“I’m not lying,” I tell him.
“You’re telling me Claude never fucking paid you?”
“You paid me.”
“And Claude, yes?”
I shake my head. “He said it would be cash… he said never to ask…”
He still thinks I’m lying and I know. His eyes are hostile and suspicious as they stare into mine. I don’t blame him.
“If you’re fucking lying to me…” he threatens.
“I’m done with lying,” I tell him and my voice breaks.
He sits down on the edge of the bed with his hands in his hair, and I so much want to touch him. It pains right through me to leave him be.
“He didn’t pay you?”
“No, never,” I say again.
“Amy, if you’re lying…”
My legs don’t want to hold me anymore. I’m exhausted and empty. I drop to my knees amongst the scattered money.
The silence is heavy as neither of us speak another word. I don’t care. I only care that I’m with him, even though he hates me.
He finishes up his cigarette and drops it into his empty tumbler.
“He really didn’t pay you?”
I shake my head.
“I paid half a fucking million for your virginity and a five percent compulsory cash tip on top. You didn’t get it? What about the million I paid for your fucking settlement fee last Sunday? What about the ten fucking grand I paid twice a fucking week?”
My jaw drops open. “You did what?!”
“You didn’t get it? Not any of it?!”
“I got twenty-five grand the first time, but it was more than enough. It was more money than I’ve ever seen. I get the envelopes. I get whatever you give me. And I don’t know anything about a settlement fee! I don’t know anything about a million pounds, I swear!”
I stare numbly as he pulls out his phone. I watch him as he gets to his feet and presses it to his ear.
“Amy’s fucking money,” he says. “Where the fuck is it?”
I can’t hear the other end of the conversation and I don’t care.
“What do you mean it’s fucking pending? What the fuck does pending mean?!”
His eyes meet mine for a heartbeat, and his next words are for me.
“Did you give the prick your bank details?”
I shake my head.
He turns away. “You don’t even have her bank details you slimy fucking cunt. You thought her name was Amy Randall.”
“I don’t care,” I say. “I don’t want it.”
He silences me with a raised hand.
“Transfer it to my fucking account,” he snarls. “I’ll make sure she fucking gets it. You have twenty-four fucking hours, Claude, or I’m pulling the fucking plug on your seedy fucking operation and I don’t care who I fucking take down with me. You can pass that little gem onto my fucking father.”
He hangs up and tosses his phone onto the dresser.
“You’ll get your money,” he says.
“Please keep it,” I tell him. “Please, Alex- Ted. Please, Ted.”
“You earned it.”
“Being with you was the best thing that ever happened to me. You being my first was all I ever wanted.”
“Shut up!” he snaps.
But I can’t. “You’re everything I ever wanted. I lied because I wanted you. I lied because I thought it was the only way.”
“You lied because you scoped my fucking house out and thought you’d rip me off for some fucking cash.”
I cry-laugh, because it’s so far from the truth, so insanely far from the truth.
“Why are you even here?” he snarls.
And it’s my chance. Maybe my only one.
“I came to say sorry,” I whisper, and the tears roll down my face. “I’m so sorry, Alexander. I never meant…”
“You’re fucking sorry?!”
I nod. “You’ll never know how sorry I am. You’ll never know how much I wanted you.”
I can hardly see him for the tears. I wipe them away and choke them back. I wish I hadn’t. He looks so fucking pained.
“You’ve said it,” he tells me. “So leave.”
I shake my head. “Please don’t make me go.”
“Go,” he snaps, but I can’t. I just can’t. “Get out of here, Amy. Fuck off.”
“Please…” I breathe. “Please don’t…”
“Please don’t what?! Don’t throw you out? Don’t fucking touch you? What?”
“Don’t throw me out,” I whisper.
“Get out or give me my fucking money’s worth.”
My eyes widen. “You mean…”
“I mean get the fuck out of my fucking hotel room or give me what I fucking paid for. That’s why I called you here, Amy. To get my fucking money’s worth.”