My Despicable Ex (Book 1) (6 page)

“
We were so young. I had
just turned twenty, and…” he said, trailing off before he blurted
out yet another lame excuse.

Images flooded into my mind. I
remembered Nadia helping me take down all of his pictures a few
weeks after what I’d deemed Black Saturday. I’d felt shock and
rage, depression, and the most intense loneliness anyone could ever
feel. For weeks, I couldn’t get out of bed, and taking a shower and
getting dressed seemed like pointless, impossible chores. After
Jake walked out of my life without ever looking back, Nadia also
helped me pack up his belongings. I cleared out the medicine
cabinet and threw out his blue toothbrush in the wastebasket, one
of the hardest things I ever had to do. I learned the hard way just
how much heartbreak could hurt. I worked through the pain
eventually, and that helped me to get on with my life, but if it
weren’t for my job, friends, and family, I never would have
survived the havoc that Jake wreaked on me. I still wasn’t sure I’d
ever get past the anger completely, because it was still sitting
like a lump in the pit of my stomach.

“
Ashly?”

I snapped back into reality and stared
at his blue eyes glittering in the dim light.

“
Do you want me to beg?”
Jake asked. “Please. If you hate me, that’s fine, but let’s go on
this trip, take these pictures. We’ll stay strictly in the friend
zone, and I promise I won’t even talk to you unless I absolutely
have to. After that, we can go our separate ways, and you’ll never
have to see me again.”

“
Jake, you put me through a
living hell. I’m only here so I could tell you that in person. How
could a man declare his undying love the night before his wedding,
then just leave minutes before he’s supposed to walk down the
aisle?” Before he could answer, I continued, “There’s nothing more
I can say, and it doesn’t really matter anyway, does it? We can’t
go back in time and fix things. What’s done is done, and I have to
move forward with my life. I just wished you would’ve left me a box
of tissues that morning instead of a dozen red roses.”

“
You’re pissed, and I don’t
blame you. But you’re just gonna walk away from your inheritance,
your mother’s dying wish, because you can’t stand the sight of me?”
he asked.

“
Something like that,” I
said, then turned and started making my way to the door.

“
Ashly, please don’t
go.”

I ignored him and hurried to my car,
hoping he wouldn’t jump on the hood and confess his false, undying
love for me just so he could dupe me a second time.

* * *

The next day after work, Nadia knocked
on the door. When I opened it, she looked frantic, totally out of
character for her.

“
What’s wrong?” I
asked.

“
The bank didn’t give us
the loan.” She strolled into the kitchen, grabbed a glass, and
poured herself a glass of wine from my fridge, then downed half the
glass in one gulp. “Our dreams of running our very own fashion
business are going down the drain. We don’t have any money left,
and we’re going to be thrown out. Our boutique will go down in
flames, Ashly! What are we gonna do?”

“
Our clothes are different
from the competition’s. We stick out, Nadia.”

She poured a glass of wine for me.
“Not if we can’t get noticed. Our boutique’s just starting to take
off, but not enough to pay the high mortgage. I tried talking to
the owner, and when that didn’t work, I resorted to flirtation and
cleavage. I don’t know what a girl’s supposed to do when neither
begging nor boobs works.”

“
We just need to get our
ideas off the ground.”

“
There’s no time. We have
to be out by next month, and building a fashion brand doesn’t
happen overnight.”

I swallowed hard. “Yeah. I’ll ask Mr.
Hanford for an extension.”

“
Good luck. He’s not an
understanding or flexible man, and he obviously doesn’t care about
push-up bras either. He just wants his money. Our boutique is on
prime property on Fifth Avenue, and he has two other business
associates begging him for our space.”

“
We can’t lose that spot.
Location is everything.”

“
I agree.” She sighed
heavily. “Look, Ashly, I never would ask you this if there were any
other way, but…”

I cocked my head when she paused and
trailed off, wincing a bit.

“
You need to take that trip
with Jake. It’s the only way to save our boutique and everything
we’re working so hard for.”

“
What!?” I shouted. “No! No
way.”

“
I know he hurt you bad,
but you don’t even have to talk to him. Just give him the cold
shoulder and take those crazy pictures your mom demanded. Turn them
into your lawyer, and you’ll have more than enough money to keep us
going.”

“
No, Nadia. I mean…I just…I
can’t.”

“
Take the damn pictures,
Ashly,” she said, patting my shoulder.

“
I can’t leave you alone
with the boutique for all that time,” I said, making
excuses.

“
I can handle it, and I can
hire my sister for cheap to help out. Please take that dream
vacation—for the sake of our dreams.”

I glanced down at the floor, as if it
could give me answers. “You have no idea what you’re asking,
Nadia.”

She pondered. “I do, and I’m sorry I
had to ask,” she said. “I understand if you can’t do it though,”
she said, heading for the door. Over her shoulder, she sadly
announced, “We gave it our best shot. That’s the important
thing.”

“
Nadia!” I called, but she
ignored me and ran out the door. I pondered for a few minutes, then
grabbed my purse and hailed a taxi. I directed the cabbie to drive
to my boutique.

After he dropped me off and I paid the
fare, I walked up to the display window, pressed my palm on the
cold glass, and stared back at my own reflection. I looked at the
mannequins, dressed in creations I’d spent countless hours
designing. Then I opened the doors and switched on the lights. I
spun in a slow circle and looked at all racks of clothing, trendy
outfits in all sizes for less than fifty bucks. That place was my
dream.

The décor in our boutique played a
vital role in our success. We kept the atmosphere modern and
contemporary, with a huge black dresser in the corner, its top
drawer open for accessories and the jewelry Nadia designed, from
crystal earrings and necklaces to beaded bracelets. We furnished
the place with big, comfy chairs and lounge benches with cushions,
as well as mirrors, lights, display cases, deep shelves in the
wall, dressing rooms, a sitting area, and a public
bathroom.

The thought of losing our
business was devastating, and I knew I couldn’t let that happen as
long as I had a way to prevent it.
How
hard can it be to take some stupid pictures with an idiot I won’t
even have to talk to? I’ll just stay as far away from him as
possible and only get close when we have to take photos.

I frantically dialed Nadia’s number.
When she picked up on the third ring, I said, “I’ll do
it.”

Ecstatic, she screamed so loud that my
ears began to ring. “Awesome!” she squealed.

“
I’ve got to make the
arrangements and call my idiot traveling companion.”

“
Look, Ashly, I know you’re
taking one for the team, and I can’t thank you enough.”

“
Meh, I’ll grin and bear
it…but you so owe me for this.”

“
Owe you? You’re gonna be
rich. You’ll have twenty-five million dollars for putting up with
that ass for a couple of photo sessions.”

“
A couple? Try almost a
dozen of them, all in different locations!”

“
Don’t cop out now. We need
this. Promise me you’ll put up with the ass. Think of it as a
horrible, horrible job assignment. Don’t even talk to him. Just get
the photos and hurry back. I’ll have a stiff drink waiting for you
the second you get off the plane.”

“
I’ll do my best. I just
hope I can handle spending all that time with Jake.”

“
If you feel like leaving,
promise you’ll call me first.”

“
So you can talk me out of
it?”

“
Absolutely!” She let out a
breath. “Listen, if it hurts that bad, don’t put yourself through
it. We’ll find another way. We’ll survive. We always
do.”

“
No, I’m gonna do it, even
if it means losing half to Jake. I can’t give up all of my mother’s
money, and if I don’t do this, everything will go to the lawyer,
who’s already filthy rich. I like the guy, but the thought of that
just makes me cringe.”

“
It’s your money now,
girlfriend. Go get it.”

I smiled. “I will, Jake or no
Jake.”

“
And listen,” she said,
“you gotta promise me you’ll jump in the blue water and kiss a
dolphin. No thinking about work, because I swear that’s all you
live for. Don’t be designing clothes in your head while you’re ride
a horse seaside or snorkeling.”

I laughed.

“
I’m serious. All work and
no play makes Ashly a dull girl. While you’re gone, I’ll handle
everything. No worries. And I still have that extra key, so I’ll be
happy to stop by and feed Tiger.”

“
Thanks, Nadia.”

“
You can even take one of
the bikinis from the Reflection Collection.”

“
They’re so
gorgeous.”

She laughed. “Of course they are. I
designed them. You’ll look fantastic. We’ve been going to that
workout class for a long time, and you have the flattest abs. Just
flaunt that bod’ in Jake’s face and show him what he missed out
on.”

“
Thanks, Nadia.”

“
I’m serious,
girlfriend.”

After we said our goodbyes,
I hung up and pondered,
Can I really put
up with Jake without killing him on this vacation?
The truth was, I wasn’t so sure.

Chapter 5

Three weeks
later…

On the way to Australia, our first
stop, I sat back and folded my hands across my lap. I knew I needed
to keep myself busy so Jake wouldn’t try to talk to me. I picked up
a magazine and started thumbing through it, pretending to be
totally engrossed.

Next to me, Jake buckled
his seatbelt. He leafed through the literature given to him by my
lawyer, then started Googling the resort. “I got their website,” he
said, then went on to read it to me. “
Green Island Resort,
 on the
Great Barrier Reef, is one of the most unique and memorable
destinations in Tropical North Queensland. A coral cay, a luxury
resort, a natural wonderland unlike any other…Indulgence, romance,
and adventure await on this tropical island paradise.”

“
Sounds wonderful, except
for the romance part.”

Utterly silenced, he swallowed hard
and looked away.

My gaze drifted over to a young woman
who was babbling away about her upcoming wedding, flipping through
the pages of a popular bridal magazine. As all the painful memories
of my own destroyed nuptial bliss flooded back, I glanced down at
the floor and let out a long breath. The first Thanksgiving, the
first Christmas, the first New Years, and the first birthday
without him had been absolutely unbearable. I couldn’t help but let
out another huff as the girl kept chatting away.

“
Again, Ashly, I’m sorry,”
Jake said, “but I swear I’m a different person now.”

“
Don’t you remember our
deal? You’re not supposed to talk to me.”

“
If that’s what you want,
have it your way.”

The girl next to use went on and on
about her designer wedding dress. My temples pounded, and I tried
to rub them with my fingers, desperately trying to tune her
out.

“
Maybe this is exactly what
we need for closure, to spend lots of time together
and—”

Lots of time together?
Whoa, boy! I think not!
I motioned for him
to stop talking, and then I flagged down the flight attendant.
“Excuse me, miss, but I’m gonna need alcohol and lots of it if I’m
gonna make it through this flight.”

Jake turned and met my gaze straight
on. “Is this how it’s going to be the entire trip?”

“
This is just the tip of
the iceberg. When this plane lands, I suggest you get off of it as
quick as you can. Hell hath no fury—”

“
Yeah, yeah,” he said,
cutting me off. “So you’re a woman scorned. Look, I know you’re
still mad, but can’t you be at least civil to me?”

Civil? To you? Hell
no!
I’d wallowed in grief for so long that
he deserved none of my pity, politeness, or manners. I stared down
and swallowed hard again. “I’ll try,” I muttered.

“
Good,” he said, “because I
want us to be friends. I really do, Ashly.”

I felt uncomfortable and
trapped onboard that plane. Sitting next to my ex only forced me to
dwell on him more, and the memories weren’t pleasant ones.
“I just can’t do it,”
I
heard over and over again, his words that had haunted me for so
long. I’d gone through therapy, lots of life-changing therapy, and
I’d even dated some pretty wonderful guys since my groom ran away,
but none of those relationships had ever worked out, if they could
even be called relationships at all. I hated Jake. I was angry and
bitter, and I couldn’t stop wondering where he was on the
anniversary of the day we met, our first date, and what would have
been our wedding anniversary. There was no top tier for me to pull
out of the freezer and enjoy because my wedding cake, like
everything else about that day, had gone to waste.