by Niecey Roy
“I don’t think it’s supposed to rain. I have a cardigan in the house if you want it,” Rach offered. She wished she’d have thought to bring two, feeling the chill now despite Maggie’s heated glare.
The small yard lamps staked close to the ground lit a soft glow around the pool and cut a trail down along the path that led to the lake. It was beautiful. The paddle boat Craig had purchased a few days ago so they could paddle around the lake bobbed on the water next to the dock at the end of the path. They’d paddled out there for an hour, had no luck fishing, though their interest in trying had waned due to Craig not being able to keep his hands off of her. The memory made her smile. They’d ended up on his living room floor where she’d been unable to keep her hands off of him. Afterward, wrapped in nothing but a soft blanket, they watched the sun set behind the lake until Rach had fallen asleep in Craig’s arms. The last week had been the happiest of Rach’s life and the butterflies hadn’t yet gone away.
Rach frowned and turned to Leah. “Should I be annoyed that she made the guest list? Because I am.”
Leah gave a small shrug and turned to pluck another hors d’oeuvre off a tray on the table behind them. “No, but I’d be annoyed at the way she keeps draping herself all over Craig whenever she has the chance. It’s inappropriate.”
The woman had made herself known the second she’d arrived, sweeping around the room like she were royalty, laughing too loudly and smiling gorgeously. Then she’d stopped beside Craig’s parents, looking perfectly at ease with them, sharing a joke with Craig’s dad and giving Craig’s mom a hug. Then she’d leaned up and kissed Craig on the cheek. His surprise was evident, but Maggie had acted as if she did that sort of thing every day. Rach could only bite her lip and look away, not wanting to make a scene in front of Craig’s parents or his guests. The woman’s audacity was appalling, but Rach knew a challenge when she saw one. It was better to keep mum than to fall for Maggie’s bait.
“I was hoping she’d leave soon, but it’s apparent she plans on staying until the end.” She sighed and sipped at the champagne in her hand. It was very good, but she wasn’t in the mood to drink so she set it down on the table. “It’s like she wants me to confront her or something. Seriously creepy.”
“Definitely creepy. I’m creeped out and she’s not even glaring at me.” Leah popped a square of cheese into her mouth. “We should stick our tongues out at her.”
“Super creepy.” Rach crossed her arms and considered it. “We definitely should stick our tongues out at her. Maybe she’d be shocked at our level of maturity and just leave.”
Leah puckered her lips together in exaggerated consideration, tapping them with a pink fingernail before shaking her head. “Nah. She’d probably do back flips over here and karate chop us. She seems the type. No one stares like that unless they can back it up.”
Rach laughed and gave Leah a quick, tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re here. If I had to come alone, I’d be a mess right now.”
Leah grinned and gave Rach’s shoulder a soft nudge with her fist. “Yeah, I’m pretty swell, aren’t I?”
Rach rolled her eyes. “Yeah, swell.”
Leah’s eyes widened and she grabbed Rach’s wrist. “Oh my God, she’s coming over here.”
“Crap,” Rach muttered and decided she wanted a drink, after all. She picked up the champagne flute and downed the rest of the liquid in the glass.
“Do you want me to stay, or leave?” Leah whispered.
“You can stay. If I lose my temper, drag me away.”
“Just tell her how it is,” Leah instructed firmly. “Craig loves you and she’s history. Enough said.”
There was no time to respond as Maggie planted herself in front of Rach, and said, “It’s time we have a private talk, woman to woman.” The determined set to her shoulders made Rach straighten to her full height, a couple inches taller than Maggie.
A few of the guests stared in their direction—an ex-girlfriend and new girlfriend faceoff. Who wouldn’t be interested in watching?
Just what I need, a damn scene. Fed up with the entire situation, Rach stated, “I think if you had any class at all, you’d leave. You’re not welcome here.”
Maggie sucked in a breath and in the waning light of the sun with the exterior lights to cast a soft, yellow glow, she turned pink in the cheeks and fisted her hands.
“I’m not welcome here?” She spat incredulously. The intense look in her eyes, as if she’d like to reach out and strangle her, made Rach take a step backward. “You’re mistaken. You have no idea what kind of man Craig is. You’re just a joke to him—to everyone here.”
Rach glanced around at the nearby guests who were now whispering. She wished Craig would come outside and chase the woman off, but with Rach’s luck, he’d be in his office until midnight.
“Do you know that everyone on this patio knows you are unemployed? How do you think they know that, hm? Because Craig told everyone. I’m sure they’re all laughing behind your back. But not me, I’ll do it to your face—it’s pathetic.” Rach flinched at her words. Seeing the questioning draw of Rach’s brows, Maggie grinned. “Do you really think his parents will let him date someone like you? He’s way too good for you.”
Maggie’s words hit straight home to Rach’s insecurities. A once successful, happy, employed Rach was now a failure and everyone at Craig’s party knew it. She just didn’t know how. Maggie had found out somehow and she’d come to this party with the intention of embarrassing Rach. She almost yelled out, I’ve got a job, bitch, but then she’d have to follow-up with where, and since the onion ring factory didn’t sound very prestigious, she kept it to herself.
“He loves me.” But the words came out more of a question than a statement.
Maggie sniffed and a hateful smile enveloped her lips. She leaned forward and Rach took another step backward. “You’re just a fun little game to him. Craig’s always been a ladies’ man; do you think someone like you would change that? What do you have to offer him? I know about him fixing your car—charity, that’s all it is, that’s all you are. He’ll tire of you soon enough. I bet he didn’t even tell you he owned a dealership, did he?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” She hated to ask—why did she ask? The right thing to do was to tell the woman to go to hell, but instead she stood there, listening to the vicious words spewing from her mouth.
“Ah, he didn’t.” Maggie snickered and her pleased expression chipped another piece out of Rach’s self-confidence. Maggie took another step forward and Rach stepped backward again. “He does that with the women he thinks would likely be after his money. Obviously he’d do so with someone like you, some unemployed loser. He doesn’t trust you.”
“Don’t listen to her, Rach. The bitch is crazy,” Leah said and placed a hand on Rach’s arm to ground her. It was all she needed to bring herself back to reality, to remember that the woman standing in front of her was a spiteful monster.
Rach didn’t doubt the way Craig looked at her, or the warmth as he stared into her eyes—the way he held her in his arms, whispered how beautiful she was. But he’s never told you he loves you, never asked you to make a commitment, never offered commitment to you.
She shook the doubt from her mind. Clenching her fists, she glared at Maggie. “If he wanted you, Maggie, you’d be here with him. But you’re not. I am. I’m his date. You’re old news and you look pathetic to everyone here, throwing yourself all over him when he just ignores you. It’s sad, really.”
“Listen here, you bitch,” Maggie ground out, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper, “He will come back to me. Did he even tell you what happened the other morning after you left his apartment?”
“Of course, he told me. He tells me everything.” Not exactly true of the entire time they’d known each other, but she hoped it was the truth now.
“Craig and I have always had a…hot relationship. He and I have this…let’s just say connection. At first he was annoyed I was there,
I’m sure he was embarrassed getting caught with you in his apartment. But after we argued…well, we made up. I was too pissed to sleep with him but the man couldn’t keep his hands off of me. He can be very…persuasive.” She grinned, pulling her lips up over perfectly white teeth in more of a snarl than a smile. “I was just with him the other night and if you were honest with yourself, you’d know I’m telling you the truth. He’s not with you every day and when he’s not, he’s talking to me or he’s with me. Or maybe you’re just too stupid to see what’s right in front of your face. I assume you must be an idiot since you have no job.”
“That’s it,” Rach fumed and she took a step forward, forgetting her vow to not cause a scene.
Just when she was about to dump her drink on the bitch’s head, Leah placed a hand on Rach’s wrist, distracting her. Leah shook her head with a frown. “Don’t do it, she’s not worth the scene. You’re better than her. “
Rach sighed and stepped away. She gave Leah a shaky smile and said, “You’re right. Thanks.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Maggie take another step toward her. Backing out of the way, Rach’s heel caught the edge of the patio stone and she fell backward. Her glass went flying out of her hand and she heard the shattering of glass on cement the same moment she fell into the table.
The people around her gasped and time seemed to slow as Rach’s arms reached out, praying for something to grasp on to. Leah put her hands out to capture Rach’s, but it was too late. Rach landed on the cake and the cool icing squished beneath her dress as the legs to the table buckled under her weight. She went crashing to the ground with the cake.
Leah was at her side pulling her up while chaos broke out, but Rach’s eyes zeroed in on Maggie who stood back from the mess, trying to appear blameless and inconspicuous. The back of Rach’s head was matted with frosting and gobs of it hung from her clothes. Furious, she swiped a chunk of vanilla cake and frosting from the back of her arm, flicking it to the floor.
Rach had done really well so far with behaving. She’d mingled, she’d smiled, she’d done her best to be civil to his ex. But things had just gotten personal and Rach had never been great at behaving; at least not lately.
Pulling herself up to her full five foot ten inches she stalked over to Maggie and grasped her shoulder, then smeared white icing across the front of her black dress. She smiled the best smile she could muster and said through clenched teeth, “I might not have a job, but at least I’m not a crazy. I’m sure Craig will really want you back after you ruined his party.”
“Let’s go,” Leah said and grabbed her by the arm. Rach let Leah pull her away and lead her through the guests. Some offered their assistance while others whispered behind their hands, no doubt wondering what had transpired between the ex and the new girlfriend. All she wanted to do was find Craig, but she needed to clean up. If she’d have known there would be a cake fight, she would have worn different clothes.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
After Craig’s dad left his office, Craig went back to his desk and sat down. He was glad the meeting was over, but it had gone better than he’d expected it to. No matter how ludicrous he the lawsuit was, Bill Larsen was still a smart business man and he agreed with Craig—they would make a reasonable settlement offer at one hundred thousand dollars, less than a quarter of what the plaintiff had originally demanded, but that was as high as they were willing to go. If the man didn’t accept that amount, then Craig and his legal team were prepared to defend their case at trial. Phil assured Craig that wouldn’t happen and believed the matter would be resolved in mediation scheduled the following week. Bill Larsen had left Craig’s office satisfied in knowing there was soon an end in sight to the entire ordeal.
Craig pulled out his checkbook from the top drawer of his desk and filled out the amount for the caterer. Just as he’d finished signing his name to the check and was about to set the pen down, Maggie barged into his office, shutting the door behind her and leaning back against it. His gaze dropped to the front of her dress, smeared with white frosting. He raised his brows and asked, “What happened to you?”
“One of the servers tripped and got me, no big deal. We need to talk—now.”
Craig stood with a shake of his head and strode purposefully around to the front of the desk, leaning back against it to sit on the edge. He was still pissed she’d shown up at all. After the way she’d thrown herself at him all day in front of Rach, he’d been hard pressed not to kick her ass out. But his mom had asked him to ignore her, not to make a scene, and that’s what he’d done.
He crossed his arms against his chest. It was time to tell her to leave. “Yeah, we really do need to talk, Maggie.”
She strolled toward him with a coy smile on her lips, reminding him of a tigress ready to pounce. He tensed as she stopped a foot in front of him, too close for comfort, and he glared at her. She ignored his obvious displeasure at her presence and she reached out a perfectly manicured index finger, trailing it down his arm from his shoulder to his elbow, the blood red nail lightly scratching his skin as it descended. She looked up at him from beneath black mascaraed lashes and purred, “I’m so glad we got some time alone.”
He gritted his teeth and silently counted to five. “We’re making this quick—I’m in a hurry.”
Her smile disappeared and her eyes flashed with anger. “Looking for the redhead?”
“She’s my girlfriend. I told you this.”
Instantly her smile disappeared, replaced by a jealous sneer that contorted her pretty face. With a shrug of her shoulders, she said, “I think she left. I watched her go out the front door a bit ago.”
Confused that Rach would leave without saying goodbye, he narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side. “Are you sure?”
Maggie nodded and reached a hand out to adjust his gray shirt. Her perfume invaded his nostrils. It wasn’t unpleasant, but the scent suffocated him. She stepped closer and trapped him between herself and the desk. Her body heat saturated his clothes and she placed her hands on the front of his shirt, kneading his skin lightly through the cloth.
Her voice dropped to a low, sultry purr. “I thought you’d be interested to know who was behind all those pesky media leaks. You do want to know, don’t you?”
His ears perked up at this and he grasped her by the arms, pushing her back to put distance between them. She glanced down at his right hand on her arm and he let go. Maggie’s expression turned sincere, almost pleading. “It’s important to you, isn’t it? To find out who’s been trying to ruin you with all those lies.”
“Just spill it, Maggie.” His hard stare didn’t faze her and she stepped forward again, leaning in again to press her entire body up against his this time. When her tongue flicked his ear, he turned his head away and she chuckled.
“I love when you play hard to get,” she whispered into his ear, her breath caressing his earlobe. He shivered, but not with desire.
“That’s enough, Maggie.”
This time he grasped her by the shoulders firmly, ready to shove her away, but her next words made him freeze. “Someone called me and told me they know who the leak is. They seemed to know an awful lot of details about the whole business, even said they knew the person responsible for the brake check, how much money you’re going to offer in mediation, and what your insurance policy limits are. Now, wouldn’t that be a mess if the entire state knew just how much money a lawsuit against American Dream Autos would be worth?” She tsk-tsked and shook her head. “I am pretty sure it would be bad business to let that kind of information out. They didn’t give me the name, but I told the man who called me that I’d let you know so you could contact him and arrange a meeting. Wouldn’t it be nice to confront whoever is doing this to you?”
His ears pricked at the information and he told himself to ignore her nibbling at his ear and how disgusted it made him. All he could think about was finding the person trying to sabotage his business so he could ring their neck. He needed
to talk to Phil, maybe he could threaten the person with a civil lawsuit. Not that Craig wanted to open up that can of worms, but whoever had been giving the information to the media needed to be confronted. He needed to know why, damn it!
“Who is it?” He demanded. She had somehow managed to back him up against his desk and he leaned away from her.
“Uh, uh, uh.” She laughed softly, her smirk triumphant. “Not before you give me something in return.”
He looked at her warily and reminded himself this was his business that someone had tried to ruin, his dad’s legacy—the information was important. Maybe it was the plaintiff who was responsible for the media leaks. It was possible. Making American Dream Autos look bad in the press would be a good influence on a jury if the case went to trial. If it was the plaintiff, he’d be in a whole lot of trouble discussing confidential settlement offers with the public.
In flat tone, he said, “I don’t play nice with people who mess with me, Maggie. I won’t be bribed.”
Her eyes flashed again, the orbs turning into a stormy mix of blues and grays, and she hissed, “I’m not messing with you, I’m trying to help you.” She took in a deep breath to steady herself and then softened her posture again, relaxing against his tensed body. “I’m not asking for much, Craig. Just a goodbye kiss and then I’ll leave you alone. I swear. You and your new girlfriend can live happily ever after and I’ll forget we ever dated.”
Eyeing her hopeful expression, he considered her offer. A kiss in exchange for never barging into his office again, never showing up at his doorstep, uninvited. She’d be out of his life and he wouldn’t have to worry about her interfering in his future with Rach.
“Fine.” He pulled her to him to plant his mouth against hers roughly, every ounce of his body telling him “no” and his blood quickly turning cold.
