Chapter 114

Heather looked like she wanted to spit, and Cattie had a stony expression that made it so I couldn’t tell if she was trying to hide what she was thinking and feeling from me or from her girlfriend.

“I- We need to talk about last night,” Heather said. “I know Cattie already talked to you and Cassidy, but I need to say something as well.”

“Alright,” I said and stepped back into the kitchen area.

Heather pursed her lips slightly in clear displeasure at the situation. “I owe you and Cassidy an ... apology. For being aggressive and disrespectful. So I’m sorry-”

Now, if she’d stopped there, it would have been fine. But it was Heather, so of course she had to keep talking.

“-that you were offended by what I said. And that I put Cattie in the position that I did. But I also need you to hear me that what happened last night isn’t going to happen again. You and Cattie aren’t ever going to do that again. I won’t allow it, and you need to back off.”

The thing was, I could tell she was hurting. Heather wasn’t her usual self, sitting there on the couch like a ball of stress. Her body language was turned inward and defensive instead of aggressively open. And I couldn’t blame her - she was in a position that I hadn’t ever been in. She knew her girlfriend had been with someone else not even twelve hours ago and she’d manufactured the circumstance that had caused it to happen. If anyone else had been telling me the story about this situation I would probably play Devil’s Advocate in my own head and empathize with her. And really, I did. Even if she’d done it to herself, I still felt terrible for her and her relationship.

But she was also such a fucking bitch.

“That’s not good enough,” I said, breaking my gut feeling of protocol and decency around even bad apologies. Someone apologizes, you’re supposed to accept it; that’s what I was taught growing up. But I couldn’t be truthful and accept this one.

“What?” Heather asked, a little stunned.

“Robbie-” Cattie whispered, though she sounded like she didn’t know if she wanted me to explain, or stop.

“That’s not good enough, Heather,” I repeated myself. “You can’t just apologize for me and Cassidy feeling offended. Cattie is Cass’s best friend, and you’ve made it pretty clear since the first hours of this trip that you not only didn’t give a flying fuck about mine and Cass’s relationship, but you also wanted to make this trip into a booze cruise for your own perverted gain.”

“What the fuck is your problem?” Heather demanded, starting to stand. “I never-”

“Heather, shut up and listen,” I said. “You started this week by trying to convince my fiancee and everyone else that they should get drunk and go topless so that you could be surrounded by hot, topless and tipsy women. You weren’t being subtle. Then you organized sexual games so that you could make out with women other than Cattie, and got pissed when things didn’t go your way. And then you bet your girlfriend’s body to try and force winning my fiancee’s. Don’t try to fucking talk your way out of it - if you had won, you were planning on having sex with Cassidy however you wanted. So yeah, I’m offended, Heather. I’m offended by you, and the way you treat other people. And I’m especially offended by the way you treat Cattie, because while you’ve been inexcusably aggressive to everyone else, you’ve been a raging cunt the way you’ve been acting towards her. So yeah, because she asked, Cassidy and I are going to keep our distance from her for as long as she wants us to. But she deserves better, Heather, and if you can’t manage that then Cass and I will be there for her.”