Page 71 of Boss of Her

Jade did as she was told, crossing her arms and glaring back at Simone, who stood looming over her.

“You wanted to talk,” Jade said. “So talk.”

Simone crossed her arms. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I haven’t been answering your calls. I’m sorry I ignored your messages. But I needed some space after…”

“After what?” Jade had never seen Simone lost for words before. It was unsettling.

“After I saw you on Friday night. With another woman.”

“Another woman? What are you talking about?”

“At The Fox. I saw you kiss her.”

“Wait.” Jade blinked. “Are you talking aboutPhilippa?”

Simone’s face clouded over. “That was Philippa?”

“Yes, it was. And I don’t know what you think you saw, but I didn’t kiss her.Shetried to kissme, but I pushed her away, and then I gave her a piece of my mind. That’s why I met with her in the first place! So I could finally tell her that what she did to me was wrong. So I could tell her I’d reported her to the school and everyone would know what she did. And you’d know this if you’d just answered your phone on Friday night when I tried to call you and tell you about it!”

She took a deep breath, trying to keep her calm. But all the emotions that had been building inside her for days were threatening to boil over.

Simone shook her head, speaking softly. “I’ve been such a fool. I knew you would never do that to me. I knew I should have trusted you. But when I saw you with her—”

“With Philippa?” Jade said. “With the woman who shattered my heart so badly that I spent years picking up the pieces of my life?”

“I didn’t know who she was. I thought she was just another woman.”

“And you thought I was seeing her behind your back? After I promised to be yours and yours alone? How could you even think that? How could you think I would do that to you?”

“It was a mistake! I know that now. But you’d been behaving so strangely for days, acting nervous, keeping things from me. And when I saw your calendar on your laptop, saw where you were going on Friday evening, I thought the worst. I needed to know if I could trust you, so I followed you. It was wrong, and I know it.”

Jade spoke through gritted teeth. “Let me get this straight. You saw that I was anxious and there was something I wasn’t telling you, so you decided I was hiding things from you. Youtook my laptop and went through my personal calendar. You followed me in secret and saw me with another woman, one who tried to kiss meagainst my will, so you thought I was cheating on you. And instead of talking to me about it, you ghosted me?”

“Yes, but—”

“How could you do that to me, knowing how Philippa treated me? Knowing that she took advantage of her power over me, using me for sex and then throwing me away?”

Horror dawned on Simone’s face. “Jade, I am so, so sorry. I never considered how it would make you feel. I was so caught in my head. I saw my worst fears playing out before my eyes, and I couldn’t think clearly.”

Jade hesitated. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve told you about my parents. About their divorce, about how messy it was. It was because of my father’s infidelity. Long before the divorce, I spent years being dragged around by my father while he sneaked around with his mistresses. He made me his accomplice, bribing me not to tell my mother, even threatening me.

“But eventually, she found out. And after she left him, she became bitter and hateful, constantly telling me that all our problems were caused by my cheating scumbag of a father. That I couldn’t trust him, or anyone else. That love was a lie, and that everyone would betray me in the end. Her words poisoned me. And the girlfriends I had in my younger days proved those words to be true. So I gave up on relationships. I gave up on love. I gave up on ever opening my heart up to anyone.” She looked deep into Jade’s eyes. “But then, I met you.”

Jade’s heart skipped. Why did Simone’s gaze still have the power to make her weak?

“These past months we’ve spent together have made me feel things I never thought I’d feel, want things I never thought I’dwant,” Simone said. “Because I want more than what we have, Jade. So much more.”

Jade’s stomach fluttered. Hadn’t she thought the same thing just days ago? Hadn’t she desperately wanted to tell Simone how she felt?

“But I began to doubt those feelings. I began to doubt myself. And when you started behaving the way you did, I began to doubt you. Then I saw you with her, and I pushed you away because I couldn’t bear to have my heart ripped out. I let my insecurities get the best of me, and I’m sorry.”

Silence fell over them, hanging heavy like a fog. But Jade could hear the rush of blood in her ears, the anger coursing through her body.

“You think I don’t understand what that’s like?” she whispered. “You think I don’t know how it feels to be utterly terrified of falling for someone because they’re only going to tear my heart out again?” Her hands curled around the bedsheets beneath her, gripping them tightly. “Of course I know what that feels like! I’ve felt that way for the past two years! But you know what I did? I chose to deal with it, face it head-on, instead of letting it control me. But you? You chose to betray my trust instead. And that’s not okay. No matter what you’ve been through, it doesn’t give you the right to treat me the way you did.”

“I know, Jade. If I could take it all back, I would.”

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