“Thank you so much, Mr. Deveraux,” I tell my client and then hang up the phone with him. Mr. Deveraux owns a handbag company and is currently in China looking for a new factory to work with. He won’t be back for a week, so he agreed to let me borrow his jet to take Faye and the boys to Disneyland this weekend.

Dialing Faye, she answers after a couple rings. Her voice is like music to my ears. “What are you up to?” she asks me as I’m sitting in Denver waiting for our next flight.

“Not much, just in the Mile High City. Guess who I just got off the phone with?”

“Uhh, I have no clue,” she says, and I realize it was kinda dumb of me to ask her in the first place.

“The guy who owns the plane I wanted to borrow to go to Disneyland.”

“Oh really? What did he say?”

“That we can use it this weekend.”

“This weekend as in tomorrow?”

“Yeah, isn’t that great?”

“Uh, isn’t Char supposed to have Jack this weekend?”

“What’s that matter? Macy’s is probably having a sale, so she won’t care.”

“Really? You’d do that to her?”

“Babe, she’d do the same thing to me. Hell, she did. Our entire marriage all she did was lie about everything. She never wanted me home to be with her, it was so I could watch Jack, and she could shop.”

“So what are you gonna tell her then?”

“Nothing, I have primary custody.”

“Thane!” she scolds me and Elliott gives me a crooked glance.

“Fine, I’ll talk to her about it.”

“Good.” I’m not sure what it matters to Faye anyway. But I always want to make sure she’s happy. “Are we still on for dinner?” she asks me.

“Of course. I can’t wait. We should be taking off here in about thirty minutes.”

“Okay, well, fly safe. I’m gonna go get the boys.”

“Tell Jack I miss him.”

“I will. Bye, Thane.”

“Goodbye, beautiful.”

“Holy shit!” Elliot exclaims, “You’re pussy whipped.”

“Fuck off, man.”

He’s leaning back in his seat just staring at me. “I would’ve never thought it would happen to you, of all people.”

“You know what your problem is, man?” He tips his head to me, waiting for my response. “You focus too much on other people.”

“What else do I have to do?”

“Try to find someone who makes you as happy as Faye makes me.”

“Nah, not with work.”

“Captain?” Sasha, one of the stewardesses, says, as she pops her head into the flight cabin. “Are we clear to board the plane?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She smiles at Elliot, keeping her eyes on him for far too long. Then walks away from us. “Like Sasha,” I tell Elliot. “She’s into you. Why don’t you try and actually date someone for once?”

“Because I’ve already fucked her on a trip last month and I don’t have time to date, fool?”

“But you do have time to find someone different to hook up with every night of the week?”

“How the hell did this get turned back on me? You’re the one who’s pussy whipped!”

So what if I am. Is that such a bad thing? Isn’t that what happens to all guys eventually?

* * *

Leaving the airport after one hell of a bumpy flight from Denver to Seattle, I can’t wait to see Faye, to touch her sexy ass. The thought alone has my cock swelling and then that all stops as I get a text from Char. Do you think Jack could stay from Friday through Sunday?

Hearing from her reminds me of what I have to do. So I pick up my phone and call her.

“Hello?” she answers.

“Hey, I just got your text. Why do you need him all weekend?”

“I was gonna take him to that new water park that opened up, and the weather looks really good, so we might go a few times.”

“Can you do it next weekend?”

“No, I can’t.”

“Why not?” I ask her, aggravated that she can’t switch her plans when I always let her have him whenever she asks. Probably more so than I should.

“Because I’m looking forward to this and being with him helps a lot with my addiction and keeping away from shopping.”

“So what you really mean is you’re about to break, and you want him to keep you busy all weekend?”

“No, Thane, that’s not it at all. I just thought he’d like to go, and it’s cheaper if I buy a weekend pass.”

“Well, you’re spending my money, so don’t act like you’re pinching pennies or doing me any favors.” The goddamn alimony still pisses me off and the credit cards I’m paying for, that she wracked up shopping when we were married. It doesn’t make sense to me why it all falls on my shoulders.

“You’re such an asshole; you know that?”

“I know, you’ve told me plenty of times, and in order to keep up my reputation I’m gonna have to cancel your weekend with Jack all together.”

“Why?!” she screams and as much as I want to rub into her face how good things are going for me, I won’t.

“He just got invited to a sleepover birthday party, and he’s really looking forward to it.”

“I can take him to it.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Oh…now I get it, it’s for that little boy he was talking to on the radio. The son of the tramp you’re screwing.”

“Fuck you, Charlene!”

“Fuck you, Thane!”

I hang up, aggravated at her. She knows exactly how to push my buttons, better than anyone. But, with the weekend ahead of us, I’m not about to let anything or anyone bring me down.