Chapter 3

Samantha stuck out her tongue and muttered, "If Zane didn't always take care of me, I wouldn't act like this."

The others at the table burst out laughing again.

"Zane definitely takes care of you!"

"You've been hiking for three years, and you still can't even carry your own one-person tent. Every time we go out, Zane has to haul all sixty pounds of cookware and gear, plus your tent.

"And now it's gotten even more ridiculous. Samantha just posts whatever she needs in the group chat, and Zane buys everything and brings it along for her."

My fingers tightened around my wineglass.

I'd lived with Zane for five years. I didn't want him eating takeout all the time, so I bought groceries and cooked for him every day after work.

Once, we'd run out of salt, and I asked him to pick up a bag on his way home. He acted as though I'd asked him to carry a boulder.

"Babe, I'm an executive, for God's sake. I go to work in a suit every day, and you want me walking around with some cheap bag of salt? What would that look like? What if someone I knew saw me? I'd never hear the end of it," he had claimed.

In the end, I had had no choice but to turn off the simmering soup and go downstairs to buy it myself.

But now they were telling me Zane would even carry tampons for another woman.

So that wasn't too much trouble? He wasn't worried about embarrassing himself anymore? Then what did that make me?

My heart sank lower with every word, yet Zane didn't deny any of it.

He simply smiled. "Samantha insists on hiking with us even when she's on her period. There aren't many people in the group with her kind of determination. As the group leader, of course I'm going to look after her."

But that wasn't all he'd done for her.

"Zane literally saved Samantha's life," one hiker chimed in.

Another hiker who knew the story began recounting what had happened. "That time, Samantha fell into a pool of freezing water. We pulled her out, but she was already suffering from hypothermia.

"Zane was the first to react. He immediately stripped Samantha's wet clothes, changed her into dry ones, then wrapped both of them in an emergency blanket and held her against his body for warmth all night. That's how he managed to save her."

A man and a woman, holding each other skin-to-skin all night?

My head began to buzz as blood pounded in my ears.

Samantha was still teasing Zane. "Daddy, I'll never be able to repay you for saving my life!"

Zane was about to answer when I tore myself out of his arms and shot to my feet. "I'm sorry, but I can't accept this. You people are disgusting!

"Don't tell me that being out on a hike somehow means men and women stop being men and women. The fact is, she's a woman and you're a man.

"You spent an entire night holding each other naked, and you're telling me nothing happened between you? Do you even believe that yourself?"

Every sound in the private room died away. Everyone turned to watch us argue.

Samantha walked over as if she were some kind of peacemaker and reached for my hand. "Girl, don't do this. Everyone's watching. Where does that leave Zane? You're humiliating Zane in front of everyone."

I shook off her hand, so furious that I actually laughed. "Do you really think you're the one who should be talking about humiliation?

"Who are you to him? Don't talk to me like you're family. As far as I'm concerned, you're the most shameless person in this room."

I couldn't stay there for another second. Even the air around me seemed tainted by a disgusting smell, a constant reminder that I didn't belong there.

I grabbed my clutch and walked out of that filthy place without looking back.