Tossing her long blonde hair back over one shoulder, Sami nodded. “Sounds good to me. I’ve got no problem at all making that stud a gelding if that’s what Mannie wants though. I always said that man of yours was too pretty to be considered safe,” she muttered, pacing the room.
“Let’s not whip out our scalpels just yet, Sami. Maybe this situation is salvageable,” Vivian said quickly, following Sami into the living room and sitting down on Armando’s other side.
“He’s not pretty; he’s striking. There’s a difference,” Armando defended his love, offering Sami a hard look.
“Nick spends as much time on his hair as I do, Mannie,” Sami scoffed. “Trust me, he’s pretty. And he’s dead, too, if he’s hurt you. We will cut a bitch if we need to,” she added menacingly.
“I love you, too. Even if you are a bloodthirsty diva in heels,” Armando replied huskily with a watery smile. “But nobody is sticking my Nicky with anything unless I’m the one giving it to him.”
Molly tried desperately to keep a straight face as she looked at her friend. “You didn’t hear that in your head before you said it, did you, sweetie?” Watching as Armando silently reran his statement, she saw the moment he got it.
“You are a filthy hermana, you know that?” Mannie giggled, his face looking carefree for a brief moment.
“You said it, not me,” Molly smirked as Sami and Vivian joined in the laughter. Waiting until the cackles subsided, Molly canted her head as she stared at the man beside her. “Now, why don’t you tell us what’s going on,” she suggested patiently, avoiding her husband’s irritated gaze as he, too, took a seat in the leather wingback chair in the corner. She noted that he was close enough to hear them, but far enough away to get away with not actually participating in the conversation. In other words, her mulish man wanted to eavesdrop.
Mannie released a shaky, dramatic sigh as he flopped back into the overstuffed cushions of the extra-long couch, his tank top billowing around him. “Oh, Molly, my little lovey lumpkins has made a fool out of me. Of all the fast one’s he could have pulled out of his pockets, this was the worst.” Thumping his chest, he whispered haggardly. “It hurts… like a dagger through my heart, chica. This pain’s so bad, mi amigas.” Taking a deep breath, he audibly swallowed before he continued. “My Nicholas…he’s not who I thought he was, Molly.”
Thinking the worst, Molly clutched Armando’s hand in hers. “Tell me that son of a bitch did not point his pecker at another rooster,” she demanded as she suddenly visualized hanging Nick Santino from the highest tree she could find in Atlanta.
“Because I’ll make that rooster into a hen real fast, sweetie. That’s a promise from me to you,” Samantha vowed in a tone that was equal parts forbidding and ruthless.
Moaning loudly in a way that seemed to stretch from one end of the room to the other, he whimpered, “No, no, no, noooooo … My Nicky only parks his penis in my garage. It’s much worse than some tawdry affair!”
Molly couldn’t quite think of anything that could compare to the damage cheating would do to a relationship, but she was here for Mannie. “Then what is it, darlin’?” she queried gently.
“My man, he is ashamed of me, chicas. He is embarrassed to call me his own. Humiliated to be involved with your Armando. Aarrrghhhh… it hurts so much to admit that. Even to my best friends.”
“What?” the entire room erupted in surprised unison as Molly silently noted that even her husband had straightened at that explanation. “Mannie, honey, that just can’t be right,” Molly murmured, shaking her head slowly. “Are you sure there hasn’t been some kind of crossed wires that have caused you to misunderstand each other?”
“It’s true!” Mannie wailed pitifully. “His parents don’t even know about me! They didn’t even know I existed until I answered the phone. I’m talking completely clueless. He’s never so much as mentioned my name to either of them. Not the fact that we’ve worked together for years. Not the fact that we’ve been seriously dating for years. Not the fact that we’ve been living together for years. And they certainly didn’t know that I’m engaged to be married to that lying liar they created together! I’m his dirty little gay secret! His mother thought I was playing some kind of practical joke on her. She laughed, Molly. Or, she was laughing until I got her attention and offered to tell her in detail what her little boy did to me last night in bed. That got her attention! She preceded to call me a deviant and demanded that I stay away from her son! I live there, Mols! How the hell am I supposed to stay away from my own place?” he sobbed maniacally. “And she thinks I’m a gold digger. Freeloading off Nicky when he’s not around.