Page 115 of The Bad Husband

Today I’m a little bit better, but my voice is still raspy.

Some things happened after I left Keira’s place on Tuesday night.

Unexpected things.

“Are you sure you’re all right with this?” she asks.

“Absolutely. Are you?”

I try to smile, but the soreness in my neck punishes me.

She laughs at the other end of the line, while I prop a shoulder against the wall, watching the world go by.

You can tell it’s summer. Fewer people are out and about.

“I don’t know what to say. It’s kind of new to me,” she says.

Nicky asked her out.

Yes, that Nicky. The Benjamin Nicky decided to take a break from timidness and ask Keira out. The three of them had drinks after I left, and they chatted for a while––that’s what she says.

And then Jeff left, and Nicky lingered a little longer.

One thing led to another. She started talking about me, then asked him what he’d thought about me, and then he felt pressured to admit that he’d always been more attracted to her than he had been attracted to me.

I have to give it to him.

At least he was honest.

“They’re all new in the beginning,” I comment.

“That’s not what I was saying.”

“I know what you were saying. As someone who has always opted for this type of man, I can assure you they’re worthy of your time. He’s no exception.”

“What about you?”

The silence thickens as I get flashbacks from the other night.

You can call Damon West anything but shy. He is the opposite of timid. He’s a new type of man for me, too, although what’s going on between us can hardly be called dating. It’s an experience, a story with a dark twist, maybe more than anything a disaster waiting to happen.

It’s so many things, except for a date. I’m not so sure men like him know how to date. I try to imagine him asking someone out.

Would he fuck that woman before dinner? In the restaurant bathroom?

In his car? Would he book a hotel room? Go to her place? Or straight out take her to his place and keep her locked?

So little time, so many choices.

A smile tickles my lips.

“Lila?”

“Huh?”

“I wasn’t sure you were still there.”

“What were you asking again?”