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“Not in front of a potential client.” Her eyes finally danced over to me, but she quickly looked away.

Fuck. I just want you to look at me.

The man, Jeff, looked over at me curiously. He held out his hand. “Oh. I’m Jeff, nice to meet you. Sorry for the awkwardness, used to be married?—”

“Jeff, I swear to god,” Pepper snarled, spinning around. Her gaze was electric. “Shut the fuck up.Shut up.”

Jeff.Jeff.Hewas her ex-husband. This was the man that had been married to Pepper for years and never made her orgasm. Who’d shamed her for her desires.

Thiswas the guy that’d made her doubt herself so much?

He was a couple inches shorter than me with sandy brown hair, bright blue eyes, and broad shoulders. Just a regular looking guy. Nothing special. Not worth spending fifteen years with for nothing in return.

Imagining the two of them together sent a slithering, boiling, writhing bolt of jealousy through me that made me nauseous.

“Oh, is this the guy you went to see play last week with Tommy and Dan? I still can’t believe you went out on a Friday night?—”

The doors opened. Pepper was out before Jeff could say anything else, her heels clicking with rage as she left. I watched her go, wishing I could run after her.

We both stepped off the elevator and my hands clasped behind my back before I did something stupid, like punch him.

“Sorry about that,” Jeff chuckled. “What did she say your name was? Salt?”

My jaw ticked. “Yes. Salt. Where do I go to meet Tommy?”

“I’ll show you,” he said lightly, beaming again.

I hated him. God, I really fucking hated him. I swallowed my anger down and followed him through the office space, trying to look around and take it all in.

Ignore the fucker.Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him.

After firing Jack and snapping at Dale, I’d realized that I’d be an asshole to anyone who said anything about Pepper. And knowing that her fucking ex-husband was standing right next to me…

I really wanted to punch him. I wanted to also tell him that I’d fucked Pepper better than he ever could. And that he should quit his job so Pepper no longer had to see him every day.

Jeff pointed at a meeting room. “Go have a seat. Tommy will be in shortly. Normally I’d be joining too, but I have something else to do. Just need to impress Tommy, really.”

Did he do anything here? Because that sounded like bullshit.

“And hey, let’s just keep that little elevator exchange to us, if you don’t mind. Don’t need anyone getting all up in arms over nothing.”

“Over you upsetting her?” I bit out.Fuck. Stop. Stop before you cause a fucking scene.

Jeff sighed. “I shouldn’t say anything to you of course, but well… Pepper has had a hard time since our divorce. So I just try to keep things lively, you know? But she’s refusing to let me invite my wife to an awards show.”

“How long have you been married?” I asked.

“About two years.”

“How long have you been divorced?”

The vein in his forehead ticked and I sawit. I saw his slimy temper, the enraging entitlement on his ugly fucking face. It oozed through the cracks of his professional veneer. “About the same time.”

“I see.” I forced a smile, flexing my hands behind my back. “I’ll go take a seat.”

He didn’t say anything else as I stepped into the meeting room. The walls were painted a deep teal, with framed records hung in rows. I walked slowly around the mahogany table at the center, studying each one.

Rosethorn had a lot of big artists. Many I hadn’t even realized belonged to them.

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