The Available Wife Read Free Page B

from the table and stormed outside. When he saw me with the evidence in my hand, he gave me a guilty and shameful look.
    “Didn’t I tell you not to smoke in the fucking house?” I growled at him.
    “I know. I only did it when the boys were asleep.”
    “I don’t give a shit if they’re comatose! Don’t smoke in here!” I yelled before throwing the ashtray at his feet causing some of the ashes to scatter. “If you find a fucking job then you won’t have to smoke or drink!” I blasted before storming back inside the house.
    Running into my mother didn’t help the situation. I assumed she’d been ear hustling in the kitchen the entire time.
    “Why do you treat him like that?” she asked before taking a bite into what appeared to be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
    I stared into her hazel contacts and rolled my eyes. “Why are you even here?”
    “Your husband called me over here to stay with the boys so he could go to the airport to find out what was going on with your flight. He was worried.”
    “Oh really. Well, there was nothing going on with the flight. I decided to take another one.”
    “Well, why would you do that and not let anyone know?” she asked.
    I looked at my mother up and down because I knew she wasn’t questioning me in such a way. Last I checked, I was no longer a child.
    “Look, you can leave now,” was my response. “As you can see, I’m fine.”
    It looked like she wanted to choke me. I knew that look all too well. Jealous bitch . She walked past me in her fitted, size six, Ann Taylor jeans, navy blue tank top and black flip flops. My mother was a forty-eight-year-old dime piece. She could wear anything and always made that shit look good. I was the same way and sadly, was also the spitting image of her.
    “You’re gonna lose a good man with that stank attitude of yours. You need to get your shit together, Nikki,” she tried to chastise.
    “Mind your own business and get out.”
    “Gladly.”
    As she walked out, I could hear her outside saying her goodbyes. Johnathan begged and whined for her not to leave, but she told him that she’d be back soon, then left.
    I did everything in my power to not let anything that her or Germaine said get under my skin since I was on a feel-good high. But Germaine was pressing my nerves as usual. I knew he was going to be a softy when I first met him back in New Orleans six years ago. I was getting ready to burst onto the music scene with my sultry R&B sound while he assisted in producing tracks for my record. If only I’d known that my singing career would be shot to hell, I probably would’ve dropped his ass a long time ago.
    Germaine was different from the other men that I’d dealt with in my past. He was supportive and I needed that boost. But as the days became weeks, the weeks into months and the months into years, I needed the aggression that I was beginning to miss and Kingston harpooning into my life gave me just that.
    To avoid Germaine killing my mood, I disappeared behind the doors of my office where I spent the next few hours checking and replying to emails and messages that I received while out of town.
    When I came out of my office nearly five hours later, I found Germaine on our chocolate, leather sofa in the living room with his feet kicked up. I couldn’t believe his ass was watching Tom & Jerry on the Cartoon Network. Johnathan had fallen asleep in his lap and Nathan was in his arms.
    “Don’t you think you need to put them to bed?” I addressed.
    He glanced up at me and stretched causing Johnathan to shift positions. “Are you done taking care of your business?”
    “As done as I’m gonna be.”
    He yawned. “Good. Maybe you and I can have some alone time.”
    “If alone means me being in one room and you in another then that’s fine with me. I don’t know why you keep wasting your breath on that issue,” I huffed before lifting Johnathan from his lap and carrying him to his room.
    Although Johnathan