Page 71 of Best Served Hot
Nicole was horrified. She couldn’t see a way out. He was going to do it. He was going to take Alex from her.
‘You should head back in and end it. But after that, you never see her again. You block her number. You cannot be reached.’
‘What the hell will I tell her?’ Nicole asked, feeling sick.
The corner of Ethan’s mouth twitched in pleasure. ‘Nothing. She’ll never understand what happened. And with time, she’ll think you were just a liar and a manipulator who used her to get your revenge. There won’t be any other conclusion to draw. She’ll come to hate you.’ He sighed, almost bored now that he had what he wanted.
‘Oh, and if you even think of doing anything else, she’s off to the chokey. Zero tolerance. You go in, you tell her it’s done, and you walk out. She never sees you again. I’ll watch to make sure.’
Nicole was frozen. Was there something she could do? There had to be something. He couldn’t do this. Surely an investigation would reveal it had always been him?
But Nicole couldn’t be sure of that. She couldn’t feel sure of anything. And she was frightened to death for Alex. Life was about to turn around for Alex, and Nicole could feel it. She could have everything except for Nicole.
And though she’d be hurt now, it would eventually fade. She’d find someone else. Anyone could fall in love with Alex if given half a chance. She couldn’t fail to find someone to build a future with. She could have everything.
If Nicole chose right.
‘This won’t change how you feel inside,’ Nicole said. ‘You know that, don’t you?’
Ethan shrugged. ‘It changes enough.’
‘You’ll still be alone even if I don’t have her,’ Nicole told him.
His eyes went dark. ‘I’m never alone, darling. Don’t you worry about that. Now go in there and do as I said.’
Nicole’s energy drained away. She turned and went into the bar. She didn’t even know what she’d said to Alex. She just mumbled that it was over and walked out as quickly as she could. Nicole wanted to die with every step away from Alex Torrence that she took.
Nicole went back to the budget hotel and got a room. The last time she’d been here, she’d believed herself to be heartbroken, that she’d lost everything. But she hadn’t even begun to lose.
Not until she lost Alex.
Forty
Alex was lying on the sofa, exhausted, and cried out. She was watching a miniseries that Nicole had directed several episodes of; a supernatural thriller about body-jumping serial killers. Why was she watching it? Hard to say.
It wasn’t good, though not due to direction, of course. Despite the wonky scripts, the performances were impeccable. But Alex wasn’t watching it because she liked it. She was looking for something that it couldn’t possibly offer—answers.
Nicole had gone completely dark. When Alex called her, it said the number was unavailable. Alex tried texting her, but there was no reply and not even a delivery status. Alex googled it, verifying that it meant she was blocked. She didn’t know what the hell to do next. She needed answers.
She wanted to speak to Nicole almost as much as she wanted to take her next breath. But Nicole wasn’t on any social media, and even if she had been, Alex knew she’d have been blocked there, too.
She had an email address for Nicole, but what was the point? She knew this wasn’t some technological issue. Nicole had said they were done to her face. Albeit without eye contact.
But she couldn’t truly believe it, even with the facts being what they were. It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence that she’d gone out to speak to Ethan and come straight back in and ended it.
This wasn’t Nicole. This was Ethan. It had to be.
But Alex couldn’t ask. She couldn’t get confirmation. And she needed that. Because as much as Alex had trusted Nicole, she was in the dark. And the dark was a confusing place to be. You could feel around and find something and think, yes, this was definitely someone’s chunky bead necklace. But then the lights came on, and you were holding anal beads.
Alex hated to doubt Nicole this way. They were falling in love. She’d felt that. Nicole had looked at her with her kind, soulful eyes, and it couldn’t be anything but true. But now Alex was alone, and the doubts were washing over her.
Was it possible that Nicole had broken up with her because it was simply what she wanted? That she’d never really cared about Alex? That she’d only ever been using her to get to Ethan? That when it was truly done, there was no further use for Alex? The thought made Alex feel like she was dying.
She had no next step. Because if she pursued this, if she tried to track Nicole down in person and it really was a face-value dumping, then she was a toxic creep who couldn’t accept she’d been broken up with. And she didn’t want to be that. That would be even worse. If she found Nicole and Nicole looked at her like she was a scary weirdo she never wanted to see again? Intolerable.
But what if she found Nicole and it wasn’t that? If Alex could just get some idea of what the hell had happened, and it turned out she was right? That this was Ethan’s doing? Then it might be fixed.
Nicole was in a bind. Watching this schlocky drama, she understood what she was trying to do. She just wanted to feel close to Nicole. They’d known each other for such a brief time, yet Alex didn’t feel like she could live without her already. Which was a shame because that was apparently what she now had to do.
