King’s chair squeaked as he leaned forward. “They’re her favorite. Don’t you listen to anything she says?”
Well, that answered my questions about King. Clearly he’d been watching me with Justin, listening to our conversations.
My stomach knotted and twisted, the dinner I’d finished an hour ago roiling and threatening to come up. I drank some more wine to help swallow the bitterness down.
“I’m sick of dealing with her after nearly two months, and now you’re telling me I’m stuck with the bitch for another few? No King, I don’t really listen to her and I don’t want to.”
“Fuck, Jay. Pay attention. Whether you like her or not, you have a job to do, so do it.”
Justin hauled himself off the couch. “Fine. The only good thing about this shit is she is fuckin’ fantastic in bed, man. When she’s not using that mouth to rip me a new on, it’s goddamn amazing.”
My skin crawled at his words as I watched him leave King’s office. The video kept playing and my finger hovered over the track pad on my laptop to stop it. I hesitated as King moved, picking up a paperweight on his desk. He stared at it for a second, rolling it over in his hand.
Suddenly his arm flew out to the side and he flung it against the wall in a sidearm throw. I heard the loud crack of it hitting the sheetrock, leaving a huge dent before it fell to the floor. King placed both palms of both hands against the desk and, shoulders heaving, bowed his head. The video ended a few seconds later.
My heart ached as I watched the next video, dated three weeks later. It was along the same vein; Justin bitched about me and King demanded that he get his shit together.
I didn’t want to see the last two, but I forced myself to do it. King hadn’t been lying to me. Justin never cared for me and King…King was using me in some sort of twisted, fucked up plot against my ex-boss, Larry.
The third video was grainy and listed as New Year’s Eve. My eyes widened as the shaky footage, obviously shot on a phone, showed Justin making out with another woman. A woman who was definitely not me. And they were going at it, hands everywhere, mouths open, and moans filling the air.
I recognized the suit he was wearing. He’d dressed up for my New Year’s Eve party that year. The woman was wearing a short, tight black dress that verged on slutty. Something about it seemed vaguely familiar, but I wasn’t sure why. It was obvious he’d hooked up with someone after my party.
A sharp pain shot through my chest. Hearing Justin say he had a woman hurt, but actually seeing it was like being stabbed in the heart. The knife in my chest twisted brutally when he pulled back just far enough for me to see the woman’s face. Katie’s face.
“No,” I whispered.
I didn’t even bother to watch the last fifteen seconds of the film. I didn’t need to see more. My best friend had fucked my boyfriend. That’s all I needed to know.
I almost shut my computer then. I wasn’t sure I could handle any more. Still, I found my finger moving the pointer to the link dated two weeks later, just days before Justin died, and clicking on it. Once again, the screen was filled with the image of King’s office, King behind his desk. I heard a knock before Justin came into frame.
“You wanted to see me, boss.”
Boss. Like what Jack and Chad called him. Boss. King wasn’t even Justin’s friend. He was his boss. I wondered if they had actually known each other all their lives or if that was a lie too.
“Yeah, sit down.”
Justin did as he said. “What’s up?”
King stood and walked around his desk, leaning a hip against it and crossing his arms over his chest. “You need to break it off with Jena.”
“The fuck you say!” Justin yelled, jumping to his feet.
“Cool it, man!” King barked. “And sit your ass back down.”
For a tense second, I thought Justin was going to haul off and punch King in the face, but he didn’t. He took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders, and collapsed back on the cushions.
“Why?” he asked angrily. “Six fuckin’ months I’ve been dealing with this ballbusting bitch and now you’re telling me it’s over?”
King’s back looked tight. “I’m pullin’ you. I’ve already cleared it with Wick. You’re off her. We’ll find another way at Peretti.”
“No offense, King, but I’ve put months into this and my girl won’t be fuckin’ happy if she finds out I did all this shit for nothin’.”
“You mean your new girl, Katie?” King asked sharply. “Jena’s best friend.”
“What the fuck does it matter?” Justin asked.
I couldn’t breathe. The hits were coming too fast and hard.
“I’m just sick of you using your women as an excuse during this job when you’ve had three over the last six months.”
Jesus Christ. After three months and both of us getting tested, I’d gone on the Pill and Justin and I had ditched the condoms. I wondered how many women he’d slept with in that time. Just the three? Or maybe more?
Suddenly, the sick feeling in my stomach overtook me and I shot to my feet, running to the bathroom, and crouching over the toilet. Once my gut was empty and the heaves stopped, I closed my eyes and focused on breathing.
It was amazing how badly this betrayal hurt, even after two and a half years.
Stiffly, I got to my feet, rinsed out my mouth and washed my face with cold water. Then I walked into the kitchen and poured myself some sparkling water, hoping it would settle my stomach.
I carried it back into the living room and sat back in front of the computer. The screen was black. I bumped the track pad and the last frame of the video came up. I rewound it back to the point where I got sick and started it again.
I was obviously a glutton for punishment.
I watched numbly as Justin’s fists clenched. “Fuck you, King. If you like the bitch so much, maybe you should step in. Get the job done right.”
“Do not push me, Justin,” King growled. “Break it off with Jena. Wick and I already have another plan to get to Peretti.”
“Fine,” Justin snapped, getting to his feet and stalking out of the office.
This time King didn’t throw anything at the wall. He just stared at the couch where Justin had been sitting. He rolled his head around as though his neck and shoulders were stiff and straightened from the desk. The video ended after that.
My mind whirling, I shut down my computer, removed the thumb drive from it, and carried it into my bedroom. I wanted to dump it down the kitchen sink and use the garbage disposal to grind it into pieces, but I didn’t. I went into the back of my closet, removed the small board in front of the stash space I’d created and pulled out a lockbox. I carried it to my bed and got the key from where I kept it taped beneath my nightstand drawer.
After I unlocked it, I dropped the thumb drive inside and closed the lid with a snap. Once I replaced the box, I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and changed into my sleep shirt. Then I stretched out in bed with a sigh, wrapping my arms around my pillow. I was exhausted, ready for the oblivion that would come with sleep.
But it never did.
Chapter Fourteen
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The next day I dragged my ass into work, feeling like crap. I hadn’t slept a wink. I also hadn’t called or texted King. I couldn’t deal with him at the moment. I felt like I couldn’t deal with anything.
I moved through my morning work like a ghost, there but not completely. A little after ten, Marilyn stuck her head in my door. Whatever she was about to say never came out of her mouth. She frowned at me.
“Jena, hon, are you feeling okay?”
I knew my answering smile was wan, but I couldn’t muster up anything better. “Yeah, Marilyn, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” she stated firmly. “It’s Friday. Take the day off and make it a long weekend. You look like you need rest.”