Page 108 of Unleashed

Simone

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SHUTTING THE DOOR, I hear my father on the phone in the guest room. Greg must already have left since his car wasn’t in the driveway. As I go up the stairs, I smell Chrome, and my nipples harden.

In my room, I rummage through my closet, and on the top shelf, I find Greg’s ELO shirt I wore at his mother’s house. I never washed it because I didn’t want to lose his scent. Putting it up to my face, I inhale faint traces of him. I should give it back, but I need something of his to hold when I’m far away in Delaware, knowing I’ll never see him again.

My phone rings, and I go to my purse. When I see who’s calling, I smile. “Hi, Jackie.”

“Hey, princess. How are you?”

“Okay, I guess. My father is here.”

“At your apartment? For graduation? That’s on Friday. Why so early?”

“He said he wanted to spend time with me. But I’d rather...not.”

“Simone, you’re not crazy about him, but he’s your dad.”

“No. He’s my father. You’ll always be my dad, Jack.” I smile as my eyes tear up. “I miss you.”

I hear the emotion in his voice. “I miss you too, sweetie. I have news, though. If you’ll still have me, I can make it to your graduation.”

“What? But I thought you were working in Costa Rica with the Habitat for Humanity project?”

“I am, but I told them my daughter is graduating from college, and I need to be there. You said you understood and didn’t need me to be there, but I need to be there. I can’t skip this, Simone. You still have a ticket left, right?”

“The thing is, I invited Greg.”

“Your ex, Greg? Why? Are you back together? You never told me why you married him and why you broke up.”

“I’ll go into it sometime, but we’re friends. I want him there.” I roll my eyes at the wall but realize it’s not a false statement. It’ll be nice to have Greg there to see my accomplishment. I hope he’s happy for me. “You can have Finn’s ticket.”

“I don’t want to boot your brother.”

“But I do. It’s fine.” I laugh. “Hadley already gave up her ticket, so he won’t bitch about not having to go now too. I’ll handle him, Jackie.”

“And we all know that no one handles Finn like you do. He’ll do just about anything for his little sister.”

“That’s a lie.”

“It’s the truth. I promise.”

AFTER SNEAKING OUT of the apartment to avoid bringing my father, I arrive at the field and park behind Finn and Hadley’s SUV. He and Hadley still have her Toyota, so now they have three cars because Hadley insisted Finn keep his Mustang. I’m sure it’s because they fucked in it. There aren’t a lot of places where they haven’t fucked.

Greg’s car isn’t one of those parked on the street. Did he have a greet-and-fuck with Tansy? God, her name is worse than Cleo’s, and she’s twice as ugly.

Okay. Not really. Slut.

I grab my glove, toss my purse and phone into the trunk, and sulk over to Field Two, where my brother is chatting with Audrey, Val, and Hadley near the dugout. When Hadley sees me, she waves, and Finn looks over his shoulder. He turns back to Hadley before walking over to me. He changed into a team shirt, ditched his glasses, and wore his hat. He stops before me and asks, “Where’s your dad and...husband?” Finn scowls, but I know he’s trying for me, and I appreciate it.

I roll my eyes. “Neither can be bothered to be here, I guess.”

“Rodwell had better be here. He needs to practice like everyone else.”

I sigh. “I suppose. Don’t you work anymore?”

“I work at five. We must practice as much as possible before the season starts.”