Page 9 of Whatever It Takes

“Letme make sure I understand this correctly,” Erica said, holding out her empty wineglass for Mackenzie to take. These two have been my best friends since high school and the three of us have always been close. They were also the first ones I called when “anything” went down. “He said he lied, and then you slapped him across the face and threw him out?”

“That’s right,” I answered while nodding my head and scrolling through the Facebook app on my phone.

Erica scrunched her eyebrows together, with her long dark hair falling into her face. “How the hell could you have thrown him out without hearing the rest of what he had to say?”

I set my phone down and leaned back in my chair. “You guys don’t understand. He hurt me. More than Grant’s actions ever could,” I told them. “I didn’t want to hear his explanations. I didn’t want to let my guard down in front of him. I’ve loved that man my whole life, even when I was married to someone else. And now that I know he blew our life apart for absolutely nothing,” I shook my head and felt moisture build up in my eyes, “it hurts even more than I could’ve imagined.”

“You’re still in love with him, aren’t you?” Erica asked, sitting on the floor and leaning against the couch.

If anyone knew anything about love and heartbreak, it was Erica. She was twenty-nine and had already been divorced twice. She married her high school sweetheart, Zach, at age twenty-one, and soon realized that she married way too young. She then met Jerard, who swept her off her feet. Nine months after they were married, he swept another woman off her feet, and Erica sent him packing.

“I’m not sure how to answer that,” I said, bringing my knees up to my chest. The three of us were dressed comfy, in black leggings and casual T-shirts. We were in Erica’s living room drinking wine and binging on Netflix when the next episode ofThe Officestarted. “Quinn was always different for me. You both know that. We have so much history between us.”

“You guys were always intense,” Mackenzie said, sitting up straighter. She put her wineglass on the coffee table. “I know you loved Grant, but you didn’t love him the way you loved Quinn. I never should have kept my mouth shut about what a slimy motherfucker he was.” She plucked a piece of cheese off the tray and brought it to her mouth.

Mackenzie never cared for Grant and tried to warn me from day one to steer clear of him. She always felt there was something off about him and that I moved too quickly. Looking back now, there was no denying that she was right.

I knew that what I had with him didn’t come close to what I had with Quinn, and I was okay with that. Because let’s face it, once you get burned, the last thing you want to do is play with fire again.

“I blindly trusted him over the years, never questioning anything and stupidly allowing him to fill my head with lies.” I shook my head and stared out the window. “I should have picked up on what a lying, deceitful bastard he was.”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Mackenzie said as I scrolled through my local news app to see if there were any updates on Grant’s case. “He was a practiced liar who had everyone fooled, so go easy on yourself.”

Erica patted my knee and refilled my wineglass. “Honey, his own family didn’t even know what a piece of shit he was. Although, one would think they should have suspected something considering they raised the little demon.”

The Andersons were blindsided, especially his mom, who took the news of what he’d done the hardest. Grant’s father was too busy doing damage control and trying to preserve his perfect image. But let’s be real, even a well-respected congressman like John Anderson couldn’t escape a family scandal without some kind of fallout. And the media was relentless when it came to stories like this.

“Honestly, the only thing I care about right now is making sure Emery is okay.”

“She’s still young and has plenty of time to adjust,” Mackenzie said, trying to reassure me.

She wasn’t just one of my best friends, she was also a middle school guidance counselor. I’ve been leaning on her for advice a lot lately, especially when it came to answering Emery’s unending questions. “Have there been any updates on who left you that package?”

Just thinking about it gave me chills. “No, but I’ll sleep a lot better when they find out who sent it.”

Mackenzie leaned back and folded her hands in her lap. “I bet you will. You are always welcome to stay with me.”

“Thanks, but I’m good for now.”

The last thing Emery needed was any more change. That move would be a last resort.

“So, where does Quinn fit in all this?” Erica asked. “Other than being the hot detective on the case? Which is no way a coincidence.”

My eyes narrowed as she watched me while casually sipping her wine. “Actually, he’s not ‘officially’ on the case. And what does him being ‘hot’ have to do with anything?”

“So, you admit that he’s still hot?”

Oh, dear God. If she only knew. He was just as handsome as I remembered, but he had matured in a way that made him look even better, and I would bet my house he knew it too. The guy could crawl out of a car wreck and look perfect.

Gone were the tattered jeans and ratty T-shirts. His wardrobe had obviously been upgraded. I wasn’t used to seeing him in a crisp white shirt, black tailored dress pants, a gold badge clipped to his belt with a gun peeking out from the shoulder holster. The whole cop thing just added to his sex appeal, and I couldn’t help but feel like the universe was poking me in the ribs just to rub it in a bit. It felt like a cruel joke.

I reached over the coffee table and picked up the unopened bottle of Jack Fire and unscrewed the cap, taking a long sip. I was suddenly feeling very thirsty.

I set the bottle down and wiped off my mouth with my sleeve. “He looked all right, I guess.”

“If you’re trying to convince us that you’re not attracted to him and that you no longer have feelings for him, you’re not doing a very good job,” Erica said while taking pictures of our wineglasses to post on Instagram. That girl loved social media like most parents loved their children. She turned the empty bottle of wine sideways so she could get a decent picture of the label and then snapped the photo to share with all her online friends.

“What do you want me to say?” I shook my head and tried to forget the way he looked at me in the kitchen. “The only thing I see when I look at him is the guy who broke my heart.”

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