No response. He tried to grab her arm again and she shook him off. Taking a step back, he swore at her. “Then I’m going to talk to him. I have to know what’s going on here.”

She looked at him with such bitterness. “You would do that to me, huh? Now I know what kind of man you are.”

He was incredulous. “What kind of man I am? What about you? You’re the one who’s always talking about honor and honesty. Now I know who you are.”

“You’re no better. You show up here and say these things and try to hurt me.” She wept. “You’re hurting me!”

None of it was real. He tried to hold her. He hated her right then but at the same time he had never realized how much he loved her. David was close. She struggled in his embrace.

“Let me go!” she screamed.

“Amy! We have to get out of here! We have to talk!”

She cried as she fought him. “Leave me alone! I want to go home!”

“Amy! Please?”

She broke free and ran away. He chased after her for a moment and then gave up. She went around the block and vanished. David walked up at his side.

“What a bitch,” he muttered casually.

Matt staggered to the curb and sat down. He vomited in the gutter.

David stayed with him, he wanted to talk. Matt realized later that he was only interested in gathering information to hold over Amy’s head. David was upset but also pleased in a strange way. He wanted to know the details of their relationship. Matt told him the whole story. For being the “other guy,” David was remarkably self-assured. He was also a snake. Matt saw that much.

While they spoke, David got three calls on his cell phone. He told Matt they were business related and didn’t answer them. Matt was so dazed he did not understand that Amy was calling David because she was worried what the night had done to their relationship. She was not worried about her relationship with her boyfriend. She was just trying to arrange a place to meet David afterward.

Finally David left. Matt stood and staggered back to his car. He was in absolute shock but he was aware enough to realize he was looking at a torturous future. Amy was his life. He had thought of little else for the last two years. She could not have done this, it was not happening.