Page 203 of Story of My Life
“Say your piece.” Gage joined him.
“Then get the hell out,” Levi added, taking my other side.
Jim looked like he was about to swallow his erudite tongue. He was used to civilized backstabbing, not face-to-face confrontations.
“Fine. I was only trying to protect you from embarrassment,” Jim said, taking his hands out of his pockets and putting them on his hips like a disappointed professor.
“The only person you’re ever interested in protecting is you.”
“That’s not true,” he wheedled.
“Man, if you don’t get to the fucking point in the next five seconds, my fists are gonna escort you out of town,” Cam said.
Jim scoffed. “Violence is only the answer if intelligence is missing from the equation.”
Cam flinched toward him, and my ex-husband jumped backward.
Jim swallowed hard. “Fine. Hazel, you need to give up on this ridiculous passion project. You’re contracted to write another Spring Gate book. That’s what the publisher wants, not this new midlife crisis,Eat, Pray, Stella’s Groovesap you’re working on.”
The breath left my lungs on a silentwhoosh. I wanted to double over but forced myself to face him. “How do you know?” The shake in my voice was infuriating.
“I had lunch with your editor and the acquisitions team yesterday.”
“You did what?” Zoey demanded. Gage’s arm shot out and caught her around the waist before she could rush Jim.
“You’re notmyagent. You have no right to pretend to represent me,” I said, steeling my spine even as a horrible sickness rolled through me.
“Hazel, look. We all have a vested interest in your success. Give them another Spring Gate book.”
I was shaking my head before he finished his sentence. “You have a vested interest because you’re the one who gets the royalties for the first three books in that series. Because as much as you shit all over my books, my stories, they supported us while you played Mr. Self-Important. The books you called unrealistic ‘mommy porn’ and ‘worthless fluff’ are the ones paying your damn rent right now.”
Cam growled, and Jim took a half step back.
“You suck!” someone shouted from the crowd. There was a murmur of agreement.
“Jim, is this true?” my mother asked.
“I was entitled to an equitable distribution,” Jim said. Pit stains were appearing on his fancy shirt.
“You’re a dick,” Zoey snarled from behind the barrier of Gage’s arm.
“And you never could behave like an adult.”
“I’d be careful if I were you, buddy,” Gage said icily. “I let her go and you’re just a body we have to bury.”
Cam turned to me. “Baby, I’m all for you standing up for yourself, but this guy is begging to get punched in the face, and if you don’t do it, I want the honors.”
“Baby?” Jim scoffed, looking back and forth between Cam and me.
“Don’t think either of us asked for your opinion,” Cam said dangerously.
“I were you, I’d already be getting in my car,” Levi advised Jim with a vicious little smile.
“One second,” I said, taking a step toward my past. “You’ve been doing all the talking for the last ten years. Now it’s my turn. You show up inmytown and tell me in front ofmyfriends that I need to give up on this little fantasy and get back to makingyoumoney that you never earned.”
I drilled a finger into his chest, noting that it was softer than I remembered. But any chest compared to Cam’s was probably doughy in texture.
“She’s doing the finger thing,” Zoey stage-whispered.
