Read One Toe Out (A Complicated Love Story) for Free Online Page A

Marcella not only creates the train made out of shit, but she drives it.”
    “ Yeah, she’s a bad bitch, don’t trust her. Her main focus is taking care of J.T. she doesn’t care about anyone or anything else.”
    “ Yeah, I know,” Simone said with a frown.
    “ What’s up? You looking like she pissed you off already.”
    “ Many times. I almost slapped the shit out of her the first time I met her.”
    Simone watched a couple strolling along the beach, they looked like they were in love. She didn’t trust what she saw now after dealing with Marcella, anything can be staged. “Did you and J.T. ever hook up?” she asked tentatively.
    “ Aw hell naw! I like women. I respect him and everything and I love him like a brother, but I like woman. What about you, do you like women?”
    “ No, I’m strictly into men. I love men. But I haven’t had a man in about a year. I get so tired of their shit, it’s like they never grow up, they can’t commit and they don’t have any money, all they want to do is lay around. They don’t want to do anything, half of them don’t have any ambition, like seventy percent of them have at least three baby mamas—”
    “ I guess this is a sweet arrangement for you huh?” Kirk asked, cutting off her tirade.
    Simone turned to him. “You’re not judging me are you?”
    “ Not at all. If I had some older rich lady who wanted me to marry her, I’d be all over that,” he said with a laugh. “But seriously, I’m not judging you. I can’t imagine being in J.T.’s shoes, I can only imagine what it’s like to live a double life. And there are some people who go to extremes to protect their secret.”
    “ Yeah, I can’t imagine living his life. It must be hell not to be yourself.” Simone was quiet then she started talking almost as though to herself, “This is nice, it’s almost like a dream. You know when he first told me about all this I was waiting for the call to say I’ve been pranked. Then when I got the pre-nup, I was waiting for him to call me and say that he changed his mind. Then when he gave me the money, I started scouring the Internet looking for a report on the NFL player that went crazy and was giving money away, because I didn’t think he was serious. I mean who would really go to this extent to keep a secret.”
    “ His NFL deal is worth one hundred million dollars and he stands to earn another thirty million on endorsements just this year alone. If everything stays on course, he’ll be a billionaire in five years. So what’s a fake marriage versus a shitload of money, love and admiration and being able to enjoy life’s riches without any limitations?”
    “ Do you think he’ll change his mind?” Simone asked nonchalantly.
    “ No J.T. is pretty consistent, once he makes up his mind; it’s hard to change it. He has a stubborn streak in him.”
    “ Really? He really doesn’t show it to Marcella,” she remarked. Then told him about the first time she had met Marcella and how she had their marriage planned. And J.T. barely said two words during the whole meeting.
    Kirk chuckled. “Marcella knows just how far she can go. She’s like a dog, occasionally you just need to slap her on the nose with a newspaper and she’ll calm down.”
    Simone snorted. “I think she’s more like a Rottweiler, and in my neighborhood, we shoot those suckers.”
    Kirk laughed. “I can see now that you and Marcella are gonna be constantly battling.”
    “ She’d just better watch her damn mouth around me,” she said meanly. “So how many people know the truth about the marriage?”
    “ Not many.” He ticked the select few off on his fingers. “You, J.T., me, your mom and Marcella. That’s it.”
    “ What about his parents? None of his family came to our wedding.”
    “ His mom is dead. She had a fatal heart attack when he was fifteen. He came home from practice and found her body. The autopsy showed that she died right after he went to school.”
    “ How sad.