“Among other things? Yes.” He closed the door and wrapped a possessive arm around my waist.
*
Dinner was going so incredibly well, and I knew I shouldn’t have, but I needed to get the burning question off my chest.
“Alfie?” I glanced up from my salmon and roasted potatoes.
“Yes, love?” He leaned back, having cleaned almost all of his plate.
“Can I ask you something without you getting upset?” I pulled my napkin to my mouth and dabbed at the corners carefully. I’m sure my lipstick was all but gone, but there was a part of me that wanted to look beautiful all night long. As if lipstick was the only way to do that. Idiot.
“Of course.” He reached out and took my hand. “And first, let me apologize for getting a little stiff the other night on our date. I shouldn’t have done that. I was processing a bit of guilt that was unfounded for sure.”
“Guilt over what?” I kept my hand in place, but my hair stood on edge.
“Over not telling the board that it was your marketing idea that we were going to implement.” He moved his hand and picked up his glass of wine. “I felt especially upset about keeping it to myself because Gary is on the board. How did your meeting go with him, anyway? I never got any word from you on that.”
Devastation rolled through me. Gary hadn’t found a position for me, but some of that had to be for lack of trying. After leaving in a hurry, I’d upset him and made myself look like an undependable ass. Alfie giving me credit for the strategy would have changed everything.
“Why didn’t you tell Gary it was my marketing idea?” I asked, trying to control the wavering in my voice.
Alfie didn’t say anything as his cheeks grew flushed. He adverted his eyes to his plate and remained quiet.
Fuck me. You have to be kidding. Did he think it didn’t matter? That I wouldn’t care about it?
With each second that ticked by, the anger steadily grew in me. I grabbed the edge of the table to keep myself motionless as possible while I waited for Alfie to speak. There was no way I was agreeing with what he had done. I’d sit there in a stony silence for the next few hours if need be.
“I just wasn’t sure if mentioning your name would’ve done anything,” he said, eventually. “These investors were focused on my business, not on anything else.”
I blinked in surprise at the chilly response. There was something else that Alfie wasn’t telling me, a reason to why he didn’t mention my name in that conference room with Gary around.
“I just had a meeting with Gary a few days before,” I said. “He said that my spot had been filled, but if he knew that marketing idea was mine to begin with, he would have carved out a new position for me.”
“He wouldn’t have fired someone to give you your old job back, Molly. That would be counterproductive for his business.” He shook his head and leaned back, finally looking me in the face. This wasn’t a big deal at all to him. It might have been on our date the Wednesday night before, but it sure as hell wasn’t now. He’d processed it and made himself feel okay about dicking me over.
It hit me hard then that Peyton had been right about Alfie all along—he was just as clever and cunning as Harry when it came to business. They only cared about themselves other than the people they screwed over in the process.
“You don’t understand,” I said, blinking back angry tears. “I could’ve gotten my old job back. I know how Gary is—better than you think you do.”
“Molly—” Alfie started, shaking his head at me.
“What?” I demanded, angrily. “What is it?”
“You don’t understand. I—”
“You’re right,” I said, coldly. “I don’t understand how you could just screw me over like that without giving me any credit of the marketing technique.” I threw my napkin down on my plate of food before grabbing a hold of my purse that was draped across the back of my chair. “You’re just as bad as Harry is. You’re actually worse because Harry never pretended to be a nice guy when he screwed people over. Send my shit back to Peyton’s and give me the bill. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you pay for a damn thing of mine.”
“Molly. Love—”
“Don’t say another goddamn word.” I pulled a fifty from my purse and tossed it down on the table as a sob left me. I’d just made love to this asshole. No. I’d fucked up. Making love required love.
I let my words sink in as I stood up from the chair. Striding through the crowded dining area, I stepped out into the warm night to suck in deep breaths to calm the anger burning in my chest. I paced around the front doors, half-expecting Alfie to emerge through the glass doors, but he never came outside. And for some unknown reason, that stung even worse than the entire situation.
I hailed a cab a few minutes later. Giving the driver Peyton’s address, I sat back in the passenger seat to look up at the blur of the city lights as it pas
sed by the cab window. Why? That single question repeated in my head. I didn’t understand why Alfie never thought to credit me for the marketing idea. It seemed as though he had planned it out for a reason, but I didn’t want to think about it anymore.
I had to figure out what to do now that Alfie had dashed my previous hopes of working for Gary without thinking about me in the process.