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I glared at him. How dare he make such a claim? I shook the fork at him. “And when we came in here, you pretended not to know Carl and Doris. You said you’d never been here before. That was a lie.”
“Okay, fine, that was a lie. So, are you pissed at Carl and Doris for not telling you they had met me before?” he asked.
I blinked at him. “What? Of course not.”
“Why not? It’s the same damn thing.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it’s not,” I said angrily. I leaned in and lowered my voice. “Because Carl wasn’t trying to get into my pants. He wasn’t trying to impress me. You knew exactly what you were doing and you lied to get me into your bed. I gave you my fucking virginity, you asshole. Do you not understand what that means?”
He shook his head, as if he wasn’t sure his ears were working right.
“Are you listening to yourself, Maggie? That is the most insane load of bullshit I’ve ever heard. What does one thing have to do with another?”
“How is that insane?”
“You think I lied to you about my deal with the city to get into your pants?” He rolled his eyes. “You can’t be serious.”
“You wanted me to think that you were this great guy,” I said, tears spilling from my eyes despite my best efforts to hold them back. “You knew I wouldn’t sleep with you if you acted like that arrogant asshole I first met at the cabin. You had it all figured out. I’ll act like a really nice guy, let her take me on a tour of the town, get her back to my place, and then hammer it to her on the bear skin rug!”
Tyler threw up his hands and raised his voice.
“Are you listening to yourself?”
“No, but everyone else is,” I heard Jackie say. We both turned to find Jackie, and everyone else, watching us as if we were a circus sideshow. Jackie gave me a hard look and nodded at the door. “Maybe you kids should take your little lover’s spat outside.”
“It’s not a lover’s spat,” I said.
“Sounds like a lover’s spat to me,” Carl said, standing next to Jackie.
“Sure does,” said Doris.
“Is that the billionaire you boned?” Jimmy asked.
“He doesn’t look like much,” Robbie added. “Cool beard though.”
I bit my tongue and glanced at Tyler.
He was stroking the corners of his moustache and trying not to smile.
“Do you want to take this outside?” he asked.
Before I could answer, the crowd said, “Yes!”
CHAPTER NINETEEN: TYLER
It was fucking freezing outside. Maggie wanted to argue on the sidewalk, but I finally convinced her to get in the Hummer so we could at least stay warm while she continued telling me what a douchebag I was.
I let her stew in the passenger seat for a minute while I started the engine to get the heat going. It didn’t take long for the warm air to start blowing out of the vents, but it didn’t do much to knock off the chill that was coming from Maggie’s side of the truck. I slowly took in a deep breath to work up the courage to speak.
“Look, I did pay the mayor. Maggie, sometimes that’s what you have to do to get things done in this world. You have to pay people under the table and work dirty deals. And sometimes you have to lie and cheat and make people do things they don’t want to do! But it’s all business. You do whatever it takes to fucking win.”
She stared at me for a moment. “Is that what it’s all about to you, Tyler? Winning?”
“What?”
