“Ain’t that the truth! Girl, if you gonna hang with the big dogs, you gotta get you a thick fur coat. I recommend chinchilla.” More laughter. “Seriously, Duke seems like a real nice guy, but unless you live under a rock, you saw all his troubles aired on the TV last year. Be ready for no privacy.”

Angel caught Duke’s eye as he and Roland were standing by the bar, next to a quarterback she remembered from Hanes commercials. Then she spotted Serena Williams and her jaw almost dropped. Don’t get all fangirl.

“Oh, and every woman wants your man,” said one of the wives at her side. “That is the truth. I’ve been in the elevator with Jerrod when a couple of young thangs handed him their panties and a room number. I was standing right there! Those bitches probably won’t pull that stunt again, not unless they like being snatched bald, but that shit happens all the time.”

Another woman said, “We’ve had a crazy chick calling our house for the last four nights. Security is trying to figure out how to stop it, but I’ve had to turn off the landline. Who wants to wake up to a girl fingerbangin’ herself and telling my husband about it?”

“Seriously?” Kinley said.

“You know it’s true.”

“No, I meant you saying ‘fingerbanging.’ That’s just gross.”

“Kinley, let’s get a few drinks in you, then we’ll see who’s got the worse mouth.”

A woman with fine Eurasian features leaned in and waited for the others to get closer before saying in a low, conspiratorial voice, “I’ve got an appointment with a private detective tomorrow. Nicco claims he’s going to late-night practices and that it’s normal for the female masseuse to be in the locker room with them. I’m trying to decide if my prenup can be activated. What do you think, girls, is that crazy?”

“Hell no!” said an older woman, rearing her head back adamantly. “I’m so sick of worrying about the late nights and the hang-ups.”

“I just got Jennette into that private nursery school on Fifth Avenue,” said a pretty woman named Tiffani, who was standing next to Angel. She put a hand to her chest and said, “I don’t want to know nothing. I’m getting my girls into the best prep schools in the city, and that’s that. My dad worked at a gas station, and I barely made it out of high school. My husband knows he better not mess this up for our babies.”

“Honey, you have nothing to worry about. He is one of the good ones.”