Page 102 of Due Diligence

“Like what?” I asked. “What should I have done? Moved to Denver and opened a dispensary?”

“I mean,anythingthat wasn’t so damn boring, Cass. Working in an ivory tower and making a shit ton of money is cool, butit doesn’t do any good for anyone else. The problem with this country is that these rich sons of bitches are constantly trying to make themselves richer—”

“And what the hell have you ever done about it?” I demanded, raising my voice. “Other than being born outside of the one-percent, what credibility do you have to criticize anyone wealthy?”

“Do you hear yourself?” he asked, gesturing at me with his eyes wide. “Who are you?”

“I am—” I paused. “I am just a woman who happened to have been smart and privileged enough to go to good schools. And now I can make a lot of money because of what I learned at those schools. So while you’re sitting around and criticizing my job and my parents, you don’t have the potential to do anything from the garage where you and your stupid band are trying to make it big inDenver. But on Monday morning, I’m going to help close a deal that’s going to scale up a company that helps millions of people pay off their student loans. After that, who knows what I’ll do. But I do know whatever it is, no matter how boring it is to you—and to me, honestly—it’s far more impactful than anything you’re doing.”

With a flourish, I chugged the rest of my beer, crumpled the plastic cup into itself, and dropped it onto the bar—the party girl’s version of a mic drop. I rose to my feet and pulled my jacket off the hook under the bar.

“Where are you going?” he asked, standing as well.

“I’m getting the hell out of here,” I retorted. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Look, we got derailed—”

“Stop,” I snapped, holding up a hand. “I know you don’t care about me. I know you don’t even understand me, for that matter. That’s become glaringly obvious tonight. Funny thing is, I didn’t need either of those things from you to sleep with you.”

He moved his mouth like he was about to speak, but I quickly held up my hand higher.

“Not done,” I warned him. “And if you had just kept your mouth shut and had shown up on time, I probably would have done it. But I’m so, so, so glad you didn’t. Did I mention how glad I am, Trevor?”

“Cass—”

“I’m so glad you rolled in here like the sexy yet still awful piece of shit you are. If you hadn’t, I might have let you ruin yet another relationship between me and somebody who cares about me. So now, I can move on from you without any risk of regret, and you can finally understand one thing about me.”

Trevor was quiet, arms folded across his chest. His jaw clenched and flexed as I glared at him, daring him to try to speak.

I tossed my hair back behind my shoulders and smiled at him. “If this isn’t already clear to you, I’m going to spell it out: You never loved me. You liked the idea of me. You liked to think you were so damn special I would throw away everything for you. And for you to show up here tonight and realizeyou were never enough for me—that’s going to really kill you.” I shrugged. “God, I would hate to be you right now. But luckily, I’m not—and I never have to see your ass again.”

In a split-second decision, I reached over and picked up his drink. I downed that in a few seconds and slammed the cup back on the bar. “I’m going to go fuck a millionaire now. And when we’re done we’re probably going to sit around and talk about horror movies and where to get brunch tomorrow morning—because shockingly, not all rich people are evil.”

“You’re such a bitch,” he spat out. “This is why—”

“This is why you’re glad we’re not together anymore?” I interrupted. I stuck out my lower lip in a fake sad face and then rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah, you really dodged a bullet here. I’m agenius with big tits and an untamable libido, who makes a lot of money and has a moderately impressive sense of humor. Wow, it was so hard for you all those years, wasn’t it?”

Before he could say anything else, I waved my hand over my shoulder and began to walk away. But even as I was a few steps closer to the door, I couldn’t resist whirling around and saying to his idiotic, dumfounded face, “And I’m not the one who looks tired.Youlook tired. Asshole.”

The bouncer high-fiving me on the way out was the cherry on top of my closure sundae.

Chapter 28: Marcus

I paced back and forth a few times by the front door, cracking my knuckles as I waited. My heart rate was operating on overdrive, flickering steadily like a lightshow. Only a couple of minutes had passed since my doorman buzzed me and told me I had a visitor, but those minutes felt like years.

The doorbell chimed and I lunged for the knob, immediately surrendering any chance of playing it cool.

I didn’t know who I was trying to kid though; Cass knew I wasn’t cool.

“Hey,” I said when I opened the door and saw her standing there with her hand still elevated—like she didn’t even have time to lower it after ringing the bell.

Her expression relaxed when she saw me, slowly shifting from confusion to relief. The way her brown eyes surveyed me left me feeling warm. The recognition was palpable; the mere act of looking at me brought her peace. She smiled softly and released a protracted exhale before she said, “Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, looking her up and down. I didn’t know what I was looking for—maybe for signs of wear and tear. Luckily, I saw nothing. Just an exquisite woman in a pair of tight jeans and a form-fitting tank top, standing at my front door like the best delivery on the face of this earth. “Don’t get me wrong,” I continued, “I’m thrilled to see you, but I thought you would be out with what’s his name.”

Trevor. I knew his fucking name, of course.

Cass didn’t answer my question. Instead, she raised her chin, eyeing the apartment behind me. “Can I come in?”