Mister Know It All by Amélie S. Duncan

JASMINE

Posthaste

Iwore a designer mauve scuba crepe V-neck dress on the train to Herald Square in Midtown. The Peabody Hotel wasn’t far, but I could feel the pain in my toes from my nude heels as I walked the few blocks to the entrance.

I had only stepped inside the marble lobby when I spotted Randall Seager. At one time, just hearing his name had made my heartbeat flutter. Now I could only remember the sight of his pale buttocks plowing into Angelique on his mahogany desk. He had on a blue shirt with a red tie under his khaki sports coat. He’d shaven off his patchy beard and let his longish brown hair down, hanging above his broad shoulders. A few sycophants stood around him as he held court, hanging on his every word. They were waiting for him to impart some memorable quotes they could share as if he’d spoken especially to them. I know. I’d done it myself more than once.

He spotted me, and his brown eyes moved over me with an interest I hadn’t seen in quite some time.

“Sorry. I must speak to my assistant,” he announced.

I bit my cheek as gazes followed him directly to me. Jealousy? Envy? I didn’t care. But I didn’t correct him either.

He touched my arm, and I went stiff.

“Don’t touch me,” I snapped.

“Let’s not argue here. I see you’ve done some shopping. You look . . . different. But where is your laptop? I had hoped you’d take notes. My calendar is still out of whack. Didn’t you get my messages about syncing?”

I jutted my chin. “That’s a job for your new assistant.”

He lowered his brows. “I asked for your help. You shouldn’t be so hostile after all I’ve done for you.”

“You gave me a teaching assistant job I worked my ass off to keep. I left.”

He tutted. “Many students would’ve killed for your spot. I just need to know if I’m going to Notre Dame or Princeton for the lecture on religion and social policy. This is the paper I mentioned your assistance. If they have a large response, it could be something for your transcripts.”

I clenched my jaw. More promises. “I have a backup of your calendar on my phone up to the time I quit, but after today, you must make other arrangements.”

He grimaced. “You can send it to my email too, so I won’t get lost. Honestly, this is the least you could do since you didn’t provide proper notice. I’m upstairs. We can look at it before the lecture. You know, I’m really loving this new look.”

I narrowed my gaze at him and crossed my arms. We’re never happening again.

“Dr. Seager?” A stocky middle-aged man wearing almost identical clothing as Randall approached. Although, his tie was blue.

“Dr. Werner. I’m glad you could fit this lecture between your packed schedule.”

“Of course. I’m honored you invited me to join,” Dr. Werner said, stroking his goatee. His small green eyes scanned over me and lingered below my chin. “And you are?”

“This is my assistant, Jasmine,” Randall said, and they shared a look between them, and Werner laughed.

“Where do you find such beautiful assistants?”

I narrowed my gaze at him. “I’m in the master’s sociology program. I came here because I was interested in your study on modern economics and the social construct of homelessness.”

“And she reads.” He laughed and tilted his head. “You know, I can really use someone to help me with some of my work this weekend. I’m at the Waldorf Hotel.”

His hand went to my back and dropped just above the curb of my buttocks. And just like that, all the admiration I had for his work evaporated. Never meet your heroes. Or work for them.

I pushed his hand off and glared at him. “I’m previously engaged.”

His eyes widened. “Oh, now that was an accident. Surely you didn’t think I intended—”

“I don’t care. Just keep your hands to yourself.”

Unfortunately, Werner wasn’t the first to try me. It had been the primary reason I downplayed my appearance.

Werner frowned. “I was merely giving you a compliment,” he scoffed. “Randall?”

“We’re right in the middle of work. Apologies. If you’ll excuse us,” Randall said.

I snorted. That’s all he’d say to him? There was no way I would work with Werner, or he’d agree to work with me now. I had no reason to stay and hurried toward the exit.

Randall’s hand closed on my upper arm. “Wait, Jasmine. He’s a bit tipsy from lunch. I would have said something, but we’re not together anymore. I understand if you feel uncomfortable with the presentation, but I still need the calendar. Would you please be so kind as to fix it? It would only take a few minutes.”

I pursed my lips. “A few minutes. That’s all.”

I followed him to the elevator.

“Randall?” A pretty blonde rushed up to us.

“Angelique. I didn’t recognize you in clothes,” I said in a snarky tone. She had on a suit instead of just a bra this time. Their eyes fused intimately. There was some sort of bond I hadn’t considered. I couldn’t help but think of Cecile and Ford. But Randall and I weren’t on a break. She knew about me and slept with Randall anyway. And hadn’t Randall said they were no longer a thing? Lying scum.

“I asked you to wait for me,” Randall muttered.

She blushed. “I just wanted to check to see if you needed help? I thought you said you were no longer communicating with her?” She looked me up and down.

“I thought you lived three thousand miles away. You knew we were together, but you came anyway. You didn’t think about my feelings. How does it feel not to know I was coming here?” I said in a harsh tone.

“I’m sorry . . . we’re in love,” she stammered, gazing over at him.

He cleared his throat. “This is not the time nor place for this conversation.”

“That means he’s unwilling to tell me he’s in love with you. Sure, he’ll explain it away later, but that’s the truth,” I spat.

“Jasmine, enough,” Randall barked. “I’m surprised at you. Now, we’re going upstairs to my room to get what I need to keep my life in order. Nothing is going to happen when we’re alone. You need not worry, Angelique.”

“You won’t have to worry about me, but there are many co-eds at the college,” I told her.

Randall’s face went puffy and red. He stormed over to the elevator and pressed the button. I slowly walked over and stood beside him.

No doubt I had blown my chance on the Werner paper. Randall wasn’t trustworthy at all. So why the hell had I come? Because I needed to see if he cared.

He obviously doesn’t.

I followed him to his room and took out my phone. Tapping the calendar app, I connected to his port and used the mouse next to his computer to do the sync.

“This should fix your problem.”

Hands closed on my waist. “God, when you walked in, I thought I was the biggest fool ever. You’ve really transformed. You look beautiful.”

I pushed his hands off. “Don’t touch me.”

“And you’re acting different. If I didn’t know you, I’d say you’ve met someone else.”

I lifted my chin. “That’s none of your concern anymore. Angelique is waiting.”

He blew out his breath. “You’re emotional, and I understand that. I screwed up. I know. I didn’t mean to fuck Angelique in my office. I hadn’t even expected it to happen. She came on to me.”

I scoffed. “You actually expect me to believe it was Angelique coming on to you?”

He scrubbed his jaw. “Not all. Yes, Angelique and I have chemistry. I gave her a job because she spontaneously pawned everything she owned and moved to Boston to be closer to me.”

“Why did I come here?” I said more for myself than him, but he answered anyway.

“Because you’re brilliant, Jasmine.” He lowered his tone and placed his hands on my shoulders. “It was sex. When I was with her, I wasn’t your boyfriend. I was a man responding to her pheromones. It was beyond my control.”

He was using his cheating as a teachable moment. More base-nature bullshit I’d heard before. But I wasn’t the wide-eyed twenty-year-old who hung on his every word anymore.

My stomach lurched. “How can you say that when I just saw you with Angelique? Don’t you care about her feelings?”

“Angelique and I are connected. But she struggles with keeping everything I need in order.”

So, he wanted a better workhorse.

I pushed his hands off my shoulders and crossed my arms. “I don’t want to be in a relationship, and I don’t want to work with you. Stop calling me and move on.”

His eyes widened in surprise.

Your slimy charm isn’t working anymore.

“Oh, come now, Jasmine. I’ve apologized.” His lips twisted into a sardonic smile. “Honestly, what are you without me? Who will challenge and stimulate you intellectually? Who will listen to your rambles at two in the morning or help you with your papers and lectures—”

“I do my own papers and lectures. Yours too, and the one you submitted for publishing recently. Hell, I did the one you’re presenting today. Who are you without me?”

He guffawed. “You keep on believing that, but you’d never have the access or direction to publish if I hadn’t mentored you. You’ll need more than A’s and glowing recommendations to get into a doctorate program. I didn’t go for my Ph.D. until I was thirty. The way you ripped through my office shows you’re too emotional. You’re not ready for a doctorate.”

“I reacted that way because I thought you loved me. One moment doesn’t define my entire academic career, which is top of my class. I don’t need to process or wait eight years for a doctorate when I can have everything I worked for now.”

He sneered. “You think you’re ready? A couple of published articles and you think you’re hot shit, but really, you’re not. Even if you do manage to get a Ph.D., I doubt any college will hire you unless they’re going for a gimmick to gratify a quota. You’re not as great as you think you are. You exhaust every professor with your winded papers and exhaustive discussions. Fucking you was the only way I got any peace and quiet. And that wasn’t even enough to satisfy me. If you opened your eyes, you might have realized Angelique wasn’t the only one. Hell, even after I fucked her in front of your face, you still think you’re something. But what you are is pathetic.”

He came out of his trance and stream of grotesque criticism and gazed at me.

“Go on, Randall. Keep telling me what you really think.” My voice broke, and I sucked in my breath.

A flash of alarm showed on his face before he changed it back into his usual smug superiority. Something I’d found attractive about him, but no longer blinded by lust, I could see the entitled prick he’d been all along.

“I do think you’re pushing for more than you’re capable of,” he replied, standing his ground. Angelique wasn’t the only one he didn’t believe in, and knowing this now, there was no way in hell I’d ever consider working with him again. “Now, after a couple more years under my tutelage, you might be ready—”

“I’m never working with you again.” I glowered at him.

His nostrils flared. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re taking your job back. I don’t have time to train another assistant.”

I shook my head. “I can’t work with someone who sees me as ‘pathetic.’”

“If you leave, you’ll be just another slut who used her body to get ahead. We professors talk. Werner already guesses, and I’m sure he’d be more than happy to listen to your rambling in his bed.”

I placed my hands on my hips. “You think I give a damn about your threat? Tell whoever you want to. You’ll be fired, and I doubt any other college would risk hiring you.”

His menacing face was inches from mine. “Maybe so for a while, but other college administrations get over things quickly if money is involved. I’m still a big draw for books and lectures. One of the many things you failed to learn is life in academia is a long one. You might succeed, but all the scholars and professors will consider you a whore. They definitely won’t want you on their academic papers or put in a recommendation.”

“You’re overplaying your hand. Your threats are empty.” I grit my teeth.

He clutched my face and pressed his thumb into my lip. “Oh, I will. I’ll give you a thorough recommendation on giving head. At that, you’re pretty good. Some professors may offer you scraps to get you to suck their cocks, but academically, you’ll be ruined before you even start.”

I slapped his face. “Don’t you ever lay your hands on me again, or you’ll have more than academia to worry about. Your threats are falling on deaf ears too. You do any of that, you’ll go down.”

He rubbed his red jaw. “That’s the point, idiot. We both go down. If I have nothing to lose, damn right, I’ll take you down with me. Now, grow up. I’ll write your recommendations and say you’re a stellar find. Hell, I’ll give you until August to get over your hurt feelings. After that, I expect you to return to Boston and your job. And next time I call or ask for something, I expect an answer, posthaste.”

My hand pressed the space over my heart. It felt rubbed raw by his words as if scrubbed with a wire pad. Randall never cared about or loved me.

“Do your own work. Disappoint whoever is foolish enough to have sex with you in the future. Just stay the hell away from me.”

I stormed out and took the stairs, running until I reached the sidewalk. There I sucked in air and braced myself for tears to come, but nothing came. The pain was there, surely, but no tears. He’d been exceptionally cruel. How many times had he cheated on me, and I’d ignored it?

I took out my phone to call Tam when it vibrated in my hand. “Hello, Jasmine.” Ford’s rich baritone filled my ears.

My foot stumbled forward, and a hand reached out to balance me. The doorman.

“Excuse me, miss.” He moved around me to wheel a bag through the open doors of the hotel.

“Ford? Hi… um. One sec.” I walked back inside the hotel and moved to a corner of the lobby. My eyes searched the room to see if Randall was around, but he wasn’t. Most of the attendees had left for the start of the conference.

“Are you on board?” I asked.

“No. I decided to leave tomorrow morning. I called to let you know I’m on my way.”

“Please don’t come. I’m leaving. Randall was . . . he . . . It was a bad idea to come here.” My voice choked.

“Did he hurt you?” There was alarm in his voice.

“No. He was horrible. He told me clearly that he’d never believed in me or cared about me. I’m going… I think I want to leave New York City. This was a bad idea. Maybe I’ll go visit Aunt Lila in Florida, though I have no idea what I could do there. Or maybe I’ll go back to Boston.” See Tam and figure out what to do about the rest of my career and life. “I don’t know.Actually, I don’t know where to go. I can’t escape when I don’t know what to do. I just don’t want to be alone.”

“How about you come over?”

“What? No. I don’t think I’d be good company.”

“I don’t care. I want you with me. I’m asking as a friend.”

I touched my hot neck. “But . . .” I couldn’t think of a reason to stay away.

“Come spend the evening with me. We can watch The Mandalorian or any movie or television show you want. If you don’t want to do that, you can read, but just come. I don’t want you alone. See you soon.”

There were a million reasons that going over to see Ford feeling the way I did was a bad idea. But I didn’t want to spend the evening alone, cursing myself for showing up to see Randall or hearing his harsh takedown repeating in my head. I’d never realized how desperate and cruel he could be.

Fucking you was the only way I got any peace and quiet. And that wasn’t even enough to satisfy me. Even after I fucked someone in front of your face, you still think you’re something. But what you really are is pathetic.

My heart muscles squeezed together. Pathetic? I did everything to please him, and in the end, he thought I was pathetic. And he wanted to use me and hold my career ambitions over my head to get it. Had I compromised myself so much I didn’t see it? How had I not seen what he really thought of me? All the scholars and professors will consider you a whore. I sucked back a sob. What the hell was I supposed to do with my life now?

Being cheated on was one thing, but losing your self-respect and being seen as nothing but an unimpressive fraud stung. And that was the problem with words. They stayed with me. I can’t unhear his cruelty. I couldn’t unsee his loathing.

How had I been so blind?

I walked to the curb and held up my hand toward the traffic. Perhaps being with Ford tonight was stupid, but he’d promised a movie and wine. And right now, that was what my lamenting soul needed. I needed my friend.