“I lied to get this job. I worked at Piranha Media for two years.Mark was my boss, and we had a relationship, until he broke up with me and fired me to get me out of there. When your aunt offered me the opportunity to apply for the job, I had to take it. I needed the work. I never mea?—”
Curtis held up his hand and shook his head. “I don’t want to hear it. You lied to me. I thought I could trust you. I opened up to you. I wanted a future with you.” A kicked puppy couldn’t look more dejected and hurt. “Why should I believe you’re not here to steal more clients? I can’t believe I fell for it… for you. Get out.”
I was going to vomit.
“Just call Mark. You’ll see that none of this office espionage bullshit is real. Please.” I swallowed the tidal wave of despair threatening to swamp me.
Curtis stared at me, the blue of his eyes dulling to gray. “You want me to call the man you dated, the man who’s paying you to undermine this company, so he can laugh at me? I made a mistake with you, Faith. I won’t make another one.”
I wanted to scream, to beg, to wake up and find this was a shitty nightmare. How could he so easily believe I was capable of that? Maybe he’d never seen the real me at all. It was just a fantasy in my head. The connection we shared was as fake as the marketing images we edited until they were perfect representations of what we wanted the customer to think they were getting.
It was all a lie.
“Good work, son. That’s what I want to see. I only want the best for you, but you’re too easily led by the wrong people.” Knight Senior’s contemptuous glare socked me right in the stomach. I would never be good enough for these people. The realization stung. No matter what I did, nothing would change. The world had neat little drawers for each person, and I was lying with the dust bunnies underneath the dresser. “Unfortunately, this time, it’s going to cost you your job. You’re no longer CEO of Knight Advertising.”
I sucked in a breath. We’d known this might happen, but it was still a shock. Curtis looked like he wanted to upend the conference table. And it was all my fault… or it appeared to be. I was the mistake that cost him everything.
Even if it wouldn’t win me points with Curtis, I couldn’t keep quiet. “You can’t! None of this is right or Curtis’s fault.”
Knight Senior’s thick eyebrows drew down. “Hush. You have no voice here. You’ve caused enough trouble for my family, gold digger.”
He did not.
My mouth dropped open, which lost me precious time because before I could respond, Queen B’s cheery voice came from the other side of the table. “I told you she was beneath you, Curt. You should stay with your own kind. It’s Monica all over again. I really am sorry.”
#SorryNotSorry came to mind. What was she getting out of this? Was she that much of a sadist that she just happily rolled in the mud of other people’s broken dreams, or was she benefitting some other way? Also, I really wanted to respond to Curtis’s father, but I’d look stupid now the moment had moved on. Why did that always happen to me?
Uncaring of his pain, Queen B slid the two other photos across the table, one of Mark and me smiling, looking in love, the other an email addressed to me from Mark, asking me to work here for a bonus and potentially him taking me back.
Lies.
Lies.
Lies.
This was a lot to absorb for me, but for Curtis, it was so much more. He thought I’d let him down, and he’d lost the other most important thing in his life—his job with his family company. I wished I’d never taken the position, or at least regretted not beinghonest at the time. My omission had provided the perfect opportunity for Queen B to manipulate.
Curtis narrowed his eyes as he read the email, his mouth twisting in disgust. Even though he hated me, I couldn’t hate him for it. He was tragically beautiful in his despair and fury, and the fact that I was staring at him, committing the curve of his cheekbones and sweep of his eyelashes, the plane of his nose and the fullness of his mouth to memory was pathetic but necessary. I never wanted to forget him. He was as close as I’d ever gotten to love, and I had a feeling that it was as close as I was ever going to get.
There was nothing left to do but hold my heart together so I didn’t bleed to death in front of these evil, rich people.
Curtis and me together was too good to be true. I should’ve known not to let my guard down.
Curtis’s father peered over my shoulder toward the door. “Ah, there you are. Please escort this person out.” Knight Senior nodded toward me, satisfaction radiating from every designer thread in his expensive suit.
I turned my head. A mammoth security guy in a black suit loomed behind me. I looked at Curtis again, hoping to plead my case, but he wouldn’t look at me. His mouth in a firm line, he stared unseeing at his father. How could he just shut me out so easily? So much for him being the first man to ever stick up for me. His support was as short-lived as any donut once it was in my hand.
The hulk behind me cleared his throat. I stood and resisted the urge to kick him in the shin. Spending the night in jail would’ve been an awesome way to finish the day, but even I wasn’t that crazy. And I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.
They wouldn’t see me break.
Holding my head high, my heart hemorrhaging like a storm drain after a downpour, I walked out.
My mother was right. I’d aimed too high, and the landing was every bit as messy as I’d thought it would be. And there was no one there to clean up the mess. I was on my own.
For the second time this year, I did the walk of shame from a relationship and job, grief burning my eyeballs.
When was I going to learn?
