Page 26 of Crashing Without Justice

“I got your message,” I said in lieu of a greeting.

“Look, man,” he sighed. “I’m not sure how to tell you this, but…well, I hooked up with Paige last night.”

Fuck.

“She sent me a social media message, asking me if I’d heard about your divorce, and when I’d said no, she kind of went on about needing someone to talk to,” he explained. “I agreed to meet her at Blackhawks for some beers, and when she invited me back to her motel room, I went.”

While it was bothersome that he’d gone with her so easily, I was hardly anyone to judge. “I can only imagine what she told you,” I replied honestly.

“She said that you’ve been having an affair for a few months already, leaving her no choice but to file for divorce,” he replied, and I wasn’t even surprised by her lies. “She said that you had moved on, and she was feeling rejected, questioning her confidence with men, thanks to you.”

“Of course,” I grumbled.

“I…look, I shouldn’t have fallen for it, regardless of what you may or may not have done, but it…it seemed like a win/win for the both of us,” he went on. “I’d get laid, and she’d get some helpful validation.”

“Gil, I don’t care about that,” I told him truthfully. “But…I think that there’s something you should know.”

“That she only did it to make you jealous?” he huffed. “I’m aware.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dude, she kept mentioning your name to the point that I ended up just getting my shit and leaving without even finishing,” he answered candidly. “She was also doing too much, which should have tipped me off from the beginning.”

“Well, this is more than that,” I grimaced, this conversation one that I could have gone the rest of my life not ever having.

“Meaning?”

“She sent me a bunch of pictures and a video of you two together,” I informed him, feeling sick to my stomach.

Gil let out a dark laugh. “I should have known.”

“Did you know that she was recording you guys?”

“No,” he replied drolly. “I never would have agreed to that shit.”

I let out a sigh that I was becoming increasingly familiar with these days. “I already filed a complaint with the police for harassment, and my plan was to add these pictures and video to the complaint. However, now that I know it’s you in the messages, I can delete them, Gil.”

“Look, while I don’t appreciate what she did, I don’t need this crap, Harding,” he said. “If you could delete what she sent and act like it neverhappened, I’d rather that than have to explain to the police how I got caught up with your crazy ex-wife.”

“She’s not my ex-wife yet,” I pointed out regretfully.

“What?” he bit out.

“I only told her about the affair last week,” I informed him. “I haven’t even served her with divorce papers yet.”

“Fucking Christ,” he grumbled before adding, “Well, I suppose that’s what I get for sleeping with a buddy’s ex-anything.”

“Look, I’ll delete everything, and then we can just pretend like this never happened,” I suggested, wishing that I could.

“Sounds good to me,” he grumbled. “I’ll talk to you later, man.”

Gil hung up without another word, and all I could do was close my eyes as my head dropped back against the seat. While I was more than happy to delete the pictures and video, Paige still had the original recording, and there was no telling what she might do with it once she realized that Gil wasn’t on her side. Despite him sleeping with my wife when we were supposed to be friends, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

In fact, I felt sorry for anyone that was unfortunate enough to cross her path these days.

Chapter 18

Paige~

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