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“So I was just some stupid bet to you? A date to prove something to your fucking brother?” My chest was heaving, and I felt like punching something–someone, actually. I still couldn’t quite believe what he was telling me, though. I didn’t want to believe it.
“I should go. Can you come by the inn a little later? We need to make sure we’re ready for our first dinner service.”
“Fuck your job.” I said simply.
“Harper, don’t–”
“Don’t tell me what to do, asshole.” I was standing and the words were pouring out of me. Something deep inside me hurt more than anything I’d ever felt before. It was like an open, gaping wound, and all I wanted was to curl into a ball and cry. Except this stupid man who just caused my pain was still in my apartment, so I couldn’t. “Leave.”
He opened his mouth like he was about to speak, but he snapped it closed and took a deep breath. When he looked at me one more time before leaving, his eyes were haunted. “The job is yours until tomorrow if you want it. Otherwise I’ll have to call in a last minute favor. He’ll have to use your menu, too.”
“Nobody is touching my menu.”
“You signed a contract,” he said. “The menu belongs to the restaurant, not you.”
I could kill him. For a split second, I actually considered it. I had a vivid image of jumping through the air and punching him straight in his perfect teeth. “Get out.”
Greyson paused at the door. “Let me know by tomorrow night. I have to make a decision by then.”
I couldn’t take it anymore, so I threw my shoe at him. It wasn’t the most rational thing I’d ever done, but he managed to close the door before it hit him in the face.
Once he was gone, I pressed my palms to my face and rolled back on the bed. I expected tears to come, but I was too mad for tears. All I felt was rage. Betrayal. Confusion.
Just last night, everything had felt fine. Then he’d come in here like he was possessed and tried to use me like some kind of fuck toy instead of a person. Something happened, and the asshole was too much of a coward to talk to me about it. Instead, he’d pushed me away with both hands–practically pushed me off a fucking cliff.
I sniffed as one stupid tear slid past my nose to plop on the sheets. I thought about him giving my menu to someone else. I thought about running away from the perfect job because my feelings were hurt. I didn’t know how I was going to find the strength to do it, but I knew I wasn’t that girl. I wasn’t going to run. I was going to show up tomorrow morning with a smile and show him how little I cared that he’d tried to break my heart. Because as long as I pretended I’d never offered it to him, I could also pretend it had never been his to break.
I took a deep, shuddering breath, then let the tears come. The rage was still there, but I couldn’t fool myself. I really gave part of myself to Greyson, and he’d just thrown it back in my face carelessly. He didn’t even have the dignity to tell me why. So I cried until I couldn’t anymore. I cried until the only thing left was the anger and resentment, hardened up and distilled like little diamonds of spite I was ready to shove up his ass tomorrow.
35
HARPER
Greyson was dressed in a suit and tie when I showed up to the inn. He leaned on the counter, then straightened and glared down at me as I came in. I tried to match the intensity of his stare but had to look away. It was too hard to see him like that–as if there had never been anything between us.
I gave myself a quick mental pep talk, took a deep breath, then spoke. “You wanted me to run a mock dinner service. Did you get the ingredients I need?”
“That’s part of the practice run. I want you to go gather everything just like you would before a normal day. Take this card. It’ll charge directly to the inn’s business account.”
I took the fancy black card from his hands and turned to leave without another word.
I got in my car, Rose, and turned the key. She sputtered, shook a little, and finally started. I liked to think I’d become somewhat attuned to the sounds of her distress, and I had a sinking feeling that she sounded even more pained than usual. I put it in the back of my mind and headed off anyway.
I’d already mapped out the most efficient route for picking up supplies and I also anticipated Greyson asking me to do it myself this morning. I’d reached out to everyone in the supply chain last night to make sure they’d have what I needed today. It wasn’t all that different than some of the pickups I’d run while training in France, except there wouldn’t be anyone checking over the goods I brought in to make sure they were good enough for the kitchen.
