Trust in Advertising (59 page)

“Mr. Reid,” Lexi said curtly, stepping out from under his arm. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“Call me David.” He reached into the crowd and tugged on someone’s arm.

A miserable-looking Erica popped into view. “My girl Erica here made it happen.

Her brother knows a guy who works for Stone. Long story, but she got us in.”

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“Hey, Lexi,” she said softly as she glared at the side of David’s head. “How are you?” She forced a pleasant smile on her face.

“I’m fine.” Lexi looked back and forth between the two of them. She was about to ask what was going on, wondering what could have possessed Erica to spend an evening with David under any circumstances, but before she could ask, Erica gave a slight shake of her head, stopping Lexi. “So, are you two enjoying yourselves?” she asked instead.

“Absolutely,” David grinned. “Top notch booze, tons of targets in the room to work. My kinda party.” He licked his lips. “You look gorgeous.”

“Thank you.” Lexi glanced at Erica and gave her a
what-the-hell kind of look. Erica shrugged and pretended to gag.

“Erica, I need another drink. Can you go fetch it for me?”

At the word fetch, Lexi thought Erica’s head was going to explode. Either that or she was going to stab David in the heart with the plastic stirrer that poked out of his empty glass of scotch.

“Sure,
Davey.
” Erica didn’t even try to hide her distaste, much to Lexi’s surprise. “Lexi, we
really
must have a little chat later.” The look in her eyes said it all. Whatever Erica had to tell her was important enough that she would put up with this ridiculous treatment from David.

“I can walk with you right now, Erica, and we can talk.” Lexi took two steps, but David stepped in front of her.

“Actually, I need to talk to you about something. You girls can gossip later.”

He waved his hand, rudely dismissing Erica. “Now, where were we?” He shuffled them a few steps to the left and suddenly Lexi found herself in a quiet corner, alone with David. “Much better.” He sighed, loosening his tie and smiling at her.

“What do you need to talk to me about, Mr. Reid?”

“Still with the formalities, Alexandra?” He leaned in and whispered, “Do you call Vincent, Mr. Drake?”

“What I do or do not call him is irrelevant to this conversation or any conversation we’ll ever have. Again, what do you need to talk to me about?”

David’s amused façade dropped, his tone turning serious. “Do you have any idea who I am? I’m a very powerful man, Lexi. I could make you a huge name in town. I have very deep pockets. Maybe if you were a little nicer to me,”

he ran a finger along her arm, “I could help. You know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours?”

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“I’m not scratching anything of yours, Reid.” Lexi was terrified and furious all that the same time. Fortunately her fury was winning out. She balled her hand into a fist, preparing to defend herself if necessary.

“I have connections. I can make things happen for you. I know you have the drive. I can see it in your eyes. And you’re talented. You could be one of the biggest names in the industry with the right teacher. And the things I could teach you …” His voice trailed off suggestively, and Lexi had to fight down the bile that rose in her throat.

Lexi took a deep breath and controlled her raging temper. “Please listen to what I’m going to say so I don’t
ever
have to speak to you again. I have no desire to ever work for you. As a matter of fact, if you so much as look sideways at me, I will be filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against you. I hear the guys in prison really like a man with a big mouth and deep … pockets.” David reached out to take her hand, but Lexi stopped him. “Touch me again and you wil lose a finger.”

David pulled his hand back as if she had slapped it, but kept his twisted smile in place. “Bitch,” he said smugly as he walked away, leaving her fuming in the corner.

Vincent watched David Reid stalk away from Lexi, looking like the pompous ass he was. They had spent quite a while huddled together in the corner—seven long, excruciating minutes to be exact. Vincent knew that because he had watched the entire encounter from start to finish. It began rather cozily, the two with their heads together. When David ran his finger down Lexi’s arm, Vincent had an overwhelming urge to beat the life out of him. Vincent couldn’t see Lexi’s face very well from his angle, but from the shit-eating grin on David’s face, Vincent assumed the conversation was going Reid’s way.

He spent the first half of their conversation hoping Lexi would deck David.

He then spent the last half of it wondering what the two of them could possibly have to talk about privately. His paranoia began to set in.

“What is she doing now?” Jade came out of nowhere, her eyes fixed on Lexi and David. “Is she throwing herself at
him
too?”

“I have no idea.” Vincent turned away when he saw Reid finally leave Lexi’s side.

“He looks awfully happy.” Jade sneered.

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“I need a drink.” Vincent walked away, hoping to clear his head. He needed to get the picture of Lexi and David out of his mind before he did something stupid. Hitting him wouldn’t fix anything, even though it would make Vincent feel a hell of a lot better.

As he tossed back his drink, Vincent caught a glimpse of Jade and her barely-there dress making a bee line for Lexi, who stood in the corner looking annoyed. He knew by the expression on Jade’s face that this wasn’t going to end well, so he made an attempt to intercept Jade. Unfortunately, before he reached his destination, Elizabeth caught his arm and introduced him to a number of the board members for Mello industries, one of the biggest pharmaceutical research companies in town. As he shook their hands, he lost sight of Jade. All he could do was hope for the best, but he truly expected to see security heading toward Lexi and Jade shortly.

Lexi’s head throbbed as she pulled a bottle of aspirin out of her purse and took two, then paused and popped a third into her mouth. That’s when she saw Jade.

She debated chugging the entire bottle and just putting herself out of her misery, but then decided it was time to have it out with the high-priestess of evil once and for all. This conversation had been a long time coming.

“Jade,” Lexi greeted the woman in a disinterested voice.

“I despise you.”

“I assure you, the feeling is completely mutual. Nice talking to you. Are we done now?” Lexi glanced at her watch and shook her head.

“Not by a long shot, you whore.”

Lexi threw back her head and laughed. “I’m a whore? That’s rich. By defini-tion, doesn’t one actually need to be having sex to be a whore, Jade?”

“Enough!” People glanced in their direction when they heard Jade’s high-pitched shriek.

“Quiet down, you fool. There are reporters everywhere,” Lexi warned.

“Worried about a little bad press, are you? I would think you’d love it if the magazines printed stories about you and your beloved Vincent.” Jade’s voice took on a maniacal cackle as she spoke.

“If you have something to say, just say it so you can go away.”

“He loves me, so back off.”

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“If you were so certain of that, you wouldn’t even be worried about me, Jade.

I’d be nothing more than a blip on your insecurity radar instead of a meteor plummeting toward the middle of your relationship.”

“Admit you’re in love with him.”

Lexi debated denying it, but there was no point anymore. Everyone could see it. Hell, Erik even took pictures of it. “Yes, I’m in love with him.”

Jade’s jaw fell open in shock that Lexi had answered truthfully. As if trying to talk herself out of what she heard, she shook her head from side to side. “You don’t love him, you can’t. You don’t even know him.”

That comment made Lexi’s blood boil. “I don’t know him? Are you serious?

Let’s see how well you know him, Jade. What’s his favorite color? Favorite food?

His biggest fear? When he was little, what did he want to be when he grew up?

Who is he named after?” Lexi stood toe-to-toe with Jade and didn’t flinch, even when Jade seemed ready to gouge her eyes out. Jade’s fury turned to stunned silence as she opened her mouth and closed it a few times, but never uttered a peep.

“He likes it when I wear red,” she feebly offered as if bored by the questions.

Lexi stepped right in Jade’s face and laid into her. “His favorite color is purple. His favorite food is a bacon cheeseburger, extra tomato. He hates your rabbit food. Biggest fear is drowning. Want to know why? When he was fourteen, he went cliff diving with his friends and nearly drowned. He wanted to be a pilot when he was little so he could ‘fly like the birds,’ and he was named after Elizabeth’s favorite uncle.”

“What does any of that matter? I’m the one in his bed.”

Lexi sarcastically clapped her hands. “Congratulations for being able to spread your legs. You have a completely superficial relationship with him, Jade.

Admit it. Physical, not emotional. You know where he lives, where he works, and how much money he makes. You know what designer clothes he looks best in and where he likes to eat. You know
about
Vincent, but you don’t
know
him, you don’t know the man inside. You have no idea what’s in his heart.”

That sent Jade into a tirade. “And you think you do? You’re some poor, pitiful girl whose whole family up and died on her. He feels bad for you. It’s pity, nothing more.”

“So I was just some big charity case when he kissed me? Was that all part of his cheer-up-poor-pitiful-Lexi plan?”

“You kissed him?”

“Correction, he kissed me.”

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“Bullshit.” Jade’s whole body tensed.

“Twice.”

“Miss Goodie Two Shoes, that whole I-won’t-do-anything-while-he’s-still-with-you speech was a big lie. You’ve been throwing yourself at him all along.”

“No, I told you,
he
kissed
me
. I think all that hairspray is messing with your hearing. We would have done a hell of a lot more than kiss too, if I hadn’t stopped it. Twice.” Lexi mockingly held up two fingers to Jade’s face.

“He doesn’t love you.” Her lip curled in disgust. “He couldn’t.”

“Maybe, maybe not. But based on the way he kissed me, I think he definitely feels a little something for me. It wasn’t like kissing your grandmother; there was tongue, and lots of it. He’s a really great kisser, by the way.”

“I know he is,” Jade screeched again, losing her temper. Lexi held back a smile. “Stay away from him.” Jade shook her finger in Lexi’s face.

“Not possible. We work together,
very
closely.”

Fire burned in Jade’s eyes. “For now.” Suddenly her mood shifted, her anger oddly turning into amusement. “Enjoy it while it lasts, Lexi. I can’t wait to watch you crash and burn, you insignificant little bug.” She got right up into Lexi’s face, her red lips turned up into a sneer. “I’m going to ruin your life.”

“Do your worst. You don’t scare me.” Lexi watched a group of Jade’s pals make their way to the bathroom. “Better go scurry off with your friends before all the coke is gone.” Jade’s eyes flashed black as she stopped dead in her tracks.

“Lucky guess, but thanks for confirming it.”

Jade stormed away as Lexi closed her eyes and began banging her head on the wall behind her. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” She repeated her mantra, unable to believe she had been so idiotic and told Jade, of all people, that she was in love with Vincent. “She’s going to make your life a living hell. Nothing new there,” Lexi said to no one in particular.

When Jade stormed off into the bathroom, Vincent breathed a sigh of relief. He even had to stop himself from smiling as he watched Lexi have an entire conversation with herself, throwing up her hands in the midst of her little rant.

“Vincent?” Elizabeth tapped her son on the shoulder. “Are you okay?” She followed his gaze to Lexi. “She’s a lovely girl, Vincent.”

“I know.”

“She makes you happy.”

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“I know.” Vincent smiled as he watched Lexi storm off toward the bar.

“She is the most selfless person I have ever met.”

“I know.”

“You love her.”

“I – I …” Vincent stammered, caught off guard. “I need to talk to her.”

“Yes, you do. But first, I think you need to end things with Jade. Until that’s cleared up, I don’t think Lexi will be very receptive to any ‘conversations’

with you.”

Vincent nodded his head in agreement, then turned to Elizabeth, who was beaming with excitement. “Don’t get your hopes up, Mother. This all might not work out the way you hope it will.”

She hugged her son. “Yes it will. Trust me.”

Lexi downed two glasses of wine and was reaching for her third from the hunky bartender with the baby blue eyes when Erica swooped in and stole her away. “Hey, wait. He had a drink for me.” Erica quickly walked Lexi to the back of the room and stopped. The look on her face was grave. Any buzz Lexi might have had was killed in that instant.

“What is it?”

Erica went in her purse and pulled out several folded pieces of paper and thrust the pile at Lexi. “You know how you left me that mysterious message about keeping my eyes open for anything strange? Well, I think you need to take a look at this.”

Cautiously, Lexi opened the papers, and as soon as she glanced at the first one, all the color drained from her face. “Wh-where did you get these?”

“David was looking at them one day. I walked in the office, and he tried to hide them but accidentally stuck them in the folder I needed. When I saw your name on them, I knew it was bad. I made copies and stuck the originals back in the file. About five minutes later he came flying out of his office, demanding the file back from me. I played dumb.”

“This is the Excalibur account. How did he get these? These look like,”

Lexi held the paper up close to her face, examining every detail, “pictures of the boards. Photographs of everything. Now that’s odd—this one is different.”