My Mans Best Friend (9781622860241) by Tresser Henderson

bed and got dressed, looking back at Dark and Sexy snore with his mouth wide open. Usually I took a shower, but it was getting late. I had to get home before Derrick filed a missing person report.
    Picking up his slacks off the chair, I reached into his back pocket but nothing was there. Squeezing his pants, I felt nothing. Where could it be? Picking up his jacket I did the same, finally feeling something in his inner left pocket. There was his wallet. Opening it I looked for cash first.
    â€œJackpot!”
    He had eight hundred and sixty-four dollars in cash, four platinum credit cards, three gas cards, and some other credit cards to major department stores. I almost screamed with joy. I loved when a scheme came together. Also in his wallet were pictures of what looked like his wife and kids. They were smiling, looking like the happy little family. And he was here with me. Goes to show happiness does not take you far these days. If you got a good man, you needed to keep him, but they came few and far between.
    I snatched most of his money leaving a few bills. I also took one credit card and one gas card. As high as gas was these days, I should have taken all three. The reason why I only took one of each was because most times, it would take them awhile to realize one was missing. If I always walked out of here with everything, I felt it would draw more suspicion to me.
    Snatching the score out of his wallet, I put it back in his pocket, blew a kiss to his sleeping body, and left him there to find out about my cost for his pleasure later.

Derrick
    It’s funny how the tables turned. I was just talking to Kea about trust, and here I was suspecting Zacariah of cheating on me again. Why else would she stay in the clubs? Why else would she come stepping foot up in our home so late at night? I mean, the next morning.
    It took everything in me not to go off and break her neck, but I restrained myself as much as I could. She came strolling in after four. I waited in our room in the dark. She thought I was in bed sleeping, but I watched her every move. I could tell she looked disheveled and wondered how in the hell she got that way if she wasn’t sleeping with another man.
    Never turning on the light, she went into our walk-in closet and clicked the light on in it. She undressed, and I waited for her to put on her robe and head for the bathroom. She started to do just that, but my voice bellowed through the darkness, startling her. She jumped, grabbing her robe shut like it was going to shield her from the evil presence lying in wait for her.
    â€œWhere have you been, Zacariah?” I asked with a calm, serious voice. With the lights still off, I knew she couldn’t see my hands digging into the arm of the chair, close to ripping it to shreds.
    â€œBoy, you scared me half to death,” she said, trying to sound innocent.
    â€œWhere have you been?”
    â€œI was out with Essence.”
    â€œAnd the two of you have been together all night?”
    â€œYes, Derrick, we partied, and then decided to get a bite to eat before we came home. What’s with all the questions?”
    â€œAnd you went to a restaurant looking like that?”
    Zacariah put her hand to her frizzy hair and said, “I know I look ruff but if you danced all night and sweated your hair out, you would look like this too. I mean, damn, you can’t expect me to come out looking like I did when I got there.”
    I laughed thinking this woman was good. I rubbed my chin contemplating the next thing I wanted to say.
    â€œWhy are you lying?” I asked her sternly.
    â€œOh, here we go again. You with your accusations. Derrick, I’m not lying. Call her. She’ll confirm we were together.”
    I laughed again, rubbing the back of my head thinking maybe that would relieve some of the pressure that was building up within me.
    â€œI know Essence would confirm y’all being together. That’s your girl, and that’s