Her keys slipped from her fingers and clattered to the bricks beneath her feet. She turned toward the street, her heart thumping. “Frankie, what are you doing here?”
David and Reese immediately closed ranks, Reese’s hand on her back and David dropping his bags to step forward.
Frankie’s eyes narrowed on him. “Who are you?”
“I’m David,” he said, holding out a hand toward Frankie.
Frankie ignored him. He glared at Reese’s arm where it disappeared behind her. “What’s going on?”
She followed David’s lead, keeping her tone polite. “Frankie, this is my friend David, and this is Reese, who you may remember me speaking about often,” she said, gesturing.
“Your boss?” he asked, judgment thick in his tone.
She bit back the desire to tell Frankie to fuck off. “Yes. And my friend.” She bent to pick up her keys without taking her eyes off Frankie.
“Do your parents know you’re here?”
She looked him over, stalling when she saw he had a cast on the arm tucked behind his back. In her head, she heard the crunch of bone as the panic room door swung shut.Fuck.She swallowed hard. “Why would you ask if my parents know I’m home?”
“I knew you were away,” Frankie said as if this were an accomplishment.
“And how did you know that?” Reese asked.
Frankie sneered. “I’m friends with her family. They told me she was away on business.”
Mati made a mental note to tell her family,again, not to share details of her life with anyone, and particularly not with Frankie. Not that it would do any good.
“I was away with Reese. Now we’re home and have things we need to do.”
Frankie didn’t appreciate the obvious dismissal, his eyes narrowing. “You fucking them both, Tilly? That would be just like you.”
David stepped forward, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm.
How had she been fooled by this loser? It was humiliating. “Frankie, go home and don’t come back.”
“I can walk down the street if I want,” Frankie said, trying to sound tough and coming off as petulant.
She stepped back and ran into Reese. “Then keep walking and get the fuck off my doorstep.”
Frankie’s cheek ticked, a nasty scowl twisting his lips. “Youbitch.Is this why you dumped me? To fuck your rich boss instead? He gonna give you a raise if you blow him before lunch?”
Reese’s hand curled into a fist against her back. She didn’t dare look at him. Her hands shook with the desire to punch Frankie.
David looked at her, his voice frigid. “What do you want me to do?”
“You fucking him, too?” Frankie sneered, jerking his chin at David. “Figures. You were always a whore, wanting to do all those sick things.”
Mati put a staying hand on David’s chest and pinned a narrow-eyed glare on Frankie, all plans for keeping things civil flying out the fucking window. “I’m not a whore, Frankie—you’re just fucked up. And as far as who I’m sleeping with, what if I am? What are you going to do? Tell my parents? Tell everyone you know? Go the fuck ahead, Frankie. It won’t change the fact that I was a fool to ever date you, and you’re a small-minded, petty, jealous loser who doesn’t know how to take fuck off as an answer and is still sniveling around my front door.”
Frankie’s jaw dropped, his face florid. “You fucking bitch. You can’t—”
David stepped forward and she didn’t stop him this time. “I think Ms. Viveiros was more than clear. It’s time for you to leave.” He glanced back at her and Reese. “Get inside, please.”
Without sparing Frankie another look, she shoved her door open and pulled Reese inside, nudging him up the stairs to make room for David, who was picking up the bags off the sidewalk while staring Frankie down.
Frankie sized David up, then flounced down the sidewalk. Guess he wasn’t as stupid as he looked after all.
As soon as David was through the door, she threw the deadbolt and let out the breath she had been holding. “Well, that sucked. I’m sorry I lost my temper.”
