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I raked through my hair and followed her to the windowless kitchen, which was the size of a cupboard, and the sagging shelves looked about to snap at any minute.
I need to get on to that realtor for something better than this.
As she passed me a cup, I touched her hand and looked into her eyes for clues as to her feelings. Mirabel wasn’t easy to read. “I’m sensing that something’s wrong.”
She bit her lip. “Nothing. Really.”
Maybe she was about to tell me about Orson herself, and that was guilt I was reading. She did seem a bit jittery.
After we’d taken our cups into the living room, I stood against the mantlepiece, where a picture of her mother and father sat among books, candles, and other knickknacks.
I sipped my tea then barrelled right in. “Have you slept with Orson?” It just came out. Normally, I would skim around the edges, but curiosity gnawed away at me.
Mirabel was a mystery to me. So far, I’d learned that she didn’t trust me, like she expected me to hurt her. Only now, the shoe was on the other foot.
Am I hurt?The gut-wrenching sensation was new.
She twirled a strand of hair around her finger, which sat seductively over her large chest. Even in that old T-shirt, she made my heart skip a beat.
“So you have?” I finally asked.
“Why are you asking me this?” Her voice trembled.
“Because my mother had you investigated, and when questioned, Orson boasted how he’d slept with you like he does with all his proteges.” I sniffed. “Waving his dick around with pride.”
She looked at me without blinking, her face draining of blood. “You’re fucking kidding me? Your mother had me investigated? That’s seriously fucked.”
“I wasn’t too happy about it myself.” I studied her closely. “So is it true?”
She stared down at her feet. “I’d been drinking. It was when I wasn’t seeing you. In between.”
“When you pushed me away because you thought I’d fuck around?”
She winced at my cutting tone. “Look, Ethan, this is so weird. Us. And you could do so much better than me.”
I frowned. “I’ll decide who’s right for me. It might come as a shock to hear that I actually like you. Always have.” I waited for a moment, but she remained silent, looking at me as though she’d woken from a bad dream.
I continued, “In these past weeks, I’ve grown attached.” I took a deep breath. Talking about my emotions wasn’t something I did well. “So you push me away because you think I’ll cheat on you, and then you go and fuck your manager.”
“It’s not like that.” She shook her head repeatedly as though I’d accused her of murder. “I’m really into you too. I was hooked after our first night, which terrified me in many ways. I’m sure you could tell.” A shy smile spread across her rosebud lips. “And now with your mother hating me and having me investigated, it seems so fucking difficult.” She buried her face in her hands.
I wasn’t sure whether to comfort her or storm out. My ego had been bruised. She’d slept with another man.
I thought of Stephanie, a girl who’d grown attached after we’d fucked a few times, and how she cried her eyes out at a bar one night when she saw me canoodling with a French supermodel.
I had a shit history of hurting women. This was karma. I had it coming big time. I still found it difficult to swallow; Mirabel fucking Orson.
“So, just the once?”
She nodded slowly. Tears streaked her freckled cheeks.
I wanted to hold her, to tell her everything was going to be okay. But I couldn’t get her fuckinganotherman out of my head. How could I be so petty? We weren’t even in a committed relationship.
Vain, cringey thoughts clashed with deeper, more confused ones. I wanted to ask if his dick was bigger. Or whether he made her scream out his name while coming.Did she come?
I massaged my jaw. “I’m sorry about my mother. She can’t help herself. She gave Theadora a hard time. I can’t change that.”
She pulled out a few tissues and wiped her nose. “I’d been drinking. It was awful. In fact, I pushed him off me.”
