He knew. So many private moments, building something special, and he was coming here and sharing them all with Liam. Talking about you. Comparing notes about you. Laughing at you.
“Did he tell you all the dirty details? What all we did?” she demanded, glancing between them. “Must be hard to know that he got to fuck me in ways you never did. Pity, if only you could've kept it a secret for a little longer.”
“Stop it, Katya,” Liam urged.
“And did I hear you say you 'traded stories'? How fun! Was it here, in this office? Just some good ol' boys, talking about a bitch they'd both fucked. Man, I wish I was a dude, sometimes. How fun. Were you, like, telling Wulf about all the exciting new stuff you were getting me to do? Was Wulf telling you about how I would try out all those new tricks on him? I hope you two had popcorn. How fucking fun.”
No one said anything. Liam glanced at Wulf. Wulf stared at her. She shot fire at both of them with her glare. She knew she was right – their faces were giving away everything.
I was a game. A competition. My best friend, and quite possibly the only man I've ever loved, and I was nothing but a game to them.
Katya was halfway up the stairs before she even knew she was running. She braced her hands against the walls as she went, struggling to stay upright. When she got to the door, she burst through it so hard, she knocked over a waitress that was on the other side.
“Hey, watch it! What the hell is going on!?” Timmy yelled.
She ignored him. Ignored everything but the pounding of her feet. Of her heart. She pushed through the exit, startling Jan off his stool as she practically leapt down the stairs. He hollered after her, but he didn't stop her.
No, Wulf was the one to catch her first. She wasn't surprised. Liam was in great shape, but Wulf was an athlete. He could probably catch anything that tried to get away from him.
“Just talk to me,” he insisted, holding her by her arms.
“I don't have to do shit for you!” she screamed, beating at his chest. Liam came running up next to them.
“Just come back inside. We need to talk!” he shouted. The rain was still coming down in sheets, soaking them all in an instant.
“Sounds like you two have talked enough. God, I'm so stupid. I'm so fucking stupid!”
She was crying. She couldn't help it. She wanted to be strong, but it just wasn't possible. These two men had stolen all her strength, in one awful moment. Violated her for weeks, and she hadn't even known it.
“Stop,” Wulf's voice was low as he yanked her close. “You need to listen to me.”
“I don't need -”
“You said,” he whispered, and she stopped struggling for a moment as she stared up at him. “You said you wouldn't leave me. That you trusted me. Your words, Katya.”
“Are you kidding right now? Throwing my words in my face, after … after … you lied to me!” she shrieked, finally jerking free of his grasp. He held up his hand, like he was calming a rabid animal.
“I never actually lied,” he corrected her.
“You cannot be serious. A lie by omission doesn't count, I guess. You knew I was sleeping with someone else, you said it was fine. You didn't care. You didn't think that maybe you should mention you knew the guy? Or that you were secretly meeting with him to talk about our sex life? Jesus, Wulf, I never shared those moments with anybody. Not with him, not with my roommate, not anybody! It was special to me. Special! You were special, you made me feel special, and it was all a goddamn filthy fucking lie!”
He was working hard to maintain his composure, she could tell, but he couldn't keep the hurt out of his eyes. She was glad to see it, hoped it would stay there for a long time.
“And you,” she turned her wrath on Liam. His eyes were wide and he looked scared. Good. “You were something else. You invaded my life. Made yourself my best friend. You acted like you cared about me, like you were someone I could trust. You lied to my face. I said his name, and you didn't say a word. You acted like you'd never heard of him. Jesus, how did this all even happen!? How do you two even know each other?”
“I told you – I needed a backer for my business,” Liam explained. “I didn't know shit about buying a place or anything like that. I had inherited the Twin Estates, and Wulf's company was managing it, so I went to talk to him, and -”
“Wait, wait, wait,” she breathed, holding up her hands. “Wulfric's company manages my apartment building?”
Both men winced in unison.
“It's a subsidiary company,” Wulf answered in a low voice. “Masonry Management solely handles property management. I spend most of my time at the realty company.”
“You manage my building,” she whispered. She'd been writing rent checks to Masonry Management and mailing them out on her way to dates with the company's CEO, and she hadn't even known it. Liam had confessed to owning the buildings, had even talked about the management company – but had conveniently never mentioned who was running said company.
What. The fuck.
“Yes. We have for about eight years now.”
“I wish you would've told me.”
“Me, too.”
So many secrets. You'd think if they were going to lie and hide from me, the least they could do is get their jobs done right.
“Well since we're here now and discussing it, can you fix my goddamn fucking oven!?” she started screaming, hitting him in the chest again. “You're a fucking awful management company, you know that? Goddamn fucking shitty! What the fuck is wrong with you people!?”
Both men stepped forward and she practically leapt away. Touching them to hit them was fine – she did not want them touching her, however. Ever again.
“Calm down,” Wulf growled.
“Please, you're gonna hurt yourself,” Liam insisted.
“Fuck both of you,” she hissed. “Is that how this all started? Liam sees me around the building, tells his little buddy Wulf, who also happens to manage the building? Did you guys go full on stalker mode?”
“No,” Liam cleared his throat and glanced at Wulf once. “No, I told you the truth when we first met – I saw your profile on Eros, recognized you as my neighbor. Wulfric was in my office, he saw the profile, too. We were both surprised by your bio, he said he didn't remember you being like that. Told me I should go out with you and see if any of it was true. It was a joke, I never thought you'd go out with me.”
“Oh, so this is all my fault.”
“No! Not at all, no. But the next time I saw him, he'd heard about what we did in the club. One thing lead to another -”
“Oh, one thing lead to another, and suddenly we had a competition going for who could be the biggest asshole!” she was screaming again. Liam's hands went into his hair and he stepped towards her, but she took several back, keeping her distance.