“You’re right. I am his ex.” She looked me up and down. “The ex who was at his apartment last night.”
I wanted to respond.
I really, really did. I had an entire arsenal of comebacks for women like Claudia—ones who thought they were better than everyone else, who thought they were the dog’s balls, who had themselves so high up on their horses that they could barely see the ground.
Yet nothing came out.
My lips parted, but no words escaped. Nothing. Not even a squeak of annoyance.
Her words were a sucker punch to the gut. Why? I couldn’t pinpoint that right now. I knew her type—they were jealous and manipulative, and chances were, what she was saying was a crock of bullshit.
Mason hated her.
In my rational mind, I knew that.
The rest of me, though? It stung.
I had no right to feel this way. I’d come here thinking I was going to be another guy’s date. I didn’t get to take the high road right now.
Claudia took a step closer toward me, and that was all I needed to find my voice again.
“Did you really?” I drawled. “And I’m sure he invited you in for cake and coffee and a good old catch-up, did he?”
“Not exactly cake and coffee, but a catch-up?” She smirked. “Let me tell you—that’s how I know you aren’t together.”
I wanted to claw out her eyes.
“I’m going to give you ten seconds to run before I slap that smirk off your face and catapult it into orbit,” I warned her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Madi and Tina rushing over to me.
Claudia’s eyes flashed. “You wouldn’t dare. Your precious fake boyfriend wouldn’t like that.”
“Actually, he’d pay for a front row seat,” I said through gritted teeth. “Because before you run your mouth at me about our relationship being fake, maybe you should call him right now and see where he was until just before lunch yesterday.”
Her nostrils flared right as Madi and Tina joined me. “I don’t think so.”
“No, neither did I. Because regardless of anything else, you and I both know he won’t answer your call.” It was my turn to look her over head to toe. “Green isn’t your color, Claudia. Give it up.”
“I don’t have to give up. All I have to do is tell everyone your relationship isn’t real and show them the ad. Then this little relationship will be over.”
“Go ahead,” I replied in a withering tone. “Seriously. Be my guest. You’ll save us both a job of pretending to break up.”
With that, I turned my back on her and stormed past my best friends. They followed me without hesitation, but I didn’t stop until we were in the parking lot where we’d parked around a block away.
I unlocked my car and got in. My blood boiled—she’d tricked me, and now that was it. That was the end of it.
It was the end of me and Mason.
The end of anything that could possibly happen.
And that—that was the reason for the sinking in my stomach. The coiling I felt deep inside. That pure anger and frustration that threatened to boil over the surface.
Fuck me dead, I hated that woman.
How petty did she have to be? Could she really not let him go? I’d understand if he’d broken up with her, but that wasn’t the case. She was the one who’d broken up with him. She’d done the dirty on him.
What was her problem? Was she really just that horrible of a person?
“That was interesting,” Madi said from the passenger seat.
“Who was she?” Tina added from the back.
I took a deep breath in through my nose before I huffed it back out. “Claudia. Mason’s ex.”
“Ohhh,” they both said. “That makes sense,” Madi added. “I could smell the estrogen from the café.”
I tutted and turned the key in the ignition. “She’s impossible. I don’t know what she thinks she’s playing at.”
Tina clicked her belt in. “What did she say?”
“She implied she was with Mason last night. Like, with-with him.”
“With him how you were on Saturday night? Bumping uglies? Sending the train into the tunnel?”
“Enough,” I snapped. “Sorry. I just—ugh. I don’t know why I feel like this. I don’t like her, but I feel like I could kick a wall right now.”
“Ah, jealousy,” Madi said, examining her nails. “Admit it. You have a lot more feelings for Mason than you thought. It’s not surprising since you get along so well.”
I wasn’t going to admit that right now. “She knows our relationship isn’t real.”
“We know,” Tina said. “We were there when you told her to tell Mason’s family.”
I dropped my head onto the steering wheel. It hit the horn, and the ear-screeching sound rang out until Madi leaned forward and sat me up again.
“She won’t do anything tonight, because she’s a manipulator. She’ll get you when you least expect it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she showed up at his door in the next thirty minutes.”