Two Truths & a Lime (The Love Game #3) - Elizabeth Hayley Page 0,86

can’t stand stole twenty dollars from you. This is a business. A well-respected business. And that wasn’t just any client. That was Trey Daily, celebrity.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” I said again. And I was. I wished I’d said something before now and that Carole’s talk with me hadn’t been needed to prompt some sort of action.

“Well, sorry’s not good enough.”

“What do you want from her, Jeff?” asked Carole. “It’s done. She said she was sorry. What more is there to say?”

Carole had said that she’d guarantee me a meeting with her and Jeff after all this was over, but this wasn’t the meeting she probably had in mind. Though she seemed significantly less irritated than Jeff, my outburst could’ve cost them a client, and I knew Carole wasn’t blind to that.

Jeff turned toward Carole, looking a little disgusted that she wasn’t completely backing him. “Oh, I don’t know. How about how all this started and why we’re just finding out about it now? Interns kept us in the dark about something in our own office. Interns, Carole.”

The way Jeff said “interns” sounded like he was discussing some sort of mild STD he was embarrassed he’d contracted.

“I wasn’t in the dark,” Carole blurted out, causing Jeff’s head to jerk back. Whether the movement was from anger or shock, I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was a little of both.

Carole’s admission surprised me, though it shouldn’t have. Not really. From the moment I’d met her, she’d been honest and direct, blunt to almost a fault. It made her intimidating and unpredictable in a way that I’d never experienced before. And this moment shouldn’t have been any different.

“You knew about this?” Jeff practically growled.

“Oh, calm down. You’re acting like I was in on some sort of conspiracy. I’d never condone this sort of behavior from anyone, especially someone who isn’t even employed at Margot Nathan.”

“But you said you knew about it?”

“Well,” she scoffed, “I had my suspicions from that first meeting. And if you were capable of paying attention to anything other than your own thoughts and comments, you might’ve noticed Sophia’s reaction when Jake blurted out an idea she came up with.”

“Okay, that’s enough of the low blows,” Jeff said, his voice quieting as he added, “I had enough of that when we were married.”

Well, that’s new information.

It brought so many questions to mind. Were they together when they formed the business? Had working together caused their divorce? Who was on top most often?

I had no idea where that last comment came from, but deciding I didn’t want to actually get sick during this meeting, I dismissed the thought as quickly as it had arrived.

Carole let out an exaggerated laugh to let everyone, especially Jeff, I guessed, know that she didn’t find the comment funny. I assumed that Carole would rather have kept her personal life out of this conversation.

“Okay, you’re right,” she said. “We’ll hold off on listing each other’s faults for another time.”

“Thank you,” Jeff said, sounding almost relieved. “Okay, so let’s begin again. Jake, would you please tell me everything I need to know to understand the chronology of all this? And don’t spare any details. It’s in your best interest to be as forthcoming as possible.”

He’d obviously have to respond to Jeff’s request, but if I knew Jake at all—and unfortunately, I thought I did—he wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to throw me under the bus and then hop into the driver’s seat so he could run me the fuck over with it to make sure I was good and dead.

“Sure, I can do that.”

I could tell he was trying to sound composed, confident even, because he knew as well as I did that we were probably both done here, and hearing each of our sides of the story was more of a courtesy than an actual attempt at gathering information for the purpose of making a fair and educated decision.

“A while back, Sophia was making some flyers or something for a place called the Yard. I asked her about what it was, and she told me her boyfriend was in charge of opening a new part of the bar he worked in. When I tossed out the idea of calling Mr. Daily’s bar the Yard, it just slipped out.”

Now I was the one trying to remain calm, when all I wanted to do was jump onto him and eat his face off like a lion protecting her young. Because when it came down to it, the Yard was