“Oh, come on. I invite you out, and the first thing you do is confront the girlfriend of one of my friends? You know we have a rule. Anything related to my work is off the record. I didn’t think I had to say that that included not trying to get people to talk to you at events.”
“It’s not something I do regularly!” She was getting annoyed. Victor was acting like she had violated some sacred rule when all she had done was seize an opportunity. “I just saw Isabel, and it seemed like it would be a good time to talk to her.”
Victor tilted his head, as though trying to see her from another angle. “It’s like you don’t even think about me when you do this shit.”
“That’s a really rude thing to say.”
“It’s true! If you had stopped to think for two seconds, maybe you would have been like, Hmm, I wonder how my boyfriend, Victor, who is currently trying to figure out what his next move is going to be because his company shit the bed and he hasn’t had a job in two months, would feel if I went up to the girlfriend of one of the most influential guys in the whole New York tech scene and tried to blackmail her—”
“Okay. Hold up. I did not blackmail Isabel. That is completely inaccurate. Honestly, I can’t even believe that you would say something like that. It’s like you don’t understand where I’m coming from. I have a job to do. Which sometimes it seems like you don’t totally take seriously.”
“That is bullshit! I think what you do is amazing. I just don’t want it interfering with what I do.”
“Clearly,” Katya muttered. She glared at him. “So you want to know what I really said to Isabel?”
“Yes. Yes, I do.”
“I told her I was looking into whether Mack had sexually harassed her. And—”
“Wait. You what? Mack? Sexually harassing Isabel?”
“Yes.” Katya paused to give Victor time to process this. He probably hadn’t even known they were seeing each other. No one, it seemed, had known that. “And I have proof. Kind of.”
“What does that mean?” He sounded wary now.
Could she trust him? She had to trust him. She felt like they were on the edge of a yawning unknown, that everything in their relationship had been leading up to this moment, when one of them was going to have to make a choice. “It means,” she said slowly, “that I saw a couple of texts Mack sent her. The night we were at Andrew’s party.”
Victor let out a sharp breath. “So another thing where I specifically asked you not to play reporter.”
“This wasn’t even my fault! I just happened to see the texts come in.”
“Well, what were they?”
“They were dick pics,” Katya said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. “Mack said something like, ‘Don’t tell me you don’t miss this,’ and then there were, like, a bunch of dick pics. That I’m assuming were of him.”
Victor was quiet. He finally gets it, Katya thought, watching him as he apparently processed it all. Then he spoke. “I mean…yeah, that’s bad. I get why that’s bad. But it’s not like…that bad.”
“What are you talking about. He sent her dick pics while she was at Andrew’s party. After she and Andrew had started seeing each other. I mean, clearly she didn’t want them. How is that not bad?”
“It’s bad! I said it was bad. It’s just like…I dunno. Forget it.”
“No. I want to know why sending a woman unsolicited dick pics is not that bad. Really, enlighten me. I’d like to know.”
“You wouldn’t understand.” She stared at him. “I mean, you don’t know that she didn’t want them.”
Was her smart, kind, funny boyfriend actually saying the words that were coming out of his mouth? She shook her head. This is not happening.
“I think I need to go,” she said quietly. “I’ll see you later.” She started walking east.
“Aw, come on, Katya,” Victor called out. She ignored him. He hurried after her and grabbed her arm. “Wait.”
“Don’t touch me,” Katya said, and wrested her arm out of his grasp. “See what just happened there? What if you grabbed my arm and I said don’t touch me and you kept grabbing my arm?” She could see in his face that that was what he had wanted to do. That was why she had said it, to see what his reaction would be. It was clear he had never considered these questions before. Good, she thought. Let him think about it. “Seriously, though. I have to go. Don’t text me tonight.” They were standing in front of the entrance to the bar, and just as she said this, Nilay came out. He looked happy, drunk.
“Hey, man!” he said. He put his arm around Victor. “Hey, Katya! I was looking for you guys. Where are we going now?”
They are children, Katya realized. They are just little boys, and they can go be little boys together. “Nowhere,” Katya said. “I’m leaving.” Before Nilay could respond, she had turned and was walking away from them. This time Victor didn’t call out to her.