Page 176 of Unleashed

“None of your business.”

“You can’t quit the team. Can we talk?”

“No way in hell. You said everything at the ball field. You’re fucking Tansy and you’ll never love me. Whatever. You do you while I do someone else.” I offer the necklace again, but he doesn’t reach for it. “You’d better take this necklace before I mail it to Amos.”

“It’s yours. Are you fucking someone else?”

“We were about to. Onward and upward, as you say.”

He looks at the car and then back at me. “That’s Rhodes’s car, isn’t it?”

I shrug, somewhat shocked he noticed. “It might be.”

Clenching his jaw, he snarls, “Where is he?”

“In my bedroom. If there’s nothing else, then—”

Greg pushes on the door. The feral look in his eyes further startles me. “You know, I’m pretty good with a baseball bat.”

I roll my eyes, but his outburst surprises me. “Why bother? I’m nothing to you. You made that super clear earlier. Bye.”

Greg holds onto the door so I can’t close it. “I swear to God, Simone. I didn’t sleep with Tansy.”

I pause, pushing back on the door. “I don’t believe a lying word you say. I saw her grab your dick, and you didn’t hate it.”

“I did! I pushed her away! I’ve only been having sex with you! Is it true what you said about not sleeping around since coming back to Richmond?”

“I wouldn’t lie about that. But you still slept with me, thinking I was bed-hopping. How genteel of you.”

He sweeps his hands through his hair and sighs. “You left me.”

“I left the team.”

He shakes his head and closes his eyes. The porch light shines a halo over his dark hair. “No. You left our marriage.”

Greg opens his eyes as I blink several times, trying to find the words. “We’ve argued about this. I had to leave to save myself. And now I see how you laughed about me in Tansy’s video. That hurt because I had thought maybe...”

“I wouldn’t leave?”

I sigh, unsure if I should say it. “I had thought maybe you fell back in love with me. But you only see me as a sideshow whore or a secondhand slut who services your every need because of guilt.”

Greg exhales a slow, deep breath and appears to be fighting an eye roll. “Simone.”

“I know. You told me to my face you won’t ever love me again. Now, you’re only using my body.”

“Isn’t that what Rhodes is doing?”

“There’s no false pretense with him. Take your necklace.” I shove it toward him, but he crosses his arms.

“I don’t fucking want it. Let me in before I break down this goddamn door.”

“No! And I changed my mind about you fathering another baby with me.”

Greg props his hand on the door frame and leans his forehead onto it. With another sigh, he says, “Simone, come on. Christ.” He raises his head. “Why? Don’t tell me you want Rhodes to do it.”

I shrug. “He’s nicer to me, so maybe.” Never.

Greg grates his teeth and growls, “And he’ll need an open grave.”

---