Criminally Insane

Housewife

We'd just finished eating in the courtyard after hours of shopping when my pinged.

Marido: I'm on my way.

I rose an eyebrow at the name from the person before opening the message.

Rowan's picture was in the contact box.

"Hey, what does marido mean?" I asked Heather and Lily.

"Husband, hubby, but mostly husband, why?" Lily answered and asked.

I laughed nervously. "No reason," I responded.

They gave me the eye of suspicion before shrugged their shoulders.

"Word around the office is that Rowan has a housewife who isn't Grace and Robin because everyone knows Grace and Robin," Heather said.

I didn't know Robin. I knew Grace. How many women had Rowan slept with?

"How did they come up with that?" I asked.

They both shrugged again.

"Where did you hear that from?" I asked, sending Rowan a message that said "OK."

"Our husbands," they both replied at the same time.

I looked at them, giving them a once over. "Aren't you a little too young to be married?"

"We're not too old," Lily responded.

"We're twenty-two," Heather replied, both of them grinning wildly. "For my twenty second, we went to a strip club!"

"It was her first time!" Lily exclaimed. Their faces beamed with excitement.

They were totally adorable. It was hard to be irritated by their nonstop talking.

I shook my head, grinning back at them.

"Why do you think Rowan didn't clarify that I wasn't some housewife?" I asked Heather.

Heather shrugged. "I don't know. For one," she said looking at me. "A housewife in Spain is rare."

I scoffed. "Seriously? That's legit an American thing."

They both shook their heads. "In Spain, we have wives, girlfriends, mistresses even," Heather replied. "Possession of a housewife shows a new level of superior to the people around you. You know men and their egos can get in the way of a lot of things surrounding women."

"But they've never met me," I said.

They both nodded. "Rowan bragged about how you designed that entire party," Lily said. "Some of the men were marveling at how beautiful you were. One of his coworkers said it was sad he only saw a glance of you."

"And so people think that I'm a housewife?"

They nodded again. "It was a pretty spectacular party, Scarlett," Heather complimented me.

I placed a hand on my chest dramatically. "Awe, guys," I gushed, bringing us all in for a group hug.

They hugged me back. "So what're you going to do," Lily asked, pushing her glasses up on her nose again.

"I don't know," I responded honestly. "What exactly is a housewife here?" I asked, trying to figure out why I'm supposed to be mad.

"Basically a submissive pet."

My eyes widened at Heather's blunt tone.

"That's kinky," I retorted.

They nodded. Did they always do that on point?