Page 225 of Unhinged

Let’s cut to the chase. I think someone unplugged part of your brain. Are you kidding me? It’s all gone because your insecurity took over, and you splooged fucking garbage. You lost everything. How do I know this? Because it was always bound to happen. You set yourself up to fail when it comes to you not coming with women. What did I tell you when we were kids? Get your head out of your ass before someone slams a line drive to your face. When I watched you pitch a game, you were spectacular but barely. You stumbled between a future pro pitcher and forever an unfocused geek. Don’t blame it all on me for why you quit baseball. You quit because you suck at self-promotion and sangfroid. If you don’t know that word, then that’s your loss and why you’re in a predicament that you embraced.

You found your soulmate. No, I can’t see into the future, but I see you now. How could you let her go? I didn’t know you could break a heart like you broke hers. She may have left, but it’s never too late to fix you. Do the right thing, dumbass.

Eden

Rattled like Hadley said, I grab the pen on the nightstand and write.

Dear Hell Hound,

How in the fuck do I fix myself? I lost Simone, and she doesn’t want me back. What’s the point?

Help me better than this, Eden. Don’t just sit there on your brimstone and squawk about what I’m doing wrong. Give me something to work with. At least give me hints to how I live my life now. You know, what you don’t have anymore.

Too soon still?

Greg

I see the next entry waiting to fucking hose me again, so I close it and wing the book across the room. Damn her. She wrote this shit while alive and thought she knew everything about me. I’m only arguing with myself.

Irritably, I swipe my wallet, and before leaving the room, at the last second, I pick up the envelope, fold it, and stuff it into my interior coat pocket. I may need kindling later.

“Buttercup, I’m so damn happy for you. You worked so hard for your graduate degree. Leave the cap on tonight and nothing else.”

I pass my mother in the kitchen, who scrutinizes me like I’m one of her patients on suicide watch. When I grab my coat, she sighs. “Greg, stay home tonight.”

“Can’t. Bills to pay and women to lay. So keep a light on for me. I’ll be super late,” I say with a weary smirk as I button up my coat. Before she sees more of the truth, I snag the keys from the hook and go through the garage to my truck in the driveway.

“You did it! You’re a lawyer, baby! I’m so fucking proud of you! I’m your first client. Let’s discuss your cock pounding my pussy.”

Pulling into the lot, I see Amos’s trash bin sleigh. Damn it. I hope he’s not here for long. I want to drink in peace. I should’ve told my mother not to wait up for me since I’ll probably crash on boxes in the storage room.

Keeping my head down, I walk into the kitchen to slip by with no one hassling me. I barely say three words during my shifts and nothing regarding my personal life after I flung that shit on the wall for everyone to judge. For the past month, this has been my routine here. Since my hissy fit, people question me or toss unsolicited comments, especially about my assault. The questions regarding my marriage are harder to hear, proving me to be a moron when I offered to marry Simone as a favor.

I notice someone standing on the other side of the counter, but I don’t dare look. Hell, no. I’m not that brave. However, I only reach the hallway entrance.

“Don’t say hello. I mean, why would you? Assholes only blow hot air.”

I stop when I know I shouldn’t. “Do we need to do this?” I turn to see Candi with her arms crossed and a repulsed sneer on her mouth slathered with CVS lipstick. “You only speak to me once a week, and it’s always this shit.”

“You think I’m gonna sit around and feel sorry for you? I’m not talking about your past. I’m talking about your present and what you did to Simone. That girl loved your wretched ass.”

“And apparently, my regretful dick.”

“Not enough to put up with the rest of you. You lost the best thing in your life, Rodwell. You know that, right? She didn’t deserve for you to treat her like garbage.” Her snootiness is grating on my nerves. I might need the baseball bat tonight.

“You’re a broken record with the same worn-out soundtrack. Don’t you have work to do?”

“Don’t you have another life to ruin?”

“Fuck you, Candi.”

“No, thanks. I hear the ride is short and not so sweet.” She grins, and I try hard not to let it get to me.

“She left me, so she won.”

“As she should have.”

“Today, a judge declared our marriage invalid. You happy now? Does that soak your Wheaties?”

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