“He didn’t know about everything.” I bit my lip as I stared at her.
“What do you mean?” She blinked rapidly.
“I mean, I never spoke to him after that day at school. The day he found out I was eighteen. I was hoping he would contact me, but he never did,” I sighed. “So I just did what I had to do.”
“Oh my God, Katie.” Meg’s hand flew to her mouth. “But you told me you told him. You told me that he didn’t care and he wanted nothing to do with you because you lied.”
“I’m so ashamed of myself, Meg.” I stared at the wall to avoid seeing the shock in her eyes. “I never told him. I figured if he had loved me he would have contacted me. He would have begged me to come back to him. And so I was young and selfish and immature, and I made a rash decision.”
“Oh, Katie. Does he know?”
“How could I tell him, Meg?” I shook my head. “There hasn’t really been a chance.”
“Oh.” Meg grabbed my hands and squeezed. “Don’t beat yourself up. We all make mistakes.”
“Yeah.” I gave her a small smile. “So a few years ago, I started really looking into what he was doing. Reading every article I could find about him. Tracking his business stuff, and I even called his office a few times to hear his voice.”
“Wow.”
“I know, I know. It was crazy. At one point, I almost thought he knew it was me.” I sighed. “But I think it was just wishful thinking. I started following a journalist who had written a lot of pieces on him and went to a party that his newspaper was hosting. I knew his photo from the paper, and when I saw him, I accidentally bumped into him.”
“Oh shit, not Matt?” Meg was bug-eyed now.
“Yeah, Matt.”
“I knew you didn’t like him!” Meg exclaimed.
“What?”
“He just never really looked like your type. I mean, he was nice and all, but he wasn’t really exciting, and you guys never really seemed to have chemistry.”
“Yeah, well, get this. So I became friendly with him to try and get more information on Brandon, but...”
“Oh my God, but what?” Meg looked at me with excitement on her face. I knew that she was loving every minute of this scandalous conversation.
“Matt”—I paused dramatically—“is working for Brandon.”
“WHAT?” Meg screamed as she stared at me in shock. “Brandon Hastings? Are you telling me that Matt, your boyfriend, works for Brandon, your ex?”
“Yup.” I nodded. “Crazy, right?”
“What the fuck?” Meg shook her head. “So was Matt working for Brandon when you met him or more recently?”
“No idea.” I bit my lower lip. “That’s what I want to know as well.”
“This is crazy. You played someone, but maybe you were played from the beginning?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “It’s so confusing.”
“This is like a frigging movie.” Meg jumped up. “I need a glass of wine. Want one?”
“Yeah, go on.” I sat back in the couch and waited for Meg to come back with the wine.
“Here you go.” She handed me a glass and sat back down. “Okay, okay, so let me get this straight. You tried to find Brandon ‘cause you still missed him? Why didn’t you just go straight to one of his offices or something?”
“I wanted it to be an organic meeting.” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t ask. At the time, I thought it was a good idea to make it seem like a chance meeting.”
“So you bumped into Matt so you could get insider information on Brandon. Which you got. You then got a job at a company you knew he was buying so that you could pretend to be worried when he was back in your life, but really you were excited. You hooked up with him, hoping that meant that he wanted you back, but instead he treated you like shit again and you found out he had a fiancée and a son. Then you slept with him again and he treated you like shit again. And now you want to leave the job and forget any of this ever happened.”
“I guess that’s why you’re the lawyer.” I gave her a half smile. “You got it all in one paragraph.”
“Well, I’m no longer employed as a lawyer.” She made a face. “But this is one hell of a story.”
“I know. I feel like a bit of a psycho,” I muttered, thinking about everything. “I can’t believe I’ve wasted so much time on this guy and he’s just an asshole.”
“I agree that he’s an asshole, but I think he deserves to know the truth,” Meg said softly, and I looked up into her earnest eyes with a frown. “I know it’s hard, Katie. And you probably try not to think about it, but I think you need to tell him what happened. Maybe that’s part of the reason why you can’t move on.”
“It hurts too much.” I bit my lower lip, desperately trying to forget what I’d done.
“But at least you know.” Meg leaned over and rubbed my shoulder. “He doesn’t even know.”
“Yeah, I guess. I just never want to see him again,” I groaned.
“Don’t lie, Katie.” Meg laughed. “You love him. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I do agree. It’s time to move on. I think he’s being an as**ole and he’s cheating on his fiancée. He’s not a nice guy. Yeah, he has a son and seems to love him, but why would he potentially ruin his family by sleeping with you? He’s an egomaniac and a jerk. He likes the power of taking whatever woman he feels like taking. He doesn’t seem to care about you at all. I mean, why would he be doing all of this?”
“I just don’t get it. I know I lied when we dated. I know I hurt him. But he hurt me too.” I sighed. “I don’t know why he is still trying to hurt me.”
“Maybe you need to have an honest conversation with him. Tell him everything and ask him to let you be. You need to move on, Katie. Meet a new guy. A nice guy.”
“I kinda met someone.” I made a face. “Well, we kissed.”
“What? You met someone and didn’t tell me?” Meg looked at me, clearly hurt.
“Just recently. And I’m not really interested in him. He’s a bartender at Getting Lucky’s. He kinda gave me a kiss and hinted that he’d like to do more.”
“Is he hot?”
“He’s sexy and hot.” I laughed and then sighed. “I just can’t think of anyone else that way though.”
“Katie, you need to stop letting this guy ruin all your potential relationships. He is not worth it.” Meg shook her head. “Have a final conversation with him. End it. And move on.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I sipped on my wine. “Someone has been texting me all night. Let me see if it’s him.”
“If it’s him, tell me what he said and I will tell you what to text back.”
“Argh, okay.” I laughed, jumped up, and grabbed my phone. “Okay, here are his texts. First one. ‘Hey Katie, I hope you’re enjoying your night in. If you want company let me know.’” I laughed. “Sure, Brandon. I’m going to text you right now.”
“Read the rest.”
“Okay, number two. ‘Hey Katie, I sure hope you’re not doing anything you’re going to regret right now.’”
“What does that mean?” Meg frowned.
“No idea.” I shrugged. “Okay, number three. ‘Katie, I need you to call me right now.’ Number four. ‘Katie, text me back or call now.’ Number five. ‘Katie, stop playing games. Call me now.’ Number six. ‘Katie, I don’t know what the f**k you’re doing, but call me now.’ What the f**k is his problem?” I groaned, but inside I felt a secret excitement that he wanted to talk to me so badly.
“He is sounding like a psycho.” Meg made a face. “What is his problem? He is on such a power trip. Does he expect you to drop everything for him just because he says so?”
“I think he does.”
“Yet he can f**k other women and even marry someone else.” Meg’s voice was passionate. “What an arrogant asshole.”
“He said he was going to dump Maria.” I stared at her with my heart thudding as I remembered his words. “He said she didn’t mean anything to him.”
“Did he dump her?” Meg bit her lip. “Not to be mean, but isn’t that what they all say? Actions speak louder than words, and to me, it looks like he’s just playing a game with you.”
“I want the truth.” I sighed. “And he also said Matt is Maria’s brother.”
“What the fuck?” Meg’s jaw dropped open. “That cannot be a coincidence.”
“I don’t know.” I sipped some more wine. “He fell asleep after sex and then when I woke up he was gone.”
“Text him back and tell him you want to see him, but only if he is going to prepare some answers.”
“Really?” I frowned. “Maybe I can ask him over the phone.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You’ll know if he’s telling the truth by the look in his eyes.”
“That’s true, I suppose.”
“This shit is crazy.” Meg yawned. “This is really crazy.”
“I told you.” I laughed, though I didn’t think it was funny. I was about to text Brandon back when my phone rang. “Oh, shit. It’s him. Should I answer?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Let him wait it out.” She smiled evilly. “And actually, don’t text him until tomorrow. Let him stew a little bit.”
“Oh, Meg.” I put the phone on the table and sighed. “Why does life have to be so complicated?”
“Men make it that way.” She jumped up and we both laughed as the phone started ringing again. “Let’s go to bed. Leave the phone out here, so you aren’t tempted to answer.”
“Night, Meg.” I gave her a quick hug before walking into my room and collapsing onto the bed. I was exhausted, mentally and emotionally, and I fell into a deep, uncomfortable sleep right away.
***
I woke up late the next day, momentarily forgetting that everything was not right in my world. I stretched languorously in the bed and yawned. Even though I’d slept for a long time, I was still tired.
“Katie.” Meg knocked on my door. “Are you awake?”
“Yeah,” I called out. “Come in.”
Meg slowly opened the door and walked into the room. She had a weird look on her face, and I sat up to see what was going on.
“What’s up?”
“You have a—” She started talking, but then Brandon suddenly appeared behind her.
“Good morning, Katie.” His voice was gruff and his eyes looked at me manically. His hair was scruffy and it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days.
“What are you doing here, Brandon?”
“I thought I told you to wait in the living room,” Meg said at the same time. Brandon didn’t even acknowledge her question or mine as he walked farther into the room and looked around.
“I called you.” His voice was accusing. “And I texted you. I told you to call me back.”
“I was in bed.”
“Sure.” His eyes were angry. “How was your early night?”
“It was fine.” I blushed and looked at Meg for support. It was so much easier to tell myself to not give a shit, but now he was here in front of me and all I wanted to do was kiss him and pull him down to the bed.
Meg spoke up. “You don’t own her. “You can’t just barge in here and question her.”
“Why? Because only lawyers can question?” He looked back at Meg with a sarcastic face. “Or can unemployed lawyers still question?”
“I—oh, you are so rude.” Meg glared at him and then at me before striding out of the room. “Thanks for telling him my business.”
“I didn’t!” I called after her and frowned. “How did you know Meg lost her job?” I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Brandon, who was staring down at me. His nostrils were flaring as he studied my face.
“Where were you last night?” He sat on the bed next to me, pulled the sheets down, and surveyed my body.
“What are you doing?” I pulled the sheets back up.
“I was checking to see if you were wearing any clothes.”
“How dare you!” I pushed his chest to get him off of the bed, but he didn’t move.
“Oh, I dare all right.” He glared at me and his fingers played with my hair. “Your hair looks like you’ve been through a washing machine. Rough night?”
“My night was fine.”
“Your lips don’t look battered.” His fingers traced along my lips and he smiled. “You didn’t f**k anyone last night.”
“What are you talking about?” I glared at him again.
“Nothing.” His eyes glittered at me. “It’s nothing I can’t fix.”
“What are you fixing?”
“I missed you last night.” He changed the subject. “I wanted to see you.”
“Well, I was busy.”
“You’re never too busy for me.”
“Sorry, but that’s not true.” I turned away from him. “Why are you here, Brandon?”
“Because I want to make love to you.” His fingers gripped my face and turned it toward him so that we were staring into each other’s eyes. “My body is craving your touch. My mouth is craving your taste. My fingers and my dick are craving your pussy.”