After the Ex Games

“A bullet?” Nancy jumped up in shock. “Oh, David.”

“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” David sputtered. “I didn’t leave no bullet.”

“I don’t believe you,” Nancy said softly and started crying. “How could you, David?”

“I didn’t put no bullet on his table.”

“You pulled a gun on me last night!” she gasped. “You pulled a gun on me! I thought you were going to kill me.”

“What?” I felt a surge of anger run through me. “He did what? You did what?” I pushed my knuckles into his throat and his eyes bulged wide in fear. “I should kill you now.”

“It wasn’t me,” he choked out. “Please.”

“Greyson, don’t.” Meg’s voice was gentle next to me. “I understand why you want to hurt him, but this is not the way.” Her hand rubbed my shoulder, and I looked over at her. She smiled at me and I saw the look of love in her eyes sending me a message. We were going to be okay.

“You need to get out of here.” I released my grip on David. “You need to take your f**king girlfriend Patsy and you need to get out of town. If I see either of you again, I will kill you both. You do not threaten me or my family. You do not put a gun to anyone.”

“I couldn’t kill her.” He looked at me with wide eyes. “I wouldn’t have done it. I love her. I loved Maria. I just couldn’t.” He looked down at the ground. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”

“David, don’t you see?” Meg began. “Everyone here is sad that Maria is gone. We all wish that things had been different, but she killed herself.”

“I don’t believe it!.” he shouted. “I don’t believe she killed herself. Maria loved life. She loved everything about life: the love, the pain, the hurt. She was strong. She was the strongest woman I’ve ever known.”

“But she wasn’t the best woman, was she?” Nancy spoke up, and I froze. “If she was, she would have made different decisions.”

“Nancy.” David looked at her in shock.

“You know it’s true. I loved her too, but she made many mistakes, David.” Her voice cracked. “She made many, many mistakes.”

“One of those mistakes was not killing herself.” He shook his head. “She was murdered. I’m almost positive of it. She didn’t kill herself, I’m telling you.” He looked at me then, and I could see pure hatred in his eyes. “I know she didn’t kill herself.”

We all stood there in silence, and I was immediately taken back to the day she died.

***

“You need to speak to Brandon for me, Greyson.” Maria barged into my office.

“What do you want?” I didn’t even look up at her as I continued balancing the club’s checking account for the month.

“Do you think I’m going to keep silent?” Her voice rose. “Do you think I’m going to let him treat me like this? After everything?” She walked over to my desk and banged on the table.

“Silent about what, Maria?”

“You know what.” Her eyes bored into mine. “I think it’d make a great piece on the news, don’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said softly, but I looked up then. She had my attention.

“Yes you do. I could bring you both down.” She laughed. “And bye bye to the private club.”

“Maria,” I said slowly. “Maybe you need to go and lie down. Do you need a rest?”

“Do I need a mothafucking rest?” She laughed bitterly. “I’m going to take you both down.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.”

“You’re a f**king bitch. Do you know that? You and Brandon are spawns of the devil. You don’t give two shits about anyone.”

“Anything else?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m going to go to the news and so is Patsy. We’re going to take you both down so far you won’t know which side is up.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I grabbed ahold of her wrists and squeezed tightly. Her eyes widened at my hard grip. “If I were you, I’d go and take a nap and see how you feel in the morning.”

“You wish.”

“I’m telling you, Maria. I’d be very careful about what you decide to do.” I let go of her hands and looked back at my ledger.

I heard her walk towards the door, but I didn’t look up until I heard the door close. I grabbed my phone and texted Brandon. Maria is acting crazy again. She seems more serious this time. Take care of it.

***

My face flushed red as I remembered that text. I’d not thought about it until today. I’d forgotten about it in the craziness of that day. I’d never put two and two together before. I’d sent the text that morning and that evening she’d been found dead with a suicide note.

“David, you need to leave now.” I looked at him coldly.

“What about—”

“Leave!” My voice was harsh, and he paled.

“I’m sorry, Nancy.” He reached out to her, and she pushed him away.

“Leave me alone.” She took a step back, and Meg put her arms around her.

“It’s time to leave now, David.”

“Who’s leaving?” Patsy walked into the room and her eyes widened as she surveyed the scene. “You’re back, Nancy?” Her voice was soft, and I could see her eyes narrowing. Nancy stared back at her with a scared expression, and I knew that Patsy was the one who had something to do with her disappearance.

“You’re leaving, Patsy. You and David.”

“What?” She looked at me with hurt eyes.

“I want you both out of here now.”

“Greyson.” Her voice cracked. “You can’t mean it.”

“I mean it.” My eyes were cold. “You need to leave now.”

“Come on, Nancy. I’m going to take you home with us.” Meg glared at Patsy. “We’re going to go to Brandon and my friend Katie’s house. I’m sure you want to see the back of the club.”

“Wait.” I looked at Meg, but I could tell from her expression that there was no changing her mind.

“Look at you playing happy families,” Patsy cackled and leaned towards me. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Really? I thought you fantasized about this for you and me?” I looked at her pointedly, and she gasped. “Let’s go.” I nodded at Meg and Nancy, my heart feeling full, even though I was pissed as hell. “I expect the two of you to be gone by the time I get back. You’re not welcome on property again. Leave a forwarding address with my secretary. I’ll send you your last checks. If I see you here again, you’ll be arrested for trespassing.” I walked towards the door and waited for Meg and Nancy to leave before looking back at them. “You’re lucky that both of you are leaving without bodily harm.”

“Go run back to Brandon,” Patsy hissed. “Go try and make everything right! You think it’s all going to work out?” She laughed. “We’ll see about that.”

“I don’t know what I did to make you hate me this much, Patsy.”

“I think you know, Greyson.” Her eyes narrowed. “I think we both know what you did.” We stared at each other for a few moments, and I felt bereft that she had become this person. She leaned towards me, grabbed ahold of my arm, and paused. I waited for her to apologize, to say something that would make up for all that she had done. Instead, she whispered in my ear, “How does it feel knowing you’re going to ruin your best friend’s life once again?”

Chapter 14

Brandon

“What’s that commotion?” I walked into the living room, looking for Katie.

“Hey.” Greyson nodded at me, and I smiled.

“You’re back.”

“Yes.” He gave me a look and I frowned, not understanding what he was trying to tell me. I looked around the room and that was when I saw Meg and Katie standing over another girl. “Meg and I are back. We brought Nancy with us.”

“Oh.” I froze, not sure what to say. “Welcome.”

“Nancy was held at gunpoint by David.” Meg gave me a look. “He nearly killed her.”

“What?” I didn’t know what else to say as I stared at her.

“I’m okay.” She offered up a weak smile, but she didn’t make eye contact with me. The room was silent for a few minutes as we all stood there, no one knowing what to say. I stood there awkwardly in the corner of the room, not really knowing what to do.

“Patsy was the one who approached me.” Nancy spoke up finally and I looked over at her again. “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. It was all her idea.”

“What was her idea?” I walked over to her, my heart in my mouth.

“She approached David first,” Nancy continued. “She didn’t tell him everything at first. Just told him that she knew what had happened to Maria and she thought it was wrong. She told him she could get him a job at the club and that they could bring you and Greyson down.”

“I see.” I sat down next to her, and Greyson sat on the other side.

“Are you okay, Nancy?” Meg asked. “You don’t have to do this now if you’re not up for it.”

“No, I want to.” She looked at the ground. “I’ve been waiting to talk about it for a while now.”

“Okay.” Meg nodded and then walked over to Katie and held her hand.

Katie smiled at her weakly and they took a seat. This was it then. We were all going to discuss it.

“She knew about me all along. I guess she and Maria had been good friends,” Nancy continued. “She thought if I came to the club, it would be great. She thought I’d want revenge as well. She wanted it to be the three of us bringing down the club. She wanted to see you and Greyson pay.”

“I see.”

“I didn’t know what to think.” Her face turned red. “She didn’t tell me the truth until the day I disappeared. She saw that I was getting close to Meg. She was scared that I wouldn’t go ahead with anything because of Meg. She knew Meg was hooking up with Greyson. She hated that. She wanted me to put something in Meg’s food.” She looked pale as she spoke. “But I told her no, Meg. I told her no.”

“I know.” Meg nodded. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”

“When she told me the truth right as I was walking outside, I threw up. She told me to go and lie down. She told me that I should just be by myself. She said she’d back.”

“I was wondering how you disappeared so quickly,” Meg said, nodding. “It seemed to happen in minutes.”

“I didn’t know what to think or feel.” Nancy nodded. “I cried and cried and cried and agreed with her and David that I wanted some sort of revenge, though really all I wanted to know was why.” Her voice caught and she looked at me quickly. I felt my heart racing and I saw Greyson giving me a closed look. This was a lot harder than I’d thought it was going to be.

“I was worried about you, Meg, so I quickly wrote a note and that diary to leave you clues. I didn’t want Patsy or David to get suspicious if they found them though, so I added in other stories.”

“Thank you for doing that, Nancy.” Meg’s voice cracked, and it was then that I realized that they really had a close connection.

“She hated you so much. She was so jealous that you were with Greyson. She was so confident that he was just with you for fun, but then she realized that he seemed to be falling for you. She hated you with a passion and it made her hate Greyson even more. And that of course made her hate you even more.” She looked at me. “She told me and David that you tricked her into sleeping with you one night and that was why Greyson had ended things with her. She told us that you ruined her relationship with him and she would never forgive you for that.” She looked away then and glanced at Katie. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, and Katie walked over to her.

“Don’t be sorry, my dear.” Katie kneeled down and hugged her. “Don’t you ever be sorry for telling the truth.”

Nancy stared at her in surprise, and I could see fresh tears in her eyes. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure!” Katie nodded and reached over, grabbing my hand and squeezing. “Please continue.”

“So she told me that I’d been used and discarded as well.” Her breath caught. “She said it wasn’t right what you guys had done to me. She said we had to make you pay. We had to hurt you as you’d hurt us. I didn’t know what to think. My life had been turned upside down. I told her I’d work with her. I wanted to hurt you both as well. At least, that’s what I thought in the beginning. Then I realized I just wanted to meet you. I just wanted to talk with you. I just wanted to say hello to my father.” She paused then and Greyson and I looked at each other.

The room went silent, and we all sat there waiting for someone to say something. It was as if no one knew what to say. It was then that I noticed that no one seemed shocked. There had been no gasps. Everyone knew the truth. I looked at Greyson again and he nodded. He’d told Meg. I couldn’t be mad. I’d told Katie. I understood why he had. Why we’d both had to. Our love for our women was greater than our need to keep it a secret.