Page 140 of Unhinged

“Greg. Have you talked to Simone about…?”

I grab my black gym bag and sling it over my shoulder. “What do you think I was doing with her?” I hope he didn’t see us and save it for his spank bank. Christ Almighty.

He gives me a flat smile. “Is that rhetorical, or do you want a truthful answer?”

“Get to the damn point.”

He arches a hairy eyebrow. His neck tattoos peek around his sweater collar. It’s like he can’t pick a lane. “You know what I’m referring to.”

I’m so tired of this conversation. “I don’t, and I’d rather not—”

“Tell Simone how much you want your marriage and that you—”

“Can you just shut your pie hole about it? You don’t know me like you think you do, Vaughn.”

He sighs, looking at me as if I’m a dipshit. “I’m afraid I do.”

“Well, fear it somewhere else, then.” Glancing up the stairs, not seeing Simone, I turn back to Amos and hiss, “Last fall, you told me you-know-who loved me. Now you’re changing your show tune to tap dance all over my marriage.”

“I was incorrect, yes. I apologize. Are you still in contact with her?”

“She texted me yesterday.”

“Greg, don’t fall back into that.”

“Did I say I was? I don’t want her in that way.” Amos’s fixed stare makes me roll my eyes. “Anymore. Okay? We weren’t meant to be. I see that now.”

“I’m glad you recognize that.”

“I’ve moved on. I’m married.”

“She is too.” He again looks at me like I egged his prissy garbage wagon.

“I know that.”

“Simone says you’re dating another woman.”

I recheck the stairs before scowling back at a reject from the Lollipop Guild. “I’m not. I won’t cheat on Simone.”

“But it wouldn’t be cheating, right? You may have a legal marriage with her, but you and Simone are not in a committed relationship. I even reside with her, not you, her spouse.”

“Don’t tell me about what my marriage is and isn’t.”

“I want to believe you’re not leading her on, Greg. Simone didn’t marry you just for a name change.”

My mouth hangs open until I say, “I know.”

Fuck.

“Do you have feelings for Simone? More than friendship?”

My gym bag falls down my arm, so I drop it and shove my hands into my hair, sort of growling in frustration. Throwing them out, I snap, “Yes! Okay? Jesus Christ, Amos.” My hands return to my hair as I consider strangling him.

“Do you truly want to be married to her? Beyond a year? Beyond a name change?”

I’m aware Amos is a talented lawyer and sees through me. With my hands in my hair, I sigh. “Yeah.”

He nods like he has a reason to. “Tell Simone that you want her as your wife, not in name only. Start a life with her. I know with losing Birdy, it must be hard too. You and Simone could always have your own children together.”

---