Chapter 25
Beth
"You're such a hypocrite, Alex," I say through my tears, the anger in my stomach making my voice far too loud as he asks me to leave. Everyone in the room is looking at us now, but I don't care. These are his people. Not mine.
But I won't be sent away that easily. Not after what I've learned. Sure, I can kind of understand him, but he’s acting as if I'm the only one with a secret and he's the poor little lamb.
"I know about the bet with Jake for the shop, and that it's the only reason you kept showing up at first. Was that your tactic?
To wrap me around your finger like last year, hoping you'd get the shop?
" then I tap my finger to my forehead. "How messed up is that?
Did you also bet on who would sleep with me first?
Is that what businessmen do in their offices?
Make disgusting bets?" I ask, letting my tears flow freely.
"Beth, please, just calm down and..." Alex says, placing his hand on my upper arm.
"Leave me alone, Alex," I say, pulling my arm away.
"Sir, the lady made it clear that..." an uninvolved man in a suit, whose hand I'd shaken earlier but whose name I can't remember, chimes in.
"We've got this under control," Alex replies, stepping right in front of him while looking at me, as if to tell the guest he should stay the hell out of it.
"Beth, the bet was a mistake. He provoked me. You know him. He does that all the time and I didn't..."
"So it's actually true?" I ask, feeling my lower lip begin to tremble. I never would have believed the part about the bet was real. What was I to him? A toy?
"Beth, just listen to me, I..." Alex says, tugging on my arm.
"I don't want to listen anymore. I just want to get out of here..." I screech, pulling my arm away and running for the door as fast as I can.
"Sir, you really should let the lady..." I hear a voice behind me, and I turn to see the man stopping Alex from following me.
"Beth, wait..."
But I won't. I don't want to see him anymore. When I see a taxi on the street up ahead, raise my arm, and finally sit down in the back seat, I can't hold back my tears any longer.
******
"I get it, sweetie," Veronica says, patting my shoulder affectionately after I've told her everything. "Should I make you some tea? Or anything else?"
"That's sweet, thank you, Veronica. But you've already done enough. You can just go home if you want. I'm not exactly good company right now," I sniffle, wiping away another tear.
"You are ALWAYS good company. And if that Alex can't recognize that, then..."
A loud knocking from downstairs drifts up to us. It must be coming from the shop door. I look at the clock—it's almost ten p.m. Who could that be?
"A courier for an online order?" Veronica asks me. "Should I go see?"
"It's fine, I'll get it," I say, feeling all the anger and rage building inside me. At myself, at Alex's reaction when he found out I have a child and I realized he doesn't even know he's the father. But even without that extra piece of information, his reaction spoke volumes.
But why am I even getting worked up? It was only ever about the shop and that stupid bet anyway. I was just a piece of meat for him to charm, and I fell for it. I could just...
I stop short and look through the glass door of my shop. It's not a courier driver I can take my bad mood out on. It's Alex.
For a second, I think this must be the continuation of a never-ending nightmare. I pinch the back of my hand. Nothing. Not a dream.
"Can you open up? I want to talk to you," I hear Alex's calls, muffled by the glass, and see him point at the door handle.
"Why? Is this another bet, to see if I'll unlock the door? What are the stakes?" I ask, wiping my eyes dry and crossing my arms over my chest.
"Beth. It was a mistake. I wanted to tell you about the shop the whole time. I really did. But..." he pauses. "Can't I please come in? Do we really have to talk through a locked door?" he calls out, looking at me.
It's that look, the one that has always made me weak. I know it, and I think he knows it too.
"Just talking. No touching," I say, and turn the key in the lock to open the door.
"Thank you," he says, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. "I promise. Just talking," he says, holding up his hands disarmingly.
"Beth. It's just... it all got out of control."
"So, it's true that you want this shop for your business?" I ask, feeling myself break a little more, because that part seems to be true too. Apparently, everything Dilara told me is true.
"Yes... No... I mean, that was the plan at first. But then I saw you. I had the idea even before I knew the shop belonged to you and..."
"And you thought, 'I've slept with her before, that'll help again'?" I ask harshly. "Did you leave your guests to tell me this?"
"I don't care about the guests," he says with a dismissive wave. I almost want to believe him, but this time I'm holding my ground.
"I didn't think about you like that. This is all much more complicated than you think. I didn't want..." he begins, then stops. "Beth, the fact that you have a child... that really hit me," he starts, abruptly changing the subject. "Why didn't you say anything?"
What am I supposed to say to that? I could ask him the same question. Can't he see how hurt I am? Why did he even come here? To accuse me of my secret being worse than his?
"Beth? Sweetie? Ben is awake, he wants his mommy. I think he's hungry and since you're already here, I don't have to thaw any of the milk you froze..." I suddenly hear Veronica call down the stairs behind me.
"Veronica, I'll be right there, I..." I call over my shoulder.
"Who is it anyway? A delivery boy, or... oh..." Veronica says, stopping short when she sees Alex in front of me. "I'll be going," she says.
"I have to go to my child," I say to Alex, hearing Ben crying upstairs. Should I tell him he's the father? No, he already looks shocked enough, as if Veronica's sentence just confirmed what he'd already heard from that Jake guy.
"Go on," Alex says, turning to leave.
"Beth?" he asks then, as he holds the doorknob and I turn back around.
"Never mind," he says then, opens the door, and disappears into the darkness.
So that's it, I guess.
The thing between us is finally over now.
I'm sure of it.
But I don't have time to think about it. Ben needs me. He's all that matters now.