Page 7 of The Wife
“You want to show me what a man you are? You fed the girl who is half your age and half your size four shots. Let’s see how you do after seven?”
The man grimaced. As if seeing the numbers made him realize exactly what he’d done. Or at least I hoped I made my point.
Then the man sneered. “Fuck you.”
“Dude, trust me. The only thing you’re going to be fucking tonight is your right hand. Have a solid jerk off, douchebag. Try not to think of me when you do.” I took one of shots and fired it down. “Yeah,” I drawled, “little pussy like you … you probably don’t want to drink those. Bartender, you want to pass those out to those pretty ladies in the corner and tell them I said to stay away from this guy?”
“Sure thing, bro.”
I made my way to the girls, where Ellie was talking to the bouncer and pointing back at the asshole.
He nodded. “Yeah, I know the guy. Comes here all the time on Under Twenty-One night. He’s an asshat. I’ll take care of it, honey.”
“Thanks, Bob.”
“Have a nice rest of your birthday.”
She beamed at the guy. “It was the best birthday ever!”
That made me happy. That I had given her a fun night.
I followed the girls to my truck as Chrissy bobbed and weaved from side to side.
“I’m still so pissed at you for not sharing,” Ellie was hissing at her.
“You know I can hear you, right?”
She turned and gave me her what-I’m-so-innocent smile.
And I wanted her.
Nope. Not a switch you can turn off.
* * *
We droppeddrunk Chrissy off at home. It wasn’t pretty. After who knows how many shots, she was wasted. The good news was her parents were in bed, so it went down with little drama.
Ellie and I poured her through the front door, and she was on her own. Make it to her bedroom or bust.
Then we drove back to Ellie’s…her place…our place… my place?
I called itthe house. Long Valley was the ranch. The house was the house. It wasn’t hers or ours. It was just the house. Not a home either. Which in some ways made me sad, but I was a guy and we typically don’t get sad. For myself I simply try to force it away.
Forcing away sadness was a lot like trying to force away desire. It wasn’t always easy. I had set the wrapped gift up on the kitchen island before we left for the bar. I wanted it to be the first thing she saw when we got home.
Ellie always poured herself a glass of water right before bed, so as soon as we got inside she made her way to the kitchen.
I heard the gasp and smiled.
I liked that I’d made her gasp.
I followed her into the kitchen and she was holding the box to her chest. Like it didn’t matter at all what was inside it. Hell, I probably could have wrapped an empty box and she would have been happy with that.
I liked that she was that kind of girl. The kind of girl who understood that it was truly the thought that counted.
“What is it?”
“Open it and find out.”
