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“Convince me?” I step back. “By sleeping with me?” I can see everything so clearly now. This whole week is playing out in my mind. The meeting with my mother. How Nicholas was so quick to agree to being my boyfriend.
My heart pounds in my chest.
I’m an idiot.
“What? No?” His voice is drowned out by the symphony of chaos going on in my brain right now. “Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with this.” He holds the folder up with one hand.
I stare at the folder, taken aback that he could actually think so little of me. Ah, who am I kidding? It’s how he’s always viewed me.
A lowly assistant. Not worthy of being a trusted member of his team. Of his marketing department.
An assistant he decided to sleep with to stop me from working for the enemy.
I’m disgusted.
“You used me,” I say as I back away further from him. “You care about winning that much?” It’s not really a question, because I know the answer.
Nicholas will win at any cost.
Just look at the award he’s won tonight. The game of musical chairs. I knew he was competitive, but I could never have foreseen this.
I’m such a fool.
“January, it doesn’t really matter if I care about winning or not, because tonight, I’ve already lost.” He holds the folder up once more. “This campaign was everything to me, and now I’ve lost. My company is ruined.” He sounds so defeated, and I don’t know if I’m happy or sad at the sight of him right now.
I feel sick.
“You’re right. You just lost me.” I walk away and he doesn’t follow.
It’s better that way because there’s no more words left to say. By either of us. A tear falls down my cheek and I don’t bother swiping it away. I no longer have the energy.
I hurry right to February’s room, not bothering to go back to my shared room with Nicholas.
She opens the door and her eyes look me up and down. “Are you ok?” she asks as I push into her room.
“No,” I say as I flop onto her king-sized bed. “I’m not ok at all.”
She sits down on the bed next to me. “Want to talk about it?”
I sit up, my tears freely falling now. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
She grabs for the box of tissues on the table next to the bed and hands them to me. She brushes back my hair. “Start at the beginning.”
I grab a tissue, dotting at the tears beneath my eyes. I tell her everything, leaving no stone unturned. There’s even a few graphic details about the scorching hot sex we’ve shared thrown in.
When I’m done, we’re both lying on our backs on the bed, staring up at the white ceiling above us.
“I’m so sorry, Jan.”
“I just can’t believe he’d actually think I’d steal that idea and give it to Pulse.”
February sits up straight. “You have to find out who did.”
I’ve got my suspicions. “How?” I ask, but my mind is already spinning with exactly how I can call out the company mole.
“You have to try. You have to prove to Nicholas you didn’t steal his idea. He deserves that much at least. I don’t believe he used you like that.” She gets off the bed and walks around the room. “I know he really liked you. I could tell by the way he looked at you.”
I roll my eyes. “He never looked at me in any certain way.”
“No man would ever sit in a ballroom and play silly games with a bunch of crazies just to impress a girl he doesn’t like.”
I shake my head, sitting up in the process. “He’s got this competitive streak. He likes to win. And him sleeping with me kept me out of Pulse’s grip.”
Feb parks a hand on her hip. “No, he liked you.”
I think about the night we spent together. The way he kissed me. Touched me. Was it all fake? Was he just trying to persuade me not to work for Pulse? “Why wouldn’t he tell me he knew I was quitting?”
“Maybe for the same reason you kept that you were quitting from him.” I wince, because it’s true that I’m not innocent, and she sighs. “I don’t have all the answers. All I know is you have to figure out who the mole was that is selling him out. Think about it, who all would have access to that campaign material.”
“I don’t trust this guy, Ron Dawson, but I don’t know.” I have no way to know if he’s the man we’re looking for. I don’t really know how to solve this crazy puzzle.
“Can you do some snooping? Maybe there’s something in your emails? Or Nicholas’ emails?” Feb is doing her best to figure this out, but I’m not sure there’s anything I can do.
