Page 105 of Falling for Them

Surely she’s not going to bring it up.It’s not something we discuss.We put it behind us.I hold my breath, waiting for her to say anything else, anything other thanthat.

But she says it: “I helped you cover up your secret, and I’ve kept it a secret.”

All the air leaves the room and I fall to one of the sofas, my legs weak.A fuzzy, mixed-up night.Too much booze.An attractive woman or ten, twenty, all of them throwing themselves at me.But of course I zeroed in on one woman.

And I don’t remember.I don’t fucking remember.

Trina remembers, though.

I gulp for oxygen and try to ground myself in the moment.In the next room, my best friend and my little princess are sleeping, wrapped up together, a picture of perfect sexual domesticity.

But out here in this dark living room, I’m facing down a demon.

“Trina,” I say slowly.“Are you threatening me?”