Waking up the next morning, I felt like a million bucks. After our romp in the living room, we’d retired to my bedroom, sadly only to sleep. As much as I was burning to be inside of him again, neither of us had the energy after the mind-blowing exchange we’d both experienced.

By the time I opened my eyes and saw my arm comfortingly wrapped across the naked, slumbering form of a sexy petrylle, I felt like I’d actually won a million bucks.

Memories of our, albeit quicker than preferred, sex on the couch came flooding back and it just felt good to be close to someone while also feeling so like myself.

I felt my dick stir when I realized that it was nestled between Wrex’s ass cheeks, a low moan being suppressed from waking him up. Clearly, my body was ready for another go.

“Does that thing ever go down?”

I shifted slightly as Wrex unfurled his body, stretching his limbs as he temporarily broke contact, my body already missing his warmth. Letting my arm hover in the air, he nestled back against me, pulling my arm down with him as he leaned his head over to look at me .

“I swear every time I woke up in the middle of the night, your dick was knocking on my back door.”

Laughing, I shook my head. “Sorry. I’m not used to regular sex, so maybe my little guy’s overstimulated.”

Wrex guffawed. “Nothing little about him, trust me.”

A beam of pride roared through me, my arm leaving him once again as he rolled over to face me properly. When he laid his head back on my chest, just as he’d done as we’d fallen asleep, he chuckled to himself. “Maybe the both of us need to get laid more often.”

“Is that a segue I hear?” I was joking, but my dick didn’t think it was funny. I looked down and saw it jolt in anticipation, clearly having a mind of its own.

“As good as that sounds,” Wrex wrapped his hand around my dick and squeezed it, but sat up in bed as he took his hand off. I shook off the teasing as I sat up too. “I really should be heading home.”

Getting out of bed way too fast for my liking, Wrex was already pulling on his underwear by the time I got out of bed. His ass looked just as inviting and delicious as it had last night, and a part of me hoped that he would stay if I tempted him.

Wrex pulled up his underwear as I reached him, my hands roaming over the warm grey skin I’d been lost in last night, my dick meeting the fabric covering his ass just as my lips found his shoulder for a quick kiss.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” I teased him by kissing his other shoulder so it didn’t feel left out. “I could grab us breakfast or something?”

Even though I wasn’t looking for anything serious, I really did want to spend time with him.

It’s not like it would hurt to get to know the guy that’d ridden my cock the night before.

We could still hang out and keep things casual.

As long as Wrex was as okay with the idea as I was, I didn’t see the harm in it.

“Oh, I know what ‘or something’ you’re interested in.” Wrex chortled, turning around to face me. His arms wrapped around my neck and I took that as an invitation to pull him close. Our bodies fit together perfectly, even if he was slightly taller than me by an inch or two.

“Can you blame me?” I said back. “I know we barely know each other, but—”

The sound of someone knocking on the front door of my condo ripped both of us out of the moment.

We shared a look, like we’d been caught doing something wrong. I wiped that thought from my face, but it remained on Wrex’s. Weird that both of us were feeling like teenagers getting caught by their parents having had sex for the first time.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, searching for my underwear on the floor until I remembered that they were in the living room, sliding out of the bedroom to retrieve them before easing into them and pulling them up quickly, glad that my boner was finally going down.

I didn’t want anyone to see Wrex sans clothes that didn’t need to, so I gave him a sheepish smile as I came back to the bedroom and closed the door. A rush of heat fell over my body that I’d been lucky enough to see him that way as I carried my grateful body to the front door.

Probably should have put more clothes on to answer the door, but I wasn’t that bothered by it. I was so comfortable after having Wrex spend the night that I did something I never did. I didn’t bother checking through the peephole first.

So when I opened the door to see who was bothering me on a weekend morning, surprise replaced the heat on my body as the sight of my now ex-husband came into view.

Immediately, I stepped behind the door to cover my nearly nude form. He didn’t get the honor of seeing me this way anymore.

“Matty?” He crossed his arms and looked way too annoyed for…shit, what time was it? I checked my Apple Watch that I’d al so forgotten to take off last night and saw that it was barely after nine in the morning. “What are you doing here?”

“You don’t have to cover up, you know.” He sighed, already exhausted somehow. “I’ve seen it all before.”

“Can I help you with something?” I ignored him. I didn’t need to fall into his self-made setups, certainly not when it was this early in the morning and I was clad in nothing but my blue boxer briefs.

“I wanted to talk about—” But that’s all he got out because the door to my bedroom, which was visible from the front door, swung open to reveal Wrex.

Panicked, I spun around toward the disruption, gratitude washing over me that at least Wrex was clothed in the same garments from the night before, giving me a lazy smile as he slowly approached.

I turned back to Matty, seeing the horror and aghast implications running through his mind when I peered inside his eyes.

“Are you fucking kidding?” Matty pushed past me with force, causing me to stumble as he made his way past the entryway, staring at Wrex like he was an alien. “We’ve been divorced for less than a week and now you’re fucking Orbs!?”

Wrex was next to me in what felt like a flash, and the sound of a growl emitted from him as he stared down my ex-husband.

“I suggest you watch your tone, human .”

I waited for the fear to be instilled in Matty when his eyes glossed over Wrex, but I’d be waiting a long time. Even though I had to assume that Matty was scared shitless by the thinly veiled threat, his face remained twisted in disgust as he crossed his arms over his chest again.

“Am I supposed to be intimidated by an Orb that has to stoop so low as to defile normal people?”

“Hey!” I shook my voice with audible anger. Matty knew how sensitive I was to Orb causes, and how much I wanted to make a difference .

Had he been satiating my passion for helping Orbs the entire time we’d been together? Was he really a pig-headed bigot in disguise? I had to force myself to refocus on the situation at hand. I couldn’t dwell on what ifs, not when it looked like Wrex wanted to rip Matty’s throat out.

“Matty, enough.” I scoffed with finality. “If you’re not going to say why you’re here, you need to leave before I get the police involved.”

“I’ll remove myself.” Wrex cleared his throat, his form returning to one of collected calm. “I’ll go get that breakfast you mentioned.”

Whether it was because he truly wanted to display affection or because Matty was standing there watching us, Wrex placed a hand on my hip as he came in close, placing a chaste kiss on my cheek.

He obscured my view of Matty, but I could feel the shift of energy in the air that told me he hadn’t liked what had just transpired.

“I’ll be back in a bit.” And with that, Wrex shoulder checked my ex-husband, causing Matty to shift his feet to keep from falling over, and the petrylle left my condo looking like the badass that he was.

I eliminated the short walk over to shut the door, hiding the giddy smile I wore before erasing it from my features and squaring my eyes back on the man I’d spent the past eight years with.

“What the fuck , Matty? What makes you think you can come over here unannounced and then jump to judging what I’m doing? In case you’ve forgotten, we’re divorced . You don’t get to walk all over me anymore just because you fucking feel like it.”

Hurt reflected in his eyes, but he kept his face from showing the same affliction to my words. He shifted from leaning on one foot to the other.

“I never walked all over you, Wallace.”

My head fell back, staring at the ceiling in a silent plea to the universe to let me keep my cool. After a long sigh, I said, “What do you want?”

“Well, I wanted to talk about the other day.” Matty said nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just incited a massive argument, or at the very least the beginnings of one. “I know you saw me on a date.”

“That’s what this is about?”

I placed my hand on my hips, dumbfounded that he’d come over to my place just to talk about his latest conquest. I wasn’t judging him for being on a date, especially after what Wrex and I had done, plus that little encounter with the bartender at the karaoke bar.

But why the fuck was he here to discuss that of all things? ”

Matty sighed. “I was…I guess I was hoping that if you found out about it you’d have some sort of reaction. But I guess I got lucky, because you actually happened upon us.”

“I don’t have to gauge my reactions for your entertainment.” This was a problem we’d had during our marriage. He’d say things to get a rise or certain emotion out of me and it had left me feeling like I could never say or do anything without upsetting him. “Sorry to disappoint you, per usual.”

“Believe it or not, I didn’t come here to fight, Wallace.” He scoffed with attitude.

“Then cut to the point.”

Matty uncrossed his arms, letting them fall aimlessly down by his sides. As annoyed with him as I was over this abrupt morning visit, I couldn’t fully hate him. I never could. I just wanted to understand how the hell we could move forward without him making a habit out of showing up at my doorstep.

“I thought…that if you’d see me on a date or heard about me moving on so fast after the divorce was finalized that you’d…

come running back.” Matty’s eyes wobbled as he turned away from me to wipe his face.

When he looked back at me, his eyes were as clear as t hey could be without unleashing all his emotions over his words.

“Like maybe you’d get jealous or realize that we made a mistake but…

I see now that we’re really, officially, finished and we need to move on.

Or rather, I need to find a way to move on. ”

Sudden waves of sympathy poured over me, and guilt charted a treacherous course through my veins.

As much turmoil as our relationship had held toward the end, I still cared about him as a person.

I only wanted the best for both of us. I’d just been the first to realize that what was best for both of us was to no longer be together.

“Matty, I—”

“It’s okay, Wallace.” He sniffled, dragging the sleeve of his jacket underneath his nose.

“I know I…wasn’t innocent in the downfall of our marriage.

I know I didn’t listen to you, I just convinced myself that you were wrong.

Because it was too painful to admit that I’d also played a part.

” He paused to cleared his throat. “I’m moving back to Paramount. ”

To say I was a little surprised would have been correct.

While I knew that Matty’s mother still lived in New York, I never expected for him to move out of D.C.

after we’d split. Then again, I think it made sense in a way.

Both of us could properly heal if we didn’t have the looming threat of running into each other all the time.

“I think that’d be good for you,” When I nodded, I added, “Maybe for both of us.”

“Yeah.” Matty tried to smile, but his emotions were now fully on display and there was no hiding it. “I’m packing this weekend and I’ll be gone by Monday morning.”

I nodded. I didn’t feel right about him leaving without a proper goodbye. So, despite the feelings of resentment and anger that seemed to follow us around when we were interacting with each other, I ambled over to him and pulled him into an innocent hug. His arms fell around me in an instant .

“I’m sorry again, Matty. I hope you find happiness again back in Paramount.”

“Thanks.” He squeezed me hard in return. “I’m sorry too. I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.” And I found myself really meaning the words.

Matty had been part of my life for most of the past decade.

It was hard to shake that kind of time together, and there was a part of me that didn’t want to.

But we both needed this. We needed to relearn who we were and what we wanted.

Thoughts of Wrex swirled in my brain. As much as I enjoyed last night, this interaction with Matty just solidified that I wasn’t ready for anything serious anytime soon.

Knowing that Wrex wasn’t expecting as such from what we’d done last night set me at ease, but I really did need time alone to sit with the demise of my marriage.

We parted, and I clasped a hand on Matty’s shoulder. “Goodbye, Matty. For real this time.”

He gave me a minuscule smile, one that said more than his words ever could over how heartbreaking this was for him. Or I was just that good at reading him after all these years.

“Goodbye, Wallace.”

Without another word or gesture, Matty walked over to the door, opening it wide and closing it behind him without looking back at me.

And this time, it really did feel like goodbye. For good.