Page 25 of Unhinged

Hearing a car nearby and witnesses to my humiliation, I step back from my mother to see a Range Rover with Virginia plates pulling into a spot.

Oh, hell no.

My mother suddenly jerks on my coat sleeve. “Let’s go. Now.”

As I head toward the fucker, Mom says, “Greg! Get back here!”

I watch him get out of his car. Then the passenger door opens, and out steps a tall blonde with chin-length white blonde hair and tits I’d recognize anywhere, even buried under a winter coat.

Stopping in my tracks, the woman turns toward me with shock and terror on her pretty face. The one face I never wanted to see again. The same woman I thought… Who changed… I hate…

Simone Garrison.

Chapter 7

Simone

“You’re such a good girl!” I sing as I set the bottle down and sit Finley up to burp her. Sighing, I pat her back. I thought spending time with her would distract me from obsessing about that night last weekend, but it doesn’t. These past few days have been the longest of my life. I want to go to his apartment and fight with him or shove him into a wall.

“You’re no different from that whore Shasta! Or those fucking kids in that basement ten years ago!”

Chills run down my spine, and my stomach aches. His words cut me like nothing else. How could he say that to me? Minutes before, I was about to fuck him and not pass the time or say I did. I wanted it to mean something. I was even close to telling Greg I loved him. And after he confessed his horrible trauma, I loved him more. I wanted to protect him. Until he steamrolled me.

A wet burp shoots breast milk onto my hand. Yuck! Frantically reaching for another burp cloth, I wipe it off without dropping Finley. “Thanks, kid,” I mutter.

Taking a break from feeding, I re-situate Finley into the crook of my arm. This evening keeps getting better. Hearing a phone ring, I glance into the kitchen from my position in an armchair to see Finley’s mother, Hadley, wiping her eyes before answering the call. “Hi, Val.”

Val is Hadley’s boss, close friend, and Finley’s adopted grandmother. It’s not unusual for her to call, even though they saw each other only hours ago. I dry Finley’s mouth again as Hadley shrieks, “What? No. Did he say why?”

Hadley grips the counter edge as sudden sobs fill the kitchen. Oh, no. I hope my brother is okay. Richmond’s favorite sports anchor often does stupid shit.

“I need to talk to you in person.” Hadley glances toward the living room, and I give her a questioning look. I suppose she’d tell me if it pertained to Finn. “Okay. I’m leaving now.”

Hadley ends the call and stands at the counter, silent. Getting up, I go into the kitchen with Finley and ask, “Hey. Is everything okay?”

Hadley is quiet until more tears run down her face. She stutters, “He left.” And then more to herself, she cries, “No.”

Swallowing and shifting Finley to my other arm, I dare ask, “Who?” Please don’t say it.

“Rod. He hasn’t shown up for work in three days. No call or text to Amos. Or me. I was afraid he’d do this.”

My legs shake first before spreading over my body and to Finley. I steady both of us by wrapping both arms around her. “What? Why?”

Hadley’s voice breaks again as she sobs, “Amos went to Rod’s apartment and found it empty. The building manager said he took off last Saturday night.” She then lifts her head from her hands, and her green eyes pierce me. “Did he tell you?”

Running through every good and bad thing he said at my apartment last night, I have nothing. “No.” I struggle to not let any of my resentment or regret taint my reaction to the news. He was going to use me like the whore that I am. I shouldn’t give a damn that he’s gone.

Hadley bites her lip and looks at the counter, mumbling something and then heading to the bathroom. Before I can process the news myself, I hear muffled crying behind the bathroom door. He couldn’t tell his best friend he was leaving town? What an even bigger asshole.

Suddenly determined, Hadley emerges from the bathroom and goes to her keys and her purse on a hook. “Can you watch Finley? Finn will be home in an hour.”

“Uh…” But before I answer, she’s through the door leading to the garage, starting her car.

Damn it. Does Greg hate me so much he can’t be in the same city as me now?

He called you a whore and a stupid kid, titwad.

There’s no forgiving that.

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