“This is a little different,” I said.
“You're right, Allie. Absolutely right.” He spoke with the same passion that he had when I've heard him talking about 'The Deal' before. “I've simplified the problem but, you're right, it's a lot more complicated than that. But I've always been single, never locked down to a single girl like I am to you. And if I'm supposed to look single, I've got to at least maintain the illusion that nothing has changed.”
I thought about it. “So you get pictures from girls like Nicole regularly?”
“All the time. All the fucking time, Allie. Most of the women I meet either think that I'm an easy target to gold dig or think that I'm the man of their dreams.”
I wasn't sure exactly how to respond to that. I didn't care about his money at all, but I did think that he was the man of my dreams. “You make it sound like a bad thing,” I finally said. “I mean, of all the first world problems to have, 'everybody loves me' is a pretty good problem to have.”
He laughed. “Well, when you put it that way...” He reached down and grabbed another piece of pizza. After shoving a bite in his mouth, he said, “I've guess I've got it pretty good.”
I let that sit for a moment. “How do I know?”
“Know what?”
“If you want to maintain the illusion that nothing has changed, that you're still single, how do I know that something has changed? How do I know that you're only with me?”
He tensed up again. “You think I'm fucking Nicole behind your back?” He gave a laugh, but it was clearly forced. “Seriously, if nothing else, when do you think I've had time?”
I didn't know his schedule. He claimed to have been too busy to have me there for the past two weeks, but I didn't know if that was true. “No, of course I don't think that you're seeing Nicole. But you said it yourself that you've never ever been locked down to a single woman. How do I know that there's not someone here in Boston? Or Los Angeles?”
There was a pause. “I don't know what to tell you. Would it make you feel better if I let you look through my phone?”
My breath practically caught in my throat. Was this the same James who had freaked out when he found me on his computer? The same James who never kept a computer around his house if he wasn't there? And now he was willing to let me go through his phone.
“Maybe,” I said, unsure of what to say.
He turned me toward him. “I'll make you a deal. You let me look through your phone and I'll let you look through my phone.”
I smiled at him. “What makes you think that I'm hiding anything on my phone?”
“I don't, but, fair is fair. What if Nicole has been sending you sexy pictures also?”
“You'd like that, wouldn't you?” I said.
He shrugged. “Or maybe you've been taking them while she's not looking. I mean I don't know. Seems like you girls are awful close.”
“Har har har.”
“So, do you want to trade?”
“Sure, why not? I think I have more to gain anyway. I'll learn all your business secrets.”
“This was all part of your nefarious plan, I'm sure.” He jumped out of his bed and walked over to where his pants lay on the floor from last night, retrieving his phone from his pocket.
Just as he turned back to me, I grabbed my phone. I had a moment of deja vu, remembering when he had walked in here with the pizza a few minutes ago. Just then, I felt my stomach drop. James walked the distance to me while I looked at my phone in horror. I remembered that the last thing I had been looking at before he came in was the picture of the pregnancy test...
Chapter Forty
“On second thought, let's just snuggle and eat pizza for a little while,” I said quickly.
He laughed. “Don't worry about getting grease on the screen, I've got a nice cleaning kit.”
“No, I mean...” I had to think of something quickly. “We were having such a nice time snuggling, and I'd hate to ruin that by pawing through your phone and seeing pictures of other girls.”
“Don't worry, Allie. Hardly any girls send me naked pictures on my phone anyway, and I delete them pretty quickly anyway. Dick pics on the other hand...” He paused, as if waiting for me to laugh. I was silent.
I felt sick. I wished I could delete this picture off my phone. Maybe I could convince him that I had to delete just one thing. No, that would make him even more curious, and he might even try to snatch the phone away from me. Why did I even take a picture of it in the first place? It was such a stupid thing to do.