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“Still not seeing the difference.” Ellie laughed.
“What are you ladies drinking tonight?” asked the bartender. He was a young, good-looking guy whom Alison had never seen before.
“Two margaritas,” said Ellie. “On the rocks with salt.”
“And two shots of tequila.” Alison was going to get drunk and forget about Harker. She wasn’t actually going to pick anyone up, but she was going home plastered enough to pass out.
“Shots?” Ellie winced. “I have to work tomorrow.”
“So do I.”
“But I’m not married to my boss.”
“You’re lucky and trust me, he’s not going to be too forgiving about my hangover.” She couldn’t wait to see him pissed off and grumpy. It served him right.
“Alison, I think you should tell him the truth about tonight.”
“Why? He doesn’t tell me the truth.”
The bartender dropped off their drinks and both women handed him their credit cards.
“I’ve got it.” Alison pushed Ellie’s hand back. “This is Harker’s card. I want him to see these charges.”
“Thanks and you’re evil.” Ellie put her card away. “You know, Harker didn’t actually lie about the contract. He told you to hire a lawyer to look over it. I told you to hire a lawyer but—”
“I didn’t think I needed to.” That was the worst part of all of this. “I hate being stupid. I’m never stupid except when it comes to men.”
“You’re not stupid and you know it but doing this is…well, stupid.”
“This is stupid? Why is teaching him what it feels like—”
“What are you teaching him exactly? To not trust you. Because as far as you’ve told me, he hasn’t cheated on you.” Ellie took a sip of her drink.
“And I’m not going to cheat on him.”
“He hasn’t even given you a reason to think he’s cheated on you. He’s with you every night and all day.”
“Yeah, but the contract—”
“Alison, you don’t want to do this. You need to trust him until he gives you a good reason not to.”
“I can’t believe you’re giving me advice on trust.” Alison tossed back her shot. “You didn’t even trust Adrian who’s so freaking perfect—”
“Adrian is not perfect, but neither am I. I’m begging you don’t do this. I almost lost the best thing that’s ever happened to me because of my trust issues. Harker is crazy about you. Don’t ruin that because of pride.”
“He’s not crazy enough to agree to be monogamous.”
“But he has agreed to be monogamous. He just wants you to trust him. Forget that stupid clause in the contract.”
“I can’t.” She took a big gulp of her drink. “Harker is always thinking ahead. Always. He’s shrewd. I know he wants me now but if he were really planning on being faithful then he’d change the contract. He says it’s about trust but what happens when I’m six months pregnant or eight months pregnant? I doubt I’ll be in the mood to have sex as much as he wants and even if I am he’s not going to want me.” Her voice cracked. “I'm going to be fat and swollen and my ass is going to be huge.”
“Oh, honey.” Ellie hugged her. “I think you'll be cute when you’re all preggo.’
“It isn't funny.” Alison pulled away and grabbed a napkin to wipe the tears from her eyes.
“I'm not laughing. Really, I’m not. But I do think you're making too big of a deal out of this.”
“It is a big deal that he tricked me. He slipped that addendum in there so he wouldn’t be stuck having bad sex for a year. Yes, I should’ve hired a lawyer, but I trusted him.” She bit her lip. “That’s what really hurts.”
