Ashley
Ashley got out of the car at the same time Mike was exiting their three-car garage with a golf bag in his hand. He dropped it into the trunk of his car and closed the lid.
He stopped and put his hands on his narrow hips. “Where were you?”
“Out.”
“Where?”
“With a friend.”
“I saw Donna and Kelly at the gas station. They’re your only friends.”
She walked up the sidewalk. “I was with Jake.”
“All day? Again?”
“Yeah, again. So what?”
He stepped in front of her. “I don’t think it’s good for you to be spending so much time with him.”
She pushed past him. “I’ll spend time with whoever I want.” Opening the front door, she gave him one more look.
Mike entered the door before it closed. “What kind of attitude is that?”
She tossed her small pink purse on the counter. “It’s the kind of attitude I’ve always had. Do you have a problem with it suddenly?”
“Jake is a loser.”
She snapped him a dirty look. “You don’t know him well enough to make that assessment. Jake is a nice guy having a hard time. He could use a friend.”
“I know him enough. He’s a shiftless loser from a loser family. And he drags down everyone he touches. You’ve seen him twice in two days. How much friend does he need?”
She went to the fridge and took out a plastic container full of baby carrots. “I don’t know. How does one go about answering that asinine question?”
He shook his head. “You know what I mean. Why’re you spending so much time with him? Does he even have a job anymore? I’m pretty sure his business is bankrupt by now.”
“What does that matter?”
“I mean he’s a loser. He’s a beach bum.”
“He’s my friend, Mike. He’s been my friend for a long time.”
“He’s a lost cause. The guy is a piece of garbage. Let him sink into the abyss and fall off the face of the Earth.”
She was growing angrier by the moment. “Jake is not what you think.”
“I know enough. I know people who worked with him. The guy had a great career and threw it all away to fix bicycles. What kind of loser does that?”
She sneered, “He bought a bike shop.”
“He’s a moron. He could have been on Wall Street. The guy gets handed a position at one of the most regarded investment firms on the planet and he quits to sell bikes to a bunch of drunks on the beach.”
“You’re crazy. He hated that work. Not everyone needs to make a lot of money to define themselves.”
“He dragged Cassie down. She came from a good family. She was slumming around with him and look where that got her.”
Ashley looked at him with complete contempt. “That’s not fair. That’s a shitty thing to say.”
“He deserves to wallow in pain for what he did.”
She felt the heat of anger welling up in her. She took a fistful of carrots and nearly whipped it at his head but she didn’t want to waste the food. “You’re a real jerk-off sometimes. That’s really shitty. What the hell kind of attitude is that?”
He picked up his phone. “It’s the same attitude I’ve always had.”
“So you’ve always been a jerk-off?”
Pointing with his phone, he said, “Stay away from him. I don’t want that loser dragging you down.”
“Mike, what is this crap? Are you jealous of him?”
He moved closer to her. “Should I be? I mean, you tell me. Is there something going on with you two?”
“No, there isn’t. We’re good friends.”
“Yeah, maybe he’s playing you to get into your pants.”
She huffed. “You’re disgusting. You think he’d play on my sympathies to get a piece of ass?”
“I know men, it’s what they do.”
“Speak for yourself. Jake isn’t like that. He never was and he certainly isn’t going to start now.” She resisted mentioning the fact that he’d cheated on her already. She knew it, but he didn’t know that she knew. It was something she was keeping in her back pocket.
“Says you.”
“Yeah, says me. And since you’re supposed to love me, you’ll trust me.”
“Maybe I can trust you today but maybe not tomorrow. People break the bond of trust all the time. Tomorrow is another story. Maybe I’ve trusted you for the last time. Maybe I’m done trusting you tomorrow. I have a career here, and a public image.”
“Fuck you!” She let that slip. It just came out, she didn’t usually swear at him. “Is that what this is about? Your career? Your public reputation? You think you’re going to sell fewer houses if there’s a Robertson family scandal? You’re a complete slimeball.”
“I’m done with you and your childish behavior. Done! I can’t live like this. I’m tired of being the only adult in this relationship.” He stormed out the door and slammed it hard behind him.
Ashley took a deep breath and popped a carrot into her mouth. She chewed so hard and fast she bit the inside of her lip and drew blood. With a shake of her head, she tossed the rest of the carrots into the container and probed the cut on her bottom lip with her tongue.
Mike had a knack lately for getting under her skin. But they were just weeks away from their eighth anniversary and she honestly didn’t know if she was going to make it another day.
Her old boss Lynn had warned her not to marry Mike about a hundred times. The entire time they were engaged, Lynn was ending her marriage of fifteen years. She was so anti-marriage that Ashley didn’t take anything she said seriously. Looking back now, so much of what she’d said was making sense.
The biggest thing that kept sticking out was that a few months ago she had a suspicion that Mike was having an affair. When she found out the truth, she didn’t even care. The fact she didn’t care was what seemed too stark in relation to everything. If she really loved him, that idea would crush her. Instead, all it did was make her wonder why she didn’t care.
If he had not cheated, it didn’t even matter. She knew in her heart that she didn’t love him anymore the way she once did. But maybe that was normal. Things change, people change, and feelings change. Yet marriages march on for decades undaunted, laughing in the face of the incredibly high divorce rate. Hers, however, was not meant to be one of them.
* * *
Castro
Castro waited on the pier. The darkness swallowed him up, just the way he liked. His phone rang and he answered without a word.
The voice on the other end was clean and emotionless. “Your last report was troublesome.”
“I just report what I see.”
“I think we should act now before it gets out of hand.”
“That’s your call.”
“I think it’s for the best.”
“How should I proceed?”
There was a long silence on the other side of the phone. “I think I’ll leave that up to you. But give me some time to do background. I want to know exactly who he is before we proceed.”
“Very well.”
“I have to make sure he’s not tied back to the organization in any respect.”
“I assure you he’s not. He’s a mixed up kid, that’s it.”
“All due respect, I like to know who I’m having—”
“Careful what you say.”
“Don’t worry, I’m discreet. And I pay well. So give me a couple days.”
“That’s your call.”
“In the meantime, just try to scare him away and see how he responds. Maybe we don’t have to proceed if he runs for the hills.”
“And if he doesn’t scare?”
“Why wouldn’t he scare?”
“Not everyone runs away at the prospect of a fight. Some people dig in their heels and push back.”
“Then we will have no choice but to proceed with extreme measures.”
“Very well.” He ended the call and lit a cigarette.