Mr. Wrong

by Alessandra Hart

  “I’m fine with that,” I said with a laugh.

  There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes as we ate, and then Angie wiped her mouth and turned to me. “This is the worst possible time to bring this up, seeing as you’re about to move in with Jacob, but I have some news for you.”

  I wrinkled my forehead. “What is it?”

  “I had lunch with Bonnie the other day. She loved the work you put in on Fourth Down. Said all the scenes you consulted on are top-notch. Perfect. And she thinks you really helped Jacob in his performance so far. She wasn’t the one who decided to cast him as Simmons, so she was always a bit wary of him. Worried he might be better suited to acting on TV dramas. But she said he’s capturing Simmons perfectly.”

  “Oh, great. Glad to hear it. But what’s that got to do with me moving in with Jacob?”

  Angie held up a hand. “I’m not done. Bonnie actually recommended you to another film studio. Hartwell. They want to meet with you.”

  I smiled. Hartwell was a huge production company. They’d produced six of the ten biggest blockbuster films in the last five years. “That’s great! I don’t have any contracts at the moment, so I’m definitely in the market for new work,” I said. “It’s all based here, right?”

  She hesitated. “Um. That’s the problem. They have offices and studios here, but for this project they’re mostly based in New York. The film they’re interested in hiring you for will be shooting there.”

  “That’s okay. If they just need a quick consulting job like I did with Fourth Down, I can go and stay over there for a few weeks. It’s no problem.”

  “It’s a six month job,” Angie said. “They want a consultant for the whole film, not just for one aspect of it.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. And you’re just moving in with Jacob, so it might be weird for you to take off for six months. You guys have only been dating for two, so suddenly switching to long distance for such a long time….” She trailed off for a second. “Do you think you guys would be able to make that work?”

  I chewed on my lip as I considered it. I wanted to say yes, but I couldn’t speak for Jacob. I knew he’d be supportive of me and my career (he knew how much it meant to me, and he was just wonderful like that) but I wasn’t sure how things would turn out if I had to move a few thousand miles away for half a year. Of course I wanted us to work out, but I’d seen a lot of strong relationships crumble under the strain of a long distance setup.

  Were we unbreakable, or could we crumble too?

  “I hope so,” I ended up saying.

  “I hope so too,” Angie replied. “This could be huge for you, Nora. I know you’ve been wanting to branch out from Delos for a while and start your own consultancy business. Working on this project for Hartwell could seriously help with that.”

  I nodded slowly. “Yes, it could.”

  “I know it’s a hard decision to make, with Jacob and all.”

  “Yeah. How much time do I have to decide?” I asked.

  Angie sighed. “Not long. They already had a guy, but he dropped out at the last possible minute. So they’re looking to meet with you and any other possible consultants as soon as possible.”

  “How soon, exactly?”

  “Tomorrow. And if it goes well, you’d need to fly out in a week.”

  I almost choked on my slice of pizza. “A week?”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  What was I supposed to do? Say no, and ensure that my relationship with Jacob kept sailing on smoothly? Or did I take a chance and say yes to the project and leave in a week, possibly putting us in jeopardy?

  The first thing I needed to do was obvious—I needed to speak to Jacob about it. But how would he take the news?

  I guess all I could do was wait and see.

  28

  Jacob

  “Jacob Archer, you’ve been served.”

  Ina handed a file to me over the table, and I grinned. We were having an early dinner at an Italian-Vietnamese fusion restaurant called L’Amio while Nora was finishing off the job of clearing out her old place with her best friend Angie. I couldn’t wait for Nora to officially live with me. Now that Ina was moving out soon, we would have the whole place to ourselves. Everything was falling into place perfectly.

  “So what do I need to sign?” I asked, opening the file and leafing through all the paperwork.

  “The lawyer marked it all out. So just sign it whenever, and send it back. We have to be separated for a certain period of time before it’s all processed by a judge, but once that’s done, we’ll officially be divorced.”

  “Great. It was nice being married to you.”

  Ina smiled. “Yes, it was,” she said. Her expression turned serious. “I don’t know how I can even begin to say thank you for everything you’ve done for me, Jake. You saved my life. Literally. And you could’ve gone to jail if anyone ever found out.”

  “Well, we pulled it off, didn’t we?” I said, patting her hand over the table.

  “Yes, we did. But really, Jake, thank you. From the bottom of my heart. You didn’t just stop them from sending me back, you also took me in, gave me somewhere to live and helped me start my own business. I’m in your debt forever.”

  “It’s fine. I was glad to help,” I replied. “And you aren’t in any debt. You paid me back the money for your business as soon as you turned your first profit.”

  Ina was currently heading up a small gin importing business with a friend of hers named Robbie. They bought relatively unknown brands of gin from overseas and sold them on to boutique bars. Gin seemed to be the fashionable new drink at the moment, so things were going swimmingly for Ina and Robbie in that department, and they were going to expand to other liquors soon. I’d initially helped her out by lending her the seed money to start things off, but she paid me back years ago.

  “I meant I’m in your debt figuratively. At least let me pay for dinner tonight,” she said.

  “Sure. Your business seems to be doing well, so it’s not like you can’t afford it,” I said with a wink. “Maybe you can even pay me alimony now that we’re divorcing.”

  Ina laughed and picked up her wine glass. “Cheers.”

  “Cheers.” I clinked my own glass against hers.

  She took a sip of her drink, then cleared her throat. “When is Nora going to be finished moving in?”

  “Soon. She’s just grabbing the last of her stuff from her old place now. I was going to help, but she texted me saying she’s having a girly pizza night with her friend.”

  Ina nodded slowly. “I honestly never thought I’d see this day, Jake.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She gave me a sly smile. “Don’t pretend with me. You know what you used to be like. A different woman every week. Sometimes there would even be more than one in a week. But now… now you have Nora. You’ve settled down. I think it’s wonderful.”

  “She’s wonderful.”

  “Yes, she is. Far too good for you,” she said with a giggle.

  “Wow, you’re turning into a bitter, vindictive ex-wife already, huh?”

  She stuck the tip of her tongue out at me. “You know what I mean. How many other women would be as understanding as her? If I was dating someone and they told me they were already married… hell, I think I’d run like the wind. But she stayed. She listened, and she understood.”

  “She sure did.”

  “You’ve found yourself someone really special in her, Jake. Don’t do anything to screw it up,” she said, a note of warning in her voice.

  “I’m trying my best.”

  She was silent for a second, and then she snorted with laughter. “I still can’t believe she ever spoke to you again after that date you took her on.”

  “Yeah, she really had to lower her standards to do that,” I replied with a grin.

  “Lucky for you she did.”

  I was about to take a bite of food when I was interrupted by a familiar voice.

  �
��Jake? Ina?”

  I turned to see Chris standing nearby, waving at me. “Oh, hey, man. What are you doing here?” I called out.

  He headed over and gave Ina a kiss on the cheek before answering my question. “Big company business dinner tonight. Everyone’s here, in the function room over there,” he said, pointing to the western side of the restaurant, where a set of stained glass dividers cordoned off a function room for big group bookings. “I was just heading back from the bathroom when I saw you guys.”

  I looked over at the dividers. Through a crack in the opening, I saw James summoning a waiter. Damn, of course he was here—Chris just said the whole accounting company was at the dinner.

  I was sorely tempted to go over and punch the weedy little prick for continuing to harass and terrorize Nora, but I didn’t want to attract attention to myself in such a way. Not when I was trying to clean my image up for her sake. Getting arrested for assault wouldn’t help with that, and I already had a narrow miss when I punched him last time. He’d threatened me with assault charges then, but luckily he never ended up pursuing it.

  If I acted like a hothead and attacked him again, I might not be so lucky this time, especially with all the other patrons of the restaurant as witnesses. I also didn’t want to make things even more awkward in the workplace for Chris, so I kept my cool and turned my gaze away and back to our table. “Company dinner on a Tuesday night? That’s gotta suck.”

  He shrugged. “At least it’s not on a weekend. Then I’d have to waste my Saturday night when I could be out slaying.”

  I laughed, and Ina rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You two are terrible.”

  “Hey, I’m not anymore,” I protested.

  “No, now that he’s with Nora, he’s a changed man,” Chris said, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. “Anyway, I better leave you two to your meal and get back to the most boring event of the century. Nothing like dining with thirty other accountants to make you want to end your life.”

  “Oh, wait, speaking of accountants,” Ina said, holding up a hand. “Would I be able to talk to you for a minute before you go back to your thing? Our business accountant is going on maternity leave soon, and we need someone to fill her shoes while she’s away. Could you help us find a decent new one who understands our line of work?”

  Chris grinned. “Sure. Anything to escape those guys,” he said, taking a seat. “I’ll tell them I’m drumming up new business if they ask. Anyway, there’s plenty of people I could recommend. Some in our company, others elsewhere. Really depends on what exactly you’re looking for.”

  I wiped my mouth and stood up. “I actually have to get up very early tomorrow for filming, so why don’t I leave you two to chat about this stuff?”

  “Are you sure?” Chris said. “Sorry, didn’t mean to hijack your meal.”

  “It’s fine. Like I said, I’ve gotta be up first thing tomorrow morning.”

  I said goodbye and headed off to collect my jacket from the restaurant’s small coatroom. After handing over my ticket to the checking attendant, I waited for ten minutes, tapping my foot on the floor impatiently. When the attendant finally returned, his face was drawn with anxiety. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Archer. I can’t find your jacket.”

  I frowned. “Well, can you look again? I definitely checked it. I had my phone in the pocket, too.”

  “I already looked everywhere,” he said, twisting his hands nervously. “Let me just get the manager.”

  I sighed and waited for the manager to show up. After she did an extensive search of the coatroom as well, she returned with a hangdog expression. “My deepest apologies, Mr. Archer. I think your jacket has been taken by someone else by mistake. Sometimes a ticket will be misread and the wrong item handed out to patrons. We’re happy to reimburse you the cost of your—”

  “It’s not actually the jacket that’s important, it’s the phone,” I cut in, holding up a hand. I was more than a little irritated by this point. Usually I kept my phone on me at all times, but I’d wanted a quiet evening with Ina to celebrate our impending divorce over dinner and drinks, so I left it with my jacket in the coatroom.

  Just my fucking luck that it went missing the one time I did that.

  “Again, I’m so sorry. Whoever took it will probably realize quite soon that they received the wrong jacket, and I’m certain he or she will be back as soon as they realize. Can I take your home phone number so we can contact you when that happens?”

  I gave the manager my home number, then left the restaurant with a frown on my face. My cell phone had all my contacts in it, not to mention the fact it was linked to my online cloud storage account, which had literally everything on it… including the little tape I’d filmed with Nora all those weeks ago. If the phone fell into the wrong hands, her reputation and livelihood could be on the line, because how many production companies would hire a consultant who created—and accidentally leaked—a sex tape made with an actor who starred in one of the films she worked on? Not many, that was for sure. To add to that, she’d be humiliated and hounded by the media for months, maybe even years.

  Christ, I needed to get that phone back without any trouble, because if I was responsible for doing any harm to Nora’s career or life in general, I’d never forgive myself.

  And she might never forgive me.

  29

  Nora

  “So your phone was stolen?”

  I frowned as I reclined on the leather sofa in Jacob’s bedroom. Wait, no…. our bedroom, as of ten minutes ago. I’d just returned home from my cleaning escapade-slash-girly pizza night with Angie at my old house. Now I was officially a resident of Beverly Hills.

  Jacob ran his hands through his hair. It was something I’d noticed he did when he was stressed. “No. I mean, I don’t know. The restaurant manager said it was probably just accidentally given to the wrong person.”

  “Well, I’m sure they’ll return it.”

  He sighed. “I don’t know about that. James was at the restaurant.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “James?”

  “There was some sort of company dinner for all the accountants at the firm my friend Chris works for. I saw James there. I’m worried he saw me too and stole the jacket with my phone in it.”

  I chewed on my lip as I mulled it over, and then I shook my head. “I don’t think so. For one, how would James even know your phone was in the jacket in the coatroom? Most people keep their phones on them at all times these days.”

  “True.”

  “Secondly, he was there on a company dinner. It’s not like he purposely went there to hunt you down.”

  “Also true.”

  “And lastly, he’s been very careful with his harassment of me. Careful not to get caught, I mean. He’s been using a VPN to send his online messages, and he’s also doubled down on that by hacking that Robert Quinto guy’s Wi-Fi and using that just in case anyone cracked the VPN. And he also made sure the security cameras and guard didn’t catch him when he went to trash my old house. I don’t think he’d change that now and brazenly steal your phone from a restaurant you knew he was at. I mean, surely he saw you talking to Chris, so he must’ve known that you knew he was there.”

  Jacob let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah. Good point. But still, I’m worried. Even if it’s just a random accident that someone got my jacket and phone, it could still be bad. All my photos and videos auto-save to the cloud, which is linked to my phone. Including.…”

  My heart began to race, and my stomach turned over. “Our tape. Shit.”

  He nodded grimly. “Yeah. If whoever accidentally got my phone goes through it to see who it belongs to, I’m screwed. Or more specifically, you’re screwed. People would probably expect a sex tape from someone like me. But you…”

  “It could seriously mess things up for me,” I said with a nod. Something suddenly occurred to me, and I sprang to my feet. “Wait, never mind. I know how to fix this.”

  “How?” Jacob asked.

  “You
said your photos and videos auto-save to the cloud, not the actual phone itself, yes?”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “So just log on to the iCloud from your laptop and remove all connected devices. That’ll stop your phone from being able to connect to it, and whoever has it won’t be able to view anything on it.”

  Jacob slapped his hand against his forehead. “Jesus. How the hell did I not think of that earlier? I’ve been sitting here for two hours wondering what the fuck to do, and you came up with that in under thirty seconds.”

  I smiled and hugged him. “You’re the beauty, I’m the brains.”

  He pulled back and grinned. “No, you’re the beauty and the brains. I’m just the big dumb oaf.”

  “The brawn?”

  He nodded and chuckled. Then his smile faded. “But wait. What if the person already looked through my phone in the last couple of hours that they’ve had it?”

  “I seriously doubt it,” I said, giving him a comforting squeeze. “They probably haven’t even realized they have it yet, and even if they have, I doubt they’d go through it. I mean, if I found a random phone, I wouldn’t go through it. And you have a lock code on it anyway, right?”

  Jacob gave me a guilty look. “Yes, but it’s my birth year. Not exactly hard to crack.”

  I shrugged. “If they don’t know who owns the phone, then they wouldn’t know your birth year or any other details that might help them guess the unlock code. It’s fine, Jacob. I think our little secret is safe for now.”

  He breathed another sigh of relief. “Fuck, I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve been driving myself crazy worrying about this shit.”

  I smiled and sat down again. “Do you have a spare phone you can use for now?”

  “Yeah, in the study somewhere. I’ll set it up now,” he said. “Which reminds me, do you want me to have a room set up as a sort of home office for you?”

  I hesitated and looked down at the floor. Jacob frowned. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “It’s about me living here,” I began.

  He sighed. “Shit. I knew I probably asked you to move in way too fast.”