Page 70 of Unleashed

I throw my head back and sigh at the rainbow-swirled ceiling. I never noticed it before, and it’s kind of psychedelic. I should be high to sit through this shit.

Hadley laughs. “No, Sylvie. Right, Simone?”

As I sit up, loving and hating Hadley for that comment, Simone says, “For fuck’s sake, Sylvie. He screwed Shasta.” And you. But let’s forget about that and keep it a secret, right? I only fucked Shasta once. With Simone, I mean, I lost count of how much she was on my dick.

Simone sets down her empty glass and asks, “What about Nico? He’s single.”

Ferrera clears his throat and glares at me for begging him to be here. “Uh, so?”

Sylvie smiles. “Yeah, but I know Rod more, and he’s so cute.” Sylvie strokes my cheek, and I lean away, but it doesn’t help. “When did you grow a beard? Damn, it’s hot.” She knows zip about me.

I glance at Hadley, who’s watching Simone across from her. I’m sure Simone couldn’t care less.

I shift forward some to shake Sylvie off, but she fucking follows me. Her hard nipple digs into my arm, and that should turn me on, but I can only imagine how many times it served as Grant’s pacifier.

Simone’s second margarita arrives, and she sucks down a quarter of it before slamming it down onto the table. “Okay. Let’s get this over with. My dad is in town, staying with me.”

Hadley frowns. “You invited him? I thought you weren’t his biggest fan?”

“I didn’t invite him. He just showed up. To check up on me.”

Sylvie puts her hand on my thigh and leans over me to speak to Simone. Her Sand & Sable forces me to hold my breath and to beg for an oxygen mask, if not a swift demise. I’d know that stench anywhere. “What did he do for you to hate him?”

Simone is slow with her response as I struggle for air. When she answers, it’s clipped. “He’s a dick.” That sums it up.

Over Sylvie’s head, I glare at a giddy Ferrera, enjoying my misery. Rhonda smiles but looks as if she’s ready to leave. What in the hell possessed her to be here?

Sylvie squeezes my thigh again, higher this time, and I shift to make her move, but she doesn’t. Her hands make me so nervous that I want to break her fingers. She asks, “Doesn’t he like the men you date, Simone?” I hate all the fuckers she dates. Oh, she meant Simone’s father.

Simone shakes her head at the table, agitated. “Sort of. Anyway. Okay. I need you all to listen and help me out.” What now?

Ferrera wrinkles his forehead as he turns his attention to Simone. “Couldn’t this be a text?”

Sylvie sits back, and I’m relieved but still miserable being here, especially next to my ex-wife—or non-wife since she made our marriage a farce and nonexistent. I can’t lean away from Sylvie because I’ll fall into Simone, and I’m already drowning in the deep end with her.

Simone huffs, “No. It’s a...weird situation.”

Unable to help it, I cross my arms and sneer, “Since a fake marriage is weird.”

Everyone’s jaws hit the table. Although Hadley and Nico knew of our previous marriage, the confusion on their faces blares louder than Beyoncé over the speakers.

Sylvie practically throws herself over my lap, pushing me toward Simone. “What?” She looks up at me. “You’re married?”

Shooting a look at Sylvie, Simone explains, “Fake, Sylvie. Take a pill.” Simone puts her elbows on the table and her head in her hands before sitting back. Fidgety, she plays with her shimmery gold waterfall earrings—how apt. “I grew up wanting to change my name to Simpson.”

Sylvie snaps her fingers in front of my face. “Oh, that’s why you changed your name, girl!”

I squirm, elbowing Sylvie off me. But again, the chick doesn’t take the hint.

Simone ignores Sylvie, looking more annoyed than she has been with me all night. She says, “I can’t stand my dad but need his money. He made a deal with me years ago that he’d continue to pay for my schooling. Then, after graduation, he’d pay me a bonus for keeping my name as Garrison. He’s a megalomaniac narcissist. I’ve always wanted to take my stepfather’s name or Finn’s—his dad said it’d be okay. I would’ve taken my mother’s, but I always hated spelling it.”

Ferrera says, “I wouldn’t want your dad’s name, either.”

Simone nods. “But there was a loophole. If I married, I could change my name and still receive the money.”

Sylvie takes a drink of her margarita while still leaning on me for the love of Christ. She then screeches, “Wait! So, who’d you pretend to marry?”

Simone says, “Someone you know.”

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