—I know.
—And Vanessa?
Adam slid the phone towards her.
—Read the messages from the last few weeks.
Claire didn’t want to do it.
But he did.
The messages had changed.
At first Adam had played along.
But a few weeks earlier, Vanessa had written to him:
“You’re getting too attached. Don’t forget what this is.”
Adam had responded:
“I’m done.”
Vanessa: “You haven’t even slept with her yet.”
Adam: “Exactly.”
A few days later another message arrived.
“So all that effort was for nothing?”
Adam replied:
“She is not something that can be earned.”
Claire read that sentence twice.
It didn’t erase what he had done.
Nothing could do it.
But it explained the strange distance he had noticed lately every time Vanessa made jokes about their relationship.
Adam had already tried to quit the game.
He just hadn’t had the courage to tell Claire how it all started.
And that cowardice had led them to that moment.
Claire handed him the phone back.
—You should have told me.
—Yeah.
—The moment you realized you had feelings for me.
—Yeah.
—Before I was here, ready to give you something that I have protected all my life.
Adam lowered his eyes.
—Yeah.
Claire grabbed her bag.
This time Adam didn’t try to stop her.
He didn’t say he loved her.
He didn’t ask for another chance.
He simply took the key to the hotel room out of his pocket, put it on the table and said:
—The room is paid for. Stay if you don’t want to drive. I’m leaving.
Claire stared at him.
—You go?
—I already took away a decision from you when I met you under false pretenses.
He walked towards the door.
—I’m not taking another one from you tonight.
And he left.
Alone in that hotel room, Claire cried more than she had cried in years.
Not because she had almost lost her virginity.
But because he had almost given it freely to a man without knowing the truth.
The next morning he blocked Vanessa.
Then to Laura.
Then to Michelle.
He later discovered that Laura and Michelle knew about the original bet, but believed Vanessa would end up stopping it.
They did not.
They had laughed.
They had observed.
And for Claire, their silence also made them part of the betrayal.
Adam did not contact her again.
Not for a week.
Not for a month.
