“So you came to see if the girl you thought she was is who she really is, right?” He nodded. “I don’t know for sure, but I can tell you that she is a terrible liar. She can’t even lie about eating the last piece of chocolate. I am sure she would have slipped up.”

‘That would be a relief.’

“She didn’t tell you, though,” he said slowly, not wanting to anger her.

“Recently she has been a lot happier than she was before and I thought it was because she was finally ready to date. That’s why I set up a surprise date with her and Nathaniel. I thought she was secretly seeing someone and didn’t want to pry until she told me herself. But I was too preoccupied to see for myself what was happening. Lily knew everything, but I didn’t. It hurt…” She grimaced. “Apparently she was ready to date, but only you.”

“But she went out on a date with someone else and she didn’t even bother telling everyone about me.”

“Does everyone in your life know that you are talking to this girl?” she defended, her hands balled at her sides. “She would have told me if it weren’t for my situation blowing up all of a sudden.”

“I may… need your help.”

“What help do you need from me?” she asked, crossing her hands in front of her.

“I want to see who she is.”

“I—” she cut herself off and ran to the window to look. “I think she is back. He is seeing her off!” she screamed and then placed a hand over her mouth. “Quick, hide in my room for some time.” She held him by the shoulder and forced him up. Then, she pushed him to her room where she thought the acoustics were the best and trapped him inside the room. For someone who looked so frail, she had an awful lot of strength.

“Trust me,” he heard her voice from the other side. “This is the only thing I can do to salvage the major **up I did.”

It was a few moments later that he heard the door opening. He wanted to go to the peep and see if Katherine had brought the guy with her and kissed him goodbye. He felt his insides burn with rage at the thought. He knew that he would be caught instantly if he tried.

He braced his arms on the doorknob, ready to burst out if the guy came in. Going at him like a jealous lunatic. He could see the headlines the next day floating all over the media.

‘Cage unleashed his inner animal on a civilian.’

“You’re home early.” Angelina’s voice was sarcastic. “What? Didn’t like your little boytoy for the night?” So scathing were the words that Cage had to restrain himself.

“Yeah.” She had a beautiful voice.

“And you brought him with you, too?” Angelina’s voice raised a pitch. He almost lost his mind then and there. Had she brought him back home to spend the night? Was he the one interrupting something important?

“He just wanted to make sure that I came home safe. He will be leaving shortly,” she sighed. “Just give him a glass of water.” Apt. So she just wanted to get the date over with. He couldn’t fault her for being nice to a guy.

“Which way is the washroom?” the guy asked and Cage couldn’t help but cringe. The guy had such a lousy voice. How had he sustained a conversation with her? Didn’t he feel inadequate?

“The washroom is that way,” he heard Katherine say. He didn’t know where it was, but he hoped that the conversation would take place while he was gone.

“How did it go?” Angelina asked and he sighed in relief. The conversation had finally started.

“What? You are finally talking to me again?” He could hear the coldness in her voice. She was pissed off, that much was clear.

“It seems that way,” Angelina replied.

Katherine scoffed. “You may think everything is fine but I am not in a mood to talk to you.”

Oh no. He was going to miss his chance to hear her truth.

“Well, that’s too bad. We need to talk and we are talking. End of discussion. You lied to me for so long that I deserve an explanation,” Angelina demanded.

“I didn’t lie to you. You were so preoccupied with your own happiness that you couldn’t even see that your friend was acting differently.” Her voice sounded sad. He wanted to go and hug her.

“I know I did wrong, too, but I am here apologizing. You were wrong not to tell me that you were also in an online relationship.” She sounded remorseful. “Please sit down and tell me.”

“What do you want to know?”

Finally.

“Why are you home so early?”

“I didn’t want to go in the first place. I just thought it would be a good way to keep my mind off Ray in my angry haze. I wanted to punish him for cheating but… I couldn’t do it. Barry is a nice guy and he realized what was up with me and quickly brought me home.”

If only he could peek inside the room and see the expression on her face. Was she disappointed that the date didn’t work out?

“Did you kiss?” He had a violent reaction. His fists clenched up at his side. What was she doing asking such questions that could stimulate him?

“No!” Katherine replied violently. “Stop. He can hear us,” she whined.

“He is not going to come out, seeing that he hasn’t yet. Let’s finish this talk.”

“We decided to remain friends and that I would call him if I ever wanted to date.”

To hell if he was letting that happen. He would not let Katherine date someone whose name sounded like that of a pervert’s.

“Now tell me about Ray,” Angelina admonished.

He sharply took in a breath. “I told you what happened. He didn’t show up when we were supposed to meet and a girl picked up his phone while he was in the shower.” There was uninhibited pain in her voice.

‘I’m so stupid,’ he thought.