After eight years as a stand-in, I let go first

My wife drugged me for the forty-ninth time and sent a woman to my bed.

I clenched my jaw until my teeth creaked, slicing my palm open with a shard of glass. The sharp, stinging pain anchored my last shred of clarity. I drove the woman out of the room.

For two hours, I submerged myself in ice water that bit into my bones, shivering until the drug's fire finally burned out.

Trembling, I climbed out of the bathtub. Dressed with mechanical precision. Smoothed every wrinkle. Headed to the KTV.