Page 127 of Unleashed

“What can I do to help you get her back?”

“Nothing. I’m leaving her apartment after graduation on Friday. Her dad will be gone, so she won’t need me anymore.”

“Spend time with her, then. Tell her how you feel. Ask her for another chance. She may surprise you and want to try again with you.”

I shake my head and take a bite of my garlic bread. “I don’t want another chance. It was an experiment, really. Now it’s over. She’s moved on, and so have I. I’m seeing another woman, and it’s going well.”

Ferrera scowls. “You’re not serious?”

I shrug. “We may get there.”

“I meant that you’re really not trying again with Simone?”

I laugh but want to punch a window or Ferrera’s frowning face. “There’s nothing to try. She’s all wrong for me, anyway. I want a woman who’s not wrapped up in her father or related to our fucking softball coach. I want a woman closer to my age who isn’t obsessed with damn pink. Maybe I want a woman who doesn’t challenge every goddamn thing I do or say.”

Ferrera’s frown changes to a laugh as he wipes his mouth on a napkin. “Damn, Gregger. If you say so. Maybe I’m wrong. Tell me about your new woman, then.”

I open my mouth, but my mind goes blank. I reach for my beer. “We just started dating. We’re not exclusive and shit. She has blue hair and a lot of interesting piercings. I hope to find them all.” I don’t know how I feel about that.

My phone buzzes against the table, but I don’t pick it up. Nope. I don’t need to know. At all. Ferrera nods at my phone. “Is that your new woman?”

I shrug as I dig around my half-eaten lasagna, not hungry anymore. “I don’t know. I’m busy.” But as I say that, my mind is all over the place, and I try to ignore new texts buzzing my phone.

Ferrera asks, “So what do you and Simone do at her apartment with her dad? Board games? TV? Bible readings?” He laughs, so proud of himself.

“How in the hell is Val your mother? You’re a pain in the ass.”

He settles his laughter and crosses his arms as he leans back. “I can’t help it. None of this is normal. Do you get along with her dad?”

“No. He’s a rabid worm who thinks I’m unworthy of his daughter. Simone told him I work at a fucking gas station. What the hell?”

“So, he doesn’t know about you going to law school?”

“Nope, and I’m not telling him. If I have to start out as a defense attorney and he committed a crime in Virginia, I wouldn’t defend his worthless life.”

“Jesus Christ, Greg. What did he do to you?”

“He’s a misogynist and a wife-beater. He never touched Simone, but I still would take a baseball bat to his face.”

“Because you care about Simone that much?”

“Shut up.”

Ferrera looks around as people behind us leave. “I gotta use the john. I’ll give you a minute to check your phone.” He bursts into virtual glee when he stands.

I scratch my cheek as I flip him off. When he’s gone, I pick up my phone to see texts from Tansy: I was thinking about you.

I wish we could get hang tonight.

Guess what I’m doing?

Her subsequent text is a picture of her tits. I know they’re hers since piercings grace the nipples.

She then says: I’m touching myself right now.

A picture of fingering her snatch pops up. As expected, the carpet does not match the drapes.

Send me a pic of you touching yourself. Or you can come over...

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