“I cannot believe that we’re here, Jodi. I can’t believe you’ve done this to me.”
She’s a crumbling mess in front of me, falling apart because she’s been found out. A part of me cries out for her—I do want to touch her, to comfort her, because despite everything I can’t help having sympathy for her. But the image of her lip-locked with another man consumes me, and I ball my fists up once more.
“After everything we’ve been through, Jodi. Did none of that mean anything to you? Was it all worthless? Did you even mean it when you said you loved me? Was that all a part of your game? Am I just a pawn in your chess game? I don’t understand anymore. None of this makes any sense.”
I’m not this person. I’m not the man who yells and crumbles, not anymore. That was years ago, but I’ve grown out of that . . . or at least, I thought I had. I’m supposed to be a stronger guy now, the alpha male who’s created a massive business for himself. I should just walk away. I need to walk away.
“What are you talking about, Brock? That isn’t what it’s like. It isn’t that, it’s—”
“You can’t justify what you’ve done. It isn’t going to happen. I won’t hear you out.”
“What do you think you saw there, because it was—”
I shake my head, silencing her. “No. I just said I don’t want to hear it, Jodi. You need to leave.”
“L-leave?” She steps back from me, her eyes running up and down me. “Why?”
“Because we’re done here. Me and you are done. Finished. It’s over. You wrecked it. You can be with him.”
“Be with him? I don’t want to be with him.”
“Oh, so you want to be with me but keep him as a bit on the side? Well, I’m not into that either.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying here. This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Just go, Jodi. Get out of here. I don’t ever want to see your face again.”
“But . . . we’re together. We’ve been together. You can’t just end that.”
“I didn’t. You did the moment you left the casino to meet him.”
“But that was for—” She stops as she realizes this isn’t going to fly. “But we work together.”
“No. We don’t. Not anymore. You gotta go. I need you out of my life for good.”
“You can’t fire me,” she cries out while clutching her stomach. “I need this job.”
“Well, I can’t be around you anymore, Jodi. It isn’t going to happen.”
“I always thought you would still let me work with you, even if you didn’t want me anymore.”
“I did too. I never wanted me and you to affect your working position, but I can’t look at you.”
“Have a heart, Brock. Don’t fire me. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s all a mistake. It never happened. You’ll see that when you calm down. You’ll realize this is all a mistake. Don’t do anything stupid, please.”
She grabs onto me, and I spot that familiar look of sincerity in her eyes, drawing me in. It looks so real, she seems so genuine, it’s hard not to fall into her beautiful trap. She’s still the girl I’ve fallen for, the one I have no idea how I’m going to live without, my drug addiction . . . but I need to go cold turkey. It’s the only way.
“Jodi, this is the last time I ever want to see you. If you’ve left anything in the office, I’ll forward it to you, but aside from that, there’s absolutely no reason for us to see one another. Do you understand?”
“You can’t cut me off, not when I need you so much. This is the worst timing . . .”
“Why? Has he broken up with you as well? It sure didn’t look that way to me.”
“No, that’s not it. You saw wrong. That’s Lucas—”
“Yeah, I know, the guy who’s been calling you over and over again. The one who’s had you glued to your phone. The one you didn’t tell me about for a very good reason.”
“Because I didn’t want him to destroy us. He threatened to—”