“Well, you were fortunate enough that you moved in after she’d gone, but Angie used to be prettier. According to her, she is getting over a crystal meth addiction and that she put on the weight after she got clean. If she wasn’t an evil woman, I wouldn’t care if she weighed a thousand pounds!”

“How’d she lose them teeth? Did she say?” Woaweesa seemed fixated on that.

“The loss of her teeth was from something called meth mouth, I believe. I think the meth also messed up her skin. She has definitely changed quite a bit.”

“I just hate that she ruined your birthday. I know Hank went to a lot of trouble to put that together.”

“Well, today is our one-year anniversary,” I informed her. “I’m planning a special dinner and everything! Hank loves chicken alfredo, so I’m running to K-Mart in a little while to pick up some of the ingredients.” I paused. “I just hope Angie doesn’t do anything to mess this day up too!”

My boy had been on my mind all morning.

I knew that Angie’s reappearance had acted on him like acid being poured on his skin. I also knew that Austin wasn’t happy that I had put the ex-wife up in a clean and decent motel for a couple of nights and had given her the cash for food.

Despite the fact that Austin was obedient to me, the boy had the spirit of a wild stallion and that was nothing short of beautiful to me. After all, I wasn’t forcing him to be my submissive. He didn’t have to do as I told him, but the fact was that he wanted to please me, and it meant the world to me. He wanted to be mine and belong to me. He loved me like no other ever had, and there was no way in hell that I was ever going to let that go without a fight.

Seeing Angie again had been like receiving a surprise visit from a horrible hobgoblin. In fact, it had brought back nothing but bad memories of that stormy three-year marriage of ours.

I knew that on some level Austin was insecure about Angie. I could tell that he felt threatened. Austin harbored insecurities about us—like I’d settled for him or something crazy like that. The truth was that he had settled for me.

My boy was so bright and smart that he could’ve done anything that he set his mind to, but he chose to become my wife and take my last name. Now, as Austin’s protector and his husband, it was time to eliminate this problem that we faced. Even though Austin had nothing to fear from Angie, I knew that it was my place as the man to get shed of her once and for all.

I had a feeling what Angie really wanted. It wasn’t me or the house or to take Austin’s place—the bitch wanted cash. So I left my office and stopped off at the bank to make a large cash withdrawal.