Chapter 1

At a gathering with friends, someone patted my wife Lara Blanchett on the shoulder and asked:

"Lara, a beauty like you must have had a first love back in school, right?"

Lara smiled and reached up to adjust my shirt collar.

"No, I only love my husband."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Parker, her male best friend sitting beside her, suddenly laughed out loud.

"First love? No."

"But she did have a fuck buddy."

He propped his chin on his hand and looked at me, blinking smugly.

"Don't be nervous, Mason. I'm talking about back then."

"Lara was like a nymphomaniac—she dragged me to all kinds of places for sex. Nearly wore me out."

Someone cursed in surprise, and laughter instantly exploded in the private room.

Parker wasn't satisfied yet. He slowly twisted the knife deeper:

"Sorry about this, but I got to sleep with your wife before you did. Three hundred and sixty-five times, to be exact."

He raised his glass and smiled at me with curved lips:

"Don't take it personally, Mason. Just joking between guys. It's all in the past."

"If we still had something going on, we wouldn't pick the day you announce you're having a baby to say it, right?"