Epilogue

"I never want to drink again," Amanda complained.

"You say that. Then you do it," I chuckled.

Amanda and I sat outside a small café in the eastern side of Melbourne city. A plate of hot breakfast food sat before me, with a piping hot coffee. The aroma of the fresh coffee was enough to wake my muddled brain, but the effects were working so well on Amanda.

We'd gone out the night before, on a planned trip to the city together to see one of our favourite bands. It was a risk since a lot of people she knew would be there, but we played it cool until we were in the privacy of our hotel room. This was a get-away that I had planned to make with each of my women so we could spend some quality time together. It was just a coincidence that this band was in town the weekend after everything had settled down.

I thought back to the night with all my women. It hadn't happened again since, but that was okay. I liked to think of that event as a special coming together occasion. The mood around the house was ten times better, and Erica and Amanda were hanging out without issues. More importantly, there didn't seem to be any jealousy over affection given.

I still didn't get to decide who I was spending my nights with, but that wasn't too bad.

"Not this time," Amanda said, her eyes covered by wide-lensed sunglasses.

"Just have something to eat and some coffee," I assured her, reaching across the table to take her hand in mine. "You'll feel better in no time."

Amanda smiled, and we shared a quick kiss.

We had chosen this side of the city mainly because the girls rarely came here, and they didn't have any friends around here, nor was there anything common to the metal and goth scene over here. There was still a chance we could be recognised, but we were dressed rather plainly, and we were still careful.

"What the fuck!"

I glanced up to see Craig standing on the foot path. I had been so caught up with Amanda that I hadn't seen him approach. The look of horror on his face told me that he'd seen enough and figured it out.

"Craig, relax."

"No...no, fuck you," Craig said, pointing a finger at me. "That's fucked up."

Amanda tensed up when Craig first spoke, and hadn't moved a muscle or said a word. She kept her large glasses on, as if they would shield her appearance from her ex-boyfriend.

"Look it isn't what you think,'" I said, standing from the table. "Let's just have a talk about this."

"I know exactly what the fuck this is. It wasn't Dan, it was you," Craig sneered. "What the fuck is wrong with you two."

I glanced around and was thankful no one was around. Hopefully I could talk him down from making a scene, and any bystanders would chalk it up to a mad ex-boyfriend getting run off by a new guy. As long as they didn't start asking questions.

"I know you're upset that Amanda broke up with you. But you have to let it go," I said, taking a step toward Craig to put myself between him and Amanda.

"Like I give a shit," Craig scoffed. "She was a dud root and sulked too much. I don't care that she broke up with me. I did care about her sleeping with a mate of mine, but that's nothing compared to this."

"This is nothing," I said calmly. "We saw a show last night and now we're having breakfast."

"Don't even try. I saw enough, and it all makes sense now," Craig smirked as he backed up from me. "You're both fucked. I'm going to burn everything down around you. Fucking disgusting."

It couldn't come down to this. We'd been so careful. Sure, we had pushed the boundaries in the past and come out on top; we had been so careless before and gotten away with it. But now...one little kiss was going to ruin everything. Maybe we could leave the country together, start somewhere new. With social media these days it was almost impossible to start afresh.

Craig continued taunting me as he backed up. He was so pleased with himself he didn't care who he ruined. He was so caught up in his own victory...he didn't even see the bus coming.

The white and green city bus honked its horn and slammed on its brakes, but it was too late as Craig stepped out in the road from behind another car and vanished with a sickening thud.