Page 68 of Last Chance Seduction
Ice slid up my spine, and my palms went damp.
“I don’t have your money.I’m not with Justin.”
“That’s not what he says.And well, we’ll just see about that.”The click at the other end of the line, followed by silence, echoed through my head as I ended the call and tried not to drop the phone with my shaking hands.
I immediately texted Daisy what had happened, before I pulled out my notes app and looked up the number for the detective I had spoken with.
This wasn’t my life.Organized crime and bookies?Threatening calls?No, this wasn’t me.How could I have been so wrong about Justin?
Well, maybe my judgment wasn’t as great as I thought.After all, I had chosen wrong once before.And I knew Lex wasn’t Justin, but for some reason, everything felt a little off.
I told the detective what had happened, and though he was off duty, he said he would look into it.I had given him the number, but I wasn’t sure it was going to lead anywhere.And when I assured him that my security was all in place and I was locked up tight within my home, with only my cat for company, he had offered to send by a cruiser, but I had declined.It was New Year’s Eve, and there was enough to deal with out on the roads.I was fine, I lied to myself.
And Lex would be here soon, and then I wouldn’t be alone.
There.I was going to rely on someone.Trust someone.And that was good for me.
An hour passed, my tea long cold, when Lex knocked on the door.I let him in, quickly doing the security up again, my hands chilled.I turned to say something to him, to tell him what had happened, but then I realized that Lex hadn’t said a word to me.He had just walked inside, hands in his pockets, and didn’t even bother to kiss me.
“What’s wrong?”I asked, feeling oddly out of my depth.
He met my gaze then, and the bleakness there hit me like a two-ton truck.
“Is it your family?What happened?”I asked as I moved forward.He took a step back, and a single crack reverberated through my chest.Just a slight one, not a full break, just a tiny sliver that could be mended with a kind word or a touch.
Only I didn’t think I knew how to do that.
“Lex?”
“We fucked up.We fucked up so bad.”He slid his hands out of his pockets and put his palms to his eyes.
Alarm shot through me and I moved forward.“What are you talking about?Talk to me.”
“We were golfing, and we were just bullshitting around, and next thing I know, Gia and her entire family are next to us, and they overheard us talking about us being in a fake relationship.”
I stood there, the distance a deep cavern that I knew I couldn’t cross without taking a deep breath and possibly breaking.
Because he saidina fake relationship.Nothad startedorhad begun.But currentlyina fake relationship.And perhaps that was just a slip of the tongue, but perhaps it was the forefront of his mind.And yet I didn’t think that was the important part to him in this moment.
“What happened?”I asked, and I surprised myself with how steady my voice was.
“It all blew up in our faces.Gia’s dad was so fucking mad.We’re not getting the contract, and well, it doesn’t matter.Everything’s just fucked up.”
I held out a hand without thinking, but he didn’t reach for me, didn’t touch me.
“Okay.I’m so sorry.Lex, I don’t know what to say.It’s disappointing, but there are other jobs, right?”
“This wasthejob.This was the job that mattered,” he said, his voice rising.
I took a step back, his voice angrier than I had ever heard.“And there’s no way you can fix it?”
“No.Because I lied.I should have just gone to that stupid event alone and used my merit and not a lie.”
“I’m sorry.”Guilt ate at me, because it was partly my fault.I was the one who lied, because I hadn’t wanted to let Gia have the last word, as she was hurting Lex, but instead it looks like I had done it anyway.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.Fuck.This whole fake thing.It was a mistake.”
