Perfect Together by Kristen Ashley

“Honest to God, it says a lot about the man he is, and the respect he had for you and your decisions, also the faith in your marriage, that he didn’t tell you he didn’t want you around her anymore,” Kara put in.

“Why would he do that?” I asked, ignoring the “faith in your marriage” part because a creeping feeling was sinking in.

“Oh, I don’t know, because she dug into him right to him,” Kara replied.

Oh my God.

He’d never said anything.

“She did?”

Kara nodded.

“I remember when he was talking about that project in Chicago, and you had that fundraiser you were doing with the queen bees of Scottsdale, which was a massive score for you, and he mentioned he was flying to Chicago, and she said, ‘Of course you are,’ all snotty,” Kara told me. “He couldn’t miss what she meant. He was leaving you with the kids when your plate was seriously full.”

“Sabre was fifteen then, sixteen?” I noted. “So Manon was thirteen and Yves eleven. It wasn’t like, for the most part, they couldn’t look after themselves, or Sabre couldn’t look after them. And I worked from home then. I was just across the garage. What was she on about?”

“That wasn’t her worst offense.”

We all turned at these words and saw Reed, Kara’s husband, strolling in.

He went right to his wife, and the brie, put some on a slice of apple, popped it in his mouth and chewed.

“Did I say you were allowed beyond the estrogen barrier?” Kara asked.

Reed tipped his head to Noel. “He broke the seal. For years I’ve been dying to tomcat with you kittens. Here I am.” He then faced Noel. “Thanks, man.”

“One, I love you, your phraseology is everything, and two, you are more than welcome,” Noel replied.

They smiled at each other.

I had no time for this, no matter how cute it was.

“What was her worst offense?” I asked.

Reed looked to me. “She’s a man-hater, Wyn. This was why Jordy left. She never ceased trying to emasculate him. Honest to Christ, I have no idea how he put up with it for so long. I don’t even know how they got together in the first place.”

I hadn’t thought about it until right then, but before she set her sights on Cor, and Remy, and yes, even saying things about Reed, she made comments about Jordy that weren’t…right.

Not from a wife.

But it was her, it had always been her. And if I carried that further, when Jordy was gone and she moved it to the other men in her circle, we were used to it and used to not processing it in any real way, so we didn’t.

“And even as a man who feels he’s pretty damned manly,” Reed carried on, “I’ll allow that there’s every possibility Remy’s dick is way bigger than mine.” He turned to his wife. “Figuratively speaking, sweetheart.”

“Of course, I will state with witnesses how satisfied I am with my husband’s package,” Kara, hand on heart, announced.

“Oh my God, I am so glad a seat opened at this table,” Noel breathed.

Bernice giggled.

I wanted to find this amusing.

I did not find this amusing.

“And?” I pushed, aiming this at Reed.

“And, if you women weren’t around, she went for his jugular. She was a virtuoso with it. Always saying shit that was meant to make him bleed, but she had plausible deniability and it struck at his manhood. Like, ‘Oh Remy, you’re too sensitive, of course I didn’t mean that.’ I mean, no man wants to prove to some bitchy woman he’s sensitive by being, well…sensitive to her bullshit. It was masterful.”

“Like what would she say?” I asked. Even though I didn’t want to know, for some reason, I really needed to know.

“That’s part of the genius of it,” Reed said. “I honestly cannot remember a bitchy thing she said, but I do remember a lot of times Remy looking like he wanted to strangle her and thinking after she said something, ‘Fucking ouch.’” He reached for an olive, popped it in his mouth, chewed, swallowed and finished, “But it wasn’t just Remy. She did it to all us men. It was just she kept the real zingers for him.”

I stared down at my martini not knowing what to make of this, but knowing it made me feel exceptionally uneasy.

“I still think we should find out what’s behind this,” Bernice said, but there wasn’t a lot of oomph to it. “I’m not real hip on having someone in my life who I care about, who I just give up on.”

“You’re such a buzz kill, always having a conscience and shit like that,” Kara complained.

Bernice smiled at her.

I took a sip of my martini.

“Have you gotten to the part where Remy isn’t over her yet?” Reed asked.

Noel was also sipping at his martini, and he almost did a spit take.

Bernice made a “peep” sound.

Kara smacked Reed’s arm and snapped, “Reed! What the hell!”

My chest caved in on itself.

“What?” Reed asked. “Should I take that as a no, you haven’t?”

“Don’t you men have some kind of code or something?” Kara asked.

“Not when one of my male friends, which Remy still is…. You got Wyn, I got Remy, but I’m taking Wyn back, as you can see.” Reed threw his arm up his front to indicate his current location. “I’ll finish what I started by saying, not when one of my male friends has his head up his ass, which Remy does.”