What?
“But now,” Penelope continues, loud enough that probably half the beach can hear, “seeing you two rolling around under an umbrella, it all makes sense.”
“Penelope—” Scott starts.
“Wait.” I hold up my hand. The world has gone very still. “What did you just say?”
Penelope’s smile widens. This is exactly the reaction she wanted. “Oh, you didn’t know? Your boyfriend here bought your building. Personally. Took it right out of the Reed Development portfolio. The investors were absolutely furious. But I suppose when you’re in love, money is no object.”
I turn to Scott.
His face tells me everything I need to know.
“You bought my building?”
“Jessica, let me explain?—”
“You bought my building. You own it. You?—”
“I was trying to protect you. The board was going to sell, and I couldn’t let?—”
“Jessica?”
David’s voice. He’s crossed the beach while Penelope was dropping her bomb, and now he’s standing there, close enough to touch, looking at me with an expression caught between anger and something that might be hurt.
“David.” I can barely process. Too much happening at once. “What are you doing here?”
“Brian and Melissa’s wedding is this weekend.” Our old friends. The ones I drifted from after the divorce because they were really his friends first. “I saw you from the boardwalk. With him.”
The way he says “him” is loaded with ten years of history and eight years of bitterness.
Scott steps closer to me. Protective. “This isn’t a good time.”
“I can see that.” David’s eyes are fixed on me. “Who is this, Jess? Your landlord?”
“Don’t call me Jess.”
“Your landlord who apparently bought your building?” David laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “That’s convenient.”
“You don’t know anything about this situation,” Scott says, his voice low.
“I know Jessica. I know how she operates.” David reaches out and grabs my arm. “We need to talk. Alone.”
Everything happens very fast.
Scott moves, inserting himself between us, forcing David to release my arm. His whole body has gone rigid with barely contained fury.
“Get your hands off the woman I love.”
David’s eyebrows shoot up. Penelope makes a sound of delighted shock.
“The woman you love?” David repeats. “You’ve got to be kidding. You bought her building. You own her livelihood. And you think that’s love?”
“You don’t get to talk to her. You don’t get to touch her. You don’t get to?—”
“What, defend her honor? That’s rich coming from the guy who literally purchased her like property.”
Scott’s hands ball into fists. He takes a step toward David.
