Page 130 of Tips and Trysts

He shakes his head immediately. “I didn’t—”

“I loved you,” I interject, and the word feels misplaced on my tongue. Loving Felix was never like loving Everett, but at the time, it was real.Perfectuntil it wasn’t. “I poured my heart into our research. I took on the parts you hated—the write ups, the verifications, the audits—all because I loved you. But you lied, Felix.”

His expression lingers on the stony side of neutral and his gaze drifts to the tabletop between us. “You don’t want to know.”

“I do. I’ve wanted to know for three years.”

He glances to the side where Everett is now examining a rack of assorted bandanas. When he’s sure Everett is occupied, he faces me. “It got old, Cora. All the fuss about you. It got…old.”

I blink. “The fuss.”

“It was bad enough that everyone thought you were some wunderkind. Going to Harvard at seventeen. Getting into a PhD program at twenty-one. Even before you started the program, people talked about youconstantly.”

“You were jealous of me.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he protests. “I just got tired of hearing about how you were a prodigy in the field, and frankly, you didn’t make things easy for me. Lying in bed at night, rambling about how Carlin invited you to tea and loaned you books. How do you think that made me feel?”

“I thought you’d be happy for me.”

Felix rolls his eyes. “I built that research for a year before you showed up. You waltzed in right as we got funding, and suddenly you were leading it—but what about me? So what if I put my name on it? It was mine first. I didn’t know you would flip out.” He rolls his eyes. “You could have ruined my life, by the way. If I hadn’t worked my ass off, I doubt I’d have a career.”

One glance at the tight expression on his face is all I need to know he genuinely believes what he’s saying.

I used to think he was so magnetic. Now, he’s just…there.

I shut my eyes for a beat. When I open them, Felix is still watching me. “I know what it’s like to be in your partner’s shadow,” I begin, forcing myself to say the words. “And it sounds like you and I could help each other.”

“Name your terms.”

“I’ll give you the video of Warren Logan and get you an exclusive interview with Everett, but I want you to open doors for me. A connection with a producer. An interview. I needsomething. I can’t cam forever.”

Felix nods. “You shouldn’t even be camming now. Never made sense to me.”

There are a thousand insults brewing on my tongue, but instead of unleashing them like a swarm of locusts, I pull up a file on my phone and hand it to him. “The video is there, plus some other evidence.”

Felix’s brow knots as he swipes. His eyes flick up to mine. “There’s dirt on Everett.”

“Discretion,” I warn, glancing at Everett, who is now standing in front of an antique mirror and tying a bandana around his neck. “Like I said…I know what it’s like to be in your partner’s shadow.”

Understanding passes over his face in the form of a devious grin. He dips his chin. “You’ve got a deal, Cora.”

“But remember, Everett has these files too. If you want to break news, you need to get them fact-checked and verified really fucking soon. I saw Everett’s phone earlier. Regina Rutherson was calling.”

Felix’s eyes narrow. “Email everything to me. I’ll forward it to the producers now.”

We both get to work. After some quick swiping on both our parts, it’s done. The files are sailing over the fiberoptic cables of the internet to producers at 24N, and Felix is practically brimming with excitement.

He chuckles. “What a day. Do you think Everett would be my first interview?”

“Depends. Are you going to call your show something inane like ‘Facts with Felix?’”

He clears his throat too quickly. “Would that—Would that be abadidea?”

I settle back in my seat and take one last look at Felix J. Worthington’s handsome, smug face before I say, “It would be a worse idea than disseminating evidence of your own lies, butI’m no PhD,” I reply before pinning him with a smirk. “Oh wait—neither are you, motherfucker.”

The furrow on Felix’s brow appears out of nowhere like a fissure on a fault line, marring his otherwise flawless, angelic features.

I snort. “You’re easy to play. You were lazy when we were at Harvard and you’re lazy now. Did you even look at what you just sent to 24N?”

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