Page 60 of The Incredible Kindness of Paper
“I texted you. My flight got in early, and Julie said she thought you were on the roof, so I—”
The clouds shifted and moonlight cut through the mist, illuminating Oliver.
Zac froze. “Are you up here withhim?”
Oliver took a step closer. “Of all the people in New York,he’sthe one you’re dating?”
Chloe looked from one man to the other. “You know each other?”
Zac and Oliver scoffed at the same time.
“We work together. Unfortunately,” Oliver said.
“He’s the prick I told you about at work,” Zac said.
“What? Me, the prick? You’re the one constantly undermining everything I do.”
Despite herself, Chloe started laughing. “Oh my god.You’rethe nefarious nemesis Zac has been telling me about? He paintsyoulike such an evil villain. And how can you possibly hatehim? Zac is so charming.”
“Not at the office, he’s not,” Oliver said.
Zac narrowed his eyes. “What the bloody hell are you doing up here with Chloe?”
The woman who’d come up in the elevator with Zac said, “Oh… this is going to be good.”
“Stay out of this, Julie,” Oliver said.
Chloe reached out to Zac, trying to touch his arm, but he was just out of reach. “Funny story…” she said. “Oliver’s actually—”
“Did you hear me, Tolly?” Zac shouted. “I asked you a question.”
Oliver put up both hands in surrender. “Just catching up with an old friend. Clo and I knew each other back in Kansas—”
“If I find out anything happened…”
“Nothing happened.”
Julie pulled out her phone and started recording.
“Please put that away,” Chloe said.
Julie pretended not to hear, and Chloe didn’t have time to deal with her, because Zac started stalking toward Oliver.
“Zac!” Chloe said. “Come on, stop. Let’s go back downstairs to the gala.”
“Not looking like that, you’re not.” He gestured at her drenched gown. He ripped off his tuxedo jacket and tossed it at her. “Put this on.”
Chloe winced at his tone.
“Look,” Oliver said. “There’s no need to escalate things. Let’s just all walk away.”
“What did you do?” Zac asked, closer to Oliver now. “Did you bring her up here so she’d be alone and you could take advantage of her?”
“I didn’t—”
“Because Chloe’s sweet,” Zac said. “And trusting. But she doesn’t know you like I do. You’re a pompous asshole, Tolly. You think you can drop into any situation and take whatever you want, don’t you? Like the quant program, which I’d been working on well before you showed up. And Chloe, who I found first.”
“Technically,” Oliver said, “Iknew her first. We met in first grade. But it doesn’t matter anyway, because Chloe’s not property.”
