Page 88 of This Woman Forever
“And anyway.” She gets up, and I scowl at the pathetic excuse for a pair of shorts before giving her my annoyed eyes. Anyway, what? “I don’t know how to lash a whip, so I think I’m a little under qualified.”
My jaw hits my lap. Why? Why does she need to be so fucking spiteful? “That was a little childish, don’t you think?”
She looks away, obviously ashamed. It’s a relief. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs. “I didn’t mean it.”
Then why fucking say it? And people around here think I’m impulsive and shoot from the hip? I scoff. At least my mouth’s under control, which is more than I can say for my wife’s. And now she won’t look at me.
“They’ll be an hour,” John says, looking between us. “And before I forget, we’ve had a further three memberships cancelled.”
Before he forgets? “Three?”
“Three. All female,” he says as he leaves.
Whose idea was it to come here? My mood has fallen into the gutter, and this place seriously spikes some undesirable behavior from Ava. I rest my elbows on my desk and sigh into my hands. I’m there all of five seconds before I’m out again, being pushed into the back of the chair by Ava. Oh? She sits on the edge of the desk and motions to the mess. “I’ll sort all of this out.” She feels guilty. Is it terrible that I’m secretly happy about that? “But you need to get someone on this. It’s a full-time job.”
And there’s one woman who can solve that problem. A woman that needs The Manor as much as The Manor needs her. Everyone’s happy. Except my wife, I expect. “I know.” I lift her feet to my knees. What the hell am I going to do? “Go for a swim,” I order. I need to talk to John. “I’ll make a start on this, okay?”
“Okay,” she says quietly, but she makes no attempt to move, watching me, her mind obviously spinning.
“Go on, beautiful girl,” I say quietly. “Spit it out.”
“They’re withdrawing their memberships because you’re no longer available to fu—” Her lips press together, and my eyebrows raise. “To have sex with,” she finishes.
“It would seem so, wouldn’t it? I can see this pleases my wife.”
“What’s the ratio of men to women?’” Her curiosity is getting the better of her again.
“Members?”
She nods.
“Seventy thirty.” Last time I asked, anyway.
She can’t hide her surprise, and do I detect a little worry? Surely not. “Well, you might have to turn The Manor into a gay club,” she quips around a smile, and I laugh. We have many gay men and women, a few bisexuals too. Ava’s just not encountered them playing yet. Maybe never will, because I know she can’t face the communal room again.
“Go take a swim,” I order, getting her down from the desk and sending her on her way. The door is hardly closed behind her before it’s open again, John striding in.
“So you’re friends again?” he asks.
“Yes, we’re friends. What about us? Are we friends?”
He huffs, going to the window and gazing out. “You understand what you did, right?”
“Yes.” There’s no way I’d be rolling my eyes right now if John was facing me. “I understand.”
“And you understand that it was wrong?”
“Yes,” I grate.
“And you should be grateful you didn’t succeed, because that kind of life-changing decision should be made as a team, right?”
“Right.”
“So what’s wrong with you then?” he asks, facing me.
I twitch in my seat, uncomfortable. Where the fuck would I start? “What do you mean, what’s wrong with me?”
“Well, apart from the fact that you’re an irrational, neurotic, unreasonable, selfish prick.”