by Lynn, Janice
Jude shook his head, but he saw the light dawn in several of the other customers’ eyes.
“I am not,” he caught himself saying in his defense despite knowing better than to give in to the confrontation.
“Nothing wrong with being gay,” another man smirked with a shake of his lean body and his nose in the air.
“Nor do I work for a porn magazine,” Jude added as a woman grabbed the hands of her little girl and stalked to the teller the farthest from him. “Not any more.”
More comments were made, but he bit his tongue. What good could it possibly do to get into a verbal battle with a bunch of bank customers?
He turned back to the teller and gave her an appreciative smile. “Yes, I’d like to speak to the manager. Now works for me.”
Jude leaned against the counter and did a quick inventory of what he knew from the morning’s events.
He’d been fired from his job for reportedly selling secrets to Playhouse’s biggest competitor. His bank account was frozen. His image and name were splashed all over the New York press as the gay editor of America’s largest porn magazine. Marcus was pissed.
He hadn’t been able to get a message to Angela prior to being escorted from Playhouse. He’d tried calling his office, but she hadn’t answered the phone. He supposed they’d let her go home after he’d left.
What had they told her? She probably thought he was the biggest loser to ever walk the face of the earth.
“Mr. Kilbeck will see you now,” the teller said, running her gaze appreciatively over Jude.
“Great.” Grateful for an excuse to leave the curious eyes of the other customers Jude pushed off the counter and followed the petite woman to a row of offices toward the back of the bank.
“In here.” She smiled. “Good luck and if there’s anything I can do to help, dinner or…” her voice trailed off, but her eyes remained full of invitation. “Unless you really are gay.”
“I am not gay,” he repeated, louder than he’d meant. Several people turned in their direction.
“There’s nothing wrong with being gay,” the woman pointed out, her shoulders lifting high.
Thirty minutes later, frustration oozed from every pore on Jude’s body.
Apparently, there was nothing he could do to unlock his account and neither could the bank manager. Supposedly the freeze was government-issue and orders to unlock the account would have to come from them. Until that time there was nothing anyone at the bank could do.
Who the hell did one contact for something like that? The banker couldn’t tell him as the information was “classified”.
It was time to contact a lawyer. Marcus.
Chapter Sixteen
Mandy Sims patted her father’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright, Daddy.”
Her father shrugged off her hand. Mandy bit back the bile rising in her throat at having to be nice to a man who was never nice to her. Perhaps she should hire the revenge agency to wreck a bit of havoc in her father’s life. He deserved it every bit as much as Jude did.
She smiled. When she’d come in to work today and heard that pretty boy Jude had been fired, that his face was splashed over the papers with headlines such as “Straight Man Porn King Is Gay”, she’d wanted to jump with joy. Finally the fickle prick was getting what he deserved. About time.
“I’ll take over Jude’s role as editor-in-chief and make you proud.” She didn’t believe a word she said. How could she? Her father had never been proud of anything she’d done with the exception of when she’d been screwing Jude. Now that, her father had thought brilliant. Sick man.
He’d even hinted she should get herself pregnant since Jude was an honorable man who’d insist upon marrying the mother of his child. Mandy considered it, but she hadn’t wanted to lose her figure. Nor did she want to deal with a snotty-nosed brat. Mainly, she just hadn’t wanted to mess up her body, though. She’d worked too hard and paid too much money to look this good to ruin her efforts with pregnancy.
Besides, even when she’d told Jude she was on the pill, he’d insisted upon using a condom each and every time they’d had sex. Insisted he didn’t have sex without a condom. Ever.
Damn his good sense and honor.
Honor schmoner. He wasn’t too honorable today. He was a traitor. Reportedly gay and having an elicit affair with a formerly married man. A loser in her father’s eyes. This was worth every cent of the hefty figure she’d paid that agency.
“We both know you aren’t qualified to do Jude’s job.”
Her father’s words stung.
“I could learn.”
“Hell, you can’t even learn how to do the made-up job you’ve got, much less deal with the things the editor-in-chief does.” Simon brushed her away. “Give it up, because you heading this company is not going to happen.”
“Jude is gone. Open your eyes. I have been doing a good job in public relations. You’ll have to find a replacement for Jude. One who can immediately deal with the negative press he’s created for the magazine.” She turned imploring eyes upon him. “Why not me?”
“Because you haven’t got the brain of a pea.”
Ooooh. She seethed inside, allowing her dislike of Jude to fester and her disillusionment with her daddy to blossom. How could such a brilliant man as her father be so blind?
“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” she warned, thinking she’d definitely contact the agency again and teach her father a thing or two about just what she could do.
His gaze lifted, stared at her with suspicion. “I’d hate to think you had anything to do with what’s happened this morning.”
“What’s happened this morning? Ha. Jude sold you out to the highest bidder and was lining his pockets at your expense. All the while he was making a mockery of both of us by sleeping with a man. Your boy wonder wasn’t so wondrous.”
Her father exhaled. “So it would seem.”
He looked as if he wasn’t sure. Great.
“Why not let me step into the position? At least until you find someone to take Jude’s place?” she suggested. “It’ll be temporary, until you hire the person you believe can do the title of editor-in-chief justice. That way you won’t have to rush and possibly hire the wrong person.”
If she could just get him to give her a chance, she knew she’d convince him to keep her in the position. His expression weakened. She resisted the urge to smile.
“I could go public, make a statement to the press about how disillusioned we are with Jude, about how betrayed we are, me in particular as his former lover. Imagine the free publicity we’ll get for the magazine. The sympathy of the media will be ours. With me being the one making the statements, my broken heart on my sleeve, the magazine’s image will improve.” She smiled, seeing the wheels click in her father’s head. He was an astute business man if nothing else. “I could even go public with the fact he only slept with me to convince me to take off my clothes for the December issue and that he has notoriously used women.”
Her father didn’t look happy about his decision, but he nodded. “Fine. You take Jude’s spot until I hire a replacement. Make a public statement and make it good. Let the PR department and my lawyer look over your statement before you go public, though.”
Mandy smiled.
“But,” her father’s scowl deepened, “don’t get too comfortable in the position, because I will be hiring a replacement.”
Despite his reminder, elation filled her. She was replacing Jude as editor-in-chief. This day just kept getting better and better.
“You won’t regret your decision,” she promised, kissing her father’s temple.
She started to say more, but her cell phone rang from within her purse. She excused herself and once outside her father’s office, answered the call.
“Everything you’ve asked for has been done. The job is finished,” an unfamiliar female voice said.
“You’re good. When I heard what happened, I could have creamed in my panties.” She giggled
, waved at her father’s assistant and kept walking toward what would be her new office. “My father just agreed to let me take Jude’s place at the magazine. As it should have been all along.”
“Congratulations,” the voice said, without sounding as if she meant it.
“Can I keep you on retainer?” Mandy asked, thinking this gal knew her stuff and would be handy to have around. Who knew when she’d want to kick some other man in his nards? Her father’s in particular.
“That’s not how I operate.”
“Well, I don’t know how you did it and it doesn’t matter, but I’m so glad that lady told me about your services. I thought it impossible to penetrate the mighty Jude Layman, but damn if you didn’t do it and marvelously.”
“The point is the job is done. You won’t be having any more contact with us and as a reminder, be careful who and what you say anything about our agency to. We prefer to keep a low profile.” The woman’s voice lowered. “Revenge isn’t just for the opposite sex, if you get my drift.”
The line went dead.
Mandy stared at her cell.
The witch just threatened her.
Ha. She didn’t need her anyway. Not anymore. She had an office she needed to check out. An office that was now hers.
As it should have been all along.
* * *
“I’ve got our flights booked for six this evening,” Cassidy informed when she came back into the apartment living room where Avery sat working on the sofa. “The cleaning service has been contacted to come in and give the apartment a once over. We’ll secure the office closer to time to leave. Anything else?”
Avery gave her friend a distracted look. “I don’t think so.”
“I sent our friend over at the Post a thank you for her excellent work.”
Excellent work. Avery bit the inside of her bottom lip.
“Did you contact Mandy Sims to let her know we’re finished?” Cassidy continued.
“Randi’s taken care of it.” Avery stared down at her notes on Jude. “We didn’t think we should risk her recognizing my voice.”
“Good point.” Cassidy sank onto the sofa and Payback Puss immediately jumped onto her lap and meowed for attention. “I’m glad this one is done.”
Avery nodded. “Me, too.”
Cassidy gave her a curious look, stroking the cat’s fur. “So, how was he?”
Avery glanced up. “Who?”
Cassidy’s eyes rolled ceiling-ward. “You know who.”
Why lie?
“Everything his reputation said. His reputation prior to this morning, that is.” Avery sighed. Jude’s reputation was shot. Professionally and personally. Another TGEA job well done. “He’s an amazing lover, but why wouldn’t he be? He’s sure had enough practice.”
Cassidy snorted. “Despite popular belief, practice does not make perfect on all things. Sex is one of them. I think a man is either born with an innate knowledge on how to please a woman or not. Not that a good woman can’t teach a man how to make love—she can, but most guys aren’t willing to admit they aren’t Casanova and go for quantity rather than quality lovemaking.”
Avery didn’t comment. How could she? Whether learned from practice or innate knowledge, Jude had been near perfect. Near?
He had been perfect.
In quantity and quality.
She sighed.
“We didn’t have to do this, you know.”
Avery’s gaze shot to Cassidy. “What’re you talking about?”
“If you’d wanted out of this one, we could have.”
Avery smiled wryly. “Courtney and Randi might see things differently.”
Cassidy shrugged. “They’d have gotten over it.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t think he deserved what we’ve done, do you?”
Avery inhaled deeply. “What I think doesn’t matter.”
“Since when?” Cassidy demanded. “It’s always mattered what you think. One for all and all for one.”
“I know.”
“All men deserve what’s coming to them.”
“I know.”
“But?”
“But nothing. I had a job to do, and I did it. End of story.”
“Then why do you look so glum?”
Avery closed her eyes. “He told me he loved me last night.”
Cassidy’s mouth formed a perfect ‘O’. “Lots of men say that during sex.” She thought for a moment. “Is that part of his normal M.O.?”
“He says no, but…”
“But?”
“I don’t believe him. I mean, he couldn’t really love me.” Avery frowned. “He’s known me less than a week. It’s impossible a man like Jude would fall for me.”
“What’s so impossible about him falling for a beautiful, amazing woman?” Cassidy shrugged. “It’s quite obvious a woman like you fell for him.”
“No.” Avery shook her head in quick denial. “I had sex with him, but I don’t love him.”
Cassidy’s eyes widened and Avery realized she’d slipped up. Even Payback Puss’s golden eyes seemed to be staring at her with disbelief.
“Love?”
“Not love. I don’t love him.”
“By whose definition of love?”
That caught Avery’s attention. “Mine.”
“Which is?”
She didn’t know how to answer. She’d not ever considered love or how to define it. Not outside of TGEA. Because outside her sisterhood, she hadn’t known love. Her mother had probably done her best, but love had been in short supply while growing up. Plus, her mother had believed her jerk of a husband over her own daughter at a crucial moment. Avery hadn’t been able to forgive that particular hurt. Scott had deemed her screwable, but not lovable. Only within TGEA had she felt truly cared for, truly important.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted.
“Then how can you know love isn’t what Jude feels for you?” Cassidy logically asked. Logic was Avery’s forte so having Cassidy use it on her annoyed.
She frowned. “Why are you saying all this? He’s a mark we were hired to bring down. A mark we brought down. Nothing more.”
“Because I saw how he looked at you at the party. More importantly, I saw how you looked at him.”
Avery shook her head. “I’ve already told you, that’s just lust.”
“Maybe.”
Maybe not. Which might explain the gaping hole in Avery’s chest where her heart used to reside.
“You went further with this mark, did much more to him than what we initially intended,” Cassidy said, eyeing Avery with far too intelligent eyes. She ran her fingers over Payback Puss’ entire length, twirling the tip of his tail. “The way I see it, by totally destroying him, you were out to prove to yourself that Jude Layman was just a mark. Tell me, Av, did you succeed?”
* * *
Jude sat in Marcus’s office full of rich burgundies and golds, waiting while his buddy made some phone calls to see what he could find out about Jude’s bank account.
Not just his bank account, but his credit cards, too.
He literally had access to no funds except what he kept in his wallet.
His cell rang. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to talk to anyone, but he pulled it out in hopes Angela would call. She had his numbers even if she’d refused to give hers. His home and his cell. Only the caller wasn’t Angela.
“What the hell do you want?” he asked Mandy.
“Just calling to gloat, love,” the amused witch said.
“Gloat?” The word struck him as odd. Then again, Mandy would revel at his misfortune.
“Oh yeah, because guess where my hot little tush is sitting?” she purred.
Damn it. Simon hadn’t. No wonder she was gloating.
“In my new office. In my new chair. At my new desk.” She giggled. “Only the previous occupant left a bunch of junk to clear out. Would you like me to box up your things and send them over to your place? Perhaps you could sell t
hem on eBay to raise some cash.”
“Why would I need to raise cash?” he asked, keeping his voice level. His heart pounded while he waited for her to answer, distrust rising with each passing second.
“Your reputation is down the drain, and you just got fired from your job.” Her glee over the news radiated through the phone connection. “You tell me, love. Why would you need cash?”
“A job I lost for reportedly selling company secrets.” He wouldn’t touch the gay issue. Not with Marcus sitting here and ready to blow his top if one more person mentioned his supposed sexual preference. Jude wasn’t too pleased with the implications, either, but he’d never let Mandy see or hear him sweat. “In which case, money shouldn’t be an issue.”
Unless Mandy knew he hadn’t sold secrets and that his accounts had been frozen.
Which made more sense than any other conclusion he’d been able to come up with thus far.
“You know, if you need a letter of recommendation, I’m sure I could find it in my heart to give you one.” Her offer grated on his nerves. “I could even talk to daddy and see if he’d give you one.”
Now that was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. No way would Simon give a suspected company traitor a recommendation. Mandy was insane.
“Why would he do that?”
“Perhaps we could do dinner at my place and discuss it.” Her words were full of invitation.
“No.” He’d rot in hell before he’d dine with her. Especially now that his respect for Simon had been splintered. The man should know Jude would never sell out the company. The fact he hadn’t stung.
“Oh, honey, you know daddy would forgive you if we decided to get back together. We’d convince him this whole mess was just an aberration.”
“Under no circumstances will we ever get back together. I’ve told you that before.” What was Mandy’s angle? Was she behind the sold secrets?
“Yes, but your circumstances have drastically changed. Unless you really are gay? I always did think you dressed too well for a straight man.”
What was wrong with how he dressed? Just because he liked to look good did not mean he preferred men.