Dirty Deal (Perfectly Matched 2)

And no matter how else he tried for the rest of the shoot, all he could think about was Serena.

In the span of an hour, he was back in his car again, alone and replaying everything Grace had said. Maybe she was right. Maybe it didn’t have to be that way. The more he turned the thoughts over in his head, the more aware he became of the truth.

He was in love with Serena Elliott. Undeniably. Inexplicably. Absolutely.

And he had fucked it up royally.

Now he had to figure out how to fix it.

…

It felt like he was taunting her.

Wasn’t it enough that she’d come home one day to find all his stuff gone? His toothbrush and the underwear he’d kept in her top drawer. Wasn’t it enough that she still had to work with his sister and pretend like nothing had happened? Wasn’t it enough that he’d raked her heart over the steaming coals of Mount Vesuvius?

No, it wasn’t. Because apparently all that torture also coincided with seeing his face every time she turned on the TV and hearing him talk about letting love into his life.

Like some kind of bizarro Twilight Zone episode, the thing popped up every three seconds. After a week, she was wondering if she might have died and this was her hell. To sit here and watch him smile. To listen to him.

And to have her heart break all over again.

Even though she knew it had been part of the deal, and that Grace had set up the TV spots, it didn’t make a difference. Over the course of the last month, the hurt was more of a constant ache than anything else. Like breathing or Keeping Up With the Kardashians. It was just an eternal part of life.

She’d think that she was finally starting to forget the sound of his voice or how his jaw tensed when he looked at her, then the commercial would play over again in the stillness of her bedroom, and she found herself staring at the empty space where he used to lie. And sometimes, after hours of restlessness, her phone would buzz and she would take in the bright light illuminating the room for a moment. Then it would slowly fade out and leave her in the dark again.

She knew who the texts were from. Had known from the very first night. At first, they’d been apologies. Explanations of his actions. Now the messages were simpler. He never mentioned the past. More often than not, they were statements.

You probably look beautiful right now.

Thinking of you.

I miss you.

She hated herself for checking them. Hated herself for wanting to see one more short message, the only three words that mattered. A small consolation for the monotonous torment her life had become.

Picking up her phone, she scrolled through the messages, reading each slowly. It was a sort of ritual she’d developed whenever a new one popped up. The total count was fifteen, not counting the few times his sister had mustered enough courage to brave an attempt at conversation on his behalf, but there was no going back. Once burned, twice as pissed.

She’d never responded, not to a single word, but they kept coming.

And one day they’ll stop and I’ll still be here staring at the messages.

Her thumb hovered over the phone, but her body knew this dance too well to miss a step. With a flick of the wrist, the thing sailed to the opposite side of the couch and she was reaching for the remote, desperate to drown out the dark, sensual voice with something else. Anything else.

As if to further her life’s dark irony, the phone buzzed by her feet.

“Is there no room for catharsis in this world?” She muttered to herself and instead of answering the thing she kicked it farther away.

“Take that,” she said. For the thousandth time, she shut off the TV, cutting off Bryan’s voice in the middle of his speech about how wonderful love was. Right.

The phone buzzed across the cushion again until it finally clattered to the floor and flopped around like a half-dead fish. The temptation to kick it again swept through her, but when Serena approached, she noticed that the messages were from Q.

Apparently, she’d been trying to reach her all day. Two texts in the morning, a call in the afternoon, two more texts and…

Oh God.

The doorbell clanged through the hall and Serena grabbed for her hair and tossed it into a messy topknot.

The meeting.

In her busy schedule of boundless pity-partying, she’d let business slip her mind. Weeks ago, right after the auction, she and Q had scheduled a preliminary consultation to set up a blueprint for the upcoming charity event. Yet more salt in the wound.

Q must have been checking in to make sure their plans were still a go. So now she was standing at the door ringing the bell, waiting for Serena. Who was wearing sweatpants and an old T-shirt. One more mark against her on the Metcalf scoreboard.

There was no time to fix the situation, so with one quick breath, Serena straightened and made for the door.

When she opened it, Q seemed distracted. Like she hadn’t expected to have company when she, herself, was the company.

“Hey.”

The awkwardness was tangible, though Serena wasn’t sure what else she might have expected. They’d exchanged emails, but this was the first time she’d physically seen Q since the split with Bryan. It was one thing to dodge the questions online, another to do it in person.

For a long moment, they were silent as Q surveyed the room, though Serena got the distinct impression she wasn’t really taking in what she was seeing. Bryan hung in the air between them like a palpable entity, and it was all she could do not to ask how he was.

Today, they were focusing on business. Life had to get back to normal. The sooner the better.

“It’s a pretty nice space, right? For a party, I mean.” Serena guided her into the east wing where her parents used to host galas. The place was hardly ever used, but it still looked pristine. All the fine touches her mother had demanded when she lived there, and all the gaudy gold fixtures her grandmother had despised. The Elliotts in a nutshell.

“It’s breathtaking.” Q’s breath sounded pretty taken and Serena turned to smile at the other woman.

“So, let’s talk details,” Serena pressed. The sooner she got Q out of here, the sooner she could focus on the important things. Like wallowing some more.

Q nodded and moved to the center of the room before plopping down on the floor, legs crossed. “Let me visualize for a minute.” She closed her eyes and hummed, like she was trying to channel HGTV from beyond the grave.

After a moment, Q’s eyes snapped open again and she shook her head. “I’ve got nothing.”

“Well, normally we can set up a stage on the far end of the hall and—”

“Not that,” Q said. “We’ll figure something out. I guess I’m just a little out of sorts, that’s all.” She rubbed a hand over her biceps, then spun on her heel and began to pace. “The hospital is expecting so much. The last auction went so well.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Serena said the words calmly, the same way Grace always did, but something seemed…off. Fishy. Still, she gave Q the benefit of the doubt and tried again. “You got a really great turnout. The tickets are already sold out for next week.”

Q nodded, but didn’t look up from her pacing. “That’s true. I just need to make sure this lives up to your company standards, too. You?

??ve done so much for us and you’ve already been through a lot.”

Serena tried to hide the wince, but Q had apparently spotted it anyway. She paused mid-pace, her round eyes wider than ever. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. What I meant was… Well, I sort of. Kind of. Maybe need a favor. Sort of.”

“What do you mean?” Ah, yes, that’s where the smell of fish had been coming from.

“The last company, for the auction, you know? Well, they backed out. I guess they were some sort of traveling circus and their tires blew out so they’re now more of a stationary circus. The bearded lady has a skin condition. It was a whole thing on the phone and—”

Serena sighed. “Honey, I’m going to need you to cut to the chase.”

“Well, this is a local business auction. For goods. And services. So. You’re the only business that isn’t signed up… And I have a slot open.” Q turned on a thousand-watt smile. “It would be great exposure for you and Grace. So I was hoping you could step in.”

Her stomach was already sinking at the prospect of getting roped into one of these things again. As if the first one hadn’t turned out swimmingly enough, now she was going to sign up for additional floggings? Still, there was something about Q that couldn’t be turned down, so Serena said, “I’ll ask Grace.”

“I called her earlier today. She said she’s fine with offering a complimentary setup, but that she’s busy the night of the auction, so…” It didn’t seem possible, but Q dialed up the wattage on her smile, and Serena resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

She wanted to help the charity. And God only knew that she’d done worse things than stand on a stage and peddle her skills for a good cause. Maybe the fishiness was just her being overly skeptical. One night wouldn’t kill her.

And it wasn’t like she could get her heart stomped on again.

“Fine, then. Sounds good.” She nodded and Q jumped up and down. Just like that, the faraway look was gone, and she was all energy and light again.

Wrapping Serena in an embrace, she squealed, “You will not regret it! I’ll even take care of the rest of the planning. You can just sit back and enjoy yourself. Leave everything else to me.” Q grinned.