Every Woman Needs a Wife by Naleighna Kai

another direction. “Think of the kids.”
    “I am. They already know her as your—client? And somehow you’ve managed to keep them quiet about it.” Then her light brown eyes narrowed. “It must’ve cost you a pretty penny in DVDs and video games.”
    Vernon grimaced. “iPods and laptops.”
    “Ahhhh,” Brandi said, beaming and blinking, “I knew that was more than just fatherly love.”
    “She’s not staying!” he roared.
    Brandi relished the rippling vein near his temple. “Oh, yes she is, stud. She’s part of the family now. They love her out there. Didn’t you see your mother warm up to her?” Brandi winked, gushing as she gripped his shirt. “She’s a beauty and a keeper. You did us proud, honey!”
    “This is not going to happen in my house!” he shrieked. “Either I go or she goes.”
    “Oh no, my brother, that’s not a threat anymore,” she said in a normal tone while pointing to the exit. “The door’s that way. So get your stroll on and mosey on down to the no-tell motel or heartbreak hotel, whichever one will take your tired behind in.”
    “Look, I—”
    She held up a hand, cutting him off. “End of discussion! My…
wife
, the woman you’ve been
doing
on the sneak tip, is about to earn her keep the honest way—on her feet taking care of me, instead of on her back fucking you.”
    Brandi sailed past him and out to the party, closing the door behind her.
    When had his wife become such a hard-core bitch? She’d been feisty when he’d first met her on Fisk campus, but it was the sadness in her eyes that told him something lay underneath, something deep and disturbing, though she tried to hide it with a cold brush-off for anyone who tried to get close. The only other man who had a chance was Michael Cobb, and sources told Vernon that the man was taking things slow. Too slow, because Vernon was able to inch in after Michael had laid at least two years of groundwork and was all set to close in for the kill. And he would never have thought Vernon would be competition. Especially since Brandi and Vernon went at it every time he showed up on the Fisk campus…
    ♥♥♥
     
    Brandi strolled down Seventeenth Street trying to keep up with Avie, who was on her way to chew Veronica Chapman out for trying to steal herboyfriend. Crowds had gathered on the left, spreading out over the campus lawn like weeds. As they passed the library, they ran smack-dab into the Morehouse Seven as Vernon and his friends, visiting from Atlanta, were called. She tried to avoid them at all costs, especially since the leader of the group always had words with her. None of them kind.
    Vernon’s smooth voice carried across the lawn. “Maybe if you’d loosen up and get a little dick, you wouldn’t be so mean all the time.”
    Brandi whirled to face him, books in hand, as students who were engaged in conversation slowly turned their attention to the two squared off near the wire gate.
    “Maybe if you had one that was longer than three inches, you might have a chance.”
    “Oooooooh no she didn’t,” someone said in the midst of the howls of laughter.
    Vernon wasn’t going to let that ride. “How can you even know what that is, since you haven’t had dick since dick had you.”
    Brandi flinched. How dare he say that she hadn’t seen a dick or had any since she’d been conceived. He wanted to play dirty? So be it. “Don’t have to have any of yours to know that you’re the reason masturbation was created.”
    The women in the crowd clapped and cheered as Brandi strutted past the men. And that was how it went almost every weekend. They fought like debtor and collection agency.
    Michael continued to be the wonderful, charming man she had come to consider a constant in her life. He was quietly aggressive, but nowhere near as fiery as Vernon. Michael sat back thinking Brandi was a sure thing.
    Vernon would show him that nothing was a sure thing when it came to women.
    Now, it seemed, Brandi was going to use