Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Rylee
A few days after Cam’s visit, I was having lunch with Austin at Jimmy’s while we discussed my upcoming album and the kind of songs it would feature when he had to cut it short because another artist friend needed his input in the studio.
I’d waved him off when he tried to pay the bill, opting to order coffee and dessert instead. I immediately regretted my decision when my ex claimed the seat my producer had just vacated.
“Hey, Dean,” I said, determined to be polite. “Did you just get here? I didn’t see you when I came in.” If I had, I would have suggested we eat elsewhere.
It’s not that I disliked Dean. I just didn’t relish the idea of hanging out with him after he’d made things so awkward the last time.
“Yeah, I’m meeting a friend for lunch.” He checked his phone. “But he just texted to let me know he’s running late.”
“Huh.” Just my luck. I smiled at the waitress who delivered my apple pie and coffee. “Thanks, hon.”
She cleared Austin’s plate before confirming Dean didn’t want anything.
“How’re things going with you and the cop?” He leaned in. “You done with him yet?”
“Things are great.” I faked a smile before adding sugar to my coffee, wishing he would take the hint and get lost.
“Must be rough,” he said, studying me a little too closely. “Living so far apart. Unless it’s just a casual thing? See him when you can, yeah?”
“No, we’re making an effort to see each other every weekend.” I popped a forkful of pie in my mouth and took my time chewing. “Either I go there or he comes here.”
“Yeah, but when you hit the road again, he won’t be able to see you for months.” He looked amused when he said, “No way will he be cool with that.” He lowered his voice, creeping me out when he said, “And I know you, Rylee. There ain’t no way you’re goin’ that long without sex.”
Apparently, he didn’t know me as well as he thought, because we’d broken up almost a year ago, and I hadn’t been with anyone until I met Cam.
“Sex with Cam is worth the wait, believe me.” If he was going to get personal, I had no problem making him sorry he went there.
A flash of anger crossed his face before he schooled his expression. “Just be careful, baby. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I’m not your baby, Dean. And I can take care of myself, but thanks for your concern.”
I wasn’t trying to be a bitch, but some exes deserved to be put in their place.
My phone rang with an incoming call from Cam, making me smile. “Sorry,” I said, flashing the phone at Dean. “He must be taking a lunch break. I’d really like to talk to him.”
“Yeah, no worries.” He stood, looking like he wanted to say more, but finally walked away when I connected the call.
“Hey, handsome. I was just talking about you.” I lowered my voice and said, “About how sex with you is always worth the wait.”
He sounded more amused than annoyed when he asked, “Who were you talking to about our sex life?”
“Ugh, would you believe my ex?” Before he could get pissed, I said, “He was pumping me for information about our relationship, saying he knew I couldn’t last without sex while I was on tour and I informed him sex with you is always worth the wait.”
He chuckled. “I bet he loved hearing that.”
“Hopefully he won’t be stupid enough to bring it up again. Can you believe that guy?” Before he could respond, I said, “Forget about him. I’d much rather hear about you. How’s your day going?”
“Okay,” he sighed. “A lot going on. I just needed to hear your voice.”
My heart fluttered every time he told me that hearing my voice made his day better.
“You want to talk about it?” He was my sounding board at the end of every day and I wanted to be his too.
“Honestly, no. How’d you run into the lowlife?”
“I was just having lunch at Jimmy’s with Austin. We were talking about my next album, and Dean’s here having lunch with a friend.”
I glanced at a table in the back where Dean was sitting with an emerging songwriter that we both knew.
“Sucks having to run into your ex all over town, doesn’t it?”
My guard went up immediately. “You, uh, see Kelly often?”
“More often than I’d like. I’d be happy if I never had to see her again. But it seems like everywhere I go, she’s there.”
He hadn’t mentioned running into her once, yet I told him every time I saw Dean. I tried not to make too much of it, but it irritated me that he didn’t show me the same courtesy.
“I’m sure that’s not a coincidence. She’s made no secret of the fact she wants you back—”
“And I’ve made no secret of the fact that’s not happening. Ever.”
His decisive tone helped to ease some of my tension, but I knew women like her, and they never went away quietly.
“You want me to have a little chat with her? I’d be happy to.” Obviously, my message when we’d run into her hadn’t been direct enough.
“No, baby. It’s all good. I’ve got to get back at it. Another meeting in ten minutes. I just wanted you to know I’m thinking about you, gorgeous. And I love you.”
The smile spread across my face as I let his words seep in.
“I love you too.” And I wasn’t too proud to admit I was counting the sleeps until I got to see him again.
I was just falling asleep that night, expecting a call from Cam when I got a text from him instead, with a video attachment.
The next text read, WTF?
I was in shock as I watched the video of me having sex… with Dean.
It was time-stamped the night of the event we’d attended.
To my knowledge, he’d never recorded any intimate moments between us when we were together, but I couldn’t put anything past him.
My heart was hammering as I tapped the screen to call Cam.
“Ohmigod,” I said, as soon as he picked up. “I don’t know what the hell that is, but you have to believe me, I haven’t been with him in almost a year.” When he didn’t respond, I whispered, “Cam, come on. You’ve got to believe me.”
“What I have to believe,” he said, slowly. “Is my own eyes. I made the mistake of having blind faith in someone once before. I won’t do that again.”
“You can’t be serious!” I shouted. “You’re comparing me to that bitch… who cheated on you?”
It felt like he was ripping my heart out. How could he question my fidelity?
He sounded pissed, and slightly intoxicated, making me question how long he’d been stewing over that video.
“Before she cheated on me, she seemed all sweet and innocent too. Acting like I was the only man in the world for her, that she loved me, wanted to get married and—”
“I’m not her! I wouldn’t do that to you.”
I jumped up and started pacing the floor as fear and rage coursed through me. I didn’t want to lose him, but I couldn’t believe what he was accusing me of. When I saw my rat-bastard ex, I was going to skin him alive.
It sounded like he was drinking, chugging in fact, before he said, “I should have known this was too good to be true. Women like you don’t settle down with just one man. You—”
“Are you implying that I’m a slut?” My head was spinning right now, like straight out of the Exorcist.
“Don’t put words in my mouth, Rylee. And don’t act like you’re the injured party. You—”
“I didn’t do anything!”
I was screaming so loud my neighbours could probably hear me and I didn’t give a shit. Defending myself had never meant so much, but I’d never been so heartbroken that I had to. I thought this guy, above all others, would always believe in me. I thought he would always have my back.
“Look, I don’t know how that asshole got my number, but you can’t tell me that’s not you two in that video, Rylee. At his place?”
My voice softened as the hurt and defeat settled in. I didn’t know why I should have to defend myself. I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Yeah, the video’s at his place. But he must have taken it without my knowledge or consent when we were together.”
“How do you explain the date and time stamp? Wasn’t that the night you went to that party with him? Before you called me?”
Was he for real? “Do you really think I’d have sex with him, then call you?”
“How the hell should I know what you would do? I thought I knew you, but I should have trusted my gut. No way can you really know someone, or trust them, in less than a month. That was my stupidity.”
Wow. I sank down on the couch, feeling his words pierce me like barbed wire.
“You can ask your sister. She was at the same party. She called me—”
“I did talk to her. She said they left a couple of hours before she called you. That was plenty of time for you to go back to his place and… make that video.”
“I’m so done with you.”
He laughed. “You’re done with me? Baby, I was done with you the second I saw that video. Go back to your piece of shit guitar player—”
I hung up before he could finish, throwing the phone across the room and dropping to my knees on the floor, crying in frustration when the screen smashed.
Some things needed to be done in person.
Like kicking your ex in the balls for ruining your life.
As soon as Dean opened the door to his apartment, I dropped him. Then kicked him over when he tried to get up. Let him try and press charges. I’d gladly spend the night in jail for a little old-school justice.
“What the hell was that for?” he demanded, rolling around on the ground in agony.
I set my stiletto heel on his ribcage. Yes, I’d worn them as weapons.
“Don’t play dumb with me, asshole. Explain that video. Now.”
“What video?”
I dug my heel a little deeper, making him cry out in pain. “Tell me now or I’ll—”
He moved faster than I gave him credit for, lunging at me, and pushing me back against the wall. Shit. This wasn’t good. Dean wasn’t a big guy, but he was still a hell of a lot bigger than I was. Maybe I hadn’t thought this all the way through.
“You don’t threaten me.” His eyes were wild, and his chest was heaving.
“I. Will. Ruin. You.” I wasn’t feeling as brave as I pretended to be, but cowering in fear wouldn’t get me out of this situation.
His grip loosened a little before I said, “And you know I can. You’ll never work in this town again if I tell people you put your hands on me.”
He stepped back, raking a shaky hand through his hair. “Just get out of here.”
“Not until you tell me how you did it. That video? Getting Cam’s number?”
He was all false bravado when he said, “Hey, if you didn’t want your boyfriend to see it, you shouldn’t have been such a dirty girl.”
“You bastard!” I flattened my palms and pushed against him with all I had. “You had no right to take that video without my knowledge or consent. You know that’s against the law, right? I could charge your ass.”
“You could.” He shrugged. “But if I go down, you’re going down with me. I’ll plaster that shit all over the internet before you can go to the cops. It’ll ruin your career, your reputation.”
I couldn’t remember the exact night that video had been taken, but I seemed pretty uninhibited, which made me think I’d had a few drinks.
It was probably after a party we’d attended together, or an awards show, maybe.
Not that it mattered. The sonofabitch was right.
I could destroy him, but he could humiliate me.
“You’re not going to get away with this.” Though I didn’t know how I could fight back. As long as he had that video, and could leak it online, I was screwed.
“He dumped you, didn’t he?” He smirked. “I knew he would. Guys like that, straight shooters, are so easy to play. Everything’s black and white, right and wrong with them. One mistake and they cut you off like they never met you.”
“Why?” I demanded, feeling the painful truth of his words put the squeeze on my heart. “Why couldn’t you just let me be happy? What did I ever do to you?”
“You have to ask that?” He looked sincerely shocked. “You crushed me. I was in love with you. And you dumped me, like what we had meant nothing to you.”
I didn’t think we were ever that serious. He’d never told me he loved me, and I’d certainly never entertained those thoughts about him. “Look, I tried to be friends—”
“I didn’t want to be your friend! You know how hard it’s been watching you fall for someone else? Screw that. If I can’t be happy, you can’t either.”
“You’re twisted,” I said, reaching for the door handle.
“Yeah,” he shouted down the hall as I pounded on the elevator button. “And you made me this way!”