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“Uh… a debit card?” I said.
She scoffed at me. “So you do know what it is. You know this is the debit card connected to the account that you set up for me.”
“... I know that now.”
“Well tell me this,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “Do you know how much money isinthat account?”
Now it was starting to click. Katya found out that I put another $5,000 in her account. But what I still didn’t understand was why she was so angry about it. “Katya,” I said, reaching for her, but she shrugged away from my touch. “I’m confused. Are you mad at me because I gave you some money?”
“You didn’t have to buy me, Zane,” she said, and the accusation was like a slap to the face. “I was with you because I wanted to be, not because I wanted something from you. I am not a prostitute!”
“A prostitute?” Shocked, I couldn’t imagine why she would ever think I thought she was a prostitute, but then I remembered Chase’s asinine comment and knew this was bad. When would I stop screwing up?
“Why would you do this?” she said, shaking with anger. “What makes you think you can get away with paying women to keep you company? I know I shouldn’t be surprised. Rich men do it all the time, but I thought you were different. I believed in you. I believed in us.”
I was helpless as she fell to a heap on the floor, still in her evening gown, but now with a face streaked with mascara.
Fuck!I didn’t know what to do.
I closed the door and crouched down to hold her but she pushed me away. I needed to explain myself. I had to make her understand.
Standing up to give her space, I started explaining.
“Katya, the night you won the money was also the night you first told me about Aleks, and how he didn’t let you have access to all your own money. That’s why I offered to help you set up the account, and also why I put some of my own money in there.” I sighed and shook my head. “At the time, I didn’t think anything was going to happen between us. I just wanted to help you and Luca. I had the money, and I thought this would be something worthwhile to spend it on. That’s all I was thinking, I swear.”
Her crying had slowed to a sniffle and she looked at me through her tear-stained eyes. She didn’t speak, only stared, so at least I knew she was listening.
“I wanted you to have control over your own money. It was never meant as a payment for your company. I realize I should have told you, but to be honest, with everything that has happened in the last couple of weeks, I sort of forgot. I know that’s a lame excuse, but it’s the truth.” I stopped and waited, not wanting to go on if she had already made up her mind about us. I prayed she hadn’t, but I didn’t know.
“You should’ve told me,” she said, wiping her nose, “$5,000 is a lot of money to just ‘forget’ about.”
I handed her a tissue and sat on the ground beside her. “I know and I am sorry. As for Chase’s foot-in-the-mouth comment, well, that’s my fault also.”
She raised an eyebrow in confusion, so I continued.
“The first night you kept Kenlee, my date was not… well, she wasn’t really a date. She was an escort I hired so I wouldn’t have to go alone.”
Katya gasped, but I kept talking so that I would have enough time to explain before she slapped me across the face or walked out or something.
“I regretted hiring her the second she arrived that night, but it was already too late,” I said. “And when I showed up with that girl, Chase put two and two together and figured out she was an escort. The dumbass obviously assumed that you were too, but I take the blame for that as well. I should’ve told him, but seeing as all of my free time has been spent with you and the kids, I haven’t exactly gotten around to telling anyone other than Harry that I have a girlfriend.”
Girlfriend.
I hadn’t meant to use that word, but now that it was out there, I quite liked the sound of it. Then again, Katya was so much more than a girlfriend. She had quickly become the other half of me.
“Do you see how this all got so mixed up?” I asked.
“I guess but…” She shook her head. “It still hurts, you know. I mean, how many other people at the gala thought you paid me to be there with you? Do you have any idea how humiliating that is? And, why me? If you weren’t ready to date before, why are you suddenly ready now?”
I gently placed my hand under her chin and lifted her face to look at me. “No one thought that. Chase was the only one who knew about Melanie. I promise. As for the other part of your question, the answer is simple. Because there is something about you that I cannot stay away from. I’m a better man when I am with you. You make me happy.”
“I want to believe you, but…”
“What’s holding you back?”
“I’m just scared, and confused. Every time I start to feel like you and I are on solid ground, something like this happens and it makes me feel like the rug is being pulled out from under me. I never know what’s going to be around the corner, what secrets you’re keeping that are going to totally derail our relationship.”
“I’m not keeping any other secrets, I swear,” I said.
