Page 66 of A Love Like Pumpkin Spice
“Don’t be a smartass.”
I scoff. “If you don’t like it, feel free to walk away. In fact,pleasedo.”
He smiles—the kind that once meant I was home. That made my heart beat faster and butterflies run amok in my belly. Now it makes me fear to get eaten by the big, bad wolf and evokes the urge to throw up on his polished designer shoes.
It’s a good thing I’m not holding a pumpkin. The temptation to throw it at his face would be too great to resist.
“Relax. I just wanted to talk. You’re so tense. Is this place getting to you?”
I don’t answer. Lauren is standing next to us, and I have no doubt that she’s recording every word he’s speaking, letting him dig an even deeper hole. And who knows? Maybe his brain has conjured up some more helpful nuggets for Erik’s investigation that will finally push it along.
So, I let him talk.
Hetakes a slow sip of the overpriced water bottle in his hand. “You know, when you left, I really worried about you. Everyone did. You were … almost spiraling, weren’t you?”
My jaw tightens. “I wasn’t spiraling. I broke up with you,and you’re throwing a fit about that. Big difference.”
“Right,” he says gently, with a tone that tells me he’s only humoring me. “That’s how you remember it.”
I blink. “Excuse me?”
“You were under so much pressure the past few years. Overwhelmingly stressed when your career was taking off. Remember how you said some extremely unkind things about your coworkers, Nic? I took some interesting screenshots and recordings of voice notes you sent me over the years—of course, I never would use those against you,” he adds quickly, his voice slimy with fake reassurance, “but, you know. Just in case something happened.”
I lift my eyebrow at him, unimpressed. He’s not trying to use them against me but uses “just in case” less than ten seconds later? I glance at Lauren, who appears to be just as dumfounded as I am. We both know I’m the kind of person who bitches about coworkers in person while sipping a cocktail.
God, I would love to learn more about how his brain works. That level of delusion and unrecognized hypocrisy would make life a lot easier. Who cares about facts?
He steps closer, dropping his voice and from the corner of my eye, I see Lauren subtly step closer too. I have no idea how he doesn’t see the phone in her hand, but I’m not questioning it. And when she slips it into my hand, I hide it in my sleeve and subtly bring it up higher to catch every word leaving his mouth.
We would make a good spy team at this point.
“But if the public sees those messages now? Or those late-night voice notes? They’re not going to think, ‘Oh, she was under pressure.’ They’re going to think you’re unwell. Maybeeven dangerous. And if someone tells them our relationship broke because of cheating, youknowhow fast the internet turns on people.”
“You’re twisting everything,” I say with an annoyed sigh and roll my eyes. “Then again, that’s nothing new. Now your plan is what? To get former coworkers to hate me? To get me under a conservatorship?” I can’t help but giggle. “Please, Jay. That’s a dumb plan, even for you.”
“Come on, Nic,” he says softly—almost pitying—and a wave of disgust washes over me. “I’m trying to stop you from making things worse for yourself. If you walk away from this? Drop the charges? We both move on. No damage done.”
“No damage?” I echo, incredulous, trying my hardest to not break into hysterical laughter. Does he seriously think I’m going to let this go?
“You lied to me. You used me. You and Marissa planned to scam me, and when that didn’t work, you stole my identity and committed fraud. That’s not a misunderstanding, Jay. That’s a crime.”
He sighs, casting himself as the wronged one, who’s exhausted by my antics. “See? This is what I mean. You keep rewriting things in your head. You need someone to blame. It’s easier than facing what’s really going on with you.”
He leans in, brushing imaginary lint from my shoulder, and it’s taking every ounce of my willpower to not flinch when he touches me.
“Let’s keep this quiet. Let it all go. Pay what’s fair. You don’t need a headline calling you hysterical and a cheater, along with pictures of your new friends. I don’t think they’d appreciate being in magazines all over the country. Or hordes of paparazzi running all over your little town here, trying to get interviews.”
I stay where I am, lifting my chin and giving him the most pitying look I can muster. Every nerve in my body is screaming, and my hand is tingling with the urge to slap him, but my voice comes out steady.
“Your bluffs don’t work on me anymore,” I say as calmly as I can. “But honestly, if this is the one thing you see through, I’d be surprised. You couldn’t manage to do the same with a job. Or a relationship. Go ahead. Leak what you want. Make your threats. I don’t care. I know you're lying and who do you think people will believe? A vindictive ex or the person they've worked with?” I subtly glance over at Lauren, who’s giving me an equally subtle thumbs-up. “Next time you try to blackmail someone in their former industry, don’t pick the person who still knows all the right people. This isn’t going to go how you think.”
Jay stares at me for a beat. Then smiles. A cruel smile that sends a shiver down my spine.
“You always did have a flair for drama.”
“And you always underestimated me,” I shoot back, then turn around and walk away, with my heart pounding and my mouth dry.
Lauren is right with me, linking her arm with mine, and I hand her back her phone. I force myself to take deep breaths, willing my thoughts to stop running at a mile a minute, and try to repeat the same thought over and over again as I remind myself to breathe.
