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“So, you were spying on me? And I still don’t get why you think I was in a compromising position when I’ve already told you twice that that woman is destroying me. It almost sounds as if you’re jealous.”
She looks down, and I wonder if I’ve hit the nail on the head. For some reason that’s the first bit of good news I’ve had since this whole thing started.
“We’re supposed to be engaged, but your having an intimate chat with another woman doesn’t look good.”
“So, you were jealous.” I’m dying to know, and yet by pushing the issue I’m being a bit of a jerk.
“You asked me to pretend to be your fiancée, which I agreed to do, but I’m not interested in being made to look like I’m being betrayed. I’ve been through that once before.”
I wince as I realize that I’ve brought up an old wound for her.
“I don’t have any feelings except rage toward Hayden. All I want to do is get her out of my life, which she’s making extremely difficult.”
“Why?”
I shake my head and take a minute to look out the window as I try and decide what I will tell Charlotte. Maybe Theo was right, and she might have some insight that could help me, so I finally decide to tell her what’s going on.
“I saw Hayden for a while several months ago, but she was controlling and demanding. Eventually I broke things off with her, but she doesn’t take no for an answer, so she continues to make trouble for me.”
“What sort of trouble?” Charlotte asks.
“Well, there’s the email she sent to most of the plastic surgery clinics in New York to let them know that I wasn’t someone they should take a risk on hiring.”
Charlotte makes a wincing expression and I think now she understands why I was having such a hard time getting a job.
“Then there’s the taunting texts and the threats.”
Charlotte’s head cocks to the side. “Threats?”
I down my water, regretting not having more scotch. “Basically, she’s extorting me.”
Charlotte stands and comes to sit on the opposite end of the couch from me, pulling her legs up underneath her as she sits looking at me. She’s not next to me, but she’s closer and I do find some comfort in that.
“For what?” she asks.
I look down at my empty water glass, not sure that I have the guts to tell her the truth, or at least all the truth. “She wants me to come back to her.”
“And she has some kind of leverage on you for that?”
I let out a long sigh. “She has a tape.”
“Tape?”
I turn my head toward her. “A videotape. If you thought what you saw on the sidewalk today was compromising, wait ‘till you see the tape.”
Both of Charlotte’s brows rise to her hairline. “You made a sex tape?”
“I didn’t. She did with me and her starring in it, but I didn’t know anything about it until things ended with us.” I’m expecting to see Charlotte’s feelings for me change. I expect to see disgust and disappointment at the idea that I’ve ended up in a sex tape.
“She’s threatening to release the tape?” Charlotte asks, in what seems to be curiosity more than disapproval.
I nod.
“Why would anyone care?”
Her answer stuns me. “I care. I don’t need people seeing my naked ass on the Internet.”
She shakes her head. “What I mean is, you’re not a celebrity, so what would it matter? Unless she’s going to send it to your boss.”
