Red wine served as a great accompaniment to red meat, cheese, and pasta. I’d learned it also went well with misery, ice cream, and The Big Bang Theory. You could also drink it during the day. Who knew? They should put that on the bottle. It was actually quite a versatile product.

“Move your legs,” Tasha commanded.

“I’m comfortable here.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

Tasha looked down at me lazing about in my pajamas with my legs up on the sofa, glass of wine in one hand and spoon in the other. I’d been here for most of the weekend, and the cushion now had an outline of my ass that might never come out.

“You’ve been comfortable for days,” Tasha continued. “Move it.”

“We have another seat,” I said, moving my legs anyway.

Tasha sat down next to me, much closer than she had to. It was going to be one of those chats.

“Whatever he did, he’s not worth sulking over,” Tasha said. “I’ve been there, and I know how it feels, but you will get past this. Better you find out what he’s like now than in a year’s time.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who fucked up.”

“It’s natural to blame yourself,” Tasha replied. “But if he cheated on you then that is entirely his fault. Don’t listen to that shit about men needing to sow their wild oats and play the field.”

“He didn’t cheat on me,” I said softly. “I’m the one in the wrong?”

Tasha frowned. “Wait, do you mean you cheated on him?”

“God no, of course not. But it’s my fault he’s gone.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Well you’d better believe it.” I let out a loud sigh of frustration. “I’m not your perfect little sister who never makes a wrong step.” My voice got louder as my heart rate sped up. “I fucked this up and it’s completely my fault. I betrayed him.”

Tasha backed away slightly as I yelled, but she stayed right there next to me. “What happened, Kristi?”

I told Tasha everything, from the moment I first went to meet Barton to him finding the email on my phone.

“Shit,” Tasha muttered afterwards. “That’s messed up.”

“Thank you,” I snapped. “I’m well aware of that.”

“I meant, it’s messed up what your boss put you through. You didn’t do anything wrong. Okay, maybe you weren’t completely honest with him, but you never did wrong by him. Ever since you started helping him, he’s had an impeccable media image. Anyone would think he’s a monk, not a professional football player.”

“I could have done more,” I replied. “And I lied. He’s never going to forgive me for that. Think how it looks from his point of view. He finds out that the woman he’d trusted with his career off the pitch was trying to sabotage him the entire time.”

“But you weren’t doing that,” Tasha insisted. “You helped him.”

“It doesn’t matter. I went along with it, and now he hates me.”

“He’s angry, but he doesn’t hate you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve been in his shoes. You don’t get that angry if you don’t care. Barton still cares about you; that’s why he’s angry.”

What would Barton do when he was angry? Hit someone? Fuck someone? I immediately felt sick to my stomach thinking about Barton having angry sex with another woman. It was bad enough thinking about all the women in Barton’s past, but the ones in his future really freaked me the fuck out.

“I don’t think he’s going to forgive me for this,” I said, staring at the soft ice cream left in the bottom of the container.

“He’s hotheaded. Give him time to calm down, and then go and talk to him. Clyde reckons he’ll come to his senses eventually.”

“Maybe,” I admitted reluctantly. I didn’t believe it, but it seemed easier to just give in to Tasha for now. “At least something good has come of all this.”

“Yeah, I’m glad you got a few orgasms from him. You needed that.”

“I was talking about you and Clyde,” I said.

“Oh. About that….”

“Don’t tell me you’ve split up?”

“I think so,” Tasha said. “We left things a little weird.”

“Come on, I told you my story. Now you tell me yours.”

Tasha grabbed the ice cream and spoon from me. “He told me he loved me.”

“Shit,” I exclaimed excitedly. “That’s wonderful. Isn’t it?”

“I made a mess of it. I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, he didn’t look too happy. We tried to brush over it, but the entire night was a write off. I think that’s it between us.”

“Uh-uh,” I said with a firm shake of my head. “No way are you giving up that easily after giving me a lecture. You love him too, you’re just too afraid to say it.”

“It’s not as simple as that.”

“Why not?”

“He’s a few years younger than me for one thing.”

“That doesn’t matter. Give me a good reason.”

“He’s going to be a lawyer.”

“Most people would think that’s a good thing.”

“I don’t exactly date the lawyer type usually,” Tasha pointed out.

“And you don’t usually fall in love with your dates.”

“You’ve done a damn good job turning this whole thing back on me.”

“I want my sister to be happy,” I said. “Besides, at least this way, something good comes out of the entire mess. One of us might as well get her man.”

“I… I can’t believe I’m going to say this,” Tasha said with a heavy breath. “I think I love him.”

I quickly hugged Tasha, but it was mainly to hide my own tears. I was happy for her and miserable for myself at the same time. At least she could fix her problem.

“Go and tell him what you just told me,” I commanded Tasha.

“I’ll go see him tomorrow. I want to be with you tonight.”

“Hell no. You’re going now, and I don’t want to see you come home tonight.”

Tasha smiled, but then it quickly disappeared. “Oh God, do you think this means we’ll have to start making love instead of fucking?”

“You won’t have to, but maybe you’ll want to.”

“What’s become of me, Kristi? I don’t recognize the person I see in the mirror.”

“Me neither, but I like her.”

Tasha jumped up and got changed. So did I. I wasn’t going anywhere, but it didn’t seem healthy to laze around in my pajamas for the entire day.

Getting dressed helped me feel a little more human, but I was still miserable. No matter what I put on television, I could not stop my mind thinking about Barton and what he would be doing right now. I came up with worse and worse scenarios in my head in the vague hope that when I found out I wouldn’t be upset.

I tried to get angry, but that didn’t work either. I was only angry at one person, and she was right here in this room.

When my phone rang, I leapt across the room to grab it so quickly that I tripped and almost smashed into the table. It wasn’t worth the effort.

Leona. About time she called, I suppose.

“Hi,” I said, calmly answering the call.

“We need to talk,” Leona responded.

“About the email?”

“No, not about the email.” She’d obviously read it, or she would have asked ‘what email?’ Did that mean I was in the clear? Leona still sounded terse and grumpy, but then she always did.

“Do you need me to come into the office?” I asked. I wouldn’t usually be so quick to make that offer on a Sunday night, but I was relieved to still have a job right now.

“No. You don’t need to come in.” There was a short pause before she continued. Leona did love to be dramatic. “We know about your relationship with Barton.”

Any optimism I’d allowed myself to feel over the past thirty seconds quickly dissipated.

“What relationship?” I asked innocently. She couldn’t possibly know. She could be suspicious, but she couldn’t actually know.

“Don’t lie to me, Kristi. I’ve heard it from a reliable source. You’ve been seeing each other for a couple of weeks now.”

“Who told you that?”

“A teammate of Barton’s,” Leona replied. “Someone I trust. I’m sure you understand what has to happen now.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine. Barton had been talking to his teammates about me. He’d probably told stories about our sex life in the locker room. The fucking hypocrite. He got mad at me for betraying him, when the entire time he’d been talking about me like I was another one of his bimbos. I’d told him he had to keep our relationship secret, but he couldn’t do that one simple thing.

“You’re firing me?” I asked.

“Yes. Having an affair with a client is a breach of the high standards the firm sets itself.”

High standards? The same high standards that had us sabotage a client behind his back?

“I’ll collect my things tomorrow morning,” I said dejectedly. ‘My things’ consisted of a novelty mug of Olaf from Frozen, and a few photos on my desk.

“Don’t bother. I’ll have it shipped over.”

She hung up. That was it. I was completely fucked. No job, and no reference. She might even get in touch with her extensive network and tell them not to hire me.

In the space of a few days, I’d lost a man and a career, and I didn’t see a way to get either of them back. I didn’t want them back anyway. I couldn’t work for Leona again, and I couldn’t be with Barton.

I thought he’d changed, but he was the same arrogant ass that I’d met in his kitchen a month ago. I’d taught him to hide all that from the public, but underneath he was the same person.

The ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ type. I doubted he’d ever really loved me, but he had definitely left me. This is why I should never have let myself fall for a man like Barton. I’d known he was bad news from the start. Sometimes I really hated being right.