Every Woman Needs a Wife Read Free Page A

maybe not…”
    Anger flashed in the woman’s eyes as she cast a narrowed gaze at Brandi, but when she spoke, it was to Vernon. “Deal with this! I can’t believe you pulled this crap on me!”
    Glancing down, Brandi’s anger came back faster than she could rein it in. Tanya had a block of ice on her left hand large enough for a whole village to skate on—with or without lessons.
    Tanya edged away from the not-so-happy couple. “You could’ve gotten me killed. Suppose she came here with a gun?”
    “Actually, I don’t use those,” Brandi said, plucking an imaginary piece of lint from her navy pants. “But I
did
bring a knife. I got it from my friendly neighborhood hoodlums. They say it works a hell of a lot better than a gun. Less chance of discovery. Notice, I haven’t touched anything since I’ve been here.”
    Tanya’s eyes widened as she swallowed hard. “Are you serious?”
    Brandi shrugged. “The way I figure it, Biblically I have the right to kill both of you. You know, the adultery and casting the first stone thing and all.” She sighed wearily, placing a single hand on her chest. “But stones can be a little messy…”
    Tanya glared at her, countering with, “But there is that
do not kill
line in there, too. You do
know
the Ten Commandments, don’t you?”
    No this heifer didn’t come back with that!
Brandi leveled a stony gaze at Tanya, pissed that she had said anything at all, but then grinned anyway and answered, “Yes, Tanya, they’re in Exodus. But two books later in Deuteronomy it says that stoning the adulterers is A-okay.” She winked. “Now I’m down with that program. You first, babe.”
    Vernon’s look was fierce, almost malicious. “You’re out of your mind!”
    “No, stud, you’re out of yours,” Brandi shot back. “How the hell did you think you were gonna keep giving me the short end of the stick?” She lowered her gaze to his waist. “Literally—and think I wouldn’t figure it out?” She laughed. The outburst seemed to startle them both. “Normally, I can’t get my panties off quick enough. Now I can’t get a drive-by sniffing of dick. It doesn’t take a master’s to realize someone else is getting it, ’cause it certainly isn’t me.”
    Vernon winced, glancing over his shoulder at the now-cold dinner, then into the corner, then slowly back at Brandi. Her gaze followed his, landing on the black briefcase she had given him for their last anniversary. He squinted, speaking through clenched teeth. “You’ve got things all wrong.”
    Brandi folded her arms across her breasts. “Oh, really? There’s no problem here. I figure if you’re gonna sleep with the woman, don’t sneak around; just let me in on it.” She grinned, hiding the pain that shot through her heart. “I should at least get something out of it. If she’s reaping the fruits of my labor, she can come on home with me, help clean the house, wash your dirty drawers, and keep the kids.”
    Brandi glanced at Tanya, who stared ahead blankly, her bottom lip held prisoner by perfect white teeth. “She can even put some money on the bills, too. I don’t have a problem with that. I’m all for
us
having a mistress as long as she does her share of the work. There has to be more to it than her just lying on her back to keep you happy. Hell, I wanna be happy, too. Clean my damn house, help a sister out—take some of the pressure off me.”
    Tanya flinched as Brandi’s words chipped away at her dignity. She resembled a mannequin, staring at Vernon.
    Brandi turned to gaze solidly into his face. Her fingertips smoothed over the soft material covering his muscular chest. She straightened the tie loosely draped around his neck. “If you’re going to have a mistress—and this marriage is all about sharing, honey—then I should have a mistress, too. Every woman needs a wife.”
    Turning slowly to face a now-trembling mistress, whose eyes flashed with a glimmer of something that might have been pain,