Page 94 of For the Plot

“It wasn’t planned,” I say, jaw tight. “It just happened.”

He lets out a hollow, humorless laugh. “What—like you tripped and fell into her after a decade of fatherly disapproval?”

“It’s not like that.”

“No?” He tilts his head. “Then explain it to me. Because I’ve been gone, what, four weeks? Five? And I come back to find you dry humping my ex-girlfriend in your living room?”

“You haven’t been together in years,” I snap.

His face twists. “And that makes it okay?”

“I’m not asking for your blessing, Archer. I’m telling you the truth.”

“No, you’re not.” His voice rises. “You’re telling me the part you couldn’t hide anymore. So tell me the rest. Tell me how long it’s been going on.”

I exhale slowly. “A few weeks.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “And before that? What, you were just sitting around thinking about her like a sick fuck?”

“I didn’t even see her again until the night we ran into each other at the bar.”

His eyes narrow. “What bar?”

“Some dive bar off Lincoln I stumbled into one night.”

His head jerks back. “She was there?”

“She walked in with a friend. We talked. Caught up. That’s all it was.”

He’s quiet a second too long. “So you saw her and what—just decided to pick up where I left off?”

“I didn’t go looking for this. She applied for the assistant role.”

His mouth falls open. “You hired her?”

“She needed a job. I needed someone I could trust. It was supposed to be temporary.”

“And you never thought to mention that to me?”

“Why would I?”

“Becauseit’s Skye!” he yells. “She was my girlfriend for three fucking years!”

“And she’s not anymore,” I bite out. “She hasn’t been for a long time.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is the point, Archer? That she was yours once and now she’s mine?”

He stares at me like I just kicked his dog.

“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” I say quickly.

“No, I think you did,” he says. “I think you’ve been telling yourself this story for weeks now, trying to make it something noble instead of what it is.”

“And what’s that?”

He steps forward, venom in his eyes. “It’s betrayal. It’s fucked. It’syou, screwing around with a girl you watched grow up in our house.”