AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Look, Quinn, like I told you and Joe earlier, it’s probably nothing.” She really,reallyhoped it was nothing. But something deep in her gut told her otherwise. Her gut had been wrong before, though, so she was holding out hope, dammit. “Besides, there’s nothing we can do about it. I don’t know who sent it.”
“Sweetie,” Alex said, “have you broken up with anyone recently?”
Roxie shook her head. Yeah, right. That would imply that she had a social life.
“What about Eli?” Quinn asked.
Her eyes narrowed. He didnotjust say that. “What about Eli?”
Quinn shrugged. “Eli’s been sniffing around you for a while now.”
Heat washed over her face, and her jaw dropped. She dug her nails into her palms to prevent herself from socking the man. “Eli’s not interested in me like that, Quinn. I’ve said it once already, and I won’t say it again. The guy’s married with kids, for fuck’s sake.”
“Yeah,” Joe scoffed.
She froze, forgetting Quinn as she swung her gaze toward Joe. Flinty blue eyes stared back at her in challenge.
“What the hell isthatsupposed to mean?” she hissed.
“Oh, please, Roxanne. Like you don’t know.”
Goosebumps broke out over her skin. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why don’t you enlighten me?”
The look of disgust Joe shot her was shocking. Her heart knocked hard in her chest.
“Don’t play the innocent, Rox. It doesn’t suit you. We all know you’re no stranger to dating married men.”
“What the fuck, dude?” Quinn growled, shoving Joe’s shoulder.
She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t find any words. The man was delusional. Fucking delusional. That had to be the only explanation.
Joe shot up from his chair and stalked toward the living room. She followed on his heels, ramming her finger into his back. “I have nevereverdated anyone who was married, you jackass! Let alone married with kids.”
“Sure,” he said, his tone patronizing. He stopped walking and faced her. “If lying helps you sleep better at night, then great. Go ahead and keep telling yourself that.”
She wanted to knock that smarmy smile off his face, but she could only glare. “You’re insane, you know that? Totally deranged. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Riiight.” He rolled his eyes. “Does ‘Paul’ ring a bell?”
“Paul?” A whole world of disbelief colored her voice. “As in my former boyfriend, who broke up with me because you’re an asshole and beat him up for no freaking reason?ThatPaul?”
“You’re blamingmefor that breakup?” He laughed, but there wasn’t an ounce of humor in it. “Me punching that worthless fucker had nothing to do with the two of you breaking up. Paul ended things with you because you tried to ruin his family.”
What. The. Fuck?
Roxie jerked back as if he’d slapped her. She opened her mouth to speak, to say she had no idea what he was talking about, but he rushed on without giving her a chance to respond.
“He told me everything, Roxie. Don’t play stupid.Youare the one who messed things up for yourself. If you hadn’t tried to make him leave his wife, maybe your cozy little affair could have kept going. But you got greedy. You wanted what she had: the husband, the kid, the big house, the white fucking picket fence. So don’t go blamingmefor anything. He told me you guys were done before I ever laid a hand on him.”
Roxie’s chest seized. What the hell? She couldn’t have heard him right. It took a couple of tries to find her voice. “What do you mean, ‘he told’ you?”
“I ran into him on the ferry a few hours before we all went to Monty’s that day.” Pain washed over Joe’s face, but on her next heartbeat, it was gone. His cold, distant, professional expression returned. “I met Paul’s wife. Met his kid. Hell, I even met his fucking dog.”
Joe continued talking, but Roxie no longer heard him. She was scrambling to process the bombshell that had just dropped.
Paul had beenmarried? And Joe had known, but she hadn’t?
Nothing was adding up. How was any of this possible?
