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It was killing me. I wasn’t jealous of my partners—I was glad that they were there to make Taylor feel comfortable. But admittedly, the attraction I felt toward her was making the whole situation confusing. First, I had no idea why she, of all women, had such a vice grip on my attention.
A lot of it was physical, which only got more and more intense the more I had to watch her try on different outfits and go to parties. But it went beyond that, and the reasons why were escaping me. She wasn’t my type whatsoever. She was soft and naïve. Sweet without much bite to her attitude. I felt like I was too hard for her, like pairing a slab of concrete with a down stuffed pillow.
I was attracted to women who weren’t afraid to push back. And from what I’d seen, Taylor wasn’t really like that.
I blinked. Why was I thinking about her as a viable romantic option in the first place? She wasn’t and never would be. Not only did we live in separate worlds, but I was ten years older than her, and I was her bodyguard. And I wasn’t the kind of man who deserved a woman like her, anyway. We’d never work.
I waited behind Taylor while she looked over the big seating chart at the entryway of the event. Today, she was more dressed up in a mini-skirt, high-heeled boots, and tights. The combination made it hard for me to pull my eyes away from her legs.
I focused on the seating chart, studying the names. I’d gotten a full list of the attendees beforehand, so the names were familiar. I spotted Taylor’s name at the same time she did.
“Oh, great,” she said to herself as she found her name card. She plucked it from the chart. “I’m back here.”
She walked toward the table, her footsteps dragging, and sat down with a few other women. I took a seat behind her, close enough for me to hear, but not so close that I was obtrusive. Taylor chatted with the others at the table, her tone upbeat and happy despite her clear disappointment at where she was sitting.
That was, until a tall woman with her hair in a pixie cut sat across from her. Jacqueline, if I remembered correctly. I immediately didn’t like her. She looked down her nose at everyone, even as she smiled.
“Hi, Jacqueline,” Taylor said, her voice bright even though her shoulders had visibly sagged.
“Hey, Taylor,” Jacqueline replied, with contrived enthusiasm and a fake smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Appetizers arrived, and the people at the table started chatting. Jacqueline dominated the conversation, talking over people.
“I absolutelyadoredTulum. Y-Vitamins really treats their influencers well,” Jacqueline said, taking the most delicate bite of salad I’d ever seen. Her gaze turned to Taylor, and she tilted her head to the side. “I thought I’d see you there. I thought you were one of their influencers.”
This woman was the worst. Was she intentionally condescending, or was she just like this all the time? Not that it mattered. Her tone suggested that she knew the answer already, but she wanted Taylor to say it.
“No, I ended my relationship with them. I started working with a different vitamin brand. They do hair vitamins, mostly,” Taylor said. Her tone was the same sweet one as always. She had to have noticed Jacqueline’s tone, though. I didn’t have the patience for people like Jacqueline.
“Oh, no.” Jacqueline faux-pouted. “I heard they were cutting a lot of influencers who weren’t a good fit. It’s a shame. Tulum is so lovely.”
I was glad I had good control over my expression, so I wouldn’t scowl harder than my resting face was. Taylor probably had more money than all the people in this room combined. She could have bought five houses in Tulum if she wanted to. Why was Jacqueline trying to put Taylor down? Because she didn’t have much else to go off of, probably. What was her problem with Taylor?
I couldn’t imagine Taylor doing anything to piss Jacqueline off. The only reasonable explanation was jealousy.
Someone else cut into the conversation, and it drifted to something else. Taylor pushed back from the table and turned to face me, her eyes slightly tired.
“Just running to the bathroom to wash my hands.” She wiggled her fingers. “They got sticky from those appetizers.”
I followed her to the bathroom and waited outside. It didn’t take her long to wash her hands.
“That’s better,” she said when she came out. “I needed a break from Jacqueline, too, honestly.”
“Understandable.” I gestured for her to go ahead, but she walked alongside me instead of in front of me.
“She’s just so nasty,” she continued. “I don’t get it. I’ve literally never done anything to her.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, even though I felt her pain. I’d dealt with people like Jacqueline throughout my life, who didn’t like me because I existed. But expressing that felt like showing her my weak spots, and doing that wasn’t my style.
We went out to the table again, where everyone was still laughing and talking. Jacqueline trained her gaze on Taylor, her lips pursed together like she was tasting something bad. But she didn’t say anything, at least at first. The conversation flowed well around them, bouncing from travel to the ins and outs of YouTube. Then Jacqueline struck.
“I’m just proud that I made it to where I am without help,” she said, looking at Taylor. “It feels so much more satisfying knowing that.”
Jacqueline might as well have said Taylor hadn’t ever worked for anything in her life and that she hated her for it. The table fell silent. I expected Taylor to push back from the table and leave again, but she just cleared her throat.
“Was that dig intended for me?” she asked.
“What dig?” Jacqueline’s blue eyes widened, feigning innocence. “You’re just projecting, I think.”
