AN: Ok, raise your hands if you love Annette? Cause this chapter portrays her as too kindhearted, always wanting to understand and give people second chances. Makes you want to puke. : D

There'll be more plot in the next chapter.

Anyway, onto the response to the reviews:

valmontmerteuil- this chapter lets you walk around a little inside Sebastians head and get all comfy- Enjoy!

xo going nowhere- it would have been too easy to just have them kiss. And Kathryn must have been really out of sorts to forget her mother or father could catch them. Also she's just too much of a control freak to let a slip up change anything.

death eater- sorry to dissapoint, but that's just the tip of the iceberg on the angst in this story

ocfan108- ok, I seriously agonized over writing the new summary (took me over an hour, seriously.) So what do you think?

Nicole A.K.A slay4you1978- I hope you're still reading...

And oh yeah, to everyone who might be reading my other CI stories, I'm probably going to let them rest for a while so I can focus on this one.

Only the Lonely

Kathryn could be really self-centered sometimes Sebastian thought as he walked into the three-story townhouse at 3 am in the morning. After last night's special dinner, he had gone out to a club he frequented. He had meant to pick up a girl and have a night of mindless sex, but things had not worked out as planned.

Last night at the club…

Sebastian felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around from the bar to see Annette. His eyes widened, surprise was an understatement. And then he noticed who she was with. "Blaine," he said clearing his throat and took a drink of his scotch. "I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd see my ex-girlfriend with my gay friend. Is that where you were all day?" he asked Annette.

With her arms crossed she frowned at him and said, "I think you owe your friend a word of thanks. He's the one who convinced me to read your sordid journal." She threw it on the bar and tilted her head towards it. "So tell me, was I only a bet?"

"I could say you weren't, but you probably wouldn't believe me."

"Well, I'll leave you kids to hash it out. Catch you tomorrow Sebastian," said Blaine not wanting to stay for the showdown.

Sebastian just nodded his head towards Blaine and returned his attention to the blonde's inquiring eyes.

"What do you want me to say? You want me to beg? I'm sick of girls thinking they're all that. God…I haven't had the best day, so just forgive me if I don't feel like kissing your ass."

He looked clearly drunk. Ignoring the last comment, she said, "So, you don't want to get back with me? Is that why you gave me the journal yesterday? And why you waited at my Aunt's house all day today?"

"God, Annette. Could we talk about this another time?"

"No! I think this is probably the only time you'll be honest with me, when you are too plastered to keep up your charade. Did you ever love me?"

"Honestly, I don't know. We're too young to know what love is. Who knows what the grand scheme of things is? Maybe humans are here just to mindlessly fuck, have babies, move on to the next person and do it all over again. We are all just animals. Did you know that only 2 of the animal kingdom is monogamous throughout their lifetimes?"

Shaking her head she said, "This is a waste of my time. But we are definitely going to have a talk tomorrow, Sebastian, when you're sober."

Sebastian was not really all that drunk and he did not believe all that crap he just said. He just did not want to talk to anyone right now. He also was too numb and occupied with his brooding thoughts to come up with better, nicer conversation.

God, to think, there will be another Merteuil in nine months. It did not matter that half of the kid's genes would come from his dad. The kid was going to end up an exact copy of Tiffany, a terrible mess. Sebastian did not really care what his parents did as long as he still got his trust fund and dear old Dad still let him run wild.

'To you, Tiffany, for screwing Kathryn over when I couldn't' he thought and raised his glass in salute as if Tiffany was there.

A tall, leggy redhead at the end of the bar winked back at him. He smiled back but turned and faced the other direction when it looked like she was headed his way.

End of flashback

So here he was back at home, and he still hadn't had anymore insight on what to do about Kathryn. Ignore her? Ha. He already tried that at dinner. But then she had to be so cruel when he had wanted to talk about this morning. Ok, so he was not any better; he could have laid out his cards first. But he had been afraid she would laugh at him again.

Even now after finally getting to bed his stepsister and getting the last laugh- it had been so funny to see Kathryn overreact over the baby news- he had been too depressed to want to fuck some random girl. Though the redhead looked like she was quite flexible and with those legs…

But he felt broken, like she had taken his balls. He was amazed what Kathryn had reduced him to. After she had made her dramatic exit, he had to stifle the urge to chase after her. He was all muddled and confused about which girl he wanted. Maybe he should just choose neither one of them. Life had been much easier before The Bet.

He could not really pinpoint when his feelings for Kathryn had changed, but it had happened without him knowing it. So he was thrown for a loop when she said he was only a toy to be played with. He should not have cared. And he may have felt angry that she had manipulated him again like every other time. But it was something else that really bothered him. This time Kathryn had gone too far, and she had done it out of selfishness and plain cruelty. She had laughed at him; she had played him just to hurt him. There seemed to be an unspoken rule that they would never turn their cruel intentions on each other. They could manipulate, tease, fight for dominance, but never that.

And so he declared war, not because she refused him, but because she hadn't accepted his olive branch. He would have been able to forgive her for laughing at him, if she had just apologize by giving him…what?…sex. Yup, what could he say? He was a very simple man. He didn't really need I love you's and tears. He didn't go for that crap; he knew people could lie quite easily. And Kathryn was the best actress, she could shred tears on cue.

He really dreaded having to see her in the morning. He did not want to act desperate again. "Arggghh…she's only one girl. Not like she's the best," he mumbled into his pillow as he tried to fall asleep. He knew it was going to be a long night.