CHAPTER NINE

PAYTON

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You are nervous, it’sunderstandable.

Ex-fucking-scuse me? Knox Montgomery might be hot, but he’s arrogant as fuck.

He knows I’m attracted to him. I imagine most women are. He’s a mix of Henry Cavill with a little Ryan Gosling mixed in.

Potent.

I hate that he thinks I lack confidence in myself and am some fumbling girl who is attracted to him. I might be inexperienced but I have a degree from Yale for fuck”s sake.

I’m intelligent and, as Alexandra said, I have a top-notch agency behind me.

I will show him.

Trust is easily lost and hard to earn back.

Alexandra is right. I knew that firsthand.

I found out my best friend Nora was sleeping with my boyfriend in the last year of college. I had no idea. I guess they got a little relaxed about things because I found Asher with his hand on her ass in the kitchen.

My damn kitchen.

They’d both looked up and taken not one, not two, but three beats before it occurred to them. Something wasn’t right.

Wow.

“How long have you been fucking?” I asked them.

Cue the dual fish mouthing.

I’d then stormed into my bedroom, chucked out Asher’s stuff, and slammed the door. Fortunately, it had a lock on it.

For an hour he stood outside it, groveling until I yanked it open, and allowed myself a brief moment of joy as he fell on his ass.

“Get the fuck out,” I had then yelled.

“She’s gone. Nora is gone. Please, let’s fix this.”

“How long, Ash? How fucking long have you been sleeping with her?” I pushed past him, grabbed his bag, shoes, and jacket, and carried them out into the living area.

“Just. It. Wait, Payton. It didn’t mean anything. Truly, it was a mistake. Once or twice.”

Bullshit.

“Tell me or Nora will.” I didn’t know that for a fact, but as I stood and waited for the truth, he paled.

“Just this year.”

“The entire year. Jesus, Ash.” My mouth dropped open. “Tell me you used condoms.”

I knew Nora had been banging other guys. At least, I thought she had been. It might have been my boyfriend all along.

The guilty look on his face told me my answer.

“Let’s talk about this,” Ash begged.

“Sure. You cheated on me. I fucking hate you. Get the fuck out because I deserve better and no matter how I feel about you, it doesn’t mean shit,” I cried. “That enough words?”

Then he had the audacity to glare at me.

“I’ll call you tomorrow when you have calmed down,” he said, grabbing his bags and sliding his feet into his sneakers.

“Wow. The old calm down line. You are a prize dick,” I muttered.

He went to lean in and kiss me, but my raised brows made him pause. With a shake of his head, he walked out of my life.

Aside from having to see him for another few weeks at college, and the dozen or so calls and texts he sent, I have not spoken to him since.

Or Nora.

She never tried to apologize.

Not once.

We would pass each other in the halls or on the college grounds and she would just look the other way.

I think that hurt more than all of it.

I thought he loved me.

I thought she was my best friend.

Life had felt lonely until I started my new job where I met Molly. She and I became best friends after sharing a similar experience, although she caught her boyfriend kissing another guy.

“I had no idea he was bi. He should’ve told me in the six months we were together, don’t you think?”

“Six weeks, no. Six months, yes,” I replied.

“It just never occurred to me to ask. Worrying about both sexes is exhausting. Obviously, I ended it.” Molly sighed.

Since we stopped working together a few weeks ago, I felt like I had hardly seen her.

Molly had found something immediately and was working in the suburbs.

How was your first day, babes? She text me last night.

I’m still alive. Let’s call that a win.

What? I’m calling...

No. I’m going to bed. Let’s have lots of wine on Saturday and I’ll tell you everything.

Okay. Call if you need me. x

Mmwa x

So I knew how easily trust could be broken, but being three minutes later was a little different from having your heart ripped out.

I would show Alexandra and Knox I was capable of nailing this job. Not just them, but my parents as well.

Jeez, the pressure was building.

Knox introduces me to his personal assistant and the rest of the team in one sweeping this is Payton, then with a lingering glance which prompts a question from Mindy, leaves us to it.

“Do you know each other?” she asks.

“No. Well, we met yesterday,” I reply, glancing around.

“Let me show you to your desk—it’s a spare desk but all yours until the collection is launched.”

What a breath of fresh air.

I should take notes for Karen.

The morning went well and everyone was very welcoming.

“We’re all relieved to have you here,” Michael, the marketing manager, told me. “The timeline on this is damn tight, but between us all, we have a ton of experience and knowledge.”

“That’s great. Anything you can share with me would be really helpful,” I told him, and he waves me over to his desk.

I feel so much more relaxed about the situation now and confident everything will work out.

That is, until later in the day.