Chapter 8
RAINA
The thought lingers all the way into the following day, when I drive back to Portland for a couple of hours to pick up a few things from my apartment, including a few recipe books I didn’t think I’d need for this gig. But with Valentine’s Day dinner just a day away, I want to wow the guests.
If I’m to secure a head chef position at Alex, Max, and Vincent’s next venture, I need to make sure I give Haus of Sin my very best.
My apartment building feels strange as I get out of my car and glance up at the stony facade and the French windows. It should feel like home, but…
Lately, home’s been in the arms of three men, not here.
“Raina.” Jeremy’s voice startles me before I even see him. He’s been waiting by his car, just a few feet away from where I parked. He doesn’t look like the man I once fell in love with.
I recoil when he tries to hug me, then take a couple of steps back. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Jeremy stills and gives me a gentle smile. “I’ve missed you.”
“You’re joking,” I scoff. “You broke up with me, said I was too much woman for you, both physically and emotionally”
“I’m here to apologize, Raina. Will you give me that opportunity?”
I measure him from head to toe, trying to understand what possessed him to come here today of all days. “How’d you know I’d be coming to my apartment?”
“I overheard Vivian talking to you on the phone yesterday,” he replies, smiling sheepishly. “I figured it was my one opportunity to catch you while you were in town. I also overheard you got yourself a great new gig at some snazzy resort up north. Congratulations are in order!”
“Congratulations? You got me fired from The Kane,” I shoot back.
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about—”
“Cut the shit, Jeremy. The staff at The Kane talk, and they talk a lot. They know you hung out with the general manager. They know the general manager heard some things about me, things that weren’t true. But hey, I couldn’t disprove any of it, so they ended my contract prematurely.”
“Like I said...” He pauses to take a deep breath, as if he’s the one who needs to summon more patience, “I’m here to apologize.”
“Jeremy, I don’t care about your apology. I’m not interested in hearing it, and I’d very much appreciate it if you would just leave me alone.”
“Raina, please. I made some terrible mistakes, and it took losing you to realize it.”
What did I ever see in him? He used to seem tall and dashing, smart and charming.
He had a way of talking that made the clothes fly off me.
But he never took me out anywhere, maybe to a café across town once in a while, never to a local restaurant.
It wasn’t until I confronted him about it that the truth came out: Jeremy didn’t want to be seen with me, and that’s why he never introduced me to any of his friends.
And then he dumped me. Today, he just looks… bland, tepid, tasteless.
He’s nothing compared to Alex, Max, or Vincent.
“You didn’t lose me,” I remind Jeremy. “You threw me away, and I was a fool for letting you treat me the way you did. But I’ve learned my lesson.”
“I’ve learned mine, too—
I don’t even let him finish. “It sure doesn’t look like it. You’re still trying to gaslight me like I was born yesterday.”
Jeremy takes another step toward me, and I raise my hands to stop him. He shakes his head, increasingly more disappointed by my rejection, but I doubt he feels even a small fraction of what he made me feel.
“I’m trying to make it up to you,” he says. “First, I need to apologize, and you need to listen. It’s the decent thing to do.”
“I need to listen to you?” I laugh. “That’s fucking rich. I don’t need to do anything, Jeremy. And I certainly don’t owe you a damn thing. You ended it. It’s over. I’ve moved on; so should you.”
“I heard you’re working with Alex Forbes,” he says. There’s a tremor in his voice that wasn’t there before. If I didn’t know any better, I’d call it desperation.
“Let me guess. You overheard Vivian talking about that, too?”
He smiles broadly. “I was sitting at a table behind her. I couldn’t help it. For days now, I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to find the right way to come to you, to talk to you, to try and make things right. I was a fool, Raina, I’m the first to admit it. I was selfish and superficial.”
“You were a dick.”
“Absolutely.” He lets a dry chuckle out from the back of his throat. He doesn’t really believe it, though. I can see right through his lies. “Listen, Raina, I heard Alex Forbes and his partners are opening a new restaurant in town. You’re going to work there, right?”
“Maybe. But it’s none of your business.”
“You’re right, it’s not. I was just surprised at how fast their venture is growing. They have a few huge projects already, insanely successful and profitable. I think Keller & Partners are representing them, if I’m not mistaken.”
“So?” I cross my arms, curious.
“It’s just a shame, seeing that Keller is notorious for overcharging his clients,” Jeremy replies with a casual shrug.
“But anyway, that’s irrelevant. I was just thinking, if you want, I could totally write you a letter of recommendation for Alex Forbes for your future employment.
I’ll even use my law firm’s official letterhead to make it stand out, to make sure you get—”
“Get the job?” I reply with a raised eyebrow. “You would do that?”
“Call it my way of making it up to you.”
“That is so nice of you, Jeremy.” I take a moment while he settles into a smidge of confidence that he might actually get away with this nonsense before I clip his wings.
But with a flat smile on my face, I’m ready for the next part.
“So let me see if I’ve got this straight.
You dumped me, humiliated me, you lied to my former boss and got me fired from one of the most prestigious restaurants in Portland, then you blocked me everywhere, and now, you accost me outside my apartment building, asking for my forgiveness and even so generously offering to write me a letter of recommendation to make sure I get a new job? ”
“Maybe you’re oversimplifying things just a bit.”
“I have no trouble finding a good job for myself, thank you very much. I got by long before you came along and almost screwed everything up. I will get by long after you’re gone,” I say, reveling in the speed with which his confidence is now waning.
“Raina—”
“You are to keep your distance from me and from my bosses, Jeremy. Do not call, text, or write any letter unless you want me to file harassment charges against you. You may be a lawyer, and a slick one at that, but you forget that my best friend is also a lawyer, and she’d love nothing more than to crush you in front of a judge for what you did to me. ”
“Hold on, I—”
“No! Get the hell away from me, Jeremy. We’re done. We’ve been done for a long time,” I say and wave him away. “I’m going to go inside and grab a few things. You’d better be gone by the time I come back out, or I swear, I’m calling the cops.”
Jeremy’s shoulders drop in defeat, yet his eyes shimmer with the most vivid antipathy I’ve ever seen. “That’s a tad extreme, Raina.”
“Well, you won’t take no for an answer, apparently, so here we are.”
I turn away and go into the building, my heart thundering, my head throbbing, and my pulse racing while I pray to all the gods, old and new, that he’s already back behind the wheel of his car and driving as far away from me as possible.
There isn’t a single emotion left in me for this man, except rage.