Travis
“Caitlin? What’s wrong?”
I’ve just come back from the office to pick up Cait for our meeting at Nova Arte. I have no doubt that they’ll want to do business with my beautiful girl, so imagine my surprise to see her sprawled on the floor with tears in her eyes. And what the fuck is Fiona doing here?
My beautiful girl stares at me for far too long, her eyes wide with shock. I take a step forward to try and console her, but she scuttles back on the marble.
“Don’t you dare touch me!”
“What happened? Why are you crying?”
“I can’t believe this is happening! I was nothing to you! You’ve been dating my stepmother this entire time!”
I blink. “What are you talking about?”
“I know everything!” Caitlin sobs. She bends her head, so distressed that she’s unable to get up from the floor. “You’ve been dating my stepmother this whole time!” she screams. “Does that make you feel good, having sex with a mother and a daughter at once? Are you some kind of fucking pervert?”
I hear a titter from the shadows and turn my head to see Fiona lurking there.
“What the fuck did you do?” I growl.
“Nothing!” she protests. “I just told her the truth. That you and I are in a sexual relationship, but that I had to step away for a bit. So I gave you permission to use my stepdaughter’s body to satisfy your physical needs. After all, a virile man like you can’t be celibate for too long. Sating yourself in my daughter was the best solution while I was unavailable.”
I stare at her, gaping. Where the fuck is this coming from? But at Fiona’s words, Cait lets out another wail, burying her head in her arms. I turn to the whippet-thin woman with fury in my eyes.
“No Fiona, that’s not true at all. We slept together once! That was ages ago! We’re nothing to one another!”
“Nothing?” Fiona pretends innocence. “Then why are you making a fifty thousand-dollar investment in my business? Where is that money coming from?”
“Fifty thousand dollars?” Cait whispers from my left. “Oh my god, you’ve been with her all this time? You believe in her business, and not in mine?”
With that, she collapses on the floor, and I rush over to pick up the curvy girl. After all, she’s been tossed into a bed of lies, and it’s time to make things right.
I place Cait gently on the sitting room couch where she slowly revives. Meanwhile, Fiona is scrutinizing my interior décor, frowning at a vase here while gently running her thumb and forefinger over the mantelpiece.
“There’s dust,” she says matter of factly. “I’ll have to speak with the housekeeper.”
I glare at her.
“I’ll speak with the housekeeper because I’m in charge. You don’t live here, Fiona. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Cait sits up a bit, still groggy from passing out.
“Oh,” she says in a low tone, pressing a hand to her head. “It hurts.”
“Caity,” I say, rushing over to take her hand in my own. “Don’t believe a word this woman says. Yes, I met Fiona a while back at some business event. Yes, we had a drunken interlude and I slept with her. It wasn’t my proudest moment, and I couldn’t even remember her name afterwards. It was only until she called me out of the blue, begging for an investment in her company that I sort of remembered who she was.”
Caity bows her head.
“But why does she think you’re her boyfriend?” is her agonized whisper.
I shake my head.
“For no reason! I’ve done nothing, absolutely nothing, to make her think that.”
“Except buy me this dress,” Fiona sings from over by the mantelpiece while fingering the pink material. I shoot her a harsh look.
“Fine. Your stepmother was attempting to blackmail me,” I say in a tight voice. “She was going to raise a ruckus about that night we spent together, and report me to my company’s board for mixing business with pleasure. But you know what? Fuck you, Fiona. You’re a grown woman. We weren’t on company time, and I owe you nothing. Your blackmail claims were bullshit, and always have been. I gave you that money to make you go away more than anything. But that stops now.”
“You gave her money?” Cait whispers, her face going white.
“Yep, fifty thousand dollars!” Fiona sings merrily. “That’s not nothing by a long shot!”
My beautiful girl’s face falls.
‘That’s why you didn’t make the investment in my company, isn’t it? Because you gave the money to my stepmother instead,” she says in a slow voice.
At this, I sit back on my heels for a moment.
“Cait, the fifty thousand I’m going to invest in Get Pressed has nothing to do with the fifty thousand I gave to your stepmother. These two things are unrelated.”
“But it’s for the same amount,” she says, her face resolute. She won’t look me in the eye, and there are two spots of red on her cheeks.
“Yes, but that’s just a coincidence!” I say. “Honey, fifty thousand is nothing to me. I could write you a check right now for fifty thou and it would clear just fine. I could write ten checks for fifty thousand each, and it wouldn’t matter. The money is nothing to me.”
At that, Fiona chimes in again.
“Except you’re using the money to pay for her body,” she smirks. “Let’s not leave that out.”
With that, I lose it. I stand up in anger, and begin to advance on the scrawny woman.
“Get out!” I roar. “Get the fuck out, and never come back, bitch!”
Fiona laughs merrily, not at all bothered, but at least she sashays towards the exit.
“Bye you two!” she sings merrily. “Mommy loves you, Caity! Just call me after this is over. I’m sure you understand that you were nothing but dust under my heel all along!”
Then she disappears in a waft of sour-smelling perfume, and Cait and I look at one another. My beautiful girl is pale, and her hand is pressed to her belly, as if protecting it.
“Cait,” I say, getting down on one knee again. “You have to believe me. This is not a scheme hatched by me and Fiona, no matter what you think. Yes, I slept with your stepmother that once, but that was before I even met you. Please, sweetheart. You have to believe me.”
Cait is silent, looking fixedly at her hands. Then she lifts her head and stares at me with expressionless eyes.
“Did Fiona tell you to come out with Buster that day? Did she tell you that I was wandering around your neighborhood?”
Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit. I decide I have to be honest because I love this woman, and the more lies I tell, the less likely I’ll be able to save this relationship.
“Yes, she did,” I admit. “I decided to go for a walk with Buster to find you.”
“But how did Fiona know I was there?”
“I don’t know,” I say slowly. “It was likely just a good guess. She might have been spying on you from afar. But Buster and I wandered around for a good forty minutes in the neighborhood before we stumbled upon you.”
Cait is silent, her eyes bright even though she still refuses to meet my gaze.
“But why did you go out to find me that day?”
Oh shit. This is where the story gets even worse.
“Because sweetheart, Fiona was already in the middle of her blackmail scheme. I was only listening with half an ear as she ranted and raved about how “I owed her,” but when she mentioned that a luscious, gorgeous, teenage girl was wandering around my neighborhood homeless, I took the bait. I came out to find you without having a plan, and then this happened,” I say. “I have no excuse. I wasn’t thinking straight, and that’s on me. Because after our first meeting, suddenly Fiona’s bullshit didn’t matter anymore. I just wanted you, and if I had to pay her some fake hush money, it was no skin off my nose.”
The gorgeous girl shakes her head.
“I’m so confused by this turn of events. Was there blackmail or not?”
I take a deep breath, trying to keep my voice steady.
“There was, but it wasn’t real,” I say. “It’s hard to explain the chain of events in any coherent way. But suffice to say, a woman I slept with came calling. She wanted to blackmail me, and she wanted to entrap me too. She happened to mention that a very beautiful girl was in my neighborhood, and I went out to investigate. Then, all bets were off. I met you, and suddenly, I didn’t even care about the blackmail anymore. Let Fiona get her rocks off. Let her have her fifty thousand dollars because it’s nothing to me. You are what matters.”
Cait goes pale.
“Am I, Travis? Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I say fervently, taking her hands in my own. “I love you more than anything, Caity. I’ve been such a fucking fool all this time, emphasizing how this is nothing but a transaction, but in fact, that’s not true at all,” I say fiercely. “I’ve fallen in love with you, and only you.”
She begins to cry.
“So I’m not going to be pregnant and homeless?”
“Of course not. Wait, what did you say?”
Caity cries harder because emotions have gotten the better of both of us now.
“I’m pregnant, Travis. I’m expecting your child. I just found out, and you know we used protection every time, but contraception is imperfect.”
I gather her close to me, one big hand resting on the small swell of her belly.
“You’re pregnant, Caitlin? I’m going to be a daddy?” I ask in a stunned voice.
“Yes Travis,” she sobs into my throat. “And I love you too.”
Suddenly, my heart shudders and I claim Cait’s mouth with my own. After all, this is what I needed to hear. After this incredible clusterfuck, now the clouds have cleared and suddenly nothing matters anymore. I love this woman, she loves me, and we’re expecting a baby together.
“I’ll make this right,” I promise in a hoarse voice. “I’m sorry this ever happened. I adore you, Caity. More than life itself, and I adore this child too.”
With that, she throws her arms around my neck, sobbing with laughter and tears because my words have hit the mark. I love this woman more than I’ve ever loved anybody, and with her and the baby, I’ll be happy for life.