Chapter 286   - Protect Him

Katherine wondered for a second if Sabrina was in denial. She had seen Cage's cellphone... or so Katherine had thought.

Katherine snapped. "My boyfriend," she told Sabina. "Cage Cavanaugh is my boyfriend. I didn't like how you spoke about him the whole day and the way you were looking at him in dinner while he was sitting beside me infuriated me."

"Are you kidding?" Sabrina looked like she was about to swallow her tongue.

"No, I am not," Katherine asserted. "All day long you kept concocting plans about how you would hunt down my boyfriend and I had to listen in and pretend to go along with it. My boyfriend!" she emphasized. "To you, he's a mere show animal, not much different from those animals who are abused in the circus... just that he is human and you have to pretend to care about him. But he's not that. He's a human like you and me. He has his concerns and his wounds that he can't reveal."

"You make it sound like I am the one who has done wrong when you were the one who didn't tell me who your boyfriend is!" Sabrina screamed.

Katherine took a step forward, her stance threatening.

"And? Would your reaction have been better? The disbelieve, the scoff that you let out when you found out."

"Because it is unbelievable. How would someone like you meet someone like him." No, the words were not said in a manner of rationality but utter incredulity... like Katherine's presence was being deemed unfit beside Cage.

"It is not unbelievable. People like you are the reason why we haven't told anybody about the relationship. We have to stay indoors all the time and even when we go out, we have to pretend to be strangers. If not for Cage's jealousy, you wouldn't even have found out the connection. And I don't mind it... I don't mind being hidden because I love him. He is worth the bashing on the internet and the torrid of people who are going to flock to me when you leave this room and let the world know."

She drew in a cleansing breath as she stared Sabrina down. In her head, the figures of Lily and Angelina emerged.

'You tell her!' they screamed in agreement. They were cheering Katherine on in her rant against the world.

Sabrina deflated visibly. "I don't understand," she began slowly. "How did this happen?" In the face of a calmer Sabrina and Katherine's blood still boiling, she didn't know what to say. What excuse could she come up with? They had met through Angelina and Stephen? They had met in the passing one fine evening and fell in love at first sight? She didn't know.

She settled for the first.

"I met him through a friend. His manager is dating my friend. Angelina... We saw each other, interacted and the rest is history." That was what she said. Not a total lie.

"You could have just told me that was the case. I wouldn't have spoken about Cage like that and I definitely wouldn't have been blindsided in the whole thing." Even though her tone was soft, the accusation was clear in her voice.

"I consider you my teammate. Even though I would like to be friends with you, I don't know you well enough to divulge a secret I have kept from most people in my life." Katherine shook her head.

Sabrina looked offended but when she opened her mouth, nothing came.

"I don't appreciate how you banged on my door so late at night either." Katherine's rage had simmered down. The hatred she felt for the world had boiled down to this moment where she screamed and claimed and slowly, it left her body.

The fear of being outed was suddenly gone. She could just call Cage and tell him what had happened. She could trust him and his years of experience.

Would he blame her? Maybe, but not much. He had been the one to initiate the conversation and after talking it out... Katherine knew that he wouldn't hold it against her.

"I thought I had the right to do that," Sabrina shrugged. "You let me go on and on about Cage and who he was there to see. You knew exactly what was happening but you let me make a fool out of myself. Did you tell him about that?" she asked.

"Yes, I did. He is on a much needed break. He deserves to get the time off and enjoy as he wishes. I don't care if it is with me." But she was glad that it was. "I feel sorry because I let you go on and on but what other choice do I have? I have to protect him from his fans."

"Don't be so high and mighty. 'Protect him from fans.'" She scoffed. "You were one of us. He belongs to us. Yes, we like to follow him around know about his life. What's so wrong about that?" The words made Katherine feel frustration more than anger.

"And this comes from the mouth of a person who is in the spotlight and knows how disconcerting being in the public eye can be." She was tired. She wanted to end this conversation but they had one more day for the championship and if this was not resolved, Sabrina would no doubt make a fool out of them.

She was known in the industry for her daring and outspoken personality. So, it wouldn't be the first time that she put her hand up and cursed out her teammate in front of a huge audience. She'd even changed teams because of that.

Sabrina didn't speak. "I don't have to apologize for loving him and there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop you from leaving and letting the world know." Katherine remained focused on Sabrina. There was a slight change in her expression and nothing else.

"Who'd believe me?" She pretended to look Katherine over. "Internationally famous Cage Cavanaugh running around with a girl who has a scandalous relationship with someone they collaborated with."