“Okay?”
“I broke things off because I caught feelings for my boss.”
“Feelings,” I said.
“Yes, feelings. You know, those things I should’ve felt for Logan but didn’t?”
What!?
“Okay. So, you’re seeing your boss?” I asked.
“I am. I tried to shrug him off at work as best as I could, but it wasn’t any use. He’s just like me, you know? We laugh about all the same things and have a lot of similar life experiences.”
Like lying to your best friend?
“He can even provide a better life for me in the future—should we want to stay together forever,” she said.
“Better than a lawyer with his own business?” I asked.
“Look, I know you liked Logan. I know you guys became friends. And there’s nothing stopping you from being friends with him, if you want. I mean, I can’t say I wouldn’t be upset or anything, but I get it. The two of you are drastically similar. It honestly felt at times like I was dating you with a dick, except we had better sex.”
No. Logan and I had better sex.
“So you’re with your boss now and you’re—happy?” I asked.
“I mean, it hurt, breaking up with Logan. He wasn’t happy about the fact that I was with my boss. But I tried to help him see it my way. This way he can go find someone like you. Someone who’s similar to him, I mean, not you specifically. Yikes. That would be weird. No thanks.”
My stomach dropped as our food was set in front of us.
“Thanks,” Camilla said, smiling.
“Can I get you two anything else?” the waiter asked.
A new reality.
“If you have coffee, I’d like a cup,” I said.
“Ever the caffeinated lion. Logan was like that, too, always guzzling down the stuff. Made his kisses disgusting,” Camilla said.
“I thought things were really good between you and Logan?”
“I mean, the sex was good. Not much else was good. He was so demanding and controlling all the time. ‘Get off your phone. Pay attention to me. I just want it to be us.’ Blah, blah, blah.”
“So you’re complaining because he wanted to spend time with you,” I said.
“Ava, I wasn’t happy. I don’t expect you to get it. Logan’s personality rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like he was trying to change me. The sex was explosive, sure, probably some of the best of my life. But there’s more to a relationship than sex. And to answer your earlier question, yes, my boss can provide me with a better life. He doesn’t just own the club I work at. He owns almost half of them on the downtown strip.”
And there it was, the gold-digging way of my best friend. I couldn’t believe her. I couldn’t believe she would lie to me and act like she had no feelings for Logan whatsoever. She was being cold-hearted, conniving, like her actions didn’t matter to anyone except her and whoever got tangled up in them. And even then, she didn’t care how her actions affected anyone else.
“So, you’re over Logan? Just like that?” I asked.
“Ava, I’ve been over him for a while. Hell, I’ve been seeing my boss for the past two months. I tried to get past all Logan’s clinginess and the incessant need to be the club while I was working and all that jazz, but that lifestyle isn’t for me. I mean, his cock? Oh, yeah. That thing is a behemoth. But I grew to hate his personality, and therefore him.”
“You cheated on him? Camilla, come on, you’re better than that.”
“Really, Ava? I tell you the man’s been controlling me and you’re upset that I cheated?”
So many emotions rolled through my body: disgust at the way she talked about intimate experiences with Logan, shock for the way she talked about his countenance, Anger at how apathetic she seemed, frustration due to her lies.
She picked up her phone and dipped her head toward it and smiled before her fingers started flying away. I shook my head and scoffed as I leaned back in my chair.
“Sorry. It’s my cuddlebear.”
“Your who?” I asked.
“Cuddlebear. It’s what I call my boss.”
“What does he call you?”
“Oh, so many things when we’re alone,” she said, grinning.
I nodded as her attention fell back to her phone. I lost her to the world of technology as I picked at my food. I felt more confused than ever. Was there any truth to Camilla’s statements? Was Logan a control freak? He didn’t strike me as one. And there wasn’t anything wrong with a man wanting to spend time with a woman the way Logan seemed to with Camilla. But had he tried to change her at some point? Had he been going to her work to see what she was doing rather than simply to be with her like I had thought?
Was there an entirely different side to him I hadn’t seen yet?