AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But what they had wasn’t just physical. He was very protective of Angel. Possessive, too. He put a stop to the lap dances because he didn’t like her being that close to other men. I could see she meant something to him.”
“You must have hated her, then.”
Mimi’s smirk faltered. “No. I want him to be happy. She made him happy.”
Uh, no, Mimi wanted him to be happywith her, no one else. As for Angel … if she really had been so important to him it was weird that they’d had nothing more than a bed-buddy arrangement. “Just to be clear … you feel that all this is relevant because, what?”
Her face reddened as her taunting expression morphed into a resentful glower. So much scorn and bitterness whirled in her gaze it was a wonder she wasn’t shaking with the force of the emotions.
“It’s relevant because obsession never dies,” she retorted. “Hissure didn’t. He’s still in contact with Angel; still heads to the club to check on her; still fixes all her problems for her, like he’s her own personal white knight. He even gives her money if she needs it.”
Hurt tried to bubble up, but I mentally shook it off, sure he wouldn’t keep from me that he played such a strong part in one of his ex’s lives that way.
“You don’t believe me?” Mimi dug her phone out of her purse, tapped the screen several times, and then held it up for me to see. “Look.Look.”
I cut my gaze to the screen, and the bottom fell out of my stomach. It was a photo of Dax and an incredibly beautiful blonde. They stood intimately close on a sidewalk outside the strip club, their bodies mere inches apart as they faced each other. His head was tilted down toward hers, and she was grinning up at him.
My body went stiff as so many emotions blindsided me. Shock. Hurt. Betrayal. Fury. Disillusionment. Every single one of those emotions was a sharp, crippling stab to my tightening chest.
Unlinking my fingers, I fisted my hands and ground my teeth against the primitive drive to punch something; to snatch her phone and throw it across the room; to ream Dax’s ass for taking a shit on my trust and … and … But that didn’t sound like him.
The photographic evidence wasright there, yes. But I couldn’t make the betrayal “fit” with what I knew of him. I just couldn’t.
Sitting there, I vacillated between devastation, anger, and disbelief as I took a long, hard look at the picture. At him. Her. The background. The lighting. I searched for signs of tampering but found none. The photo seemed real, seemed …
My thoughts halted as something occurred to me. Something that sent a wave of relief washing through my system, sweeping away the dark emotions that had taken hold of me. I drew in a centering breath, relaxing my fists.
“See?” snapped Mimi. “I can’t say whether or not they’re sleeping together, but they sure look cozy, don’t they?”
I only hummed.
Lines of confusion creased her brow. “This doesn’t bother you?”
“It would … if that wasn’t an old picture.”
She tensed. “What?”
“The dingy nightclub in the background right beside the strip club? It was shut down over a year ago. I know this, because I arranged for several bachelor parties to take place there before ownership of it changed hands. It was given an entire makeover and is now a strip club exclusive to women.”
Pausing, I cocked my head. “Should I be concerned that you used to take pictures of him in the street like some stalker? Is it something you still do? Because if so, I’ll have a problem with that.”
She shot to her feet, her nostrils flaring, clenching her phone tight. I thought she might storm out, but she stayed right there, breathing hard and glaring at the wall behind me.
“What is it you’re trying to do here?” I asked, anger once more flickering to life in my belly. “Hurt me? Sow seeds of distrust? Cause arguments between me and Dax? What?”
Her glare slammed on me, the rage there morphing into … shame?
“If you came here with the half-assed plan to make me believe Dax is cheating on me so that I’d leave—”
“That isn’t why I came,” she said, closing her eyes. Plopping her butt back down on the chair, she exhaled a long breath and then reopened her eyes.
“Really?” I drawled, skeptical.
“Really. I actually had no intention of showing you the photo at all. It didn’t even occur to me until I got seriously annoyed by you sitting there looking all indifferent. I acted on a dumb impulse. And just to clarify, I didn’t take the picture. A friend did; they sent it to me, wanting me to see for myself that he’d moved on, hoping it would makememove on.”
I watched her steadily, not so certain that the contrite vibes spilling from her were entirely authentic. I couldn’t say I’d be moved if they were.
“I came because … I’m leaving Redwater,” she blurted out. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. It won’t be for a while.”
