Page 159 of Holiday Hire

"I didn't say I've been in contact with him."

"Then how do you know he's trying to get you back?"

She admits, "Because he texts me and calls me all the time, leaving me messages in my voicemail."

My heart pounds harder. "Why haven't you blocked him if he's harassing you?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. I ignore it."

"Why are you keeping him in your life?"

"I'm not keeping him in my life."

"Sounds to me like you are," I hurl out as the phone blares again.

She glances at it and then at me, pushes a button, and it stops. She proclaims, "I'm not keeping him in my life. I told you?—"

The phone rings again.

I order, "Answer it."

"No, I'm not answering it."

"Why not?"

She pushes the button again and turns her phone off. She tosses it on the bed. "There. He's not going to bother us anymore."

"Why aren't you answering it, Phoebe?"

"I don't want to talk to him. There's nothing for me to say."

My hatred for him overpowers my better judgment. I blurt out, "But you haven't blocked him. Do you like the attention? Is that it?"

Hurt fills her expression. "What? Why would you say that?"

"You're still engaging with him. You're keeping the door open between you," I accuse, afraid he'll come back into her life and take her away from me.

She cries out, "I am not! I don't want anything to do with him."

"Are you sure about that?" I boom, my jealousy flaring. I hated that guy from the moment I heard about him. I couldn't standhim even more when I met him. But to know he's still contacting her? Why hasn't she blocked him?

She firmly asserts, "Alexander, nothing is going on between Lance and me."

"Really?"

My phone rings. She glances at her desk and reaches for it, snipping, "Maybe it's Cheyenne." She hands it to me with a glare.

"Don't you dare," I warn and then answer the phone. "Hello?"

Mason's voice comes through the line. "Bro, Phoebe's boyfriend's in town. He's drunk off his ass. I think you better get down here."

The blood drains from my face to my toes. The hairs on my neck rise.

She demands, "Alexander, what's wrong?"

Mason questions, "Alexander, did you hear me?"

I snarl, "Yeah. Stay right there. I'm on my way."

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