Page 135 of The Bet
She looked at him. “It’s so easy for people like you,” she said, pulling her arm away again, but he held onto it firmly. “Can I take my coat off?
He let go, and watched as she walked over to the couch and took it off, then left it there.
“People like me?” he asked, repeating her words, and walking over.
“You and Sh—” she stopped herself. “That creep, the people who tread all over other people.”
She’d almost said his name. Puzzled, he walked over and sat down beside her.
“You told me about your father. Did he have another episode?” Clearly something had happened. Maybe he’d gotten laid off. He reached for her hand. “Izzy? Or is this about that guy? The creep?”
“No,” she replied, sounding weary. “I shouldn’t have come here. I’m not in the right frame of mind. This isn’t fair on you, me taking my bad mood out on you.” She got up, as if to go.
He stood with her. “Don’t go. Don’t run away, Izzy. Tell me.” It was taking all his might not to get angry, and if it took all day, he was going to get to the bottom of this. “That night you let me kiss you, and hold you, I didn’t want to leave.” She flinched when he reminded her, and her cheeks turned pink. “I wanted to stay with you, and do so many things to you.”
The way her lips tightened, he knew he was getting through to her. “But I made myself leave, and you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I want to take things slow, at least that’s what I tell myself, but if I was being honest, it’s because I’m scared of doing the wrong thing, and not having your approval. That’s right,” he said, when the expression on her face changed to one of surprise. “Your fucking approval is what I’m looking for. So don’t compare me to that sleazy son of a bitch who messed around with you. You think you’ve got me all figured out, and I can tell you that you don’t. You don’t know the real me.”
“What is the real you?”
“Not the womanizing asshole you seem to think I am.”
“No?”
Maybe not so much now. Hell, no. He hadn’t fucked a woman for months, and he could have. But that stupid bet got in the way, and now he didn’t even care about it.
“I don’t know what’s happened to you since then, or why you’re so mad, or so down, or why you hate me so much, but unless you tell me what it is, I can’t help you, and for the few times in my life, I actually care about you enough to want to make things better for you.”
“My dad,” she said, speaking up. “Has felt like a failure for so many years now, mostly from when I was in my teens, at least, that’s how I remember it. And it wasn’t even his fault. People like you get away with so much.”
He frowned, but knew when to keep quiet.
“Maybe not people likeyou.”She was quiet then, as if choosing her words. “But it seems to me that the little people don’t always win.” She looked at him. “You don’t understand, do you?”
“Then make me understand.”
“You know I told you about my dad feeling like he’d failed us all?”
“When his business when downhill?”
“It wasn’t his fault it failed.”
“What happened?”
“He had a construction company, and it was doing well. I know that because when we were little, we lived in a big house when we were growing up, and we’d go on nice vacations. And then it all changed suddenly. Like almost overnight. And it was all because of one man.”
“A competitor?”
She shook her head. “He got a big contract from this so called multi-millionaire businessman who wanted to build a huge block of condos. It was going to be a new estate, and then hopefully lead to other projects, at least, that’s why my mom told us, because my dad refuses to talk about that time. It was my dad’s biggest and most ambitious project to date. His friends warned him not to do it, they said that the guy was an asshole, not someone to be trusted, but my dad said everyone deserved a chance, and he liked to make his own mind up about people. So he met with the guy lots of times, decided to take on this project.” She stared down at her skirt, her forehead creasing. “To cut a long story short, the guy didn’t pay up. My dad had paid for all the materials, because he never dreamed this guy would ever pull something like that. He trusted him. He trusted him because helooked trustworthy.He looked legitimate.”
“He didn’t pay a dime?”
“He came with his henchmen and paid only the bare minimum, and after my father couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage on his own home, they took our house away.”
“And your dad never sued him?”
