Page 46 of Cakewalk
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“Thomas, that prick. Well, now you’ve met my ex.”
“I told him he could print whatever he wanted about me, but that he’s going to leave you out of it.”
“You think he will?”
I nodded. Everything about this guy pointed to him being a coward. And if he wasn’t, I’d make it my mission to destroy him. Involving Jade in my controversies wasn’t fair in the slightest, and I could be a real bastard if he pushed me to be.
Jade looked away and sighed, no energy left in her. “Even if he leaves it at that, the entire town’s going to know by dinnertime.” She buried her face in her hands. “This is so embarrassing, ugh.”
“Think your sister will come around?”
“My sister thinks I’m an idiot. At least she does right now. My parents think I’m still their pure innocent little girl, so I’m going to have to deal with that too when it gets to them. I think I’m just going to go into hiding for a while. Maybe this’ll breeze over in half a decade.”
“You can throw me under the bus, if it’ll help.”
“Huh?” Jade scoffed. “I’m your PR agent! Throwing you under the bus is the exact opposite thing I’m supposed to be doing.”
I looked away, breathing in the cool evening air. “I’m not sure I’m recovering from this one. These sorts of scandals—they just reinforce all the worst things people could assume about me. Now it’ll all be seen as fact, without a benefit of a doubt. I’m a scumbag just like my father.”
“You’re not. Hell, you stopped being my boss that night.”
“Nobody else is going to believe it. You understand optics as much as I do. There’s no clearing both our names, and mine’s permanently screwed, so why not clear yours?”
“With a lie?” Jade stared up at me, her hazel eyes bright as the setting sun reflected onto them. “If I act like you took advantage of me, it wouldn’t make sense for me to then stay in a relationship with you. We’d have to separate.”
I nodded, keeping my expression as neutral as I could.
All Jade could do was gasp, offended.
I said, “The roadblocks certainly aren’t coming down now, so this project may be completely dead in the water. I’d have to hand it off to someone else, or just cut my losses entirely. Which means there’s no longer anything for you to do. There’s no spin to this story. No apologizing and being granted a second chance. So our business relationship at the very least is over.”
Jade opened her mouth, her eyes tearing up, but she couldn’t find any words for a moment. “Then… Then you’d have no reason to stay here.”
All the frustration and annoyance of trying to prove myself to this town came flooding in at once, and all I could do was shrug. “Yeah. I guess so. Everybody here, and hell, fate itself, seems to be sending me a message that I’m not wanted here. I don’t belong.”
“Not everybody.”
I looked down at our feet. “Close enough.”
Jade wiped her eyes then glanced back at the town hall, seeing those in attendance start to make their way outside. “I’ll text you later. I need to just think on this.”
“What’s there to think about?” I asked, pretty well convinced myself that it was all over.
“Sometimes it’s better to sit these kinds of things out for a few days. It might not end up as bad as we think. And let’s just see what Thomas prints.”
I took a step back. “Either way, we probably don’t want anyone seeing us together for now. Text you later.”
She nodded, swallowing hard. As I lifted up the cage again and headed down the street, I wondered if we’d just broken up. We didn’t say it, but if a miracle didn’t happen, then how could we keep seeing each other? I’d have to move back to the city, and Jade seemed pretty committed to staying here.
Regardless, I made my walk of shame down Main Street and up the metal stairs of my apartment. With any luck, Courtney wouldn’t be evicting me.
Chapter 17
Jade
Things didn’t go well.The article dropped in the Sunday newspaper, and though Thomas never mentioned my name or printed the photos, he alluded to enough details for people to draw their own conclusions about who the woman was that Griffin supposedly took advantage of.
