“We’ve known each other a year. She works at a diner next to my law office. She’s a really nice girl, but you’re right. I’m about to be thirty, and I need something more serious. More grown-up. A girl with a job like yours. Or at least that’s been running through my mind lately.”
“Then maybe stop wasting the poor girl’s time,” she bit out. “Let her go be with someone her own age.”
“I’m not keeping her prisoner,” he laughed again, but she didn’t. His words reminded her of the times she couldn’t leave the house for fear someone would notice the bruises and ask too many questions. Not every prisoner wears chains.
“I’m leaving. There’s nothing for you and me to talk about.” She pushed her chair back, but before she could stand he touched her hand gently.
“Libby, I’m so sorry for how we argued when we were together. I was stupid and young. We both burned a little hot but I wanted you to see that I’m different now. I’ve changed. For some reason it feels really important to me that you know that. Does that make sense?” A crease formed over his brows, and he looked at her desperately. She did know what he meant. It was partly why she agreed to meet him. They were linked together in this perverse way, and allowing him to see how much better she was felt important to her.
“I can kind of understand what you mean,” she sighed. “I’ve changed too.” She knew that was a lie; not that much had changed in her life since he’d left her. She hadn’t sprouted wings of bravery. She hadn’t risen above all the pain. But he didn’t need to know that. There was no way she’d give him the satisfaction of seeing that the pieces he’d crumbled her into hadn’t been put back together.
“I can see,” he said, the smile returning to his face. “You obviously have changed if you’re killing it at that job of yours. That’s another reason I was hoping to see you.” Corey reached his hand across the table and dropped it off the side. With one extended index finger he tapped her knee. It was a move of his, something coy he did often when they first started dating. “I feel like I need to surround myself with people who are on the same trajectory as me. I want to really embrace this feeling of success and responsibility. You and I are in the same place in our lives at the same time. That seems pretty special, don’t you think?”
She could spot it now—the way he ended those big sentences with questions, leaning in to hear the answer as though nothing in the room mattered but her. A skilled act, but that’s all it was. By comparison, James asked her questions, genuine ones, as she lay in his arms.
“I think you should surround yourself with whatever people are good for you. That’s what I do. That’s why I have Jessica and all of my friends from work.” She knew the sound of her best friend’s name would make him flinch. And it certainly did.
“I was wondering if you were still hanging around with Jessica. Is she well?” Corey’s eyes darted away. Jessica had been the only person to call Corey out on his bullshit. She’d gotten right in his face, threatened his life, and urged Libby again and again to leave him.
“Like you care.” Libby laughed. “You two absolutely hated each other. I’m not sure I’ve ever known any two people who got along worse.”
“She was in the right,” he said shamefacedly, and though she attempted to keep her expression straight it betrayed her. Her eyebrows rose high and her lashes blinked fast as she tried to process his words.
“Really? That’s certainly something I never thought I’d hear you say.”
“There’s a lot I’d say now that I never would have years ago. That’s what growing up looks like.”
“Well,” she said, shaking her now empty coffee cup, “we’ve had our cup of coffee. You’ve made all your points. I’m going to go now.”
“Sure,” he said, standing to excuse her as she got up. “But Lib, can I see you again?”
“Why?” she asked, feeling a pang of resentment rather than vindication. Though she only had a vague notion of what she came here for, she knew it hadn’t happened. Lying to him about having friends and a high power job didn’t feel nearly as good as she thought it might.
“Didn’t we have a lot of good times?” he asked in that quizzical way that demanded an answer. “When things were good, they were really good. I’m not saying we should get back together. I’m just suggesting we start spending time together again. Friends.” He tipped his head and stared deeply at her.
She held the words in her throat. A storm was raging in her body that she couldn’t contain. Not everything she was feeling was Corey’s doing, but he was here in front of her. He was asking her a lofty question that required an answer she didn’t want to give. “I’m going to go,” she said, leaving the money he’d refused earlier on the table. She knew she hadn’t actually answered him, but that was his problem, not hers.
Chapter 23
James hadn’t made a decision. He hadn’t figured out whether or not to leave the buried secrets where they lie or throw himself on the sword now and work to fix it, even though it wouldn’t really be salvageable. It had been a week. A week since he’d found out West Oil had been playing dirty for years. A week since Libby had left. A week of the crushing weight of failure bearing down on him.
“I don’t care who you are,” Mathew’s voice boomed outside James’s office door. “Mr. West won’t see you without an appointment.”
The urgency in Mathew’s normally calm voice tightened James’s back. When a woman’s snarl cut through the air, he tried unsuccessfully to identify the voice.
“Unless your boss wants me telling everyone what he doesn’t want them to know, he’d better let me in. Because I doubt he wants his secret out.”
He heard Mathew laugh a bit then fall serious. “Mr. West doesn’t negotiate with terrorists. He doesn’t bend to threats. If you knew him, you’d try a different tactic.”
“Oh, I think if you tell him I’m a friend of Liberty Saint-Jane, he might just bend to my threat, because he’ll know I’m serious.”
With that James flew to his feet and crossed his office quickly. “Let her in,” he barked, ushering the woman through the door and into a chair. Her black hair was bluntly bobbed with sharp-edged bangs. Eyeliner flew away from the corners of her brown eyes, making them look like they’d sprouted wings. A baggy asymmetrical trendy sweater and jeans that had been ripped to shreds made her look like a child.
After a quick assessment he waved Mathew off. “I’m good. Just clear the next half hour off my schedule.”
“But,” Mathew protested, looking both annoyed and now worried, “I can have security escort her out. Actually, she’s all of a hundred fifteen pounds; I’ll get her out of here myself.”
“It’s fine,” James said, not looking up at Mathew again. His eyes were fixed on this mystery woman who claimed a friendship with Libby. When the office door closed he laced his fingers together, leaned his elbows on his desk, and stared at her.
She didn’t look afraid. Not rattled in any way. Her eyes were blazing with a determination that made him wonder if she were insane. Crazy eyes, he and Mathew would have called them if they were all sitting around in a bar.
“You’re a friend of Libby’s?” he asked coolly, never taking his eyes off her fierce stare.
“Don’t ask me questions. I’m not here to be buddies.”
“Why are you here?”
“That’s another question. I’ll ask the questions.” She, unlike Libby, was not putting on an act of forced strength and confidence. This woman was like an angry protestor determined to tie herself to a tree and face a bulldozer. The problem was, he wasn’t sure why.
“Do you love Libby?” she asked, leaning in and firmly planting a hand on his desk. “Was it more than just sex for you?”
“That’s personal,” he cut back quickly. “I’m not going to share that with you if you aren’t going to tell me what this is about.”
“Answer me,” she said, raising her hand up and slamming it on the desk again. “This isn’t a game. It’s serious. Li
fe or death.”
“Life or death? Is Libby in trouble, or did you just threaten to kill me?”
“Which one of those two would make you answer me?”
“The first,” he replied sternly, now worried that this might be more serious than he originally expected. “The second will get a completely different response. Not one you’ll like.”
“Then you do love her, or did, or whatever the closest thing to love a man like you can feel.”
“A man like me? We’ve never even met. How do you know what I’m capable of feeling?” The insult wasn’t far off. She was right. But his defenses were pulsing. Who the hell does this woman think she is?
“Let’s skip this part. I don’t need you telling me how misunderstood you are. I don’t care. That’s not what I came here for. I wanted to look you in the eye and see if you cared for Libby enough to help her.”
“She needs help?”
“Did she tell you about Corey?”
The sound of his name sent an angry pulse through his core. “Yes,” he replied curtly. “Why?”
“After you two fought she distanced herself from me. I was fine with giving her the space because I knew you hurt her badly, and she needed time to refocus. But two days ago I hear from someone she used to work with at the school; she’s dating Corey again. They went out for coffee and now things are getting more serious. I’ve tried to call her and even went to her house. The only thing she keeps telling me is to mind my own business and let her take care of herself.” For the first time there were tears in her eyes rather than sparks of anger.
“Are you Jessica?” he asked, finally making the connection.
“Yes. Did she talk about me?”
“Frequently,” he admitted with a smile. “What the hell is she doing back with that asshole?”
“I know she was really starting to hope that things could work out between the two of you. Maybe after they didn’t she just felt so bad she went back to him. But he’s a psychopath. Trust me. I was there through the worst of it. He’ll kill her. There were plenty of times he almost did.”
“I’ll kill him first. Is that what you’re here to ask?” It wasn’t out of the question. This entire conversation was making his blood boil. He wanted to find out exactly what the hell Libby was thinking and throttle this guy for laying a finger on her.
“No,” Jessica shot back quickly. “I want you to do the things wealthy arrogant men do. Destroy him. Scare him off. Ruin his life. I don’t care what it takes, but get him away from her. Because I can’t. I’ve tried, and she won’t listen to me. You have to do something.”
“Trust me,” he said, leaning back in his chair and sweeping his hair aside, “I will.”
“But,” Jessica said, raising her index finger in his direction, “that doesn’t mean you should win her back. Or that I’m suggesting you’re the right guy for her. I just didn’t know who else to ask. I still think you’re a lying puke who was probably playing her.”
“I wasn’t,” he said, pursing his lips. “I don’t know who she talked to or where she got her information, but I never knew a thing about her father or any of the other people killed or injured here at West Oil whose families were treated badly.”
Her mouth, covered in bold red lipstick, snapped shut. She stood, yanked up the shoulder on her oversized sweatshirt and handed him a slip of paper. “This is everything I know about Corey. His address, the company he works for, his dog’s name.”
“I won’t involve the dog,” James said with a smirk as the tension in the room started to melt away.
“I don’t care if you involve his second grade teacher, just get him away from her. She’s my best friend. I love her so much, but she doesn’t know how to handle herself. She never has. I’ve always protected her. I’ve always done my best, but Corey, he’s just too much.”
James stood, rounded his desk, and looked down at Jessica, who seemed far less intimidating now. “He will never come anywhere near her again when I’m done with him. I promise.”
She nodded her head and moved toward the door of his office. “It was Mr. Wallace. That’s who she asked whether or not you knew about the problems at West Oil.”
James nodded his head gratefully, as a new wave of anger overcame him. That was another man he wanted to pound into the ground now. The list was growing longer by the second.
“Thank you for coming to see me. I’m glad you did.”
“Well,” she said, now looking far more sheepish, “thanks for not being the complete pompous, arrogant asshole I assumed you would be.”
“Mathew,” James called out. He knew he’d still be close by.
“Yeah,” he called anxiously as he rounded the corner quickly.
“This is Jessica. She’s a friend of Libby’s. She’s terribly sorry for coming in here the way she did and wants to apologize.”
“I do?” Jessica asked, her eyes going narrow. James shot her back a look, and she rolled her eyes. Jessica needed James to help her. So he knew she’d oblige. “I do want to apologize,” she groaned reluctantly.
“Can you walk her out? Maybe grab her a coffee downstairs before she goes. She’s a very interesting woman once you get past her being scary.”
Rather than defend herself against the accusation, her face shone brightly with pride. “You better believe I’m scary. You’ll do well to remember that when you do what I’ve asked you to do.”
James raised his arms up in feigned surrender. “Message received. Consider it done.”
Mathew shot him an angry scowl as he gestured for Jessica to lead the way out of the office. With a wry smile James gave him a tormenting wave goodbye and mouthed the words, have fun.
When his office door was closed again he looked down at the paper Jessica had handed him. There was more than enough information here to find this asshole. And she had been right. James was very capable of destroying him in a multitude of ways. But that wasn’t the thought that kept pressing against his brain, causing an ache behind his eye. What the hell was Libby thinking?
The emotion she’d bled out of her heart when she recounted her time with Corey, the regret that had her head hanging low, had seemed so real. What could have possibly driven her back into that pitiful excuse for a man’s arms? And then like a bullet to the heart he had the answer. It was him. Obviously she’d been feeling the same way for him that he had for her. Though he hadn’t done anything wrong at West Oil, it didn’t mean his hands were clean in this situation. Because he’d done nothing. Nothing to explain it to her. Nothing to stop her. Nothing to chase her. He’d done nothing to show her she was more important than anything else. But now it was time to do something.
Chapter 24
Libby had dressed the part. She layered herself in every cliché about being incognito: Her hair tucked up into a large hat. Dark sunglasses half the size of her face that she was keeping on even inside the tiny diner. Baggy clothes that kept anyone from being able to easily describe her if they needed to. It was silly. She knew that. But it felt good to be someone other than herself right now.
From this vantage point in the corner booth, she could see Maggie. Her curly red hair was up in an effortless kind of coil that clearly just happened naturally—the kind any girl would be jealous of. Her face was delicate, and she moved with an airy glide. Efficient at her job and eager to please, Libby saw some of herself in this girl and how she interacted with each person who asked something of her.
Only there to observe and not really sure what her goal was, Libby was nearly ready to pay her bill and go. But as the rest of the diner cleared out and the waitresses started gabbing as they cleaned tables, Libby heard something that she couldn’t ignore.
“You need to just be done with him already,” a girl with a heavy Boston accent said curtly as she snapped her gum and grabbed an armful of dirty dishes from the table. “Corey is not worth all this heartache. You shouldn’t have to be worried that he’s always running around on you.”
“It�
��s not him,” Maggie answered quickly, shaking her head. “I have trust issues. It’s me.”
Libby strained to tune in to the conversation as another group of people moved out of their seats and went outside.
“I don’t like him,” the other waitress said, propping a hand on her hip as she came back from behind the counter and cleared another table.
“You don’t even know him,” Maggie defended. “He’s brilliant and funny. I still can’t believe he’s interested in a girl like me.”
“I know him plenty,” she argued. “He’s in here three times a week, always watching you and saying stupid things that make you doubt yourself. That’s not what a relationship is supposed to be like. Is he even serious about you? Where is this heading?” The other waitress looked to be in her thirties and had an expression on her face that said she’d spent many years dealing with jerks and wouldn’t be fooled by one.
“Actually,” Maggie said with a huge smile as she spun around with an armful of empty drinking glasses, “we’re moving in together. He asked me last night. I was totally shocked. I had this feeling something was going on with him, and it turns out he was just nervous I might not say yes when he asked. It was really sweet.”
Libby felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. Like she was ten years old again and had fallen off the balance beam, landing flat on her back. Yesterday afternoon she and Corey had been walking through the park discussing the things that had changed in the years since they’d been together. An hour later he was asking this half woman/half child to move in with him. That was it, she’d seen enough. Or at least she thought she had.
There was a huge crash and plastic cups bounced across the floor, skidding right by Libby’s booth. Maggie had dropped them and instantly turned a sunburn shade of red. “I’m so sorry,” she gasped at Libby as she got on her hands and knees to grab the cups quickly. “I’m such a klutz. My boyfriend says I’m lucky I haven’t ended up in a full body cast.”
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