Page 76 of Perfect (mis)Match

“I really appreciate this.” He held my gaze for a minute, like he was seeing me for the first time that evening. “Piper’s brought out the softie in you.”

I was in no mind to talk about her right now, especially when Paul was dealing with his own drama.

“Hey listen, the bulb was out in the bathroom,” I replied quickly, because I didn’t want him to start going on and on about how wonderful Piper was. I already knew that. “My house manager had to order a replacement from Switzerland to fix it. Let me know if there’s a problem with it.”

Paul chuckled. “Swiss lightbulbs. Only you, dude.”

“Good night, Paul.”

He stumbled away, leaving me alone in the darkness to consider my own upside-down life. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the latest damage from the showdown with Maya. Amanda had warned me that things were going to get dramatic thanks to what she knew about Jerry, and according to all of my Google alerts, she was right.

Jerry had not only recorded my fight with Maya, he’d posted it on TikTok twice. Once as a teaser with no sound but a dumb trending song that repeated “oh no” over and over to build traction, and then a couple of hours later with the full fireworks.

Thanks to Maya playing to her audience, every word she screamed at me was understandable.

He’d picked up right as Maya straddled me and I’d jumped up, which did make me look like the victim of her unwanted advance. But then, what I’d said about Piper rang out loud and clear as well. I checked the comments against my better judgment.

“Who the eff would turn Maya down? He’s an idiot.”

“She sexually harassed him!”

“Let’s see this Piper chick! Is she as hot as Maya?”

“Hey Vinny-baby, I’ll fake date you next!”

I closed my eyes. According to Amanda, the TikTok ecosystem existed on a different plane, meaning things could catch fire there but never leak out to the rest of the world. I doubted that would be the case here. I checkedThe New York Postgossip section next and sure enough, they’d stolen a still from Jerry’s video and managed to create an entire article about the fight, highlighting the fact that it happened at theEvermorelaunch party.

Which meant that now the rest of the world would be treated to theories and speculation about the health of Summit, why the owner of the company opted to fake date an employee, and then rehash my breakup with Maya yet again. It was only matter of time before legitimate news outlets picked up the story and spun it to meet whatever narrative they wanted to create about Summit. I’d been the subject of a few hit pieces over the years, from articles saying I was nothing more than a nepo baby to quite a few suggesting that my “relentless innovation” was actually a bad thing for our storied brand. This new andunwelcome spotlight thanks to Maya would provide them with endless opportunities to trash me.

Fuck. Things had gonesobadly when I’d split with her way back when. She’d loved exploring the best of everything on my tab, and she wasn’t about to let the access it provided slip away. Not to mention being with me—and convincing me to make her the face of some of our most notable brands—got her face out there across the world. It was her dream to star in Summit campaigns while dating me, and ending our relationship meant she’d lose both. She’d found a dozen different ways to talk shit about me in the press, going so far as appearing on talk shows about women in toxic relationships.

The only thing toxic about the two of us washer, but Summit had taken a hit thanks to her endless trash talking.

And here we were again. Matters of the heart had led to a messy complication that would reflect poorly on the only thing that really mattered: Summit. Even while avoiding marriage, I’d still managed to fall into the same trap as my father, letting my personal relationships blow up all over everything, tarnishing the company in the process.

I’d inherited his inability to be satisfied. Was I also going to be chasing down happiness, taking drugs in a jungle just like him, thirty years from now?

I didn’t have the luxury of worrying about that, as I had far too many pressing, real-life concerns to face.

A company thrown into crisis yet again.

A vengeful ex back on the warpath.

And Piper…well, Piper had walked away. And as much as it hurt, I could see now that it was for the best. Our relationship had run its course, and now it was over—just in time for my life to get the hard reboot it clearly needed. No more romance, no more complications.

Lesson learned.

Never again.

23

PIPER

“Let’s go. Get up.”

I could feel Darcy staring at me from the doorway of my bedroom, but I refused to open my eyes.

“I know you’re not sleeping,” she continued. “I heard you go to the bathroom three minutes ago. So get up, get dressed, and let’s go to the farmers’ market. Saturday ritual.”

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