“Jesus, this is all so fucking bad. It is, I know it is – we know it is,” he gestured between him and Wulf. “We thought it was funny at first, sleeping with the same girl. But then it wasn't funny anymore. That's why we started fighting – it stopped being a joke. We both … we both sort of fell for you.”
“You two are so fucked up,” she was gasping for air as her gaze bounced between them. “That you can stand there and say this shit to me, and in the same breath say you fell for me. Who treats someone they 'fell for' like that!? That you can play with me like I was your toy, like I was an object to be passed around, and not even care, and then have the audacity to claim you felt something for me. Do you think you can just say that, and it negates everything else? It just makes it worse. That you could do something like that to someone you claim to care about … you need help. I'm not even kidding, you both need serious help.”
“Katya, if you just let us -” Wulf tried to interject.
“I thought I loved you!” she screamed, whirling around to face him. Everything in the alley went silent. Wulf stared at her calmly, while the color drained from Liam's face. “I thought you were falling in love with me. But you don't know how to love.”
“Don't say that.”
“It's the truth! How could you do that to someone you care about? How could you look me in the face, and say the things you said, and then come back here and give those moments to someone else? Private moments, sacred moments, and you just blew them all away. You had so many chances last night! I shared everything with you. I was falling in love with you, how could you do that?” she sobbed, dropping her head into her hands. She could hear him groan.
“Please, don't. Don't do this,” he whispered, his hand running down the side of her arm. Again, she yanked away.
“Don't touch me,” she growled, wrapping her arms around herself. “You're sick. Both of you. You objectified me. You turned me into a pawn, into a game. I stopped being a human being the moment you guys started trading stories, started keeping secrets – and you didn't even care. You robbed me of my right to know what was happening to me, my right to choose what was happening to me. Like I was … was a sex toy. Some inanimate object. You let it go on and on and on. I must have looked so stupid to you both. A strip-aerobics class with Liam, a strip show for Wulf. Did you set it up that way? Wulf suggests something he'd like, Liam sees if he can make me do it?”
She was trying to be flippant, but as soon as it fell from her lips, as soon as she saw their expressions, she knew it was the truth again.
Strip-aerobics. Blow jobs. Uninhibited sex. A pool on the roof. A trip to the old neighborhood. So many things, completely orchestrated.
“I swear, it was before either of us really knew you,” Liam insisted. “It was just for fun.”
“Do I look like I'm laughing?”
“Please, Katya. Please. Remember how we were the other night,” Wulf begged. Actually begged. “Remember me. That was the real me.”
“I wouldn't know, would I? I've never met the real you.”
“You're the only one who's met the real me.”
“I have to go,” she blurted out, turning in a circle, trying to figure out the best path of escape. “I'm going to be sick, or pass out. I have to go.”
“No, you can't leave like this,” Liam said, stepping up to her side.
“Let me take you home,” Wulf said, stepping up to her other side. She was boxed in.
“I don't need you!” she started screaming. “You ruined me! You broke me. I don't ever want to see either of you ever again, how's that for a fucking joke? A fucking game? Maybe this time I'll get a chance to play! Never again, never ever again.”
She was sobbing and she was screaming and she was pushing at both of them, just trying to gain some space. They'd completely violated her trust and stripped her of her basic rights – couldn't they at least let her breathe!?
A hero finally swooped in to save her. She was glad – after the hour she'd just had, she'd almost thought there weren't any left. Jan the Bouncer came lumbering down the alley and grabbed both men by their collars, yanking them away from her.
“Alright, enough!” he roared, shoving them aside. Katya shivered in the rain and continued crying, one hand pressed over her mouth. “Both of you, get the fuck out of here, right now! Before I call the cops!”
“Who the fuck are you?” Wulf demanded.
“Are you kidding? I'm your boss,” Liam reminded Jan.
“I don't give a fuck if you're the Second Coming – no one treats a woman like that, not on my watch. And especially one who's done nothing but be kind and sweet and generous. I should beat the shit outta both of you. You pay me to keep out the trash, right? Well, that's exactly what I'm doing, boss,” Jan snarled, wrapping a protective arm around Katya. She leaned into his side and just sobbed, clutching at his leather vest. Wulf stood up straight, to his full height, and grabbed the edges of his jacket. Jerked it into place.
“Tocci,” he said in a serious voice as he stared right at her. “This isn't over.”
He shoved past the bouncer and walked out of the alley.
“You bet your ass it's over, buddy!” Jan yelled. “I hear about you harassing this little lady in any way, I'm making a house call!”
“Please, Katya,” Liam whispered, crouching down so he could look her in the face. “Believe me – it wasn't all a lie. It just got out of hand. I never lied about how I felt. You are the best friend I've ever had. You're more than that. I care about you. I didn't mean to hurt you. Please.”
She couldn't respond, she was crying too hard. Jan hugged her close and shot daggers at his boss.
“I hope you didn't think I was joking. Best get the fuck outta here, Eden.”
Jan always called everyone by their last names. Despite being a beast and a former member of a motorcycle gang, he lived by a strict code of ethics. He was polite and he showed respect, and using peoples' proper names was part of that – so when “Eden” fell out of his mouth, it was like dropping a bomb.
Liam gave one last painful look at Katya, then stood upright. Glanced down the alley, back towards his club. Then he looked back at them.
“Make sure she gets home okay. Take care of her,” he instructed his employee.
“I'll do a damn sight better job than you did, that's for sure.”
Jan turned away then, gently forcing Katya with him. They were both already soaked, but she found it touching when he opened his umbrella over them. She wrapped her arms around his big belly as much as she could and hung on.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“No. No, don't you thank me. Anyone would've done that,” he assured her.
“Don't be so sure. People are capable of lots of bad things.”
“Don't you go thinking that just cause some spoiled pricks got their heads up their asses,” he said. “People are good for the most part, Ms. Tocci. Look at you, and Ms. Bellows. You're great people. They're just pricks.”