was reading. Apparently Jacob had used my absence to work on his business using my ideas. I knew now why the features had seemed familiar. It was because I had come up with them during a walk with Jacob. He had jokingly asked if he should be writing them down, but now I wondered if he had actually done just that.
No wonder he didn't want to come to Silicon Valley. He didn't want to be caught like he just was. He was hiding out in my home town because he was too chicken to work on his own game.
I re-read the article, getting angrier and more heated by every word. “The ability to battle and see nearby friends was incredible and brilliant?” He was getting credit for my ideas.
Not to mention the part of the article that mentioned his game company had just gone on a major hiring spree. I guess it was easy to just steal his girlfriend's ideas rather than pay her. Why give her a job when she does it all for free? Just make sure she's too busy to notice what you’re doing.
Only now, I was noticing. All the little things that should have given it away. Anger swelled in my chest. The Legazeus wasn't just a random occurrence. He had put it there for our picnic. The updates that were always my ideas, the Monster Stop on the way to my house- it was all him. It was all him using me to improve his game.
He didn't care about me. It was cheaper to date me than it was to hire me.
Hot, angry tears trickled down my face and I wiped them away so hard it hurt. How dare he do this to me. How stupid did he think I was? Did he think I wouldn't figure it out?
There was no way I wasn't taking the ZephTech job now. There was no reason not to. I wasn't with Jacob anymore. I couldn't be with Jacob anymore.
I threw the bed sheets off and slammed my feet on the floor. I didn't think as I threw all my things back in my suitcase and got dressed. There was no way I was staying the rest of the weekend here. There was no way I was staying with him.
I pulled up a car-driving app and requested a driver to take me home immediately.
I had no idea when Jacob was supposed to be back, but I wanted to make sure he knew why I had left, so I grabbed my lipstick out of my bag and went to the mirror.
MONSTER GO IS A LIE, I wrote in big red letters. I hated how dumb it sounded after I wrote it, but I wasn't about to wash it off. I added, FUCK YOU underneath, just to make sure he was clear on my feelings.
I'd never felt so used. So lied to.
I could have forgiven him for not telling me who he was. I would have been angry, but I probably could have come around to it if he had told me himself.
But he didn't. A news story had told me.
It was the fact that he had used all my ideas and was taking the credit for them that had me so angry. I had worked my butt off to the point of being ill for this stupid internship, and all it would have taken was a wave of his hand to hire me. Instead, he let me sweat and toil while he took the glory.
I loved him and he had used me without so much as a thank you. No wonder he could afford such a nice hotel. He certainly wasn't using his earnings to pay me for my ideas.
I grabbed all my belongings and stormed out the door. The heavy hotel door gave a satisfying shake to the hallway when I slammed it.
I was halfway across the hotel lobby when I heard him call my name.
“Alicia?”
I stopped, turning to see Jacob walking up the marble entrance with a stupid look on his face. My vision went red.
“Leave me alone,” I growled, trying to get around him. If I wasn't so furious by his betrayal, I might have actually cared about the hurt look that filled his face. “It's over.”
“What? What are you talking about?” He stood there as if he didn't have a clue, but he wouldn't let me pass either.
“Billionaire Monster GO developer, huh?” I held up my phone with the news article. “Interesting job description, Jacob.”
His mouth opened and he paled. “Alicia, I can explain...”
“You can explain?” My voice rose to almost supersonic levels. “You can explain how you used all my ideas without saying a word? How you hired hundreds of people, but not me? How you kept it all a secret?”
He winced as though I hit him with every word. “Alicia, please-”
“No, no 'Alicia please.'” I shouldered past him. “You used me. You lied to me. You lied to everyone. I hate you.”
Jacob stilled as I screamed that last sentence across the hotel lobby. Everyone turned and looked, but I didn't care. I was too angry, too hurt to care.
He reached out to touch my arm and I snarled and batted it away. “Don't you dare touch me.”