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

shit he was providing. I wanted to work my way to being his wife, so I kept my mouth shut and my legs wide open. But six months after I had given up everything for Duke, I found myself alone and wondering what the fuck was keeping him away from me all the time. I told myself that my burning desire to know was human nature. Curiosity killed the cat, but is also a natural part of life. Anybody would’ve gotten nosey by now, especially a woman bored as hell.
    I walked into the den and looked around. Nothing looked amiss. Well, it wouldn’t have since Duke paid a cleaning lady to come into the condo every other week. I didn’t even have to clean, that’s how deep this shit was. I walked over to Duke’s desk. Of course, all of the drawers were locked. “Shit!” I cursed, disappointed. I flopped down in his leather swivel chair and turned it towards the big window. Looking out towards the beach, the view from the condo was simply breathtaking. But it caused me to shake my head. I didn’t have my man there to enjoy the beach with me.
    “ Fuck this bullshit,” I grumbled. I was mad, somewhat pissed off. This wasn’t what I envisioned. I jumped out of the chair and raced into the kitchen. I opened all of the counter drawers looking for a knife. It was a damn shame I didn’t even know where the knives were, because I had never had to cook a meal in the condo.
    “ Finally!” I gasped as I located a steak knife. With my heart racing, I rushed back to the den. I immediately started jimmying the locks. My hands were shaking which was making it nearly impossible for me to get the damn locks popped. “Dammit!” I cursed, pushing my hair out of my face. I was exasperated. I stood up and looked around.
    “ Where would somebody with a billion places to live leave the keys?” I verbally asked myself. I stopped and tried to focus, get my thoughts together. And that’s when it hit me, I was thinking like me and not like Duke. That’s what I needed to do, think like Duke Carrington.
    I knew the keys were there in the house. Then it came to me as if it was a vision from God. Every time Duke came to the condo he went straight into our closet and then he would go into the den, put away whatever he had to put up and then come to me.
    “ So fucking predictable,” I growled as I rushed back to the bedroom. First, I opened the nightstand drawers on his side of the bed. Duke had opened the drawers several times during his visits to the condo. The drawers were empty. I went into our closet and rifled through the pockets of the three pairs of pants he left at the condo. Another dead end . . . I didn’t find anything.
    My shoulders slumped in disappointment. Then I spotted the black Armani blazer hanging all by its lonesome a few feet away from the pants. My heart skipped a beat because I knew I was on point with the blazer. I raced over to the blazer and dug in the outside pockets. Shit, nothing. Then, I reached into the inside, breast pocket.
    “ A-fuckin’-ha! Bingo!” I screamed, as my hands shook uncontrollably. There was a set of keys in the blazer’s inside pocket. My mouth was as dry as the scorching desert as I gulped a lump of fear. I don’t know why I was so scared, because I was alone and the alarm was on so if Duke tried to come in I would definitely hear him. I gripped the keys tightly for a minute. I was hesitating.
    This sucked. I had racked my brain looking for these fucking keys and now that I had found them, I was hesitant to use them. “Lynise put the keys back,” I whispered to myself. No! I was going to open that damn desk. I had to open those desk drawers. I ran through the condo as if someone was chasing me. When I reached the den, I fumbled with the keys. The first key didnThe t work. Then the second key didn’t work. It was the fourth key that finally opened the drawers on the desk. I bent down and pulled open the first drawer. Inside was just a little composition notebook. I opened it and read some of