Strut the Mall (Love at Westbrook Mall #4)

7. Presents and Presence

7

Presents and Presence

I marched up to the woman with the purple purse and bared my teeth in a grin, relishing the moment she saw me. She startled just like earlier today, but this time with a smidge more fear flashing across her face. She knew who I was. And I knew her.

“Hey. Zeezy’s, right?” I asked.

“Wh-what?” She glanced in Theo’s direction. Guilty as sin.

I sidestepped to block her view and closed in under the pretense of the bar being loud. I had to be up in her face and raise my voice for her to hear me. “Zeezy’s. You came in earlier today. I told you they were in the city.”

She gripped her purse tighter. “That wasn’t me.”

“Sure it was. Think I’d forget that plastic purse?” I edged closer, my jaw aching from clenching my teeth. Why would she lie if she wasn’t hiding something? “Did you end up going?”

She shuffled left and raised her diet soda as if it would ward me away. “Going where?”

“To get the Zeezy’s.” I plucked the lemon wedge from the rim of her glass. “I was just wondering, because now I see them on my boyfriend’s feet.”

“He’s–I don’t know, I’m just listening.” No, she was playing with fire. Surely, she heard him talk about me.

“You knew exactly who I was when you came in,” I hissed. “You knew I was his girlfriend. Who buys someone else’s man a gift like that?”

She rolled her eyes and turned to dance stiffly to my man’s beats.

“Hey, are you listening?” I snapped near her ears, and she had the nerve to give me a sharp look. “You better stop the charade. And you better stop talking to my boyfriend.”

She cocked her head. “Maybe if you treated him better, he wouldn’t be in my DM’s.”

My jaw dropped, my throat prickling with the urge to spit acid. The audacity . Who said stuff like that? I pinched the lemon wedge to spray her face, but it didn’t squirt so much as drip down my fingers, so I chucked the empty husk at her face.

She gasped and pushed me back. Ice flew out of her glass. “Back off, you crazy bitch,” she said.

I yanked her purse strap. “You want to disrespect me again?”

“Whoa, hey, ladies, there’s no need for that,” Theo said over the microphone.

As if I’d listen to him . It was his fault we were in this mess. That backstabbing piece of…

We wrestled amid the pulsing crowd. Bigfoot tried to dump the rest of her drink down my shirt, but I shoved it back so fast I only got a few ice cubes bouncing off my chest. Her boobs got a whole-ass baptism. Karma was a bitch.

She screamed and tried to claw my face. Clearly, she’d never fought before in her life, because even with the room a glossy blur, I was able to dodge and smack her like nobody’s business. She didn’t even go for my hair or my earrings, but I got a good handful of hers.

“Break it up,” Zack barked.

Big, meaty arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me. I was floating. The champion. I raised my fist in triumph. Wisps of extensions poked out between my fingers when Zack carried me to the bar–probably for a celebration. People cheered. Everything was warm and fabulous. I laughed and sprinkled her hair in our wake like a trail of rose petals. No one messed with Nicole–or Nyx–or whoever I was at the moment.

Theo tried to make his way through the crowd. “Hey, that’s my girlfriend. Be gentle.”

I twisted around. “Is that what you told Bigfoot? Because I just handed her ass to her. Might want to give these back.” I flicked the rest of her extensions from my lemon-juice-covered palm. I didn’t need her fake, cheap hair any more than I needed a liar for a boyfriend.

“Babe.” Theo’s shoulders slumped. As if he cared. He even glanced at Bigfoot with a pout on his face like he was sorry she got caught in the crossfire.

“Put me down so I can set him straight,” I told Zack, raising my hands in a fighting stance.

Zack carried me to the front of the bar. “You need a time out.”

“You can’t do that. You’re not my dad,” I said.

He tightened his grip. “If I was, you wouldn’t be dating a guy like that.”

A shiver worked its way down my spine. “What did you just say?” I squirmed and scrunched my brows at him, heartburn flaring through my chest. Why would he care who I dated?

He huffed and hugged me close, his cold nose brushing my cheek. “No more fights tonight.”

Fire spread through my simmering skin. “They started it.” Kinda.

Theo finally caught up to us. “Wait, let me talk to her. I only have until the song finishes.”

Zack lowered me and turned me around, his hands warm on my shoulders. He leaned in, his five o’clock shadow more pronounced than it had been an hour ago. His voice boomed above the music. “You have five minutes. That’s when I’m kicking out the other woman. If I find out you’re fighting in the parking lot, I will shovel snow on both of you until you cool down, got it?”

“Got it,” I muttered, shaking an ice cube out of my top.

He sighed. “I’ll come back with some napkins. Figure out your ride in the meantime, because I have a feeling you’re too drunk to drive.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, Dad.”

He furrowed his brow and squeezed my shoulder, his palms smoothing away my goosebumps. “Hey, I’m serious.”

The fine hairs on my arm fluttered. I had his full attention now. I shivered and basked in it. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Good.” He glared at Theo, then marched off to the other side of the room where another bouncer was talking to Bigfoot. What did Mr. Quarterback think of me now?

Theo touched his frosted tips. “What was that about, babe?”

I crossed my arms to suppress the churning in my chest. “I know she got you the Zeezy’s.”

“I mean…” He posed and admired his feet. “I guess she did. I really wanted them.”

I stomped in shock. “What the hell, Theo?”

“What?” He frowned.

I gestured widely. “Why would you accept such an expensive gift from some woman who wasn’t your girlfriend?”

He shrugged, his gaze drawn to my breasts. “You weren’t getting them for me, so I found someone who would.”

So, this was punishment? “What else were you ‘getting?’ Blow jobs? Nudes? Lap dances?” I snapped.

He held up his hands. “Ew, no. It’s not like that.”

“What’s it like then? Why were you in her DM’s?”

“She’s an old friend. We never dated or hooked up or anything like that.” He upturned his palms. “It’s like you and your clients.”

I jerked my head back. “What?”

“If I gave her attention, she’d buy me stuff. Send food. Get the shoes.” He angled his toes in, glancing at them. “All I had to do was pretend I was interested. That I loved but maybe wasn't in love with my girlfriend, that she and I found an ‘escape’ in each other over the occasional text, but that I didn’t want to break your heart, so we couldn't be together yet.”

I glanced at Bigfoot, who gave us a morose, grumpy look and clutched her purse on the way to the bathroom with a bouncer in tow. How much had she given my boyfriend over the years? “You led her on for presents?”

“Zeezy’s are expensive. At least neither of us had to pay for it.” He smirked and propped his arm against the wall. “Why are you looking at me like that? I love you, and it’s a good system. Hell, you use it, babe.”

No, he was using that woman. Did he only date me for my discount? My income?

I swallowed against the compressed ball throbbing in my throat and blinked back burning indignation. “It’s totally different. My clients know it’s a transaction. They’re not old friends. I don’t meet up with any of them or talk about my boyfriend. I’m a character. And you know about them. I was open about it because I’m not a lying piece of shit.”

He sagged and reached for me. “Baby.”

I pushed him away. “Don’t ‘baby’ me. We’re finished.”

“Babe.” His eyes popped wide, glassy with my reflection.

I swiped open my phone, half-tempted to take a picture of it: my magnificent, sparkly, messy self immortalized as the one who got away. The one he’d think of every year on New Year’s Eve. “The song’s almost over, Theo. Good luck with the new year. I’m getting a ride.”

And with any luck, a new boyfriend.