“Oh hey, sorry man, I don’t take walk-ins.”

He has no idea who I am. Apparently, I didn’t leave as much of an impression on him during the wedding as he did on me. In retrospect, this is probably a good thing. It allows me to be an anonymous, disinterested third party as I pump him for information.

In person, Josh looks even more dimwitted than he did in the photo. But again, I am biased. If I were to be objective, I could see why a nineteen year old girl could fall for that aw shucks expression and those pretty boy features, complete with floppy hair and an athletic build. No doubt he’s done quite well since moving on from Simone.

But now he’s here all alone in his “studio,” which is nothing more than a crappy loft space on the sixth floor of some walk-up. Considering the zip code, he’s probably still paying through the nose.

I look over the man who Simone was with for the past six years. Six years of dinners, vacations, birthdays, walks in the park, late night phone calls, showers together, curling up on the sofa to watch movies, fighting, making up, kissing, cuddling…fucking.

I feel the rage come back and force it down, digging my nails into my palm. A grin that only a jaguar could conjure up comes to my face.

“Actually, I’m not here for a session.”

Josh’s face contorts into one of confusion, but the first subtle signs of wariness are finally making an appearance. Perhaps he’s not as stupid as he looks.

“What do you want?” he asks suspiciously.

“I’m here about Simone.” Now that I’ve said her name, I watch his expression closely, searching for any signs of…hell, I don’t even know what.

I’m actually surprised to find a big goofy grin come to his face. “You are? Does this mean she’s taking me back?”

He’s quick to close the distance between us as he rambles on. “Listen man, tell her I’m sorry. Whatever she wants, it’s done. Shit, I don’t even know what I was thinkin’.” He runs a frustrated hand through is longish mop of hair.

“Simone was just getting so pushy about the marriage thing. I get it six years is a long time but…I just wasn’t ready to go there yet. Then Glory, she just, shit man, she was all over my junk. What was I supposed to do?” He gives me one quick panicky look. “Not that I’m excusing it. It’s just, the girl came on hard.”

I just stand there, not saying a word. I know better than to interrupt someone when they are on a roll, digging their own damn grave. The pieces are finally coming together at least. Some girl hit on him “hard” and he was dumb enough to succumb to it.

I think about Simone and the way her skin felt against mine, the way her lips tasted, how amazing it felt being deep inside of her as she moaned my name.

I hope Glory was worth it, you dumb shit.

I don’t know why I’m so full of antagonism. If it wasn’t for Josh’s screw-up, last night would have never happened. Hell, the whole fake wedding would have probably never happened. I should be thanking him. Instead, I let him get it out.

“The fucked up part is, Glory ghosted me like a week after Simone found out. I mean, one moment she’s all hot to trot, spending every night at my place and shit, and I’m thinking’ well I might as well make the most of it, you know?” He looks to me for some sort of man-code validation. Although I want to slap him silly, I just nod.

“Then…poof!” he splays the fingers of both his hands out like fireworks as though to illustrate, “she’s gone. The bitch even blocked me! I guess the blogosphere caught wind of us or something. Who the hell knows what’s up when it comes to girls? If I’d known she was gonna just leave….”

His hair is once again tangled in his fingers in frustration. He stays like that for a second, rethinking his life choices, before his head pops up again to give me that suspicious look. “Say, who are you anyway?”

Finally asking the important questions, Einstein.

“I’m here about a certain video that you may have leaked?” I hint.

He gives me that dumbfounded look of confusion. “Video?”

I stuff my fists into the pocket of my slacks and stroll into the studio idly looking around. It’s a well-known move for those of us who are practiced in the art of war. I’m invading his territory, casually marking it with my mere presence, asserting my authority over him with each step.

Josh stands in place, watching me with that same confused look on his face. Either he’s a brilliant poker player, or he has no idea what I’m talking about. If I was a betting man, I’d put every last penny on the latter.

“The sex tape with Simone, Josh,” I finally say, letting the slightest bit of exasperated anger color my voice. Just enough to whip his memory into action.

He blinks in surprise, but I see the slight bit of color that comes to his face. He knows what video I’m talking about, but he doesn’t know why I’ve brought it up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I’m quick to respond, storming over so aggressively he actually flinches. When I’m inches away from him, using the height and size I have on him to my advantage, I lean in giving him my best no-bullshit face.

“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about Josh. Why bother to deny it now, especially since you’ve already leaked it to certain parties who may be interested?”

Now the confused look is back. At this point, I really do want to smash my fist into it, if only to see what other expressions he can actually manage. “Leaked? Why the hell would I leak it?”

His eyes go wide as soon as he says it, realizing he’s just admitted to owning said video. Even after all this time. “I mean—you know, if I had any video to—”

“Cut the bullshit Josh!” I roar, causing him to go silent with wide-eyed fear. “Right now, you are looking at a minimum of a lawsuit for invasion of privacy. You add blackmail and fraud, not to mention criminal liability for obscenity charges, and you are going to be one sorry, sad son of a bitch, my friend.”

I’m pulling most of this out of my ass, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of business, it’s that acting like you know what the hell you’re talking about works ninety-nine times out of a hundred.

Josh’s eyes blink in rapid panic. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, listen, man. Okay, just listen!” He holds his hands up to ward off any more legal threats. “Yeah, okay I held on to the damn video, and yes,” he gives me one quick, sheepish look, “I may have stroked one out to it once or twice, just, you know, for nostalgia and shit. It isn’t like she ever let me make another one of her. I mean, I get it. We were young and stupid and—”

“Focus, Josh,” I growl.

He blinks up at me and his shoulders sag in resignation. “I didn’t send it to anyone. Why the hell would I? Simone would kill me if she found out. Wait…does she know about it? Who the hell were they leaked to?”

The bewilderment on his face seems genuine. The sorry son of a bitch has no idea how that video was sent to me. I watch him carefully, just to make sure.

No, Josh may have screwed up big time when it came to cheating on Simone, but he isn’t the one who sent me the video.

Which obviously begs the question. Who the hell did…and why?

Could it be this Glory woman? I have no idea who the woman is and why the heck a perfect stranger would send it, but that’s something to think about later on. I turn to go and all of a sudden it’s the last thing Josh wants.

“Wait, man! Where are you going? What about Simone? What’s this about?” He makes the mistake of grabbing me by the shoulder. One hard look from me and his hand quickly drops.

“Do yourself a favor, Josh. Forget you ever knew Simone. Don’t call. Don’t text. Don’t try to contact her. She’s not coming back to you.” Or at least she will over my dead body.

I walk out the door and when I get to the street I stare at the ground and process what I’ve learned. I came looking for answers. Now I just have more questions than I did when I came.

What the hell is going on here?