AllFreeNovel
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“Are you going to give me the money you owe, or not? I’ll even settle for taking half of it now, if you need more time to get the rest.”
“Why do you need this money so badly?” I asked. “At first, I assumed you were being petty. But now it feels like more than that.”
His eyes hardened. “I… am currently unemployed.”
I couldn’t stop myself from snickering. “Seriously? You lost your job? What happened?”
“I asked Marilyn out,” he replied. “And she reported me, because apparently she’s a snowflake who can’t take a compliment.”
Now Ireallywanted to laugh. Marilyn was eighteen years old and had started working at the company straight out of high school. “You asked her outonce, and she reported you?”
Trip shifted his weight. “Well, I asked her out a couple of times. She wasobviouslyplaying hard to get. But then she flipped out and reported me.” He sneered at that. “I was trying to make you jealous. To show you that I have lots of options. If you hadn’t dumped me, I wouldn’t have been asking her out.”
“Oh, right. It’smyfault you harassed your barely-legal coworker.”
“You owe me,” he insisted, crossing his arms like a petulant child. “If you write me a check, I’ll leave you alone.”
A different, less confident version of Beth would have given in just to get him off my back. But I was a different woman, now. I knew he wouldn’t leave me alone no matter what I did. And I wasn’t going to allow myself to be bullied.
“Trip, I’m going to make this very clear.” I leaned across the fence. “Fuckallthe way off.”
“Wow. I didn’t expect you to be a bitch about it.”
“Kennels are ready for breakfast,” Christian shouted behind me. When he saw me talking to Trip, he started walking in our direction, with Heidi at his side.
“What the… that’s Christian Baker!” Trip turned his confused gaze toward me. “How do you have so many celebrities here?”
“Lizzy’s dog boarding is really taking off,” I replied. “Just like I told you it would.”
Trip must have noticed what Christian was wearing, because he abruptly said, “Did he spend the night?”
“That is none of your business,” I said sweetly.
“Are youfuckinghim?”
“I don’t owe you anything for the hockey ticket,” I replied, “and I sure as hell don’t owe you any other explanations about my life.”
“Everything okay?” Christian asked, stepping up next to me. Heidi, sensing the tension, became stiff while staring at Trip through the fence. There was an aura of quiet danger between she and her owner.
“Everything’s fine,” I replied. “This guy was just leaving.”
Trip looked like he wanted to say more to me, but hesitated. The incident with Logan was likely fresh in his mind.
“I believe the lady asked you to leave,” Christian said. He was calm, but intense as he gripped the fence bar with both hands and stared directly at Trip.
My ex turned around and got back into his truck. He made a three-point turn, then rolled down the window before leaving. “The Colts suck. They never should have left Indianapolis.”
“Thanks for the information,” Christian said as Trip drove away. Only then did Loki stop barking, and Heidi relax.
Christian grunted. “So that’s the ex Logan told me about.”
“What’d he tell you?”
“That you used to date someone who is realcunty. His word, not mine. But I have to say, based on my brief interaction, it’s an accurate description.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “We only dated two months. I honestly don’t know what I saw in him.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. Every bad relationship is like a path leading you to the right one. I’ve had my fair share of bad girlfriends, trust me.”
