S E X L E S S

DAMAGE

"I know, Nathan."

The man's eyes widened as he empathized, "know what?"

He detested when the woman teased some revelations, which were usually just daily mishaps and forgetfulness on his behalf, but this time Margot had something he could not dust off his shoulder like dandruff.

"I know about her."

"Who?"

"On your twenty-eighth birthday. I worked a week as an assistant temp manager in your store, and she came."

"Who?"

"That Canadian actress, the one you tried to pass off a friend. She came the day before and said she wished to surprise you for your birthday. Then she told us not to tell you. She returned the next day an hour before you started. She couldn't hold back from telling me that long-distance relationships were the hardest."

"Margot."

"You came in, and when you saw her," Margot clapped in her hand and kissed her teeth as she recalled the moment. "I can still see the panic on your face and how you asked me to go and do a quick inventory in the basement stocks. She wanted to kiss you, but you gave her your cheek."

"Margot, I told you she was a friend."

The woman didn't stop to listen to Nathan's interjections which were futile as Margot carried on with her explanations, "you pretexted there was an issue with a till at the Haussaman store and left."

"Yes, there was a problem, Margot. I swear," Nathan said and laid his head back on the bedhead to sigh.

"Guillaume called back. He said they resolved the issue an hour before, and you were already aware of this. Guillaume needed you to explain the delivery procedure. He thought you were at the store. No one expected you over there, and you never went, did you."

"Margot, that wasㅡ."

"You lied, I know, Nathan. You told her you worked abroad when Diva was born. You'd miss her calls and lie, saying you were out with your boys when you were changing diapers. I saw the plane tickets she sent so you could join her at her first theater movie premier. You still tremble when I put on the Fantasy or the other Sci-fi series she played in on Netflix, and I know you watch the series she in on Hulu."

"Margot, you're trippin'."

"Are you calling me crazy, Nathan? You've been lying and cheating for so long you think you're legit. Are you trying to tell me you don't parade and pretend you're single? You didn't assume being a father or being with me. It makes me so sick to see how you play the perfect dad now. To see how our daughter prefers you. When you spent nine months of my pregnancy partying, sleeping around, and ignoring the both of us."

"Margot."

The woman closed her eyes; the sound of her name said by Nathan had never sounded as foul in his mouth as then, "I hate when you touch me. Do you do them as you do me? Your body is like a cleaning cloth for me, just wiping all the dripping thirsty shit laying around you. And then you come home and hope to rub off on me."

"Margot, Iㅡ." Margot went back and forth between the past and the present, and Nathan didn't see himself making the remark. Instead, he sought for a moment to say sorry and gave up.

"You what, want to say it was before when you were dumb enough to use my computer and not sign out on your socials. Okay, you don't flirt with random women anymore, but you still have her, and you dare speak of my vacations. Strangely enough, your location is always in an area of the world where she's filming when on yours. You've been with her and with me."