#matthew lent

When Jason got home from work that night Courtney wasn't home. Honestly he was kind of glad for that. But he didn't want to be alone. He knew he shouldn't have picked up his phone and typed out that text but he did.

Need to see you. Our spot, half an hour.

He wasn't expecting her to reply. And if she did reply he expected her to say no. What he got in response surprised him. 

Ok.

And Jason knew he shouldn't meet her. He could literally have chosen anyone else in his phone book and it would have been better than meeting her. But he couldn't stop himself even if he tried.

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Jason's Lie List no.6 - The party (Matt's alarm)

 It started long before the day I got married. To truly picture how I ended up spending my wedding night on the Brooklyn Bridge with a bottle of whiskey in my hand and her sat next to me, we need to go back some years. Med school. 

 The four of us had been at a party on campus and Matt and Courtney had both called it a night. I told Matt I would walk Naomi home when the party was over and in return he walked Courtney home. Friends did each other favours. Friends helped friends out. Friends had each other's back. In our case, friends also fucked each other up.

 I've always been the bigger drinker of the two of us. Matt's the sensible one, the one with the passion for this shit. I never even wanted to be a doctor. Funny how life goes. I'd had a lot to drink that night but I was still sober enough to know what I was doing. I could blame it on the drink but I won't. I knew in good conscious that what I was doing was wrong, but I did it anyway. I walked Naomi back to her apartment but as we reached the door I suddenly wasn't ready to say goodnight.

'I know this great spot.' I told her as she was about to head inside. She turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

'Excuse me?'

'There's this great spot a few blocks away. Amazing views. What do you say, you, me and a bottle of whiskey? We can continue the party.' It was bad and I shouldn't have said it. But fuck it. Sometimes I like being bad. And I knew Naomi did too. She raised an eyebrow at me, scrutinising me. She did that a lot. She clearly knew it was a bad idea too, I think she saw beneath the 'innocent' offer for what it really was. It didn't surprise me so much when she started nodding. Like I say, Naomi likes being bad just as much as I do. 

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 'Do you know what pisses me off most about Matt?' I was slurring my words a little as I handed Naomi the whiskey. The breeze coming off the water as we sat on the bridge was glorious on my skin.

'What's that?' She had a hint of a smirk on her lips. Just a hint.

'He doesn't even have to try you know? He gets good grades, he's going to be an amazing surgeon. And he doesn't even need to try. It pisses me off. I want to put him in his place for once.'

'You should.' She told me and swigged from the bottle. 'He's got that big exam in a few days, you should shut off his alarm or something.' She handed me back the bottle. I laughed at the idea.

'Yeah, I wish.'

'Don't wish. Make it happen. Wishes are for children.'

'Why do you want to fuck him up?' I pulled a pack of cigarettes from my pocket and lit one before handing the pack to Naomi. She took one and lit it too. Her deep red lipstick printed on the filter.

'He could do with being knocked down a peg.'

'Wow, trouble in paradise?' I chuckled sucking on the cigarette.

'We want different things.' She looked out across the water, the cigarette dangling gracefully between her long fingers.

'Oh yeah?' I took another swig of whiskey before handing her back the bottle. She took it without looking at me.

'He wants marriage, kids and the whole white picket fence bullshit. That's not me. I don't like to be tied down.'

'Like me.' I smirked. She looked at me now.

'What about Court?'

'She's a great girl and all, but I'm not the commitment type.'

'Why have one when you can have many?' Naomi raised an eyebrow at me.

'Well said.' I leaned closer to her, I'm not sure I meant to. 'I'm going to do it.' I took a long pull on the cigarette.

'Do what?'

'Shut his alarm off.' I laughed to myself and Naomi had a glint in her eyes.

'I approve.' That hint of a smirk came back. She downed some whiskey. We finished our cigarettes in silence.

'It's getting late.' I told her after a while. 'Wanna get out of here?' 

She knew what I meant. She knew what I wasn't saying. Her red lip turned up a little at the corner.

'Yeah. Let's get the fuck out of here.'

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Then things got out of control. I knew how bad it was when I leaned in and kissed Naomi outside her apartment. I knew it made me a terrible person when I agreed to come inside with her. I knew Matt would kill me when we started stripping off our clothes and grouping at each other's bodies. I knew it was fucked up, but that's what made it so hot. I felt smug as I fucked her. Matt had always been the better of the two of us. Better looking. Smarter. More driven. But for the first time I finally felt like I had something on him. And I didn't feel bad. Not even a little bit. I felt empowered.

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The evidence was all over my body I realised as showered back at my apartment the next morning. Matt wasn't home but I didn't give it a thought. Naomi had left her dark red lipstick all over my body. On my lips, my neck, my collarbones and my chest. All over my torso. Around my dick. The lipstick marked me, like some kind of sexy reminder of what I'd done. It made me smile as I looked down at my body. She wasn't mine, and she was never going to be mine. I didn't want her to be mine either. But I loved that she'd marked me, she'd marked me so that in that in that moment I belonged to her. Fuck it was hot. 

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A few days later before Matt's big exam I found his phone next to the couch he'd been sleeping on for months. It was meant to be just a few days he'd told me. I don't think he's ever going to leave. Matt was in the shower and I took the time to shut off his alarm. I smiled smugly to myself as I did so. Maybe I felt a tiny bit guilty. But only a little. Mostly, as usual, I felt nothing. 

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Jason sipped from the bottle of whiskey as he sat on the bridge. He saw the hand in his peripheral vision, reaching for the bottle. He snatched it out of her reach.

'I don't think so.' He shook his head and lit a cigarette. He didn't smoke so often anymore but he needed it tonight.

'Can I at least have a drag on the cigarette?'

'No way.'

She sighed loudly.

'Matt told you. About the baby.'

Jason turned to look at Naomi. He wondered who the father was. He wondered what other poor idiot had fallen for the vixen.

'Yeah I guess.' He couldn't very well tell her how he really found out. 'Naomi, who's the father?'

She averted her gaze down to the water.

'Matt is.'

'That was a terrible lie. I thought you were supposed to be good at lying?'

She looked back at him. Her face was void of expression as always.

'It's just some guy.' She shrugged like it was no big deal. She reached for the bottle again but Jason held it out of her reach.

'Nuh uh.'

'Just a sip?'

'No fucking way.' He took a big gulp from the bottle and long drag on the cigarette to torment her.

'You won't tell Matt will you?'

'What that you tried to steal my whiskey?'

She rolled her eyes.

'Not that asshole.' She hit him in the arm. 'About the baby.'

'What's one more secret?' Jason shrugged. He thought Matt was going to tell her he knew but clearly that hadn't happened. He wasn't going to tell Naomi he already knew though.

'Why did you call me here Jason?' She tucked her legs under her body and if Jason wasn't mistaken he swore she shuffled closer.

'I really don't know.'

'Matt deserves better than this.' She surprised Jason with her words. He frowned a little at her.

'Well that's the understatement of the century.'

'Alright you don't need to be rude.' She looked away from him again.

'Well it’s true.'

'Oh yeah? And what do you know about the truth?' She practically snapped her neck turning back to look at him.

'Admittedly not a lot.' He took one last pull on the cigarette before flicking it over the side of the bridge. 'But I know a little something about good and bad. Growing up I was always told that all people are good deep down even if they don't seem like it on the surface. That was a lie. Fundamentally I think all people are either born good or bad. You see Matt and Courtney, they're good people. Kind and sweet with big hearts. People like you and I...we fall at the other end of the spectrum. I try to be good, I try so hard to make up for all the bad shit I've done in my life but it's pointless. I'm bad, I'm bad to the core. And you know what I figured today?' He sipped from the bottle.

'What's that?' Naomi raised an eyebrow curiously at him.

'I can't stop being bad any more than a leopard can change its spots. So why fight it? Being bad is in my DNA so I've decided to stop fighting it and just be bad.' He didn't give Naomi a lot of chance to process his words because he suddenly moved closer to her, his hand hooking around the back of her neck and pressing their lips together. Naomi didn't fight it. She knew Jason was right. There was no fighting being bad.

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They ended up back at Naomi's and back in her bed. What happened between them that night can best be described as hate fucking. Jason was anything but gentle with her, his face contorted into a sneer the whole time. When he'd pushed his way inside her he'd groaned, 'you know I hate you right?' To which Naomi had responded, 'feelings mutual asshole.'

 The condom had barely hit the trash can before Jason was up getting dressed. They didn't say a word to each other. Jason got his clothes on and left the house. As he was exiting the front gate, Matt got out of a cab. Jason stopped in his tracks as did Matt. The two men stared at each other from several feet away. It was clear they were both a little drunk. Matt swayed a little as he came closer to Jason. Jason stayed put.

'What were you doing in my house?'

Jason could have lied. Maybe he should have lied. But what was the point?

'Isn't it obvious?' He shrugged. Matt clenched his jaw.

'Tell me you didn't.'

'I didn't.' Jason replied but Matt was frowning.

'You're lying aren't you?'

'Yep.'

'You fucked her?'

'Guilty.' Jason raised his hands in the air as if surrendering. And then Matt lunged at him. It took Jason so off guard Matt was able to shove Jason to the floor. Matt leapt on top of him. He punched Jason once, twice and then a third time with his bad hand. He didn't feel the pain, he was too high on adrenaline.

'You fucking asshole!' He screamed. 'A one-time thing! It was supposed to be a one-time thing!' He punched him again. Jason's nose was bleeding, he was pretty sure it was broken. He shoved Matt off him, the other man’s back hitting the concrete. 

'Yeah well I'm an asshole. Deal with it.' Jason stood up and wiped the blood on his sleeve. 'I'm and asshole and your wife's a whore.'

Matt jumped up and grabbed Jason around the throat with his good hand.

'You son of bitch! Court is way too good for you! I can't even believe she would marry a piece of garbage like you!'

'Maybe you should have gotten in there first.' Jason shrugged, his windpipe constricting from Matt's grip.

'I wish I had!' Matt squeezed tighter. 'I was with her tonight. I could have easily gotten her back into bed but I said no! I said no because you're my best friend and I couldn't bear to live with the guilt again. But you better fucking believe I would only have to click my fingers and she would be back in my bed so fast your head would spin.'

Jason rolled his eyes. He wasn't even sure he cared anymore. He was about to tell Matt that too but he was interrupted.

'Matthew.' 

The men looked towards the front door to see Naomi stood in just a robe with her arms crossed over her chest. Matt knew she'd heard him. She only called him Matthew when he'd really fucked up. He let go of Jason's throat and Jason gasped for air a little. Some of Jason's blood had dropped on his hand. 

'Inside. Now.' She instructed him like he was a child. But he knew better than to argue. He didn't look at Jason as he followed her into the house.

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'You slept with Courtney?'

'You slept with Jason?'

Long stares. Clenched jaws. Folded arms. Tension that could be cut with a knife. Matt slept on the couch. They didn't talk a lot, only to establish their infidelities. Matt couldn't sleep. He knew in the morning there was going to be a fight. A huge fight. Maybe the kind of fight that ended a marriage. He never wanted the morning to come.

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'What happened to your face?' Courtney gasped as Jason walked into the bedroom. The bleeding had stopped but there was dried blood on his face.

'Doesn't matter.' He grabbed his pillows from his side of the bed.

'Where are you going?' Courtney put her book down and watched him walk back towards the door.

'To sleep on the couch.' He turned back to look at her. 'I know you slept with Matt.' 

Courtney's face fell.

'I uhm...it wasn't like that I-'

The following morning the Dardo household was full of a lot of tears, a lot of apologies leaving lips. A lot of words were spoken that didn't mean much of anything anymore. 

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The Lent household was much less calm that morning. Screams could be heard down the street. Lots of bad language was uttered. Things were said that could never be taken back.

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Both Matt and Jason's mornings would culminate in them packing a bag and leaving their homes. Leaving their wives. 

 They thought it might finally be over. They thought wrong.

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Jason closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep when Courtney came downstairs that morning. He heard her pause briefly in the living room before she went through to the kitchen. When he heard the door close behind her he opened his eyes and sighed. 

 The argument was inevitable. He didn't know what he expected to achieve by laying here for a few extra minutes. Jason knew as soon as he got up off the couch and walked into the kitchen he and Courtney were going to have the most difficult conversation of their relationship. He was also pretty sure that conversation was going to end his marriage. He still loved her, a part of him did anyway although his actions might not have made it seem that way. I'm too young to get divorced, he ran his fingers over his face. But maybe I was too young to get married in the first place. He sighed and sat up. 

 He yawned, stretching his aching limbs. He hadn't slept a wink and he was way too long to sleep on the couch. He knew he needed to face the music.

 He heard the kettle boiling in the kitchen as he pushed himself up from the couch. He threw yesterday's clothes back on and took a few deep breaths. He ran his fingers through his matted hair and as he brought his hands back down his wedding band caught the light. He felt his gut wrench. This wasn't how his life was supposed to go. What had happened to the sanctity of marriage? Or more to the point, what had he done to the sanctity of marriage? Between the four of them they had well and truly fucked everything. 

 Before he went into the kitchen he walked over to the book shelf and picked up the photograph in the large silver frame. He felt tears behind his eyes as he stared down at it. His wedding day. The picture showed the four of them, Jason with his arm around Courtney both of whom were beaming brightly. Jason's best man, Matt, was next to him with a silly grin on his face and next to Courtney was her maid of honour Naomi with her usual poker face. They looked so happy. It was amazing how people could look so happy in photos when deep down they were anything but. 

 Hours later Jason had crawled into bed with Naomi and hours before Matt had been sleeping with Courtney. This picture was a fucking lie and Jason couldn't bear to look at it anymore. He put the photograph back down on the shelf face down so he didn't have to be reminded of it. Then he turned to face the kitchen door. The kettle boiled. Coffee would be amazing right now. Everything was going to change when he walked in that fucking kitchen. He wasn't sure he was ready for that. But he had to be. 

 He took a few more deep breaths and headed to the kitchen. He put his hand flat on the door, tears still pricking the back of his eyes. And then he pushed it opened. 

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Matt was sat on the couch tapping his foot impatiently on the floor. He checked his watch again. Naomi never slept this late. She was doing this deliberately. What was the point in putting this off? The damage had been done now and they needed to talk about it. Matt thought she was being a coward. He had half a mind to storm up there and pull the bitch out of bed himself. Come and face me bitch, let's get this the fuck over with. 

 He was grinding his teeth furiously. He wasn't sure he'd ever been this angry in his whole life. He was angry at Naomi, the whore had slept with his best friend and now she was pregnant with someone else's baby. He was angry at Jason for sleeping with her. He was angry at Courtney for choosing Jason that night they first met. But mostly, Matt was angry at himself. 

 He was angry at himself for marrying the wrong woman. He was angry at himself for not letting his wedding ring stop him sleeping with Courtney. Or Jason. He was mad at himself for all the lies he'd told, all the secrets he'd kept. Maybe if I'd been a better person none of this would have happened to me. I deserve this. This is my own fault. 

 Since the hit and run he'd tried his hardest to make up for his wrong doings. He'd become a doctor, he'd worked damn hard to become one too. He tried to be nice and kind but bad things seemed to find him. He didn't know how, but he was sure he was always going to be bad deep down. He knew exactly how this was going to end so he just wanted Naomi to come down here and face him. Their marriage was over, it was as simple as that. Matt wasn't sticking around to see how many other guys his wife would sleep with or to raise a baby that wasn't his. 

 He heard the floorboards creak overhead. She was awake. Matt tried to calm himself, tried to mentally prepare what he was going to say to her like he'd been doing all night. He heard the bedroom door open. He heard her on the landing. He heard her take to the stairs. He took a deep breath just as she came into view.

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'Coffee?' Courtney croaked, looking just as tired as Jason felt.

'Sure.' Jason croaked in reply. Courtney poured them both a cup while Jason stood awkwardly in the doorway. She looked dishevelled, much like Jason probably did. Her thick blonde hair was a bird’s nest of curls sticking out at every angle. Her eyes were blood shot with heavy bags underneath from a torturous night’s sleep. She looked as though she was carrying the weight of her guilt on her shoulders as her whole body seemed to sag. 

 She brought the cups over to the table and nodded to Jason to sit down. This is my fucking house, he thought, I don't need an invite to sit down. He didn't say that though, he just sat down opposite Courtney and wrapped his hands around the mug.

'You slept with my best friend.' His voice was barely above a whisper. Courtney looked down into her mug briefly before looking back at Jason.

'And you slept with mine.'

'Touché.' Jason shrugged picking up the mug and bringing it to his lips.

'Why did you do it?' Courtney's first tear fell, rolling slowly down her porcelain cheek. Jason found himself a little hypnotised watching the way it fell.

'Because I'm weak.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Courtney sniffed, more tears now joining the first.

'I never was a one woman kind of guy. You knew that about me when we met. You thought you could change me.'

'I thought I had changed you.'

'And that was your first mistake.' Jason put the mug back down. Courtney choked a little on her sobs.

'Are you even sorry?' Her bottom lip quivered.

'Yes, of course I am. Maybe I'm more sorry for the way I told you than actually doing it though.' Jason ran his fingers through his hair. 'Are you sorry for sleeping with Matt?'

Courtney exhaled heavily, her tears still falling silently.

'I was.' She shrugged. 'I'm not sure I should be now though.'

Silence fell around them. It was thick in the room, heavy and imposing. Jason brought the mug back to his lips and took a sip just as his own tears broke free.

'He's my best friend Court.' He put the mug back down a little heavier than he'd meant to and he saw Courtney noticeably flinch.

'And Naomi is mine.'

'Oh please.' Jason scoffed trying to ignore the hindrance of tears now cascading down his face. 'You two barely tolerate each other. You have absolutely nothing in common.'

'Except our taste in men apparently.' Courtney retorted but as soon as the words left her lips Jason could tell she regretted them. 'And we have no more in common than you and Matt.'

'That's different.'

'How?'

I love him. 

'It just is.' Jason pushed he chair back and the noise of the wood scraping on the linoleum cut through the room like a thunderbolt. 

 He walked over to the kitchen counter and leant on it. He stared out the window, more and more tears flowing, obscuring his vision. 'We both fucked up.'

He heard Courtney push her chair back, making slightly less noise about it than Jason did. He soon felt her presence behind him.

'Yeah we did.' She gently rested her hand on his shoulder. 'People fuck up Jason. As humans we're not born perfect. We make mistakes, some of us bigger than others. But we can work through this right? You made a mistake, I made a mistake.' 

Jason turned to look at her over his shoulder. She had a small smile on her lips, a pleading smile. Jason reached for her hand on his shoulder and removed it before looking back out the window.

'I said I fucked up, I'll cop to that.' He sniffed. 'But I didn't say anything about making a mistake.'

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Their eyes met as soon as Naomi reached the bottom of the stairs. Matt could feel the anger spilling out of his eyes and making its way across the room to Naomi. Naomi, as always, was poker faced and glassy eyed.

'Morning.' She shrugged dumbly.

'Let’s skip the pleasantries.' Matt told her, his voice was low and practically begged for sleep. 'How many times exactly did you fuck my best friend?'

'How many times did you fuck mine?' She folded her arms over her chest, her eyebrow raised at her husband. 

 Matt stared at her. She looked, for the first time in all the years Matt had known her, terrible. Well, she looked terrible for Naomi anyway, she still looked better than most of the women in New York. Her long dark hair that was usually straight down to her chest was tied in a messy bun on top of her head. Her face was free of make-up and held the signs of a sleepless night. She wore a pair of oversized sweat pants, maybe Matt's, he wasn't sure, and a tank top that sagged a little at the chest. Matt thought he probably didn't look much better. He certainly didn't feel better than she looked. He felt like a man being made to walk the plank, facing his inevitable demise. Looking into Naomi's eyes was like staring down the barrel of a gun. 

'Twice.' Matt told her honestly. It was funny how he'd avoided honesty all these years but now honesty was all he had left. He didn't feel as though he had any lies left in him. 'Once in med school after that campus party when we left early. And once the night before her wedding.' He knew Naomi hadn't asked for the details but he told her anyway. A part of him really wanted to see her as hurt as he was. But she showed no emotion towards his revelation. Just like fucking always.

'Three times.' She offered, unfolding her arms and slipping her hands into the pockets of the sweat pants. They must be mine, Matt thought in absent mind. Naomi would never buy sweat pants. 'Last night. After the party. And the night before Jason's wedding.'

Two times. Matt knew about two times. So that night all those years ago when Matt had gone to the Black Lion with Courtney and they'd ended up in bed together, Jason had been in bed with Naomi? It explained why Jason wasn't at the apartment in the morning. When Matt had spent the longest time scrubbing Courtney's lipstick from his body, Jason had probably just been waking up in Naomi's bed. Matt had spent all these years feeling guilty for his infidelity, now he wished he'd saved the energy. If he'd known this whole time Naomi was cheating on him too he wouldn't have cared. Or maybe he would have. He supposed he'd never know.

'Bitch.' Matt found himself spitting. 'Fucking bitch.'

'Because you're so much better?' Naomi scoffed with a small roll of her eyes.

'I might have cheated. I might have done a bad thing,' he was striding across the living room now, closing the space between them. 'But I didn't get pregnant but another guy and lie about it.' When he stopped he was less than a foot in front of Naomi. The anger poured from his eyes like tears would have. Like they would have if Matt was upset. He wasn't. He was far from upset.

'How did you find out?' She didn't even have the energy to try and deny it.

'I work in a hospital Naomi. The hospital you had your eight week scan at.' Ok so maybe he had one more lie in him. There was no way he was telling Naomi about Anon. She would probably only tell him he deserved it anyway.

'I think I knew deep down I couldn't keep that a secret forever.'

'That's all you have to say?' Matt could feel his anger rising. 

 It had started as a small bubbling in his stomach. It had since spread up his torso, through his chest and up his throat. It was ready to overflow everywhere. 'That's all you have to fucking say?' His voice suddenly raised several decibels. 'You got pregnant by another fucking man and you were just going to let me raise it and pretend it was my own? Do you know how fucking sick that is?' He was yelling louder than he'd probably ever done. He wasn't even sure his voice went this loud.

'I don't know. I don't know what I intended on doing. But I couldn't very well tell you the truth.' She shrugged, her voice staying the same volume.

'Do you even fucking care?' 

'Well admittedly it's not ideal. I wasn't trying to get pregnant.'

'You are a hideous human being, do you know that?' Matt stepped backwards, his one good fist clenching at his side.

'I never claimed to be a saint Matt. You knew when you met me that I wasn't the commitment type. I am not a one man kind of gal. But you proposed to me anyway.' She shrugged, her voice still not raising even a little.

'Why the fuck did you say yes? You should have just said no and saved me the fucking trouble.' Matt was shouting so loudly he swore he felt the house shake.

'If I said no it would have broken your heart. I might be a bitch but I didn't want to do that to you.' She put her hands on her hips giving the impression she was bored. She probably was.

'You didn't want to break my heart?' Matt laughed manically. 'You don't think finding out you've fucked Jason breaks my heart? You don't think finding out you're carrying another man’s baby breaks my heart?'

'I can get rid of the baby.' She sighed, completely missing Matt's point.

'Oh good.' Matt spoke sarcastically. 'In that case everything's fucking fine. We can just go back to playing happy families.'

It was his parents’ divorce all over again. It had happened mere months before Matt had left for med school. He remembered it like it was yesterday. The war zone that was his home. He'd hear his parents arguing from half way down the street. The house would reverberate with the decibels in which they spoke. He would bury his head under his pillow, earphones on, music up high but it didn't help. This was just like those years ago except at least they didn't have kids.

'Oh come on Matt.' Naomi rolled her eyes again. 'We'll see a councillor or whatever. I'll get rid of the baby. We'll forget all this ever happened.'

'Fuck you!' Matt yelled even louder than before. 'I will never forget this happened. I can't even bare to look at you!'

'Do you not think you're overreacting slightly?'

It took everything in Matt's power not to slap her in that moment. The anger was swimming around inside his body, swirling and swirling. He hated his wife. He hated her so much at that moment. 

 He stepped closer to her and grabbed her by the wrist maybe a little rougher than he should have done but he didn't care. He looked down at her wedding ring.

'This is a fucking joke.' In one swift tug he pulled the ring from her finger. He held the ring up in his good hand. 'This was supposed to fucking mean something Naomi! It never has to you has it? It's just a fucking joke. Tell me Naomi, did you ever even love me?' He closed the ring in his palm and balled his fist tightly. She looked down at her now empty finger.

'I've never loved anyone.' She looked back at Matt. Even now she didn't even have a hint of an expression on her face or a hint of remorse in her eyes. Matt squeezed his fist tighter. He wondered if he squeezed tight enough if he could just make the wedding ring disappear. Maybe he could squeeze so hard he could go back in time somehow and not ask this bitch to marry him in the first place.

'Well thank you for wasting all these fucking years of my life.' He barged passed her towards the stairs, not being able to look at her another second.

'Is that it then?' Naomi followed him. 'What happens now?' She followed him up to the bedroom where he grabbed a suitcase from the top of the closet and started throwing things inside it.

'What happens now is,' his voice was still raised. 'I'm going to stay in a fucking motel because I can't be around you anymore. You're going to find somewhere else to live and pack your shit up and get the fuck out of my house as soon as humanly possible. Make sure you leave me a forwarding address so I know where to send the divorce papers.' 

Naomi rolled her eyes but Matt didn’t see it because he was too busy throwing clothes haphazardly into the suitcase.

'You'll calm down. You'll get over this.' 

He spun around to look at her and he finally lost it. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, ready to shove her backwards into the wall. Violence ran in his blood after all. He tried to ignore the surge of pain that flooded to his hand. But the pain allowed him a second to realise what he was doing. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and then let his hands drop to his sides before he did something he would regret.

'I never want to see you again.' He spat, nostrils flared. 'I hate you Naomi. I fucking hate you.' 

He didn't care what he'd packed or what he'd forgotten he just needed out of this house. The house he'd brought for them. The house he and Naomi were supposed to grow old in. He zipped up the suitcase and hauled it off the bed. His eyes met Naomi's. Glassy, unfeeling eyes stared back at him. He'd told her he wanted a divorce and she couldn't even muster a tear. That told him all he needed to know. He barged passed her again and headed to the stairs. This time she didn't follow him. It was enough to tell him he'd made the right decision. His wife didn't care enough to fight for him. She didn't care enough to shed a fucking tear. He wished he'd been smarter than to marry such a fucking bitch. He wished he hadn't wasted so long of his life on a woman who never loved him. But above all else, Matt wished he'd never met Naomi fucking Smalls.

 Matt and Jason checked into two separate motel rooms in two separate motels. There would be countless times they would think about picking up the phone and calling the other but neither ever went through with it. Was it over now? Would Anon finally leave them alone? They both supposed it wouldn't matter if Anon told their wives the truth now, their marriages were over. Anon finally had no leverage. They thought they'd won. They thought they could finally sleep peacefully.