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“You didn’t need to. I set it up.” I’m about to throw myself in front of an empty cab when I stop short and turn back to face him.
“What are you talking about? You didn’t. I got my place through Riley.”
Owen laughs. I can’t even stand his laugh anymore. Everything about him makes my skin crawl. I don’t understand how I ever could have been attracted to him in the first place. Let alone moved in with him. Ugh. How embarrassing.
He rocks back on his heels. “Yes, Leen. I know you got it because of Riley.” He takes a step closer to me. He’s way too close for my liking. “Who do you think told her about it?”
“You?” If my jaw could hit the sidewalk, I’d be picking it up right now. “I don’t believe you. She would’ve told me.” There’s no way she would’ve given Owen my address no matter how much he badgered her. A needle of doubt pokes at me. Could it be true? Did Owen use Riley to manipulate me?
I can’t think about that. “You shouldn’t be here, Owen,” I tell him. “I’ve got to get going. Right now.”
“There’s no need to go anywhere, Leen,” he says. “There’s nothing you can do.”
“Do about what? You have no idea where I need to be.”
The only cabs I’m seeing now are across the street. I’m debating making a run for it when Owen’s next words stop me cold. “You can’t stop the story from running. It’s a done deal.”
The air leaves my lungs. I turn to look him straight in the eye. “What did you just say, Owen?” There’s no way he could know what’s going on with me. No possible way. I must’ve misheard him.
“I know all about the feature you’ve been writing for City Scan.” Owen waves his hand dismissively, as if he’s not completely rocking my world. “I know about your boyfriends. I know what you’re going to try to do. Alex told me all about it.”
“Who the hell is Alex? And what makes you think you know where I’m working? Are you stalking me?” Anger mixed with fear washes over me. I can’t let him see how much he’s freaking me the hell out. How on earth does he know anything about my life?
He juts his chin out. “I know everything you’ve got going on. Alex is your boss, of course. I guess you know her only by Zan. Her first name’s actually Alexandra. She goes by Zan professionally but people she knows personally call her Alex. Guess that doesn’t include you, Elena.”
“Are you stalking me, Owen?” I ask as a cold chill of dread trickles down my back.
“No,” he says, but he won’t look me in the eye. Huh. Somehow he is. I have no idea how and that’s creepy as fuck. If it’s true that he’s the one who’s behind me living in Central Park South, could he have put cameras up in my apartment? That’s messed up, even for him.
“Do you really want to know?” He’s enjoying this. Of course he is.
“I don’t care. I’ve got to go. Now.” A cab starts to slow down and this time I do jump in front of it to get it to stop. I dodge Owen as he tries to grasp my arm. I glance at him out of the corner of my eye as we pull away. His face is contorted with anger and shock that I’m not letting him continue to waste any more of my time playing games. I’ll deal with him later.
Luck’s on my side with traffic and I make it to the office in good time. The building’s eerily deserted. I cross my fingers that Zan’s still here. I remember her talking about having to stay late on publication nights. She doesn’t have to but she likes to oversee everything. It strikes me now that she might be a little controlling.
I shake my head. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I can convince her to put a stop to running the feature. I should’ve been spending most of the cab ride figuring out what to say and how to convince her. Instead Owen got into my head. I thought I got him out of my life completely, and now somehow he knows where I live and work. Unbelievable.
Sure enough, the lights are on in Zan’s office. She’s staring intently at her computer, absorbed in whatever she’s doing. I practically run towards her office. “Zan!”
She jumps as I call out her name. “Jesus, Elena. You scared the hell out of me. What on earth are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you. You can’t run the story, not the way it’s been changed. It’s nothing like what I wrote.”
Zan rolls her eyes. “Everything gets edited. That’s how this works, Elena. Not every single word you write is golden. Far from it. All elements of every story are subject to editing and additions as needed. Why do I even have to explain that to you?”
“It’s so much more than just editing, Zan.” I try to keep my voice steady. If there’s one thing I know about my boss, it’s that she doesn’t respect weakness. I need to come at her with logic, not emotion. “It might as well be a brand new story. It’s going to do a lot of damage if you run the new version.”
“This version is exactly what we want,” she says, barely glancing up at me as she goes back to scrutinizing her screen. “You know it’s going to be uploaded tonight. There’s no reason to pull it.”
“That’s right.” The voice comes from right behind me. I nearly jump out of my skin.
It’s Owen.
“Did you follow me here?” I ask him, stunned. “You need to leave right now, Owen. I’m sorry, Zan. This guy’s definitely not with me.”
I’m expecting her to call security or at the very least to tell my ex to get the hell out of here, but she doesn’t. When Owen walks around the desk and put his arm around Zan’s shoulders, I’m absolutely floored.
“You,” I begin. What the hell? She’s letting him touch her instead of punching him in the face. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. My brain takes a long moment to catch up with my eyes.
