“Hmm,” Dylan lets out his trademark unimpressed sound before his eyes drag over me. His lips tip up into a smirk. “You look different,” he says. “Thinner.”
I am frozen.
It’s almost like my drink was spiked with something that paralyzes me.
I want to run, but I can’t move.
I want to rebut with some kind of snide remark, but I can’t speak.
Luckily, Rachel’s mouth seems to be working just fine.
“That would be a side effect of infidelity in a relationship,” she says.
Dylan is still smiling, but there’s tension in his jaw.
I know that look all too well.
He’s going to go for blood.
“El, you remember Tish, don’t you?” he asks, and that’s when I realize his little secretary is standing here, her fragile hands clasped onto his arm.
“How could I forget?” I ask with a pleasant smile. At least, I hope it’s pleasant. The way he’s smiling, I’d put money on it that I look like I’m going to faint.
“You know you really have a lot of nerve,” Rachel starts in like the firecracker that she is.
“I’m sorry, was I talking to you?” he spits out. And there it is. Dylan is all talk until his little boy temper hits the surface, and then he’s just an ass.
“She’s right,” I say. Because nothing brings out my salty side like someone fucking with my sister. “You do have a lot of nerve. For cheating on me. Flaunting your robbed from the cradle girlfriend in front of me all so you feel like a big man. Tell me, Tish. Are you even old enough to drink?”
Rachel snorts, but I’m not amused.
I’m feeling a little unhinged right now, to be honest.
I’m also not finished.
“I know you feel like you’ve won, but let me tell you something. You’ve lost. You’ve lost a woman who thought she loved you. You’ve lost a co-worker who is the only reason you’ve come as far as you have. And you’ve lost your reputation.”
It’s quiet for a moment, and I can literally feel my chest rising and falling as the words I’ve never had the guts to say before hang in the air between us.
“Do you feel better now?” he asks, and I can physically feel myself starting to deflate. “The reason I am where I am has nothing to do with you, Annelise. If anything, you held me back.”
“Held you back?” I ask, borrowing my sister’s signature snort for a moment. “You wouldn’t have that job if it weren’t for me. The fact is, Dylan, you used me as a ladder. Except for the part where you dipped down into shallower pools for whatever this is,” I wave my hand overTishas I say the words.
“Hey, fuck you!” Dylan snaps, a little too loudly.
Suddenly the room turns quiet and all eyes are on us.
But I am done.
I take Rachel by the hand and make my way around Dylan and his arm candy.
As I go to pass him, he grabs me by the arm, jarring me enough to spill my drink down the front of my dress. “You listen to me,” he says.
My confidence is lost, and the only thing I want now is to get the hell out of this hotel.
But when I go to pull away, he doesn’t let go.
“Actually,” he says, his gaze running up and down my body with open disgust, “I broke up with you because I couldn't stand the sight of you naked.”
