Page 49 of Linc
“You either did you or you didn’t, Linc.I’m not here to play your evasive lawyer games,” she scolds me.“Did you pay to have a woman for an evening out?”
“Money was exchanged as per the terms of the contracts.”
Everly huffs knowing my attorney side is coming out on the defensive.
“What about sex?Was that part of the arrangement?”She snaps.“Did you have sex with them too?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“Look where I am, Linc, and tell me that I don’t deserve every little detail.”
I knew she’d blame me for this.
My heart constricts, thinking of her hating me.
“Well?Don’t stop talking now,” she snaps.Her feisty side is making an appearance.The tone and hostility sparks my argumentative side.I haven’t been questioned like this since I was eighteen and wrecked dad’s car after I stole it one afternoon.My anger that I usually swallow down and keep hidden is seeping out of the carefully constructed walls I’ve built over the years, and it’s getting the best of me.
“Yes.Is that what you wanted to hear?We fucked,” I bite out before I can stop myself.“I paid to have sex with some of her models.”I’ve never felt shame like this in my life and I don’t know how to deal with it.The reasonable part of me knows what she is starting to imply and that shame is pressing down on my chest hard, making my breathing come out heavy.I’ve always rationalized it by thinking that I’m not the first man to have an arrangement for publicity.
“What I want to hear from you is the whole truth and not the summed-up version that you pick and choose to tell me.I asked you that first time we ran into the psycho and you made it seem very different.You have to see that, right?You may think sex was just a transaction between two parties but, for some women, it has a deeper meaning.Obviously Linley thinks so too.”
“It meant nothing.We went to a function, had our picture taken, networked with businessmen, fucked and money was transferred, then we went our separate ways.”
My breathing is labored at the end of my rant.She wanted all the nitty gritty details so here they are all out in the open.
“What about Blaire?”
Her question throws me for a loop and at first, I don’t understand.
“What about her?”
“Did the two of you have a contract?Or was it all for free, like a two for one special?”How does she know about Blaire and I?“Linley made sure to tell me all the nasty rumors swirling around.Did you pay to have sex with her like all the other prostitutes, or was she free?”
“They aren’t prostitutes,” I begin to defend but she cuts me off.What she’s implying is making it sound dirty.
“You can skin a rabbit a dozen ways but in the end, it still yields the same result.You paid for their time, and it ended in sex.That’s prostitution, Linc.I may be high on pain meds but I still know the difference.As someone who has more degrees than me, I’d expect you to know the difference.Or are you in such great denial that you refuse to see it?”
“You don’t know shit!”I lose my cool for the first time ever with her.The things coming out of my mouth are not coming across how I want, and I’m starting to spiral in a dangerous direction I might not ever be able to come back from.I’ve never been in a courtroom where I’ve lost my cool but here in front of the woman I love more than anything else, I’m starting to see that I’m losing her.I’m losing the biggest case of my life.
For the first time in my life, I’m on the receiving end of being interrogated.I’ve never answered to anyone except for my parents and now everything I’ve ever done is being questioned.I hate it.This is why I became an attorney; to have heated arguments and really get to the bone of the matter.Never did I think I’d be on the other end, especially by someone I love and care about.
“Of course not, because you’ve kept it all to yourself and even now, you’re still keeping things from me,” she yells.“I didn’t put myself in this hospital bed so I think I have the right to know what your past is so that I can measure if this is all worth it.”She waves her uninjured arm around the room to prove her point.She winces and it makes me feel even more like shit because she’s right.My actions and past are the reason she’s laid up here.
Just tell her.
I’m quiet for two seconds, thinking out my next words when she speaks before I can get my words out.Her face turns angry and it’s the first time I’ve ever witnessed this side of her.
“Get out.You can keep your little secrets, I’m obviously not worth enough to tell the whole truth to, so leave.”
“Wait Everly, I’ll tell you but not like this.Let’s get you home and better, and then we’ll have this talk,” I plead.
“That’s just another stall tactic, Linc.I guess I’m just more invested in this than you are.”She pulls the covers up towards her chest, shutting me out.Building a wall to separate us.Her expressions are closed off and I can’t read what her thoughts are anymore.
My hands rake through my hair, desperately wanting to pin her down until she listens.“Yes, we slept together and no I didn’t pay for it,” I blurt out what she wanted to know, frantic for her to not kick me out like this.Not when we have so much to discuss to clear the air.
“When was the last time you had sex with her?”
“Does that really matter?”I take a step closer to her, I’m jittery and need to pace but the need to touch her is fiercer.The lack of sleep is fogging my brain and making me slow to process all of her questions.I want to tell her everything but not while she’s here in an unfamiliar place.She needs to heal from these injuries, then we can tackle my fuck up.
