A Hustler's Wife Read online

  Gloria's face glowed. "Pardon me," as she held her hand over her heart. "This is my fiance, Sam, and Sam, this is... my Yarni."

  Yarni smiled as she watched her mother blush. She extended her hand to shake Sam's hand. He took her in his arms and hugged her. "Yarni, I'm glad to see you home." Yarni embraced him back.

  "Thanks for being there for my mother, Sam, I owe you big time." Yarni said in appreciation.

  "No, you don't have to thank me. I love your mother."

  "Judging by the look on her face, I would say she loves you too." Yarni moved in closer to Sam and spoke to him in a lower tone. "I can't recall when I've ever seen my mother glow over a man. To be honest, I've never ever seen my mother with a man." Sam laughed.

  "Yarnise, you have a room full of people here to see you.

  Don't you think you should tend to them?" Gloria interrupted with an embarrassed look on her face.

  "Sam, it was very much a pleasure meeting you. Yarni looked at her mother and smiled then looked over to Sam. "Don't worry, Sam, we'll talk soon," she winked and walked off.

  After Yarni greeted all her guests. She opened her arms and embraced Bengee, to show her appreciation for everything.

  For the next two weeks, everything was peaches and cream between Bengee and Yarni. She fully understood that Bengee had business to attend to in the streets and she tried not to blow up his cell phone while he was away from home. She was completely aware that in the street life, he can't trust a living soul, every bush shakes and it's easy for somebody to make a mistake.

  As far as Yarni was concerned, there was no room for any errors regarding Bengee. Yarni felt that when Bengee was in the streets, he needed to be totally focused on what he was doing. She never distracted him unless it was an emergency. Bengee would check in on a regular basis anyway. They'd always eat dinner together. After dinner, he may go back out for a little while, but he'd always return home at a respectable hour.

  However, one particular Friday night, she'd been out all day shopping with Cara. Cara and Yarni checked in with Bengee, and he mentioned that he was not feeling well, and would probably beat her home.

  When she arrived home at 12:35 the house was empty.

  Bengee's number wasn't on the caller ID. She took a shower, jumped in the bed and fell off to sleep. When she rolled over to hug Bengee, there was no Bengee and now it was 5:26a.m. He wasn't in the den, and his car wasn't in the garage. What the hell?

  This was so unlike Bengee, so she began to worry. She called his cell phone. He didn't answer. The voice mailbox was full and he didn't answer at the shop. She immediately began to imagine the worst. Was he locked up? Was he hurt somewhere? Had he been in an accident? Or even worse, was he dead. Oh, my God!

  Lord, please.

  Yarni called the Richmond city jail, Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield county jails. She called MCV, St. Mary's, Henrico Doctors, and Chippenham Hospital. None had heard of Benjamen Whales. Yarni felt panicked. She didn't know whom else to call. All she could do is wait. After all, she was his next of kin, so if anything happened; they'd have to notify her. She began to pace the floor. She sat down on the couch, turned the T.V. on and flipped through the channels. Her mind couldn't focus on anything, wondering if Bengee was dead or alive. Tears started forming in her eyes, when she pondered the fact that she'd been incarcerated for seven months, totally separated from Bengee, and now that they'd finally been reunited, she'd couldn't deal with the thought of Bengee being removed from her life.

  Just then the phone rang. She hesitated. Was it a nurse from the hospital, a homeboy of Bengee's calling to present her with bad news of Bengee's whereabouts? Her heart was racing. Her palms sweaty as she grabbed the phone she saw it was Bengee's cell phone number. Oh, Thank God, he's alive, she thought. No, maybe it's someone else using his phone.

  "Hello?" she said, into the phone receiver holding her breath.

  "Hey baby, it's me." Bengee said.

  "Are you O.K.? I've been worried sick!"

  "I am O.K. now. I am on my way home. I'll explain everything when I get there." Yarni began to breathe again.

  After hanging up the phone with Bengee she started to cook breakfast. When Bengee came in, Yarni ran over to him and exploded in his arms. But when she smelled the strong scent of Irish Spring soap, a soap that they didn't use, she knew there was someone else. The whole time he was out, never once was she worried about Bengee being with another girl. His well being was her only concern. The nerve of him, to have me up worry-ing myself to death. If he wanted to stay out all night, all he had to do is pick up the phone and call to let me know he was staying out. Her body stiffened, and in response, he intuitively began to run down a well-rehearsed version of where he was.

  "I stopped by Tank's house for a drink. I ended up having a few. I was drunk as hell. I laid on Tank's sofa and fell asleep, and when I woke up, it was light outside. I jumped up and came straight home."

  She looked as the words fell clumsily out of his mouth, studied every facial expression and memorized it in her mind.

  Damn, does he really think I am that dumb to believe this bull? Yeah, I might've been lovesick and stupid enough to throw my whole life away for him, but, trust and believe, brother, I am not as naive as you perceive me to be. This dude don't believe shit stinks until he's knee deep in it. As bad as I want to jump out of this chair and throw a freaking "Yarni attack" I will not. I will keep my composure. And guess what, Mr. Bengee? I will teach you a lesson about being an inconsiderate nigga and playing on my intelligence as well. These words that Yarni wanted to say to Bengee, she kept to herself. She would bide her time.

  Yarni recalled something she'd overheard Des tell Slim.

  "When somebody does you wrong and you feel they need to be taught a lesson, you don't always act right then. You play your position. Make them get so comfortable with you not reacting.

  They start slipping because they think you are weak. Then you react by doing the same thing to them. But you do it in a keen-er way, the way that it should have been done in the first place.

  Once you make your move, the cat won't know what hit him." Yarni laughed to herself thinking this joker is wild. She recalled the initial phone call. She realized what that was all about. It was a "vibe call". He was only calling to check the vibe, to see if I was upset at him for staying out all night, and so he wouldn't be caught off guard, and he could prepare on the ride home. She was not mad because she played cool. Now she had the upper hand. She could look in his eyes and see he felt guilty and guilt will make you TILT!!!!

  Bengee continued to play his hand, saying whatever he thought Yarni wanted to hear. "Baby, we're going to Regency Square Mall to Fink's Jewelry to look at a Rolex. I want to buy a new one for myself and we need his and hers Rolex's anyway." She went along, fixed his breakfast, straightened up the house, dressed and accompanied Bengee to the mall where he purchased the watches plus a new Movado watch just for everyday, kick around wear. He spent the rest of the day with her, but it was clearly timed. He informed her he had one vital run he had to make. He claimed it would only take an hour. Yarni did not object. That was perfect. It was just enough time to execute her plan.

  Yarni gathered some things threw them in an overnight bag and left the house. She was hurt and didn't want to leave, but as she contemplated, one thing came to her mind that gave her the inspiration to walk out of that door "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!!!!

  ON THE WAY BACK HOME:

  Darchelle was very pretty. Some said she and Yarni favored each other a bit, physically. They both had the same caramel complexion and smooth skin. Darchelle had recently streaked her hair with bronze color exactly like Yarni. Their builds were the same. The only difference is, Yarni was more shapely and about two inches shorter than Darchelle.

  Darchelle was an upscale freak, and boy, could she give a blowjob. She had a nice set of false teeth; she would take them out when it was time to give her, "state of the art blowjob." With her having no teeth
, she could suck the chrome off of a

  Chevy. He never took her anywhere. He only saw her at her apartment. Occasionally, he helped her out with bills, as well as gave her pocket change. One hundred dollars was her maxi-mum. He'd never give her, or spend more on her, more than that at one time. One hundred dollars was nothing to him. He wiped his butt with that chump change. Darchelle tried her hand with Bengee every time she saw him. It was the same conversation, day in and day out.

  "Bengee, can I have $500?" Bengee would laugh hysterically and look into Darchelle's face, holding his stomach as if what she'd asked for was so funny.

  "Darchelle, now be real, how am I going to get $500.00

  worth of pussy out of you when I'm a two minute brother and my girl is at home straight taxing me? I gotta make sure home is taken care of, first and foremost. You can take this hundred dollars or I can keep it in my pocket." As he continued to drive, he reflected over the stunt Darchelle had pulled last night when he told her that he couldn't be bothered with her anymore. Like a champ, she accepted the rejection, but only had one request. She wanted to freak him one last time before he walked out of the door for good. She did everything humanly possible. After she finished, she asked him did he still want to call it quits. He said, "yes," although he wanted to give her a standing ovation for the encore performance she had just put on. Instead of her cussing and fussing, she freaked and sucked on him, until he fell asleep. When he looked at the clock, he dozed off to sleep. He hadn't realized that this scandalous broad had set the clock back so he wouldn't realize the real time and leave. When the sun started to beam through her window, he woke up, and looked at his cell phone for the real time. He cussed her out, smacked her around, took a shower and raced home to Yarni. Darchelle was history, a Done Deal!!!

  What else could I do to make this up to Yarni? He asked himself. I bought her a Rolex, plus I am going to take her to a bed and breakfast this weekend. She'll get over this. She loves me. It ain't like she is going to leave me. Leave me? Yeah right, where she going? Who's going to treat her as I treat her? Who's going to provide for her as I? Des? But where is Des? Locked Up!!! And he's seven hours away. Yeah right, she can't run to Des. She'll be O.K. in a few days when this blow over, he convinced himself.

  He drove up to a street vendor selling flowers and bought the whole bucket.

  Back at the house he didn't see Yarni's truck in the driveway.

  He walked in the house. No lights or T.V. was on. His immediate thought was that she ran to the store. He cut the light on in the bedroom and saw a note in the middle of the bed.

  Bengee,

  There's no need to worry. I will be back. Don't know a definite time. No need to go through the hassle I went through calling all the jails, and hospitals, because I am just fine.

  XOXO,

  Sweetness

  "That Bitch," he screamed, dialing her cell phone, but the phone starting ringing in the house. He looked on the night table and the phone was there on the charger. He flipped through every single contact in her cell phone, and he called every number on the caller ID looking for Yarni. He called Cara, but Cara hadn't heard from Yarni since the day before at "Awful Arthur's".

  Suspicious of Cara, he rode pass her house to see if Yarni's truck was parked anywhere in the vicinity. Yarni nor the truck was nowhere in sight. He called Gloria, and of course she's going to say she didn't see Yarni. Later he drove pass Gloria's house at 4am to see if Yarni's truck was there. He even parked three houses down the street, walked to Gloria's house, and crept around the back to see if Yarni's T.V. was on in her old room. He knew Yarni couldn't sleep without the T.V. on, so if the T.V. was on, she would be there. There wasn't any T.V. playing, which meant no Yarni. Bengee returned home to lay in the bed awake all night long. His mind started playing tricks on him as he laid there.

  He'd hear a noise as if someone could've been at the door. He jumped out of the bed; only to realize, it wasn't anything at all.

  He saw a light through the bedroom window. He got up to look, wishing it wasYarni's car lights.

  Eleven a.m. Sunday morning, Bengee got dressed to go to her church. If Yarni did nothing else, every single Sunday she was at church, but this Sunday. Yarni wasn't there. Maybe something happened to Yarni. Did the truck get a flat? Yarni doesn't know how to change a flat. Did she get car jacked?

  Yarni coasted down the street to scope out the house, after her long journey from seeing Des. She didn't see Bengee's car anywhere in sight. There was no need in calling him. She knew he would be bothered that she didn't come home the night before, especially since it was now 11:15 pm the next night.

  That's exactly what she wanted. Now he's got a taste of his own medicine.

  She was a little frightened when she approached the house.

  She kept in mind that Bengee was on the psycho side. He had never pulled any crazy stunts with her, but she heard rumors of him being abusive in his other relationships. He'd even admitted some of it to her. He'd promised her that he'd never put his hands on her. So far, he had kept his word. She never gave him a reason to fly off the handle at her. She was the perfect girlfriend. At the same time, just because she was obedient and very submissive to him did not mean that she was weak. The walk up the sidewalk was a very long one. Yarni's heart was beating three times its normal rate. She was prepared for whatever was about to happen. She had already drawn the conclusion that things were about to hit the fan. Men always try to reverse the charges and put everything on the woman when they are the ones who are wrong. This is exactly what she was expecting from Bengee.

  She started laughing as the thought, he may fight, he may fuss, but nothing he can say or do, can take away how he felt laying in that bed lonely by himself worried about me!

  Yarni entered the house. The kitchen light was the only light on. She walked through the living room. She could tell that Bengee had a tantrum. One of her lamps was broken along with a couple of her crystal figurines. She proceeded down the hall and noticed a clothes hanger on the floor. She took three more steps. There was another clothes hanger. She walked in the bedroom. The bed was unmade. There were hangers and some empty shoeboxes all over the bed and the floor near the closet.

  She looked in the closet. All Bengee's clothes were gone.

  She laughed to herself and came to the conclusion that if he took his things, that was something he wanted to do anyway.

  Rest assured. It's Not over yet. It's too easy. She smirked knowingly as she shook her head in amusement. They had too much invested. Bengee could be unpredictable, but one thing she knew, he'd be calling. Maybe not tonight, oh, but trust and believe, Bengee is going to call. He's going to want an explanation about where I've been. Yarni unpacked her bag took a shower and pulled out a book, and began to read.

  At 2am, the phone rang. She looked on the caller ID and it was an unavailable number. She answered. The caller hung up.

  Thirty minutes later, the phone rang again. She saw Bengee's number on the caller ID. I knew he'd be calling. I know him like a book. She thought as she picked up the phone.

  "Hello?" Yarni said.

  "Oh, you'd finally remembered where you lived, huh?" Bengee said in a sarcastic tone.

  "You moved out, so why do you care when I come home?"

  "Yeah, I might've moved out, but the last time I checked, you had a routine, out by 9 in by 5, playing housewife and shit, so where were you? You got lost, took a wrong turn or what?

  "What is this the third degree? You wanna play 20 questions?

  I didn't bother to question you about the other night, did I?"

  "On the real, you can't question me, I'm the man. I'm the one who makes all this possible. I pay the mortgage and every other bill and tab you run up."

  "Yeah, you right. But keep this in mind, what's good for the goose is good for the gander."

  "Yarni, we're not going to get into a heated debate because there is just no win with you. The bottom line is, I was worried about you. I didn't know if you w
ere dead or alive."

  "It ain't so nice when the tables are turned. Reminds me of that old saying it ain't fun when the rabbit got the gun," Yarni said.

  "You always got something slick to say out of your mouth.

  Look baby, I'm on my way home." As upset as he was and determined to leave Yarni, he just couldn't.

  "Home? Look, Bengee this house isn't a revolving door.

  Either you're here permanent or you can stay wherever the hell you are at."

  Bengee returned home and Yarni never had another problem with him pulling an all nighter.

  LOVE IS BLIND

  After the all nighter episode with Bengee, Yarni knew that he could not be trusted. Yarni ran to Ukrop's in Bengee's car, when she opened the trunk to put her bags in it, "Oh my God!" she got the shock of her life. She stood in the parking lot in astonishment as she stood there looking at the explicit photos that she saw scattered across the trunk of the car. She guessed they were taken while she was locked up. Some of the explicit photos were of stripper broads, and some were of Darchelle.

  Darchelle was planning a shock of her own. She called Yarni at the beauty parlor and told her that she was pregnant with Bengee's baby, although she really wasn't. Plus, she played the dirty drawers trick. She went and purchased a duplicate pair of Bengee's boxers, washed them to make them look worn. And when she saw Yarni's truck parked in the mall, she hung the boxers on her side view mirror with a note, "are these your man's boxers?"

  Yarni would not be outdone. No, No, No, I won't get mad, I'll just get even. She pulled out her address book, and addressed a bunch of envelopes to all the guys she knew that was in jail.

  She made copies of the photos she found in Bengee's trunk, extra copies of the one of Darchelle with her legs wide open, and mailed them off. She sent the extras along with a chain letter so they could pass it on to their homeboys locked up with them.

  Yarni also acquired Bengee's code to his cell phone voice mail. It was easy for Yarni to figure out the code. Men would like to think they are so smart, but they really don't apply themselves. Men codes are usually their kid's birthdays, their address, mother's address, last four digits of their social security, 6969, 1234, 9999, or something to that effect. She'd listen to his messages secretly. Never would she speak on anything she heard, nor would she erase any of the messages. She'd leave them new and would only use the information to her advantage, like if a female left a message about a time they were supposed to meet.