Alter Ego: His Sultry Lover

Chapter 134: Up Against

The voice on the other side was female, that much she could hear. But she didn’t care about it. Cage slid his hand around her and put his head near her shoulder to smell her. 

“Why would you make it out to be like we are a couple?” Katherine stiffened. He was either talking to Keira or Julia. “No, you told her I was with you. Why would you do that? What possessed you to do that?” There was something said from the other side. “I understand your breakup had a bad effect on you, but I consider you my friend. I didn’t expect you to be impulsive and try to ruin my chance!” He sounded angry, but his body language towards Katherine was gentle.

Cage’s finger combed through her hair and she snuggled closer to him. “No. I am not single anymore.” He sighed. “And we need to reevaluate our relationship.”

He felt betrayed. Julia had been the cause of the misunderstanding. She was a convincing actress and no doubt with Katherine’s past, she would believe anything a woman said. “She wants to talk to you.” He said suddenly, turning to Katherine. 

She pointed at herself and when Cage nodded, she nervously took the phone. 

It was one thing talking to a stranger on the phone, but talking to a superstar who had pretended to be Ray’s lover was something else. She felt some anger but also wanted to understand why she had done something like that. What had she gained from creating a misunderstanding?

“Hello?” she said into the phone.

“Katherine?” the person on the other side said. She sounded soft and unlike the person she had spoken to previously. 

“This is Julia. I wanted to apologize to you for the other day. Cage went to the award with me as a favor and told me all about you on the ride there. I was at the mall to see how the two of you were doing when I found Cage swamped with people. I pulled him out and got him to the washroom. He left his phone with me and that was when you called. I said some horrible things…”

Katherine remained silent. 

“I want to understand why you did that.”

“I don’t know, I was jealous.”

“Do you like Cage?” He turned to look at her and shook his head. “Tell me honestly. I want to know what I am up against.”

“I think of him as a little brother. I wanted to make myself look good and feel important. I was cheated on, it does weird things to you.”

Katherine gritted her teeth. “I’ve been cheated on too.” But she didn’t pull stunts like this.

“It’s all my fault. I am sorry for making things worse for you.” ‘Damn right, you were the one who almost ruined our chances.’ Katherine thought. 

“No,” Katherine said humbly. “I should have trusted him and given him the opportunity to explain. I went off like a crazy person and hurt him.” There was silence on the other side. Julia knew that she was not forgiven and that Katherine was just being polite. 

“It’s nothing,” Katherine heard Cage whisper and she gave him a small smile.

“I’ll not interrupt your time together any longer. I hope you have a lovely date.” She looked at the man next to her. The phone clicked off and she passed it to Cage.

“She hung up,” she informed him. He nodded and pushed his phone inside the pocket of his pants.

“Good. We have the place all to ourselves. What are your plans?” he asked. Katherine pointed at the set-up on the table.

“I want to play Never Have I Ever with you but with a fancy twist.”

“Really?” He sounded surprised. Katherine chewed on her lip, waiting for him to think it through. “I’ve never really played this game, but it has been my long-time dream to get you drunk and take a peek into your mind.” She hoped he was not disappointed with her idea.

“I thought it would be fun,” she said in a small voice.

“Let’s play,” he said warmly. She pulled him to sit cross-legged in front of the table. “You begin?” he asked tentatively. She nodded and thought for a minute.

“Never have I ever… peed in a pool.” She smirked. He glared at her for a second before reaching for the bottle of alcohol and pouring himself a little. 

“Can’t believe I am drinking early in the morning, but who cares!” He poured himself a little amount and downed it. 

“That’s cheating. You need to have more,” she said, reaching over and pouring himself some more. “I’ll need the story out of you, as well, Mr. Cavanaugh. Whose pool did you pee in?” Cage blushed. Were they at a stage where they could talk about bodily functions already? 

“I peed in my own pool, okay? Everyone pees in the pool when they are young.” He paused. “Our pool had those detectors and it turned dark blue. It was a pool party with my dad’s associates and I was young. Safe to say I was embarrassed and the other kids wouldn’t talk to me or be near me.” He pouted. 

“They probably peed in pools, too. How dare they ignore my Cage.” She supplied helpfully. Cage smirked when he heard her say ‘my Cage.’ There was a nice ring to it. “But why did you pee in the pool when you knew it had a detector?” she chuckled. 

“I needed to pee. You know how the water affects your bladder.” He shrugged. “My turn!” 

Katherine waited patiently as he thought. 

“Never have I ever tried to guess someone’s password.”

“I don’t believe that!” Katherine exclaimed. 

“Well, I don’t have social media and I am not around people enough to try and sneak into their stuff.” 

“Urgh. Seriously, why don’t you have social media, again?” she pouted. It would have been so much easier for his fans to connect with him if he did. Well, it was a good thing he didn’t or else she would have tagged him in her lewd fan art and this whole sitting together exchanging lovely words would have gone out the window.