Page 40 of Out of Bounds
Ethan never apologizes for anything. I thought he was incapable to saying the word sorry. Clearly not. He said it just fine and never even stuttered.
“Why did you do it?”
He keeps his gaze trained on me. “I wanted you to see whatcouldhave happened to you.”
“Could any of what you said really have happened to me?” I prod.
“Yes.” He nods and a chill rushes down my spine. “Liev could have gotten you in some serious trouble and you wouldn’t have been able to dig yourself out of it.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
My stomach squeezes like I’m going to throw up and I reach for my glass to down another drink. I can be upset with Ethan all I want but I was still foolish enough to hook up with a man like Liev. I was with him for all of six months and never once suspected anything. Nothing at all.
Ethan pours me another glass, finishes his drink and fills his glass again.
“You have to understand I deal with criminals all the time and I see all the shit they get up to,” he states. “I know what men like Liev do. They prey on the weak and unsuspecting. I don’t think you’re weak, but I definitely think you’re unsuspecting. Especially if you gave him your bank details.”
My lips part and I don’t know what to say. Like an idiot I gave Liev everything. I felt we were a couple, so it was okay.
“I first gave them to him because he was going to deposit some money in account for Valentine’s Day. He didn’t know what to get me and thought money would be better so I could go shopping. I didn’t know what to think when I saw two thousand dollars in my account.”
“Baby, most men would not have given their girlfriends two thousand dollars just for Valentine’s Day. And I saw more transactions like that in your account. If I’d left it like how it was the feds could have painted you as an accomplice to at least the money laundering charges and that’s imprisonment. You would have been seen as having a relationship of trust with him and that would have done you in. People get tied up in shit for less.”
“I wasn’t thinking.”
“I know that, and I knew it even more when you kept saying he was nice to you.”
That bastard.I wonder what the hell he was thinking when he first approached me. Maybe I wasn’t even the only woman he was with.
Why should I believe I was when it was clear he was just using me?
I drink some more wine and a light buzz work its way from my scalp to my toes. Another gulp numbs my mind, but I can feel I’m approaching my limit.
“That was one reason for doing what I did,” he says cutting into my thoughts.
“One reason? What was the other reason?”
“I don’t know if we should talk about that.”
I study his expression and somehow I know in my heart my question and his answer are linked to what he did in the past.
“But that’s like leaving unfinished business.”
“Maybe some things are best left that way.”
“Like the past?” I offer up.
“Exactly like the past.”
Something I can’t quite describe fills me as I stare back at him and I know it’s nothing to do with the buzz that’s over taken my mind.
“What if I want to talk about the past?”
“What good is it? It’s in the past.”
“Maybe I want to know why you thought you needed to be my white knight when I was just trying to be your friend.”
