Free Prayers for the Dying (Pam of Babylon Book Four) by Suzanne Jenkins

to your hookers in Maui, but don’t try it in town. You’ll end up with a knife in your back.” Jack tried to limit his involvement with illegal prostitutes because he was afraid of getting caught by the police. Ashton struggled with his feelings about his strong, omnipotent lover being afraid of anything, especially the law.
    “Most I know are too passive from estrogen injections to knife anyone, especially me!” Jack exclaimed with his usual arrogance. “They love me. Come with me downtown sometime. I don’t have to pay for it.”
    “You just lied to me!” Ash exclaimed. “I thought you said you weren’t going to do it here.” But Jack just giggled and gave him his sheepish, “you caught me” look.
    Jack discovered that he also liked a little violence with his sex. Ashton wasn’t a willing partner, but he knew of a group in their circle who had the same proclivity and they were thrilled to have Jack join them. Ashton would marvel again and again how Jack could satisfy his need for the exotic while being married to Miss Fabulous. He would stay out late, night after night, using the excuse of business, which was sometimes true. With all of his extracurricular activities, he needed a huge income. Jack was known as a maniac in his sector of the real estate market, so the work came steadily. He had so much at stake, and was able to juggle everything smoothly for years, right up to the end.
    After old man Lane died, Peter and Jack left his name on the marquee. Mr. Lane left his share of the business to them, his only relative an ancient sister living in Florida. The men faithfully sent her generous checks and took care of her living expenses until her death. Jack had karma coming from every direction: goodness and generosity from his over-the-top gift giving and depravity and cheating from his trysts and liaisons. His friends couldn’t rationalize why someone who was a satyriasis would jeopardize another’s life by getting married. It was so selfish, so cruel, that no amount of excuse-making could explain it. As time passed, it became obvious that Jack was mentally ill. How he managed to support his lavish lifestyle, have a lovely, devoted wife and two beautiful children yet continue on a road to destruction baffled even his most immoral friends.
    Luckily for manic Jack, he required minimal sleep. He’d be out until one or two during the week and up at seven, day after day. In the beginning, Ashton saw him almost every day. Jack would meet him for coffee in the morning, or stop by his apartment for sex at night. Jack avoided the nighttime club scene after his wedding, and friends bemoaned that the club circuit wasn’t the same without him.
    Ashton was rabidly jealous of Pam. He wanted to be her, or be her best friend. It was the most difficult thing he had ever done, not getting in touch with Pam. Jack would have been furious and Ash had seen the result of disobedience to Jack. As a form of punishment Jack would disappear for days. If Pam minded Jack’s late hours, or complained, Jack never confided it to anyone. Ashton was the only friend to whom Jack spoke of Pam. And according to Jack, everything was great. He said that during the first months of marriage, Pam seemed slightly confused when the realization finally sunk in that Jack wasn’t going to be hanging around much, but she never addressed it. Ashton wondered if she preferred the time alone. Pam was finished with college and didn’t have to work, didn’t have any desire to have a career. Her only hobby was exercising, so Jack got her a membership to the New York Athletic Club.
    “You have to be dressed appropriately when you walk through the building to get to the gym, okay? No sweatshirts or spandex,” Jack said, handing the membership card over to her.
    “Well, that’s a little odd!” she replied. Pam had never heard of a gym with a dress code.
    “You’ll see when you get inside the building,” he said. “It’s not your average