Chapter 10
Jake
The past week at work went exceptionally well, and I was proud of myself for not bringing it home and dragging it through the front door to my family. My awesome ass even brought dinner home twice this week after I managed to get out of the office only one hour late instead of my usual three.
I was doing a fantastic job and making monumental efforts to make up for missing my son’s band recital and then falling asleep on Ash while she told me about it.
“Monumental efforts, huh?” my brother’s humored voice rang through my ears while I continued to chew on the steak I’d just taken a bite of.
“You heard me,” I said. “After missing John’s big night, I’ve had my family-man mode cranked up. I put more effort into getting out of the office early and bringing home dinner not once,” I held up a finger and eyed him and the men at our secluded table with a cocky smile, “but twice.”
“Here! Here!” Spencer, my brother’s VP, said in a smart-ass tone. “To leaving work only one hour after closing time instead of three to five hours after that.”
Collin smirked at me. “That’s all fine and well, but you fell asleep on Ash while she was telling you about John’s big night. Dipfucker move, man,” he said.
I placed my steak knife and fork on each side of my plate and faced Collin’s smile.
I eyed my brother’s best friend, Alex, who had a shit-eating grin, too, “That was supposed to be between me and you,” I said to Collin.
“But since we have the whole fucking gang sitting here with their self-righteous moods, they all know too.”
“Hey, I’m just taking lessons on how not to fuck shit up again with Darcy,” Sebastian Aster said.
I smiled at my screwed-in-love friend, “You know, when I first met you Asters, I thought you all were a bunch of fucked-up East Coast billionaire dicks.”
Sebastian and his brother, John, grinned at each other, knowing I was correct in that assessment.
“You would be one hundred percent on that,” John Aster confirmed. “However, we’re not as stupid as we look, and now look at you. You love us.”
“Careful with that. He’s all mine, bitch,” Collin teased.
“What’s going on with you and Darcy anyway?” I decided to pry into Sebastian and Darcy’s situation, getting the spotlight off me.
In the company of these CEOs and doctors, who survived on giving each other shit at these dinners a couple of times a month, you didn’t want the target on your back.
“Darcy has agreed to move from Mexico,” Sebastian said with a just-fucked my girl smile.
“No shit?” Jim said, sipping his bourbon. “What did you say to get her to jump finally?”
“Nothing. We’ve just been dating and taking it slow, and unlike Jakey here,” he smirked at me, “I’m ensuring I give her more time than my job. It’s helping the relationship flourish.”
“The fuck?” I said with annoyance.
“And the troubled marriage case is back on the table,” Alex said with a chuckle while Spencer smirked at him, making me wonder if they knew something I didn’t.
“The troubled marriage case?” I said, looking at Collin for help. “Where the fuck is Brandt tonight, anyway? Last time we all sat around this damned round table, his ass was the one in trouble with the lady.”
“Dipshit is proposing to Jessa,” Collin said. “Finally took my advice and stopped fucking around. Well, not proposing, but getting the whole venue, ring, and pomp and circumstance together to make it happen.”
“Well, it’s easy to say he’s doing better than us then,” I answered.
“Speak for yourself,” Jim said with the same grin I’d seen him, Sebastian, Spencer, and Alex trading back and forth with each other all fucking night. “My wife is extremely content with our marriage.”
“What the hell is going on here?” I questioned, feeling an ambush coming on.
“We’re eating dinner,” Sebastian said.
“No,” Collin finally stepped up after realizing something fishy was happening. “Jake’s right. You’re all making too much of an issue about Jake and Ash for the information he’s given you.”
“Thanks, man,” I said, knowing Collin would always be my ride or die.
“No problem, lover,” he teased.
“You’re up the same fucking creek as your boyfriend,” Spencer said with his usual arrogance.
“If you know something we don’t, Monroe, you’d better spill it now,” I said.
“You think everything’s fine because you’ve called out for dinner twice this week, yet you’re out with the guys tonight instead of with your beautiful wife?” Sebastian chimed in.
He knew something, too. I swear this was like high school life all over again, except Jim’s best buds were all executives who ran companies.
Mine were doctors who, since we were all keeping score tonight, were a bunch of screw-ups barely hanging onto their marriages.
Except for John Aster, I guess. He and Mickie were inseparable, but they shared the same profession and worked in the same office, so they didn’t count.
“No, Jake’s onto something,” Collin said, waving his fork toward the four smirking men across from us. “You dipfucks know something we don’t. Better start talking,” Collin challenged.
“It’s nothing. It’s just that word got to Avery that Ash is having a tough time right now, being lonely and shit,” Jim diffused the escalating conversation.
Collin chuckled. “Never a good idea to let the wife become lonely, man,” he said while I glared at him.
I felt hurt that Ash felt this way so much that she’d brought it to Avery’s attention, and now, it was coming up at the dinner table with the men. Fuck me. Seb was right; I shouldn’t be here. I should be at home with her and the kids on a Friday night.
“Your ass is in the same boat as Jake’s, Col,” Alex said. “Seems you both have lonely wives at home, raising kids while that hospital takes up all your free time.”
I frowned, “If it were that bad, Ash would’ve definitely told me.”
“But she didn’t, did she?” Spencer said. “She told Nat, though. And once my wife gets involved, you know it’s all coming out, and one of us or all of us is going to pay.”
“Speak for yourself, Big Bird,” Collin said, making fun of the Halloween costume his wife had made him wear.
“Wait,” I said. “Nat knows my wife is lonely?”
“Better Nat than the fucking pool boy,” Alex said.
“Listen, it’s not all bad. Because of this, you two dumbasses are getting time off for a romantic little getaway,” Jim said.
“What are you talking about? I can’t just take time off work and leave the hospital and my patients for a romantic getaway,” I looked at Collin to see if I was the only one who hadn’t lost their mind at the table.
“Can you afford a divorce?” Alex said.
“No, and don’t be ridiculous. That isn’t going to happen. I’m going to go home, talk to my wife, and we’re going to clear this shit up.”
“Sit down,” Jim said with a sigh. “No, it’s not all that bad. But yes, I’ve talked to Dr. Stone, and he will assume your responsibilities while you’re away with Ash. And you,” he looked at Collin. “Your main man, Dr. Mutton, will cover for you.”
“I’m completely lost,” Collin said. “Laney hasn’t mentioned shit about shit to me.”
“You’re never home, dipshit,” Spencer said. “Listen, Nat suggested that Jim give you two overworked doctors some time away just before the holidays to go on this sex retreat that Nat and I just got back from.”
“Fucking hell,” Sebastian laughed. “It seems neither doctor is arguing, and from the looks on their faces, they’re more than happy to hand over the reins for a much-needed break.”
“No shit,” I said. “When I think about it, I haven’t had a real vacation since my honeymoon. It’s always meeting up somewhere and taking the jet back early for work.”
“Exactly,” Jim smiled. “You’ll both thank me and Spence later for giving you the time off.”
“What’s the fucking catch?” Collin asked, slow to take the bait.
“Smart man,” I said, looking at my best friend. “This is all too fairytale easy, make your wife’s dreams come true type shit.”
“There is no catch unless you don’t like sex,” Spencer said with a grin I didn’t trust.
“How can we trust you both aren’t sending us to the fucking desert or something? There’s always a catch with you assholes,” I said.
“No catch. You’ll be taking the private jet to the Maldives for this exclusive retreat,” Jim said.
“Why us?” Collin said.
“It’s not for you,” Spencer advised. “It’s for your wives and families.” Spencer studied the looks of speculation on my and Collin’s faces. “Listen, just because you two dipshits are all about pranking us over the holidays doesn’t mean we’re doing the same with you guys.”
I twisted my lips in thought while I leaned back and crossed my arms. “Something doesn’t seem promising about this,” I said.
“Well, we do go hard on all their asses during the holidays. I’d imagine they’d beg for an excuse to kick us out of here to save themselves,” Collin said, shrugging.
“And it is a sex retreat that the two biggest sex freaks of all of us went to,” I said to Collin. “Fine, we’re down, but I want to speak to each of my patients first and see if they’ll be fine with Stone or prefer to wait for my return.”
“When are we going to this?” Collin asked, both of us feeling very singled out.
“You leave the day after Thanksgiving and return the week before Christmas,” Jim said.
“Shit,” I said. “That’s a week from today.”
“So, you better get packed,” Spencer smirked, and when he, Sebastian, and my brother exchanged too gleeful of a smile, I narrowed my eyes.
Ah, fuck it. I was only worried because Collin and I had played some funky pranks on all these guys, but they weren’t like us and definitely wouldn’t do anything to upset Ash or Laney.
My sinking feeling was that Ash felt lonely, and I had no clue. Of course, there had been signs of her loneliness, and work kept us apart a lot these days; I just didn’t understand why she didn’t come to me with it.
Oh, right…perhaps it was all the times I fell asleep while she talked to me about her day.
Fuck, I could kick my own ass for all this, but I was thankful that my brother and Spencer had ensured the hospital would give us the time off we needed to share it with our wives.
It didn’t need to be some weird sex getaway, but what the hell.
Nat and Spence were known for some wild shit, and I was curious about where those two played around when Nat whisked him off and around the globe to rekindle their flame every other fucking month.
I didn’t like the reason that Ash and I were taking this trip alongside Collin and Elena, but I was happy to do it. All that one-on-one time and time spent with our closest friends was bound to draw us closer together again.