“You are never going to be normal again. You stopped being normal the second you left Atkins with me.”
I knew that. “It’s not the fact that you’re here with me, it’s the fact that he didn’t ask me. He never considered my feelings or how this arrangement would change my life.”
Virgil shook his head, looking down at his phone. “And did you consider it from his perspective? You’re the most important thing in the world to him. Do you think he’d forgive himself if he didn’t protect you, knowing there’s someone out there following you, and something happened?”
His eyes darted in my direction and I shook my head. Damn him for making some sense and damn him again for smiling about it.
“He still could have asked. He gave me no choice.”
“I don’t think that’s true either. All I’ve heard from you these past two weeks are your complaints about his ultimatum. But he did give you a choice. Granted, you might not have liked either option. It was still a choice.”
I glared at him and folded my arms. “Shut up.”
He snickered and went back to playing with his phone. When mine beeped with a text, a small grin popped up on my face against my will.
[I love you more than you love chocolate.]
Damn that man.
I wanted to jump him. Now.
He’d taken to sending me these silly messages at various times during the day. He was still the same perfect Nicholas he always was-infuriatingly sexy, caring, sweet, sexy, kind, generous… did I mention sexy?-except for his unwillingness to budge and admit he was wrong. But then again, maybe I was wrong too.
Or maybe my desire to chain him to the bed was beginning to drown out everything else. I was so confused.
It was times like this when I missed my mom more than anything. I had nobody to really get advice from. Courtney and Lory were great, but they weren’t married. They weren’t pregnant. They weren’t going through what I was.
And Virgil was a man. He didn’t know anything.
“I wish you were a woman,” I told him.
“Excuse me?” He lifted his eyebrow.
“If you were a woman, you’d understand. Instead, since you have a penis, you automatically take Nicholas’ side.”
His mouth opened for a minute, then snapped shut. Opened again. Shut. It was almost comical watching a flustered Nicholas. I didn’t know that was possible.
“Just because I have a pe… er… just because I’m a man doesn’t mean I don’t know anything. And I’m not taking his side. I’m not taking any sides. I think you’re both being childish. He’s miserable. You’re miserable. And you’re making everyone else miserable too.”
Maybe he was right. Maybe I should be the bigger person and bend first.
I dug in my bag for the cookies Laura snuck in, offering one to Virgil before eating my own.
“He’s really miserable?”
I watched his face as he thought about my question. I didn’t want Nicholas to be miserable. I knew he was grouchy and irritable, but I thought it was only because of his forced abstinence.
He nodded and swallowed his cookie. “Yeah. He knows you’re mad, but he’s just worried. He’d rather you be angry at him than be in danger. It’s been interesting at RHI.”
“Interesting? What does that mean?”
He chuckled. “I think he’s fired half the office and Francis is pulling his hair out.”
Now I felt really bad.
“Julia is still there,” I muttered.
“Hey. Don’t even say that like it’s his fault. You told him to keep her there until we figured this mess out. He was going to get rid of her weeks ago.”
I scowled at him. He was right again, but he didn’t have to rub it in.
“How close are you to figuring it out?”
“You know we’re only waiting on the hacker to confirm Rosemary has been with Benson.”
I fiddled with my pen, doodling on my notebook. There were several things we knew now about the people who wanted to split my marriage.
Julia and Rosemary had spoken several times by phone, if not meeting in person.
Julia had relayed information to Rosemary that Benson had drafted paperwork in regard to me.
Hector had a mole. Someone who was slipping him details about where I went and what I did. We also knew Hector had hired a slimy bastard who worked freelance for a gossip magazine to take the pictures.
What we still didn’t know was the extent Rosemary had gone in her digging, whether Benson had spilled secrets to her, and who it was that was helping Hector.
Nicholas had gone to the lengths of hiring a private investigator to find out if Benson was helping Rosemary after Benson denied even knowing her. We now had new legal representation.
It was up to me whether I wanted to officially file a restraining order against Hector, but I was reluctant to go to that extreme. It would mean more people meddling in our personal lives, and now that Hector was likely aware his scheme didn’t work, he had backed off on his own.
He hadn’t made a peep since Nicholas confronted him.
“But what happens then?” I asked, turning back to our conversation. “Let’s say Benson did tell Rosemary private information, what are we going to do?”
“That’s up to you guys. First, Mr. Rowe will fire Julia. Then I imagine he’ll sue Benson or squeeze him somehow. I also figure you can both shine a light on Ms. Hewitt for the snake she is. At least to the Rowes and her family.”
I nodded. “What about Hector? He seems to be getting off lightly after what he did.”
He gave me a sly smile. “Mr. Rowe is a much more powerful man than Mr. Willis. I think you can bet that the retribution won’t be pretty.”
“Just don’t let him do anything crazy. You promise?”
He held up his fingers in a scout’s honor sign and I shook my head. I couldn’t wait until all this drama was over.