Cheaper to Keep Her (part 1) by Kiki Swinson presents Unique

loved that man and I knew it for sure now. Only real men stepped up and told a chick she didn’t have to work. I had been waiting all my life for a man like Duke Carrington to come along. Finally! I said in my mind as I pulled my car out of the parking lot.
    “ A man that wants to act like a damn real man. I can definitely dig that,” I mumbled out loud with my new car smell wafting in my nostrils.
    Duke and I went our separate ways in separate cars. It wasn’t until I returned to the empty condo that I remembered something . . . I had forgotten to ask Duke what the hell he was doing up in the strip club himself.
     
    Cheaper to Keep Her Unique
    Chapter 13—Mo’ Problems
    Six Months Earlier.
    Once again, I woke up to an empty bed.
    I rolled over and looked at Duke’s side of the bed, still neatly made up, not even an indentation in his pillow. I sighed loudly and looked over at the clock. I closed my eyes in disgust. I couldn’t even get used to sleeping late anymore. It was six in the morning and I was up with no place to go and nothing to do except wait on Duke to come hit me off with some money or another guilt gift. That’s what our relationship had become. He was becoming more and more scarce around the condo, so I had come to expect those sorry I fucked up gifts every time I saw him now. His routine was so predictable now. He’d disappear for days, one time even an entire week, then he would come to the condo with some expensive gift, a long story and his dick and I’d be his again.
    It was so bad I gave Diamond some of the make up gifts. Sometimes he would buy the same gift in a different color because he couldn’t remember what he had purchased last. That was a damn shame. If I had two or three of the same item I would give Diamond one. So far she had acquired two David Yurman ring and bracelet sets, a fur stole, numerous bags from various premier designers and a bunch of diamond jewelry.
    I picked up my cell and there was not even one missed call from Duke. He had come two nights prior and he seemed to be in a crazy rush. He had disappeared into the den and locked the door, which was strange. Initially when he put the fucking door on the den I had become suspicious, but I never ventured in that room. The last night he was here, I was so glad to see him I didn’t even question his apparent urgency to get in and out.
    But laying in the bed with nothing to do, lonely and bored, I started to think about how frantic Duke seemed to be. Even his sex was different that night. That fact alone made me very curious about what the fuck he had going on. I got up and pulled myself together, brushed my teeth and got the sleep cobwebs out of my head. Then I wrapped a silk robe around my body and shuffled my feet to the den door. I jiggled with the knob and the door popped open. I didn’t have shit else to do so I decided to snoop. It was something I had never had the urge to do until now. Duke hadn’t given me any real reason to suspect him of anything other than maybe his shady business with Dr. Gavin. I mean, shit had been great between us for a while.
    After Duke made me quit the job at the club, he was very attentive to me for a good long minute. We spent our nights going to dinner at exclusive places and having wild uninhibited sex, and I spent my days spending Duke’s money at various malls and boutiques. I had taken several trips to New York to shop at some of the swanky, one-of-a-kind boutiques in SoHo. I can’t front, I was living the good life. Duke had even sent me on an all expense paid trip to Turks and Caicos Islands. I had offered to take Diamond but she wouldn’t dare leave Virginia Beach without that piece of shit man she was still carrying.
    I lived each day as if shit was all good and I didn’t have time to complain. So snooping into Duke’s business wasn’t high on my list of priorities. I had long since put what I had learned about him to the far ends of my mind. I just wanted to enjoy the