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I shake my head at his overt arrogance. "Why? Why would you come by my place?"
He looks past me to the hallway before he speaks in a whisper, "we're not done until I say we're done, beautiful."
I let the doorknob slip from my grasp and walk with weighted steps towards him. I stop inches from him, leaning in close until my lips almost touch his. "We're done. Whatever this was…" I lazily run my right hand down the front of his shirt before waving it in the air between us. "It's over."
He catches my wrist in his hand, pulling it to his lips. "You know that's not true."
"No." I sigh as I jerk my arm free once again. "The only truth I know is that you fucked me so you could steal Mark's shares away from me. That's the truth. Anything else leaving your lips is a lie."
"That's what you think?" He throws his head back with a hearty laugh. "You actually think I slept with you as part of a business deal."
"You did." I blurt out. "Your father was Mark's partner."
"So?" He raises his brow in quiet confidence, irking me even further. "One has nothing to do with the other."
"You're delusional." I stare at him with the realization that he's being dead serious. He truly believes that our personal relationship is separate from his business relationship with Mark. "You stalked me and seduced me so I'd give you Mark's shares."
"You're giving me nothing," he hisses through tight lips. "I'm buying those shares from you for much more than they're worth."
"Bullshit." There's anger coursing through me and I know that it's always quickly followed with tears. I won't cry in front of him. I won't.
"Ivy. You know nothing about my business dealings with Mark." He sits on the corner of his desk. He fumbles with one of the exquisite cuff links on his shirt before looking back at me. "For that matter, you know nothing about Mark's business at all."
His words cut into me. He's right, of course but the veiled suggestion that I'm naïve doesn't sit well with me. It pushes me closer to the verge of tears. I bite my lip to halt them. "Why do you do that? Why?"
"Do what?" He shrugs his shoulders. "What am I doing?"
"You're making me feel like an idiot. You did it when I told you about Mark and the women he slept with. You're doing it again now." Despite my best efforts to ward off the tears, they spill out. I sob wishing I could redo the past few weeks of my life.
He stands and reaches for me. I stumble back until I can feel the doorknob in my hand once again. I turn it and pull the door wide open.
"Stop," he pleads. "You're upset. I need to explain."
"You need to go to hell," I mumble as I step out into the hallway.
***
"What was your husband like?" I take a small sip of the Earl Grey tea.
Mrs. Adams stares out at the window of her apartment, the pelting rain creating a mosaic of water spots on the glass. "He was strong, very kind. Did you know he asked me to marry him on our second date?"
"I didn't know that," I fib. She has told me this story more than a dozen times but her gentle company this dismal afternoon is helping me forget what happened with Jax two days ago.
"He said he knew he loved me right then and there." She looks down at the gold band still nestled snugly on her ring f
inger. "I was sixteen."
"You loved him very much too." I feel the sting of tears bite at the corners of my eyes.
"I did." Her soft smile comforts me. "He was the love of my life."
"Do you think we all have that?" I reach for a tissue to wipe the tears. "A love that is once in a lifetime?"
"It's different now." She stands and slowly walks towards the window, her gaze lifted into the clouds. "Back then men respected women."
Her remark bites although I know that wasn't her intention. "You're right," I mutter.
"Mark wasn't good for you." She points her finger at me. "That young man you were with the other day seems very nice."
