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Willow turns in her seat, peeling back the paper on her burger. “How are you doing, lady? You look like you could use a hug and a gallon of wine.”
I bite into my burger and nod. “I want to hide under my bed and stay there until all of this shit blows over with Nate. Otherwise, I’m okay.”
“Nate screwed up,” she says between bites. “He’s an ass for lying to you. But at some point, you have to go back home. You can’t run away from him.”
“This is my home,” I point out. “My name is still on the lease. My stuff is still here.”
“LA was your home,” she corrects. “Must I remind you that you’re still Mrs. Nathan King? That sexy piece of ass you married still belongs to you.”
I pop a fry into my mouth and chew. “I’m well aware.”
She chuckles. “I don’t know how you were just friends with him before. I mean, seriously… with a face and body like that, how did you resist him? You really lucked out in the husband lottery.”
“It’s not over,” I confess. “Nate has two months to finish the game we were working on.”
“What does that mean? Speak my lingo, babe.”
“Every spring, 10X Games hosts a gamer convention in LA. Our company has several booths reserved. Nate has to finish the video game before the event to show me that he’s serious about us.”
“You evil genius,” she says with a wicked smirk. “So, this isn’t a breakup?”
“No. This is Nate’s chance to step up.”
“What happens if he doesn’t finish it?”
I roll my shoulders against the leather seat. “Then, I guess he’s not serious about our future.”
“He’ll finish it,” she says with confidence.
“You think so?”
“I know so. I watched you two together. The way he looked at you as you walked down the aisle made my skin tingle. When I get married, I want my husband to look at me the way Nate looks at you.”
“I hope he follows through.”
“I don’t get it, babe.” She narrows her eyes at me. “If you want to be with him, then why did you leave?”
“I needed to get away from everything.”
“You could’ve locked yourself inside Nate’s apartment. You didn’t have to leave him.”
“He lied to me. I know it’s not an end of the world lie, but I’m still upset that he didn’t tell me about Alexa. I put my ass on the line for him. We promised there wouldn’t be any secrets between us. And if I stayed in Philly, it would have sent him the message that he can lie in the future and get away with it.”
“What does the video game have to do with anything?”
“Nate’s had a mental block with it for years. He needs the motivation. He loves a challenge. I bet he hasn’t stopped working on it since I left. I just hope he finishes it in time because I’m sticking to what I said. He has two months.”
Willow pats me on the arm and smiles. “He’ll get it done. That man is in love with you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nate
Danika storms into my office with an angry scowl plastered on her face. She sinks into one of the chairs in front of my desk and shakes her head.
“You fucked everything up,” she yells. “And you’re going to fix it.”
If Danika wasn’t like a second mother to me, I would throw her ass out of my office. So, instead, I take it like a man and let her scold me like a child.
“Harley left before I could get a statement from her. Did you know that she resigned as Lead Creative Director?”
My heart sinks into my stomach. “No… she wouldn’t. Not over this. That’s her dream job. Harley waited years to get it.”
Danika shoots me a wicked grin. “She did. And Jonathan is furious. On her way to the airport, Harley handed Jonathan her letter of resignation. She’s moving back to LA and taking her old job until she finds something else. Apparently, she’s done with Queen Takes King. Another scandal is too much for her.”
“Fuck,” I groan, hanging my head in shame. “What can I do to make this go away?”
“I was hoping Harley would be here to challenge the claims made by your former fling, but her absence only makes this wedding look even more like a sham.”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t,” I challenge. “I love Harley. She loves me. We got married under the wrong circumstances, but our relationship is real. Harley is my wife.”
“The evidence is irrefutable, Nate. A quick side-by-side comparison of the girl in the pictures against Harley’s, and it wasn’t hard to tell that it was a lie. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting this. I thought we were in the clear when the real woman didn’t come forward right away.”
“She wants something. I don’t know what, but Alexa Daniels has a plan, otherwise, why leak the pictures in the first place?”
