“I couldn’t,” I explained, “it was in the rules… I’d always be listed as someone in on his bet – with a specific time set for me to participate – and I was terrified you’d find out about it!  Aiden even blackmailed me!  He said that if I didn’t take the bet seriously and win the money for him, to bail him out of some shit, then he’d tell you all about it and I’d lose you.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me yourself, from the start?” she asked, her tone still flat and unreadable.  She sounded as though she’d already given up on me, and I didn’t know what to say to explain myself.  How can you convince someone that you’re not really all that bad, and that it was just a bad decision at the time.  It’s clichéd to say ‘we’re all human, we make mistakes’.

“I was scared.” I admitted, “not only of losing you but of what Aiden would do if he knew I’d been the one to sabotage the bet.  I told him I’d do it just to get him off my back… I had no intention of even trying to sleep with you within my allotted time, and I always told myself I’d wait until after it before anything happened with you – if it ever did!  I never even presumed it would…  I was so scared of losing you, Spencer -”

“When was your allotted time?” she asked suddenly.  I’d assumed she’d just figured it out for herself, but obviously that was a rather large part of the equation.

I didn’t say a word.

“When?” she demanded, her tone far more threatening.

“Our date on my birthday marked the week I had to sleep with you,” I said quietly, practically mumbling it into my chest due to how low my head was hung.

It was her turn to be silent.

“It wasn’t deliberate, I swear!” I cried.

“So you didn’t just ask me out on your birthday because you thought I’d be a sure fire shag sometime in the week following it? This fucking week!” she cried bitterly.  I could practically feel the venom spitting from her mouth and it made me sad to know I was the one who’d caused it.  She stood up from the desk and began her pacing again, her erratic movements worrying me as I knew how much distress I’d caused her.  Of course she’d assumed the worst, but who wouldn’t!?