"This shit good." Tyrese said, sucking the barbecue sauce from his fingers between bites of the succulent brisket. "Where'd you order this from?"

"What?" DeMarcus asked, realizing his friend was talking.

Tyrese tsked dropping the slice of meat on the tray as if the man's foul mood erased his appetite. "Is there a reason you're sulking in front of the window like a Labrador waiting for its owner to come back?"

DeMarcus peeled his eyes away from the driveway and vacant street. Kashmere Circle was a lane in a quiet community. It's the primary reason they put an offer on the two-story craftsman two years ago. He was a transplant from Detroit and she was a born and raised Houstonian but they were both tired of the busy traffic on Montrose and sought refuge in a quaint suburb tucked behind a curtain on trees. The birdsongs in the morning and the hum of insects at night was the height of the noise that disrupted silence.

But now the quiet was aggravating and the only thing he could hear was the click of the pink heels she strutted out the door in.

He gripped the box in his hand, almost crushing the paper. "Thirty-six comes in a box. There's only twenty seven. You know what that means?"

"It's missing nine." Tyrese answered the subtraction question. "I thought ya'll stopped using condoms to get..."

"These aren't mine." He held up the creased box so he could read it better.

"Latex." Tyrese uttered the word then widened his eyes from the realization. "I thought you said she didn't take to it."

"I guess she has now." DeMarcus tossed the box in frustration. "I bet you it's Serena's ass hyping her up. This is some shit she would do."

"But ya'll have an open marriage, now." Tyrese recalled, "Isn't that what she supposed to do?" The hostile look he received from the man he met at a pick-up basketball game seven years ago gave him the answer to his question. "You shouldn't even be stressing it. You should be with Nia."

DeMarcus waved off the notion. "I'm not thinking about her." He started pacing in front of the television displaying the football game neither of the were watching. "I want to know who Leena's fucking."

"She might not be. It's probably just for show." Tyrese plucked a smoked link from the smorgasbord of food. "So, you would trip like this. Leena ain't never been that type of woman to stray."

DeMarcus' footfalls paused as he digested the words. He nodded to himself remembering who his wife was before they started dating. On their third day they talked about everything candidly at an Italian-inspired coffee shop after getting tested. She knew his body count wasn't more than forty-two and he knew her's was the same as the number of relationships she had been in—six. Hooking up for fun wasn't her thing. Not like him and that eased his mind enough to sit down.

"But then again you didn't give her a pass. So she could be out with a big dick bastard blowing her back out, right now." Tyrese added, dousing hot sauce on his potato salad. "And a young one, too. You know she don't look thirty-five."

"Get the fuck out!" He ordered, gesturing towards the door but he didn't move. "Fuck it." He fumed, leaping out the chair. "I can't do this." He grabbed his keys and swung the door open.

"Hold on." Tyrese yelled, grabbing his plate, hustling behind him. "This bastard is wildin'"

DeMarcus didn't know where he was going but he knew he could sit in the house waiting for his wife to return. He was beginning to regret his plea for an open marriage.