Page 10 of An Ex Affair

The emphasis on her Hollywood name had her huffing out her nostrils. “What I do with my career is none of your business!”

I took a step closer to her, my feet finally working again. This? The fighting? This was familiar territory. “You made damn sure of that, didn’t you?”

Tully’s eyes went positively feral. Her finger found its way into my face and she opened her mouth to let me have it, but got cut off by Captain.

“Hey, Ms. Starling, I’m Captain Charlie Larson.” Somehow Captain had entered the bay and moved right beside me without either of us noticing.

It was almost comical to watch Tully transform from a pissed-off female to a sultry siren with an easy smile. It wasn’t even her real smile. This one was all sparkling white teeth and zero eye scrunch. I shook my head as the two shook hands. I stepped back and made myself take a deep breath.

“Lovely to meet you, Captain.”

Captain let go of Tully’s hand and waved toward me. “I see you’ve met Colson Wolfe. He’s the one organizing the fundraiser. You two will be working closely together.”

Tully looked over at me, fake smile still in place. I had to hand it to her. She didn’t falter even the slightest. The woman could fake her way through anything.

“Great,” she said with fake enthusiasm.

I smiled back at her, hoping she saw the crazy in my eyes. “Just great.”

Captain clapped his hands and we both looked at him. “Colson will run you through the dates and times we need you, and if you have any questions Colson can’t answer, please feel free to reach out to me at any time.” He lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “I’m actually a huge fan, so I’m stoked you agreed to help us.”

Tully put her hand on Captain’s arm. I zeroed in on it and wondered if it would be weird to bump into him and knock her hand off. I didn’t like seeing her touch anyone like that. Tully leaned in closer and moved her hand up and down his bicep. I narrowed my eyes, seriously considering starting a fire to break these two up.

“It’s so lovely to hear that!” Tully cooed. “If you have a second, I can come back in your office and sign a few things for you.”

I coughed. Loudly. “We, uh, actually have a meeting to go over important fundraiser items.” I nudged Captain’s arm. Tully’s hand dropped, thank Christ. “Can’t wait, actually. Sorry, maybe some other time.”

Tully narrowed her eyes just slightly, studying me like she knew exactly what my issue was. Sadly, I didn’t even know what my issue was. I just didn’t need to see my ex-wife flirt right in front of me. Was that too much to ask?

Captain shook Tully’s hand again and we both watched her walk out of the bay and over to the snobbiest-looking white Range Rover I’d ever seen. Of course she drove a fancy SUV. She didn’t bother waving as she left the parking lot.

“So, what are those items we need to go over?” Captain asked.

Fuck. I didn’t have one damn thing I needed to discuss with him. But if there was one thing I was good at, it was thinking on my feet. Maybe not where Tully was concerned but she’d always been my kryptonite.

“Listen, I know we assigned which guy would be for each month of the calendar, but I think you need to talk to Frank about dieting. He’s put on some weight recently and that won’t cut it for this photoshoot.”

Frank might have been the most fit out of all of us, actually. If I hadn’t been so spun out about seeing Tully again, I might have burst out laughing, ruining the whole thing. But that fucker needed to be taught a lesson.

Captain frowned, crossing his arms across his chest. “Really? I hadn’t noticed, but I’ll say something to him.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Captain. I just want this shoot to raise a lot of money. Speaking of which, I think we can do it without the celebrity appearance. You must have had to agree to a pretty penny to get that woman and I think the money is better spent elsewhere.”

Captain pursed his lips. “Actually, she agreed to do it dirt cheap. Probably because she’s from here. Did you know she grew up here?”

Danny chose that moment to join our chat, slapping me on the back rather forcefully. “Yeah, Captain. She and Wolfe used to be married.”

Our unflappable Captain nearly choked on his own spit. He turned wide eyes on me. “You and Tully? Really?”

I elbowed Danny away from me. The fucker had loose lips. “Yeah. But that was a long time ago.”

Captain tilted his head left, then right. “I’ll be honest with you. We need this fundraiser to bring in as much money as possible. If you can’t work with Tully, I’ll have to replace you.”

As the new guy, I couldn’t afford to get pulled off this project. I didn’t need my neck on the chopping block if budget cuts hit. “Nah, we’re good. Totally fine.”

Captain studied me for a moment, then nodded before heading back to his office. I turned on Danny and jabbed him in the gut, lightning quick. He doubled over, even though I pulled that punch. He came back up laughing. “Fuck, that was entertaining.”

I scrubbed a hand over my face. My skin felt too damn tight. I tried to tell Dad coming home was a mistake, but would he listen? Fuck me, this was bad. The whole rest of our shift, Danny kept looking over at me and bursting out laughing. Frank, on the other hand, glared at me every chance he got. When he uncharacteristically turned down the brownies one of the other guys made when we were bored and no calls were coming in, I knew why he was out of sorts.

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