Nine-tenths of the Law

Chapter Twenty-five

Avoiding Nathan’s accusing glare, I let out an exasperated sigh. A thousand ways to strangle Jake crossed my mind, but there would be time to think about that later. For now, I had some damage control to perform.

“Come on, let’s go in the office,” I said.

He planted his feet and nodded toward the projector-room door. “Prefer not to return to the scene of the crime?”

Anger rose like bile in my throat, and I wasn’t sure who it was directed toward. Probably both of them now. I swallowed it, trying to stay calm. “Or, we can talk in there.” I opened the door, and made an after you gesture.

Neither of us spoke on the way up the stairs. The projector room was still deserted, as I expected, but seemed strangely emptier with the two of us in it now. There was an arm’s length and miles of distance between us as we faced off, and the silence was an unbearable preamble to whatever this was going to be.

He folded his arms across his chest and gestured at the door through which we’d just walked. “So what was that-”

“Nathan, for God’s sake, you know what he’s like,” I said.

“Yeah, I do,” he said. “That’s why I’m wondering why he was here with you. Specifically, here with you.” He gestured around the room.

I gritted my teeth. He had a right to be concerned. Once bitten, twice shy, after all. Except the one that bit you took off out of the lobby and left me to sort this out. “Do you trust me?”

He shifted his weight. “Should I?”

I rolled my eyes and barely kept myself from groaning with frustration. “Look, Nathan, he’s fucking with us. Trying to play us against each other. What he said on his way out? It didn’t mean a damned thing.”

“Then what was he doing here? What were you two doing in here?”

“Honestly?” I ran a hand through my hair. “The same fucking thing you and I are doing right now-arguing. About us, about you two, about him and me.” Sighing, I shook my head. “The only reason I brought him in here was to keep it out of sight of my customers and my employees. I wanted to do it privately because I didn’t need them to hear it, not because I was hiding anything from you. I mean, I-” I stopped.

“What?”

I glanced at the clock above the projectors. It was only a quarter past four. Nathan wasn’t supposed to meet me until six. Furrowing my brow, I eyed him. “What are you doing here so early?”

He pursed his lips and shoved a hand in his jacket pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and slid it open. “I came early,” he said, quickly pushing a few keys”, because of this.” He handed me the phone.

On the screen was a text message: Don’t believe me? Suit yourself. J.

I scrolled down, anger churning in my gut as a photo appeared on the screen. It was grainy, barely focused, but unmistakable: The Epidauran’s marquee. Though the lettering was difficult to make out, it was obviously the current feature films. The films I had just put up that morning.

“What the fuck?” I muttered.

“Look at the next photo message,” he said.

I did as he asked and my blood ran cold.

Oh, you planned this one, Jake, I thought. You planned every last bit of it, you fucking bastard.

The picture was one of me. I was leaning against the projector-room window, my eyes closed and my jaw set. Jake had taken it from the perfect vantage point, sitting in front of me and pointing up. The look on my face-an expression of frustration, I knew-could easily be misconstrued as a look of arousal.

Cursing under my breath, I thrust Nathan’s phone back to him, hoping he’d take it before my fury sent the damned thing flying across the room.

“So you were the one he was texting the whole fucking time.” I ran a hand through my hair, struggling to keep my temper in check.

“You didn’t answer your phone when I called.” The accusation in his tone set my teeth on edge.

I took a long breath through my nose. Nathan wasn’t the object of my anger; more than before, I understood why he was suspicious. “No, I didn’t, you’re right. I heard my phone go off, but I was trying to get rid of him. If you hadn’t been in the lobby when I came down, I was going to call you as soon as he was gone.”

When I met his eyes, skepticism was written all over his face. I wanted to be pissed that he had the nerve to be suspicious of me, but I didn’t envy the position he was in, trying to decide who, if anyone, to trust. Words were one thing, but Jake had played us perfectly and managed to concoct some incriminating photos to go with it.

“Nathan, that’s the God’s honest truth.” I took and released a breath. “There’s nothing more I can say to make you believe me, but there it is.”

He regarded me silently for a long time, seeming to search my face for something. Maybe confirmation, maybe something to betray the fact that I was lying. Since I wasn’t lying, I knew he’d find nothing to indicate that I was, so I held his gaze without flinching.

Eventually, he dropped his gaze, his shoulders slumping slightly as he leaned against the window, just inches from the place I’d stood when that damned photo was taken.

“What is he trying to do, then?” he asked without looking at me.

“He just can’t stand the thought of the two of us being together,” I said. “I mean, that had to be a blow to his ego. It always stings to see your ex with someone new, but two exes together?”

Nathan laughed softly and his eyes finally met mine again. “I think his ego needed it, quite frankly.”

Some of the tension shook itself out of my shoulders as the hostility between us faded. “Exactly. So I guess I can see why he’d try to play us against each other like that. God forbid we be happy together while he’s still single and miserable.”

“That sounds like Jake,” he muttered.

I pursed my lips. “He said a few other things, too.”

Nathan cocked his head, a silent go on.

I watched my own wringing hands, wondering if I should even go there. I didn’t believe Jake, did I? So why bother? Why bring it up at all? It was bullshit, I was sure of it. At least, I thought I was sure of it. I was pretty sure. Every other word that came out of Jake’s mouth was a lie, so this must have been too.

Nathan cleared his throat, reminding me of the silence between us that I was expected to fill.

Taking a breath, I looked him in the eye. “He told me you cheated first.”

“He what?” Nathan stared at me in disbelief. “He really said that?”

I nodded.

Nathan threw up his hands. “Jesus fucking Christ, he really is a goddamned piece of work.” He muttered something under his breath, then shook his head. “He’ll come up with anything to play us against each other, won’t he?”

“So, what he said about you cheating,” I said. “It’s all bullshit?”

He laughed. “Oh, fuck yeah, of course it-” He stopped and looked at me, lips forming an unspoken oh. Letting out a long breath, he chewed his lip and nodded. “Point taken.”

“So you believe me?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Well, he did send you pictures.”

Nathan shrugged, then put his arms around me and kissed me lightly. “Yeah, but…” He shook his head. “Fuck, I should have known. He’s always been a manipulative bastard.”

“That he is.” I kissed him again, but the instant our lips met, a slamming door downstairs caught my attention. I quickly stepped back, separating us a second before Dean and Max came into the projector room.

They both halted, eyes darting back and forth between us.

Dean cleared his throat. “Do we, um, should-”

“Let’s go,” I said to Nathan, nodding toward the door. To my employees, I said, “Projector One should be working this time. Break it and-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Max said, waving dismissively. “Break it, and you’ll break us.”

“Exactly.” With that, Nathan and I left, heading down the dark stairs toward the lobby. Just before we reached the door, he stopped me with a hand on my arm.

“I’m sorry I doubted you,” he said, barely whispering.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I would have, too.”

“I still should have known,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay,” he said, lifting my chin with two fingers. “I won’t. What I will do, though…” His lips were almost close enough to taste. “…is make it up to you when you get home tonight.”

I shivered. “Promise?”

“You’d better believe it.”