anything, but I couldn’t fake the funk, not when I was upset. I had to unleash.

  “Soooo… where the hell are you?” I blasted.

  “Whatchu talkin’ about? I’m at work!” Ty responded angrily.

  “Muthafucka, you must think I’m dumber than a box of bricks! I know yo’ ass ain’t at work! So I’mma ask you again, where the fuck are you? Or, do I need to drive up there?!”

  Ty popped his lips in frustration. “Man, Presley, don’t start that shit! You don’t hear shit because it ain’t that many people here today. It’s Saturday! Remember?”

  I guess he had a point or maybe, I just really wanted to believe anything other than what I was feeling. I didn’t force the conversation because honestly, I didn’t know what else to say. The silence became imminent to me.

  Ty finally interrupted my thoughts with his funky ass attitude. “Hello? What, you just gonna sit and hold the phone? If so, I gotta go because my break is almost over.”

  “Yeah, well, have fun doing whatever the fuck you might be doing!” I blurted as I slammed the phone down as hard as physically possible.

  The following week, I noticed an unopened payroll stub sitting on Ty’s dresser. I thought it was odd that he had not opened it yet. Ty was very meticulous about his earnings, and every week he opened his stubs to guarantee they were correct according to his own calculations. I had to question what was different about this one stub. Was there something he didn’t want me to see? I had that uneasy feeling again. I struggled with not opening the envelope, but my curiosity got the best of me again. Tyrone had deceived me yet again. Upon opening the envelope, I noticed there were no overtime hours. Not even for that Saturday he claimed he worked. I was livid! Where had he been?

  Of course, I confronted Ty again, which seemed to be the norm for us lately. After a few desperate lies, he finally admitted to attending a block party with Keisha and Kadeema. Oh, it got even better. Keisha had not shown up. So, he actually spent the day with Kadeema! My mind was racing! He spent the day with another woman? Even knowing how I felt about her and he still spent the day with her? While I was home playing Susie-fucking-homemaker to our kids, he had the audacity to be spending the day with some bum bitch? I wondered what the hell was going to happen next.

  We argued all day about that shit. He tried to persuade me that nothing was going on and that I was just overreacting like I did last time. But to me, one time was one too damn many! We shouldn’t have even been going through this. If I told his ass once that I didn’t appreciate his friendship, or whatever it was, with this bitch, then that should have been the end of it. He damn sure shouldn’t have been spending the fucking day with her. Besides, if it was nothing, why didn’t he tell me? Better yet, why didn’t he invite me? A damn block party! He never wanted to go anywhere without me. Hell, we would argue about me wanting to stay home. I used to tell him to go and have fun with his boys because I trusted him.

  This was all wrong. Until recently, nothing much had changed besides nine years of marriage and two beautiful kids. There was a time when women would throw themselves at him and he would ignore their advances. He would even come and tell me about it. However, I never questioned it until now. Something was different this time.

  I knew damn well he knew I was smarter than this. I could see his lies a mile away. I didn’t take too kindly to him looking me in my face and lying to me about this chick. I hoped I wouldn’t have to act a fool with this chick. This was my family and I was not about to let it slip through my fingers. I didn’t trust this chick. Scratch that, I didn’t trust NO chick, where my husband was concerned. If I had to, I was going to go hard for what was mine. All I could say was that Kadeema wasn’t going like me if we had to come face to face!

  Chapter Three: Presley

  The next two weeks were tumultuous at best. Ty and I argued day and night after the block party incident. Catching him in various lies and having to dissect his excuses had grown tiresome very early. To make matters worse, Tyrone’s birthday was vastly approaching and I just wasn’t in the mood. Generally, I went all out for his birthday, but the tension was way too thick right now. This was my responsibility to make sure he enjoyed his day because I was his wife. I got the feeling that didn’t mean shit to him. Honestly, since he was attending block parties with Kadeema’s mangy ass, maybe she could get him a gift. I mean since he couldn’t seem to do without her!

  Ty was on vacation the week prior to his birthday. I hated it. Our lives consisted of arguing every damn day. I couldn’t WAIT for him to take his ass back to work. Ugh!

  The day of his birthday, Tyrone and I were watching television when his phone rang.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  “Hey, you at home?” the woman asked.

  “Uhh, yeah.”

  “Okay, call me later.”

  Now, I know this idiot doesn’t think I am deaf! I KNOW he knows I heard that shit! So, here we go again with this shit!

  “Uh… who the fuck was THAT asking you if you are at home?!” I yelled, looking at him sideways. “Before you answer, I heard the bitch’s voice!” I actually had to keep myself from laughing because the stupid look on Ty’s face was priceless.

  He looked at me as if he was surprised I even said something. He knew better. Wouldn’t you know he had the nerve to catch an attitude?

  “Umm, that was Kadeema calling to tell me happy birthday,” he responded. “I mean damn, Presley! Why do we have to start my birthday weekend off like this?”

  “Because NO bitch, especially Kadeema, needs to be calling you! Not only that, but this chick feels comfortable calling you on a fucking Saturday? When she knows you’re at home with your family? All bullshit aside, she NEVER needs to call you PERIOD!”

  Ty sat there looking stupefied, but he knew exactly where I was coming from. He didn’t have anything to say at that point. Hell, what COULD he say? He was busted again. Yet, this was not enough proof for me, but it should have been. All of the signs were there, but I was in denial.

  My husband would never cheat on me! He would never hurt me like that. Why would he want to?
We both came from families where our fathers cheated. Why would he do that to me? He wouldn’t. His excuses were valid then. Well, that was what I told myself.

  We went the entire weekend mad at each other. He was apparently pissed off because he couldn’t manage his shit. Every lie he told me came back to him full circle. I had so much nervous energy because I knew he was involved in some mess. My days were long and my nights were short. I spent most of my time wondering what Ty was doing and whom he was with.

  Tyrone kept using work as his excuse to be away from the house. During the week, he never arrived home before three AM, and on the weekends, it was the same thing. This one Saturday, I was home with the boys when I noticed his cell phone bill had come in again. I didn’t hesitate to open it because as long as his retarded ass lived with me, I reserved the right to open his mail and fuck whoever had something to say about it. As I scanned over the bill, I saw the same number from last month. It was Kadeema’s number. My eyes burned with tears as I counted the number of calls between the two of them. There were over fifty calls to and from Tyrone. What the hell? Why did my husband insist on talking to this woman, I thought. What really hurt me was that he called her more than he called me and I was his wife!

  Usually, I’d wait until he called me, but this was urgent. I needed answers and I needed them now. So, I called him at work.

  “Hello? Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked frantically.

  I thought I could be calm, but that went out of the window when I heard his voice. My anger got the best of me as I shouted, “Muthafucka, you need to tell me right now; what is going on with you and this bitch? Why the hell do you keep talking to her? It’s like you refuse to end all communication with her and I don’t get it. You are disregarding my feelings and I don’t like it, nor do I deserve it. I have asked you several times to have nothing to do with her, yet you ignore how I feel? You need to say something before I drop your shit off in the parking lot!”

  I was yelling so loudly and so hard, I thought my vocal chords would pop. I knew Ty was nervous because he began to stutter. Again, indicating that he was about to lie.

  “Um… uh… wha… what are you talking about, Presley?”

  “You know what? I just told you I’m looking at your phone bill and you STILL want to play stupid or maybe you’re not playing? Let me tell you what I see since you act like you don’t know. You call this monkey-knuckle hoe on your way to work, after you get off the phone with me during your break, and on your damn way home! I don’t know about you, but if I was conversing with another man for over a month that often, I think it would be safe to say we are fucking!”

  This was how I knew he was guilty. If Ty weren’t doing anything, he would go back and forth with me, but he wasn’t doing that. Most people didn’t bother when they knew they hadn’t done anything wrong. Ty was the opposite. He would fight tooth and nail to prove his point and to make me look stupid. He couldn’t help it, he was a Taurus and they were stubborn as shit. Instead of him arguing with me, he whispered, “Presley, I’m at work, but we do need to sit down and…”

  Click!

  I hung up on him because I had no idea of what he was about to say. Whatever it was, my heart wasn’t ready. Was he about to tell me he was leaving me? Suddenly, I felt as if an elephant was standing on my chest. I couldn’t breathe.

  When Ty arrived home, he walked into the living room, looking like he couldn’t pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel. I turned my gaze away from him by leaving the room. That was the only way I knew to avoid bopping his dumb ass, but he followed me.

  As I sat on the bed, he stood in front of me, pulling out his phone. “Presley, I know you’re mad at me, but Kadeema and I decided to end our friendship.”

  “The fuck?! Oh, YOU and Kadeema decided to end your friendship?” I restated sarcastically.

  “I mean… I didn’t mean it like that,” he stuttered. “I’m just saying you don’t have to worry about us talking anymore. See? She sent me the text message.”

  I guess it’s a good thing that we ended our friendship because your wife called me. I don’t want to be the reason your marriage fails. It was nice while it lasted.

  Impulsively, I knocked his phone out of his hand. “Get that shit away from me! How ignorant do you think I am? I am not stupid!” I stressed. “First of all, what the hell do you mean we decided to end the friendship?! Why did a fucking decision have to be made? Secondly, knowing you, you probably had her send that shit purposely to throw me off your trail! Fuck you and that message,” I hissed.

  Tyrone was astonished at my reaction. He had never seen me that angry before. “Presley, I’m sorry. I am trying to make things right between us.”

  “Of course you are attempting to make it right. You are the one who is causing the disruption! But I am telling you, you and Kadeema both gonna fuck around and get popped fucking with me!”

  “Man, Presley, you can go on with your threats,” he countered. “I told you, you don’t have to worry about her anymore!”

  Nah, I just gotta worry about y’all fucking, I thought to myself.

  “Tyrone Chambers,” I screamed, beating the wall with my bare hands. “You don’t have any room for an attitude! If you know what’s good for you, you will make sure it is over! Lemme find out, hea? You can act like I’m just bumping my gums if you want to, but just remember… Clara Harris’s husband probably thought she was playing too until she parked her Mercedes on top of his lifeless body!” I beat the wall so hard with my fists that my hands were swollen.

  I hit the wall because I couldn’t hit Kadeema’s ass. Oh, but baby, whenever I did see her, it was gonna pop off like the Fourth of July around this camp.

  We didn’t speak to each other the next day. There was nothing else to be said. This song and dance was already getting old. You would think this shit had been going on for years, but no. I saw the first phone bill with their calls on March third. Ty’s birthday was April twenty-third and the month was almost over. It just seemed like this shit had been going on forever.

  Every day I wondered when this part of our marriage would be over. I knew no marriage was perfect one hundred percent of the time, but this truly hurt me. The crazy thing was I was only dealing with my suspicions. I didn’t have any concrete proof. Sometimes, I wished I did, but I wasn’t so sure of what my reaction would be. I really hoped Ty knew how much I loved him. I knew that a man would be a man, all day, but he would never find another woman like me. Those other bitches lusted after him. I genuinely loved him. I loved his imperfections, which made him perfect for me.

  Chapter Four: Presley

  I spent my days and nights trying to figure out where we went wrong, where I went wrong. I tried to convince myself that what was going on was just a figment of my imagination, but I knew better. In hindsight, our marriage had been tainted from the start when he told me he was single but called me from another woman’s house. If I had any sense, I would have left him alone then, but I gave him an ultimatum and he chose me.

  Although it seemed as if this had been brewing forever, it hadn’t. It had only been three months. This particular weekend, the boys would have a three-day weekend. So, Ty took Darren and Tyler to the park to release some boyish energy. When they returned home, the boys were exhausted. Immediately, they went to their rooms and fell asleep.

  Ty walked into our bedroom moments later, locking the door behind him. He had that look in his eyes and this time, I was ready. We hadn’t been feeling too frisky because of the fighting, but lately, my pussy had been thumping like it had a migraine. My small frame was ready to take in all of my husband’s dick. I had a drum that needed a beating.

  “Pssst….” he hissed as usual.

  I wasted no time getting undressed. I had already taken a bath and waxed my nether region just the way he liked it. In fact, I was already drizzling a little bit. As Ty undressed, I mounted myself over his face, ready to ride as I teased, “Mmm hmm. So whatchu gonna do with this?” />
  “Damn!”

  As Ty began to taste my juices, I noticed something was off. It was not him this time. It was me. I couldn’t cum for him. He even flipped me over and began to finger me, but he just wasn’t doing it for me. I lay there almost in tears because I knew this feeling wasn’t normal. Ty and I had some problems, but intimacy was never one of them. The passion… it was gone. I didn’t get it.

  Ty realized I was no longer in the moment as he questioned, “Where are you right now?”

  I kept silent for fear of not knowing how to answer him.

  “Why didn’t you cum for me?”

  “I don’t know,” I lied.

  Suddenly, Ty had a cumbersome look on his face as he revealed, “I know what’s wrong and so do you, Presley.”

  “No, Ty,” I insisted as I stood up. “I don’t know what’s wrong. Tell me!”

  “Baby, sit down. I need to tell you something,” he confessed with tears already streaming down his face. “Presley, I’m sorry. I slept with…”

  Slap! Before Ty could finish his confession, I had slapped the piss out of his ass. I leaped from the bed and began to pummel his face with my tiny fists.

  “Muthafucka, you did WHAT? You slept with her? Why would you do this to me?” I wailed. “What did I do to deserve this? So, for the last three months, you’ve been lying to me EVERY day about this bitch? Swearing up and down nothing was going on when all along you were fucking her?”

  I cried so hard, I’d developed a headache. The room was spinning. I didn’t know what was happening, but my life had been turned upside down and all it took was five minutes for him to do it. I was beyond mad. I was jaded. If given the opportunity, I could’ve killed him right now in a fit of rage and thought nothing of it. I had never been this angry before and I didn’t know how to handle it.

  He made several attempts to block my hits, but he wasn’t successful. I knew part of that was his guilty conscience. He was all man and could have stopped me if he wanted to. But, I didn’t care. I was hurt and I wanted to cut him. I would have rather beat the shit out of Kadeema too, but I would have time for that later. After all, she didn’t owe me shit. I married Tyrone Chambers. Not her!