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28
Bella
“Iknow you’re screwing him. Justin told me the two of you travel back and forth to the Hamptons—just the two of you. Why would you do that when you supposedly hate him?” Max deposits my coffee on my desk, crosses her arms, and stands in the same stance she uses when she thinks she’s being intimidating.
She doesn’t intimidate me.
“It’s called getting info on the enemy. Like recon work.”
She rolls her eyes. The office door opens and my stomach flips with the hope it might be the man in question. Thankfully, Max turns to see who it is and doesn’t catch my disappointment when Evie walks in.
“Nice outfit. And you’re successful at your job?” Max asks.
Even I can admit that her t-shirt with ‘Not today Satan’ printed on it and her multicolor cheetah print leggings aren’t the epitome of professionalism.
Evie puts her hand up in front of Max’s face. “I work from home. You’re jealous. I understand.” She beelines it past Max and sits in the seat on the other side of my desk. “Can we talk for a minute?” she asks me. “Oh, and I’ll take a coffee.” She gives Max a saccharine smile.
Anyone listening in would think they didn’t like each other, but the truth is they just like to have a go at one another. Neither of them ever takes offense.
Max reaches for the door handle. “I can point you to our coffeemaker.”
She shuts the door, and the room is silent. Other than a word here or there, Evie and I haven’t talked much since that night at the bonfire. She has her opinion about Carm and is somehow disappointed in me for not demanding to be called girlfriend.
“Here, I stopped on the way over.” She digs into her purse and pulls out a box that she places in front of me. From the Magnolia Bakery packaging, I know there’s a cupcake inside. “I was going to grab Annie a s’mores one, what with her addiction to making them every weekend, but they were out.”
“Evie,” I sigh, ready to put our argument behind us.
Her head bobs right and left in a mannerism I’m familiar with. The only other time we got into a disagreement and acted like juveniles was right before college when her boyfriend didn’t come to graduation and I told her it was grounds for a breakup. I guess we’re kind of protective over one another, and maybe I shouldn’t have been so mad when she voiced her concerns about Carm.
“I’m sorry, okay? I just felt like you were settling and taking less than what you deserve. You don’t need some douche who only wants your pussy and not your brain or your heart.”
I smile because she’s worried, as I am.
“But I guess he seems okay. I just wish you’d define it as a relationship since it is a fucking relationship.” Evie props her feet on the edge of my desk.
My landline buzzes. I press the button. “Say I’m in a meeting.”
“It’s Greg Throttle,” Max says over the speaker.
Evie’s face falls. She doesn’t know who he is. I mean, I might’ve mentioned him casually, but Evie isn’t a clout-chaser and probably doesn’t really understand his importance.
“Give me a minute, okay?” I ask her.
She nods and slides out of the office, closing the door behind her. She joins Max at her desk.
I pick up when the call is transferred. “Hi, Mr. Throttle.”
“Bella, please it’s Greg.”
“Okay. Greg.” I pick up my pen and poise it over my notepad so I can write down whatever notes he’s going to give me. “Is this about one of the deals? Helena’s been a great help.”
“No. As far as I’m aware, it’s all going smoothly. Your buyers have been very easy to deal with, which is helpful since there’s no broker to mediate the deal.”
My stomach sinks. He knows what FSBO means. “That’s the one downfall, but the bonus is your savings on commission. Especially with you not having to pay a percentage like you do to other brokers.” I purposely don’t throw Carm’s name out there. The commission he’s making on these condos is huge and we all know it.
“I understand that, but after some consideration and since we’re down to the wire now—”
“There’s still six weeks and neither one of us has sold all the units.” Unless Carm withheld information from me? But I talked to Justin in the elevator this morning and he said they’ve been looking high and low for their last buyer with no luck.
