Free Message from a Mistress by Niobia Bryant

three fools waiting to find out which of our marriages is over.”
    “That’s not funny, Aria,” Jaime insisted as she walked over and set the bottle of liquor on the bar.
    “I bet she’s just laughing her ass off,” Renee said bitterly as she walked over to the bar and dug the shot glasses out to place them atop the bar in a straight line before she sat down on the stool next to Aria.
    Aria eyed Jaime and the cigarette she’d just lit. “So if we pretend our friend didn’t just drop a bombshell in all of our laps then it will go away, Jaime?” she asked.
    Jaime placed the cigarette to her lips and cut her eyes over to watch Aria through the stream of silver smoke she released through pursed lips. “Who says I’m pretending?” she asked calmly. “I thought about it, and I’m sorry, ladies, but there is no way it can be Eric. Absolutely no way.”
    Aria arched her perfectly shaped brow. “I can tell you who says you’re full of shit. Me,” she countered.
    “Hey!” Renee exclaimed, loudly tapping her hand on the top of the bar. “We can’t turn on each other.”
    Aria slid off the bar stool and walked out of the room.
    “Where are you going, Aria?” Renee called behind her, sounding every bit of the mother.
    “To see if that bitch missed and left something behind to use as a chaser,” Aria called over her shoulder as she strutted from the room and down the tiled hall leading to Jessa’s kitchen.
    She paused in the doorway, taking in the noticeable lack of all personal items on the countertops and walls. She shook her head. It was true she hadn’t been to Jessa’s in a week or so, but it was obvious that a busy beaver had been busy packing her little heart away. Plotting. Scheming. Damn.
    Aria leaned against the beautiful wooden island in the center of the kitchen. “Damn,” she swore again.
    She felt like a fool when she remembered how Jessa had been the one to convince her to talk to Kingston about moving into Richmond Hills….
     
    “Oh, Kingston, I love this house!” Aria exclaimed as she stood back from the box of dishes she was unpacking in their kitchen .
    “Me too. You did real good, baby,” Kingston said, squeezing her side as he walked by her to pick up another of the boxes they had to unpack.
    Aria eyed his strong and muscular arms in appreciation as he lifted the large box easily. “Well, Jessa was the one who told me about the house. I can’t wait for you to finally meet her,” she told him. “We were thick as thieves—and almost as cutthroat with each other—in college. But one thing about it—we were competitive, but when the shit hit the fan with somebody else trying to step, we always had each other’s back.”
    “Love-hate, huh?” he asked as he pulled the stack of paper-wrapped plates out of the box and sat them on the island.
    “Like sisters with some serious sibling rivalry,” Aria assured him. “I cannot wait to show off my handsome, smart, sexy doctor husband.”
    “Glad I can be of help in the pettiness,” he drawled.
    “I’m happy to see her…it’s just that I don’t know if we’re going to fall back into the whole one-up we used to do. I just want to be ready.”
    Kingston nodded, but Aria could tell he really didn’t understand.
    “I’m glad that you accepted the position at UMDNJ and we were able to move from Pennsylvania.”
    Kingston cut his eye over at her. “Me too, because that phone bill was getting as high as our rent for the apartment.”
    Aria frowned playfully as she picked up a dishcloth and unceremoniously tossed it into his face. He came around the island and wrapped his arms around her waist to pick her body up against the length of his. “You want me to put you in time-out?” he asked with a broad smile that was more white, straight teeth than anything.
    Aria brought her hands up to his shoulders as she looked down into his handsome face. “Are you going in time-out with me?” she asked huskily as she brought her legs up to