I force my heavy limbs to take me back to my desk, and I take my seat. I clutch my hands tightly together while I wait for her to come back in. The name Lucas rolls around and around in my mind. I don’t like the idea that he’s still contacting her, that he could turn up at any moment, shattering my happiness.
I’ll have to fucking kill him to get rid of him. If he’s as obsessed with Jodi as I am, then it’ll be the only way to get rid of him.
Not really. I mean, I’m not actually a murderer. But I’ll have to do something drastic. She’s mine, not his.
Jodi bustles back into the office, distracted, and she takes her seat.
“I’m sorry about all that this morning. I know it isn’t appropriate to talk about it at work.”
“It’s okay. If you want to talk about it, it’s fine. I want to listen.”
“No, no. It isn’t the right time. I will tell you though. You deserve to hear the whole story about Thomas.”
Her face darkens as she looks at her cell phone screen and she sees the missed call. She slams it back down, ignoring it, but that isn’t the main thing that’s troubling me right now. She said a name that definitely wasn’t Lucas. Maybe it was an accidental slip of a tongue.
“Thomas?” She nods. “His name is Thomas?”
“Yeah.” She sighs loudly. “Thomas fucking King.”
If he’s Thomas, then who the fuck is Lucas?
10
Jodi
I don’t like this. I don’t like it one bit.
I shift uncomfortably from foot to foot as I stand in the darkened alleyway waiting for him to come. My heart pounds, and cotton explodes in my mouth. I know this isn’t right. I cannot believe that I’ve been guilt-tripped again.
I press my cell phone to my ear, calling him again, just about prepared to cancel. I’m not here for my benefit, am I? And he doesn’t even have the decency to turn up on time. This is fucked up.
“Well, well, well . . .” his voice drawls from behind me, making me jump. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
“Don’t you answer your phone ever? For fuck’s sake, Lucas, I have better places to be.”
“What, than seeing me? I don’t know if I believe that. I’m the lightness in your life.”
I roll my eyes and snort. This cheekiness is what lured me in with Lucas. At one point, he was the light of my life, the person who brought sunshine into my darkest of days. His bright smile and funny jokes, the way he always made me feel special . . . It was alluring until I saw the much darker side of him.
Maybe it was his darkness underneath that really attracted me. I recognized it in myself and him.
“Okay, whatever, Lucas. I’m not getting into that today. We’re here for a reason.”
“So you don’t want to catch up then? You don’t want to do small talk?”
I bristle, anger coursing through my veins. “Of course not. I have other places to be.”
“You have a new boyfriend?” There it is, that darkness again. “You’ve moved on that quick?”
“Quick? Lucas, we’ve been split up for ages. There’s no speed to it at all.”
“Oh my God, you have. You fucking have. I can’t believe it. I thought—”
“What? That we would end up back together? Not a chance, Lucas.”
He steps closer to me, his shadow covering me. I stare up at him defiantly, refusing to be intimidated. My hands fall on my hips and my eyes narrow, but that doesn’t stop him from backing me into a corner.
“But it’s only because I’m all messed up, right? You’re still my one, the person I’m destined to be with. I’m cleaning myself up for you. You know that. We talked about it.”