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“Why is that?” he snapped.
She kept her jaw rigid as she looked at Will. “You both are pissed off and you’ll do something stupid. Just call the police and let them handle it.”
“The police won’t be able to do shit. It takes days for an investigation like this.”
I nodded. “Let’s go now.”
“Natalie, it’s a really bad idea!”
“Shut up!” I screamed.
She didn’t fucking understand. Everyone in my professional life would see these photos. I would be surprised if some of them hadn’t blocked me already. Will and I tore out of the apartment, a team of violent, angry energy. Jessica begged me to stop. To think.
I slammed the car door shut and for once, I didn’t argue when Will sat behind the steering wheel. He was focused on getting to Ben’s house.
“What’s the prick’s address?”
I punched it into the GPS and Will sped off, not even waiting for the GPS to calibrate. He lived in Oakland and it would be about half an hour to get there. I pounded my cell phone over and over again, but he wouldn’t pick up.
“Don’t call him. It’s better if he doesn’t know we’re coming.”
“That son of a bitch,” I kept repeating. “I can’t believe he would do something like this. It’s just so fucking childish.”
“I could. Did you read his emails?”
My eyes narrowed at Will. “Will, when we get there, I don’t want there to be a fight.”
His fingers tightened over the steering wheel.
“I want him to grow up and take the photos down. That’s it!”
“What if he says no?”
I sputtered. “He has to. He’s a fucking lawyer. I don’t understand this at all. Ben’s not this stupid.”
“People do stupid things when they’re pissed off.”
My rage boiled all the way along the highway. I kept cycling through a list of fiery emotions: rage, disappointment, hurt, and betrayal. Did he really think plastering naked pictures of me all over LinkedIn would make him look good? He could lose his career over it. It was such a stupid thing to do.
The car screeched to a halt in front of Ben’s apartment and my chest felt like a drum. Will got out of the car, looking like he was out for blood. He bounded up the steps and pounded on the door before I could make it up there.
“Ben!”
It was weird. He was definitely inside, but he wasn’t answering the door.
“Your car is out front! Openup!”
I lost my head and slammed my body into the door, screaming as it flew open. It swung inside and I stumbled over the threshold. He left itopen?
I walked inside and behind me followed a tense looking Will. His eyes darted down the unlit hall.
“Ben?”
No answer.
Swallowing hard, I walked toward the only lit room in the apartment: the kitchen. There was only the sound of the refrigerator humming and our whispers to each other.
I half-expected to see a dead body, so I was almost relieved when I saw him sitting at the kitchen table. It looked bare without all of my kitchen appliances sitting on the counters. It looked unchanged from the moment I left him over nine months ago, as if preserving it would somehow lengthen the memories he had of me.
