My lack of listening etiquette had no effect on him. His voice raised and he leaned forward, seeming to speak urgently and quite animated with his hands. I couldn't have given a damn about what he was saying. Wasn't happening. My brain had trouble concentrating on anything but Kevin Trager and how much of a loser he was. He wasn't good enough for Lexa. He was the kind of little boy who would keep on doing things behind her back because he thought he could get away with them. Over and over again. Someone who liked to play dress-up in his daddy's business suits and still held the mentality of a child. Lexa deserved a real man.
Evan gulped down his drink and slammed it down on the table so loudly I feared it would break. "Here she comes," he hissed.
"Huh? Who?" I asked, stumbling blindly back into reality.
"Hello, James. Evan."
My gut twisted with the sound of that voice. Sophia emerged from somewhere behind me in tall, uncomfortable looking heels and a skimpy black dress. I watched silently as she made a theatrical effort to pull a chair over to our table, bending down in front of me so my eyes could see nothing but her assets.
"I don't recall inviting you to sit with us," I said with very little emotion.
"So, you didn't listen to a thing I just said to you, did you?" Evan questioned.
"Nope." I drained my beer and belched like a toddler in the direction of Sophia's face. "Evan, I'll see you at work," I said, gathering my things.
"Wait, James, please," Sophia begged.
"Shouldn't you be screwing Trager?"
"What the hell do you care if I was screwing him? You told me no strings, right? Jealous? I told you this before; you're the one who didn't want to be exclusive. You knew I wanted a relationship with you and you know that I believe Kevin Trager knows Alex, so I did it for you!"
"Let me clarify, Sophia. I don't care who you sleep with, we don't have a relationship, we never did, but it was a poor choice on your part to mess with someone else's fiancé."
"You think he told me there was a fiancé? Please. And what do you pay the mail staff, because his apartment is fabulous. He has a little garden out front and a view of the city to die for," she bragged, trying to get a rise out of me. Like I'd care.
"I don't think it's his place, I think it's hers and you're right, it is really nice,” I smiled wide.
"No way. She’s a pathetic little fact checker. I think Kevin is Alex," she whispered, crossing her arms under her chest, trying to show me more cleavage. "Wait, how do you know it's really nice? You went home with her?"
"Cut the crap, Sophia. You and I are nothing to each other, so don't start drama," I snapped.
Her lips twisted in the most hideous way. "Did you have sex with her?"
I rolled my eyes and laughed in Evan’s direction, but he wasn’t there. Where the hell did Evan go? "Not that it’s any of your business, but no."
"No, you just took her home on the company jet as she sobbed about her perfect little ruined wedding. Why? Did you have to take care of her, like the poor little pathetic thing she is?" She pointed her finger at me and snarled. “Do you realize I had to take a commercial flight back? In economy! Your father didn’t even have enough money to fly me in business class.”
"Is there any part of you that's human?" I asked.
"Yeah, the part that you stuck your dick in,” she said, making me cringe.
"That's no great feat Sophia, and it was just sex, so whatever way you want to spin it, it was still just two people passing time by screwing, same thing as sitting here eating lunch."
She paused briefly, watching me. "You really don't care, do you?" she said, eyes widening.
"No, Sophia, I don't," I shrugged, draining the last of my beer.
"But what about..."
"Stop," I cut her off. "Was it just once? You and Trager? When did it start? I need the truth. Not for me. For Lexa."
She wiped at her eyes. Her makeup smeared from the tears, showing her true face underneath.
"The night that I asked you what you wanted from our relationship—the holiday party. He saw me upset and took me home. I wanted you to get upset, but you didn't even know I left," she sniffled.
"He's been cheating on her for two months?" I was shocked.
"Why do you care so much about her? She has nothing to do with us!"
Another round of drinks arrived. The server ran from the table when she noticed the angry stare Sophia wore. Screw it. I threw down my napkin and stood up. "I don't know what you and Evan planned this lunch outing for. I told you at the conference there is no need for us to speak any longer. You wanted to get me jealous. It didn't work. You want to say it has something to do with Kevin Trager being Alex Kavon. You can believe that all you want, sweetheart. But the truth remains; you slept with someone to see how I'd react. This is how I'm reacting. I don't care."
I walked out of the bar, Evan suddenly appearing right behind me. "James. Man, wait up," he called after me, tugging on my sleeve.
"What? Seriously, what the hell do you want from me?" I said, spinning on him. “And where the hell did you run off to?”
He gestured for me to follow him across the street and into a small coffee shop. "Listen, I know you don't give a crap about Sophia. But, she's getting some information about Alex Kavon merging with Rollingstone. That's going to blow our magazine out of the water." He tugged at his hair nervously. "You and your father have the rest of Holt Media and all their accounts. I work for InTrend and I can't lose my job. Your father is filing for bankruptcy, maybe talking about selling the whole thing, or I don't know."
"I guess you should start looking for another job. Because neither my father nor I will bed Alex Kavon for this dying magazine. It had a great life, once. Now it's over," I seethed.
My fingers hovered over my phone the entire conversation, until I finally couldn't hold back any longer. I put my cell to my ear and waited to hear my father's greeting, then walked away from Evan, leaving him standing alone in the coffee shop with clenched fists.
"Hey, son."
"Pull the magazine. It's not worth it," I said.
"Jameson," he sighed into the phone. "I want to save it, son. It was your mother's pride and joy. She'd roll over in her grave if she knew. I have a consulting firm coming in this week. We'll make plans after," he huffed.
"That's a bullshit reason. The people that work here need to know it's dying," I urged, walking farther down the block.
"Your mother's memory and how she felt about this magazine is not a bullshit reason. I want to give it a few more months, son. So I at least know I tried."
I grumbled my oppositions and we said our goodbyes quickly. Why did I care more about what Lexa was going through than what the magazine was going through? I took my phone out again, took a deep breath, and punched out a text.
8
Lexa
“Men and women were not created equal. Example: Consecutive orgasms. Really ladies? Yes. I’d like to walk in your vagina for a day.” @Kavon #VaginaLuggage
I stood in front of the mirror staring into the eyes of a complete stranger. She was dressed in white silk and lace, a veil hung from her wild hair, and she looked ready to jump right out of a window. My mother and so-called future mother-in-law stood behind me, proud tears in their eyes.
I'm gonna hurl.
The wedding gown was suffocating me. It took me about two seconds. Two seconds of seeing myself in that idiotic dress to realize my wedding was still happening; like storm clouds hovering on the horizon and thunder rolling in. There were fifteen more days.