Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,122
had Vaughn made her? All the time that he had been with her had he been thinking about Olivia? She knew that he had never openly given the girl any encouragement at work but then that didn’t mean anything. He could have just been trying to keep his relationship with her under wraps. Ultimately she knew so little about this man that she didn’t know what his usual MO was. Did he have lots of girls at his beck and call, to choose as he wanted and dump when he was done? Maybe that was why he wasn’t married; he preferred to keep his options open. He had the looks and the money so surely getting new girls on a regular basis was easy enough – hell, she had fallen for his charms with very little effort on his part.
But then part of her believed him – believed in him and trusted him and the depth of feelings for her that he claimed to have. As far as she could tell he had no reason to lie either but it was obvious that one of them was and at this point in time she had absolutely no idea which one it was.
“Nothing to say, Miss Perfect Grayson? Oh sorry, I mean Mrs Breedon.”
What the...? How the hell did Olivia know her married name? She never used it – ever. Shit. What the hell was this girl’s problem?
Recognising the need to reply at least on some level, Elise decided to go for an abridged version of the truth and hope that she could diffuse the situation. Olivia clearly had a problem and it needed to be sorted out in a mature and sensible way. She opted to leave the issue of her married name to one side – for now.
“Olivia, I don’t know what you think happened between Vaughn and me but I can assure you that you are wrong – completely. We are co-workers, colleagues and yes; there was an incident today at the conference which Vaughn – dealt - with. His actions were a little over the top but I know that he is a good man and he would have stepped into the breach for any of his employees, exactly the same.”
That was all true, maybe except for the last part, but how did she know he wouldn’t defend everyone like that? It may well be the way he worked.
“Jesus Elise, you must think I’m a complete idiot. I heard what happened at the hotel, I know that he beat that man to within an inch of his life. Do you seriously expect me to believe that he would react like that if he’d not spent the night before fucking you? I know you left Indigo together too – I was getting some air and I saw you. Saw him running across the car park to you like some lovesick puppy. But that’s ok – I figure he likes the challenge of a married woman but now that’s he’s had you and realises that you’re just a dirty, shrivelled up old hag, I know whose door he’s going to be knocking on tonight. Why else do you think I’m still here? He asked me to wait for him – seems he’s done with you already.”
Elise’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Vaughn had spoken to Olivia? When? He had left the car park and headed straight upstairs as far as she was aware. She had passed out immediately afterwards though and had not seen him since so she supposed it was entirely possible that he had stopped by Olivia’s desk first.
Suddenly she felt an overwhelming urge to cry as sorrow unlike anything she had ever experienced before engulfed her. Maybe Olivia was telling the truth; it was certainly unusual for her to be here past five on a Friday, and Vaughn had left Elise in the car park. He had just walked away without a backward glance, not even trying to argue with her at all or salvage anything, and the worst part was that she had let him. Despite all the hurtful things she had thrown at him, part of her had hoped that he would still fight for her somehow but maybe he really had given up. Cole seemed to think that Vaughn had feelings for her but what did he know? He barely knew what his own feelings were these days, how could he possibly be the judge of anyone else’s?