The garage.
It’s the only place I haven’t looked for Reed.
But what the hell would he be doing in there, with the party raging on out here? Oh! Maybe he’s showing someone his car collection! Yes, that must be it. Reed is giving some buddy or VIP a tour of his beloved cars.
My heart exploding, I turn around again and head down the path, telling myself the whole time I’m being paranoid—that there’s no way Reed had anything to do with my salary or CeeCee’s decision to hire me. CeeCee would never betray me like that. And neither would Reed. He’s a liar, for sure. But only about highly personal things. Also, small things, sometimes, as well, for reasons that elude me. But he would never lie to me about something so important. But if he did, he certainly wouldn’t continue lying to me, after I told him about Mr.—
The side door to the garage opens, and to my shock—and heartbreak—Reed and Isabel step through the doorframe, exiting the garage.
I’m standing, frozen, about ten feet away from them. And the minute Reed and Isabel see me, they freeze, too. And, instantly, from Reed’s stiff body language and the guilty expression on his face, I know he’s just been caught red-handed. Remorse washes over his guilty face. Followed immediately by barely contained panic.
I shift my gaze to Isabel, hoping whatever I see there will make everything okay. But, no, Isabel’s face only makes matters worse. Her lipstick is smeared. Her hair disheveled. In short, she’s a hot mess—a woman who just got fucked. She wipes her mouth—apparently trying to remove the evidence of Reed’s mouth on hers—and a cavalcade of emotions flood me. Rage. Hurt. Rejection. Heartbreak. And then nothing but rage, rage, rage, rage, rage. But, somehow, I manage to disassociate from my white-hot emotions, long enough to get through this mortifying moment.
“Hello, Isabel,” I say calmly, like a sniper looking through a scope. I shift my gaze to Reed, my eyes like lasers. “Reed.”
“Hello again!” Isabel says, sounding nervous. Is she worried I’ll run straight to her billionaire fiancé and tell him what I’ve just seen?
“Reed was just showing me his cars,” Isabel blurts.
“Oh, yeah?” I say. “I’ve heard about them, but haven’t seen them for myself. Are they pretty?”
“Very pretty.”
I return to Reed, my nostrils flaring. “Would you be willing to show me your pretty cars, Mr. Rivers? I’d love to see them. Maybe I could feature them in my article about you.”
Reed’s Adam’s apple bobs. “Sure.”
“I should probably find Howard,” Isabel says, walking briskly past me. “I’m sure he’s looking for me.”
When Isabel is gone, Reed steps toward me, his palms raised. He whispers, “Georgina, I know how this looks.”
I point toward the garage. “Turn your lying, cheating ass around and get into that fucking garage. I’m not going to do this out here.”
Chapter 33
Reed
My heart crashing, I close the garage door behind me and turn around to face Georgie’s wrath. “I know how this looks, baby, but—”
“Don’t you dare call me baby!” she seethes, her eyes like meteors. “When your dick is still wet from another woman’s pussy!”
Oh, Jesus. “I didn’t fuck her, Georgie.”
“Liar. I saw her flushed face, Reed. Her smudged lipstick. Her tousled hair. That look in her eye like she just got fucked. You not only fucked her, you fucked the living shit out of her!”
“No. Calm down and listen to me.”
“Why? So you can tell me I’m crazy and paranoid? So you can look me in the eye and lie through your teeth?”
“I’m not lying to you, Georgie. I didn’t fuck Isabel.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “You expect me to believe you and Isabel came into your garage, while your party was raging in your house, for who knows how long... because you suddenly felt the need to show her—a woman you’ve known for ten years—your car collection?”
My stomach twists. Shit. Fuck. Shit. Fuck. I run my hand through my hair. Fuck!
Georgina’s eyes are wild. “If I hadn’t stumbled upon you two at exactly the right moment to catch you red-handed, would you have come clean about what you did? Or would you have taken me to your bed after the party, and fucked me right after fucking her? Would you have at least done me the courtesy of showering before you fucked me, to get her off your dick and lips?”
“You need to listen to me. Isabel asked me to talk in private, about something important, and the garage was the only place I knew nobody would barge in on us.”
“Do you think I’m stupid?” she screams. “I saw her smudged lipstick, Reed!”
Oh, God. I feel the ground giving way underneath my feet. Panic streaks through me. Regret. Remorse. But there’s no way around it. If she saw Isabel’s smudged lipstick, then I have to come clean. I have no choice. “Yes, I kissed her,” I admit, my stomach twisting and churning. “But, I swear, I didn’t fuck her.”