Page 39 of Free Agent

The look on his face, the clear sadness in his demeanor… damn my heart for still giving a fuck how he felt.

“That’s not what I said,” I corrected, trying to exercise some compassion, but his tone was angry when he shot back.

“It’s what it sounded like.”

My eyes narrowed. “Fine.” I shrugged. “If that was how I felt, again, whose fault would that be Monty? Are we going to act like it came from out of the blue?”

“Baby,” he sighed, dropping to his knees in front of me. He grabbed me around the thighs, pulling me close as he stared up. “Just tell me what I need to say, do, whatever. I’ll do it. I brought your ring with me, I’ll propose again, right?—”

I pushed at his head, not bothering to be gentle about it. “Have you lost your mind? I am never putting that fucking ring back on.”

“You want a different ring?”

“I want you to leave,” I insisted, successfully extricating myself from his hold. “It’s done, okay? We’re done. Over. I cannot do this anymore.”

Still on the floor, he scrubbed a hand across his face, looking confused. “Is it the baby? Because you know I?—”

“Always wanted kids,” I finished for him, nodding. “I know. And you wanna know something? Honestly… that’s probably what I’m least bothered by right now.”

“Okay…” He nodded, doing a little knee-walk thing to get back into my space. “What are you most bothered by?”

“The disrespect,” I answered immediately, backing up again. “It was my birthday, Monty. And you weren’t there. Because you were with her. While the rumors, well, truth, swirled, on my fucking birthday, you were with her.”

“She had a scare, so we had to go to the doctor.”

“Of course she did.” I smiled. “But judging from your presence at Veil that night, while it was still my birthday… I’m guessing everything was fine.”

Silence.

“Right. That bitch recorded you breaking my heart, put it on the internet, and played victim to my villain, all with you right by her side, instead of mine.”

“Come on,” he huffed, pushing himself up from the floor. “That’s not fucking fair. I was trying to get in touch with you all day, Aurora! I sent gifts, I sent lunch, I sent flowers… you ignored me. Should I have sat around sad?!”

“Nigga?! Yes!” I exclaimed, tossing up my hands. “Yes, you absolutely should have sat, alone, with however you were feeling.”

“You didn’t!” he countered. “You were having a grand old time at the game, with that same country ass nigga you used to get your lick back.”

My mouth dropped. “Get my lick back?!”

He must’ve known that was some bullshit, because his hands went up in front of him. “Rori…”

“Fuck you,” I snapped, shaking my head. “That wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg. To get my lick back, it would take years of fucking randoms and not even bothering to hide it while you sat in the background wondering why you weren’t enough!’

Monty frowned. “What? Not enough? Aurora…” He moved toward me, arms out, but I immediately backed up, prompting him to stop a few feet away. “You’re everything to me.”

“Not everything.”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t know what you mean,”I snapped. “And it doesn’t matter anyway, because I’m done. I’m done,” I repeated, looking him right in the face.

“Because of Tatum Wilder?”

“Because of you,” I corrected. “Don’t blame him. It has nothing to do with him. You come in here and you tell me I’m ‘everything’ to you, meanwhile you can’t even be faithful, Monty! What am I supposed to do? You and your fucking side bitch have got me out here on the internet looking stupid, and you don’t even have any remorse!”

“I’ve said I was sorry, over, and over, and over!”

“But you’re not!” I exclaimed. “And you wanna know how I know that? Because you won’t stop,” I said, answering it myself before he had a chance. “You said it yourself, you keep saying sorry over, and over, and over, for the same goddamn thing. I get it, monogamy is not your vibe anymore. Is that what it is? You didn’t know, but now you do. That’s your truth now. Right?”

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