Bad Influencer by Kenzie Reed
Chapter Twenty-Five
Elliott
“The light. It burns.” Jillian squints resentfully from under her broad-brimmed straw hat. It’s a warm, lazy Friday at the end of July. Seattle is not known for sunshine, but today is the rare exception. The clouds have parted, and white-hot rays beam down from the heavens. I’ve dragged her and Cameron out to an outdoor café at the park so we can soak up some vitamin D.
I lean back, enjoying the sunshine. Life is good, we’ve survived another investors’ meeting, and I’ve got my girl and one of my oldest friends by my side. I don’t even have to force myself to smile. It comes naturally. “You’ve just outed yourself, vampire.”
She takes a bite of her quinoa salad, chews and swallows. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is if you’re vegan,” I say, dragging a French fry through ketchup. “You’d starve.”
Her brows lift in alarm. “Oh damn. You’re right. You’ve given me something new to worry about, in case I ever fall prey to a Nosferatu. And imagine if I became a zombie?” she shudders. “Have you ever heard of a zombie eating tofu? Thanks. This is going to keep me up at night.”
“That’s seriously your biggest concern about being turned into a zombie?” I scoff.
“That, and they all have really bad teeth.” She grins and flashes her pearly whites at me. “One thing I’ve always been proud of is my teeth. I never even needed braces.”
I restrain myself from shouting, “You should be proud of everything! Not just your teeth!” Every time she says something like that, I really want to track down her parents and lob flaming dog crap at them. How can they not see what an incredible child they have? Why do they have to make her feel like they love her despite who she is, instead of loving her because of who she is?
Well, she’s barely spoken to them in the past month, since we had our little confrontation at the Stardust, and she’s seem happier and lighter since then. But they’re her family, and I know that sooner or later she’ll have to reconnect, and I just hope she’s able to protect herself emotionally when that happens.
She pushes her chair back. “I’m going to go get a refill on my tea. Do you guys want anything?”
“Thanks, I’m good.”
She winks at me. “Yeah, you are.” And I grin like an idiot.
Then she glances at Cameron. “Anything? I live to serve.”
Cameron shakes his head, and she saunters off, dodging around a cluster of tall potted palms.
He’s been in a mood lately. We’re all under a lot of pressure, though. Manny’s been pushing the investors to make a decision about the sale, and we’re having a final meeting in two weeks. Realistically, if we are forced to sell the company, Cameron’s out of a job. Park City always brings in their own management team.
“You’re still going away with her this weekend?” Cameron scowls in disapproval. “Doesn’t the timing kind of suck?”
“There’s a meetup for Earth-friendly influencers in Portland, and I said I’d go with her.”
“Sounds like a drag. Stay here. I’m dating a girl who’s got a hot sister named Bambi. That’s right, Bambi.” Cameron smirks. “And if Bambi is double-jointed like her sister, I can tell you, you’re in for a—”
“No,” I snap.
He’s been exceptionally snide about Jillian, and I’m starting to feel like there’s more to it than just him being protective.
“Well, excuse you,” he snorts, leaning back in his chair. “Trying to do you a solid. Won’t happen again.” He grabs his beer and drains half of it in one gulp.
“I’ve told you more than once that I’m getting tired of this attitude,” I say to him. ”And I also told you Jillian and I are exclusive. I know that word may not be in your relationship vocabulary, but it’s important to me. You know how I feel about cheating.”
“Excuse you?” Jillian steps out from behind the palms. She glances at Cameron, her gaze frosting over.
“Eavesdropping?” Cameron’s lip curls up in a sneer. “Did you find out anything useful?”
“No, I was not eavesdropping. The waitress said she’d bring me more tea.” She settles down into her chair.
“Do not talk to her like that.” I lean forward for emphasis. “In fact, you can go home for the day.”
Cameron snorts in contempt, then makes a show of draining the rest of his beer very slowly before he sets it down with a flourish. “I have work to do, so no, actually, I will not go home for the day.”
“I own this damn company, so yes, in fact, you will go home for the day.”
“Are you actually pulling the boss card on me?” Cameron stares at me in astonishment.
“Since you’re pulling the asshole card on my girlfriend, yes I am.”
“Well, fuck you very much. Maybe I won’t come back on Monday.” Cameron leaps to his feet and stalks off.
“Well, damn.” Jillian watches him go. “I’m sorry, I know you’ve been friends with him for a long time, but… actually, why? Why are you friends with him? He’s everything you’re not, and I don’t mean that in a ‘you complete each other’ kind of way. He’s not particularly well liked at your company, you know.”
“He’s not?” I frown. “No-one from his department has ever said anything to me about him, but then again, they all knew that he was an old friend when I hired him. Maybe they didn’t feel comfortable telling me.”
“I’d ask,” Jillian says. “And make it clear there wouldn’t be repercussions. And try not to have your resting scowly-face on when you bring up the subject. But again… why do you put up with him?”
“He’s not always like that. He thinks he’s helping me.” I sigh. “But yeah. The way he just spoke to you is not okay, and if he doesn’t chill out, he’s going to be looking for work elsewhere.”
“You’ve put up with him for a long time. I’m just trying to understand, because he’s nothing like anyone else you’re close to.”
He groans. “It’s just… we’ve been friends since high school, and I feel bad for him. His mother took off when he was a baby, his father’s a poisonous, toxic asshole who openly despises him, and it’s just a bad situation. His family makes your family look like The Waltons.”
My family. I feel a whisper of sadness. I miss them, but I don’t miss feeling like an irresponsible wild child who needs to be carefully managed. “That bad, huh?” I say lightly.
“That bad. We used to invite him to our house for all the holidays. On a few occasions, his father had beat his ass and he’d come to our house limping. He came up with some bullshit story about falling down the stairs. I wanted to tell the cops, but Cameron lost his shit when I even tried to hint at it. He’s got a lot of pride and he found it humiliating.”
Jillian chews on her lower lip and doesn’t say anything.
“What?”
She sighs. “That is sad, and I understand that you want to help him, but weren’t you the one who gave me advice on distancing myself from toxic people?”
“Yeah. I know. He’s gotten a lot worse lately, and I’m going to take a break from him unless and until he can get it under control. But he’s been a good friend for a long time. He always had my back in high school. To the point of going overboard, actually.” I smile ruefully. “He got suspended for punching some jock who was trying to start a fight with me over a girl. Sometimes people would give me crap about my dad acting like a goofball or my mom doing her weird abstract nude sculptures, and Cameron would just wale on them.”
She winces. I’m trying to show her how loyal he’s always been, but I’m not explaining it right. I’m making him sound like a rage-aholic, and that’s not how it was.
The sun slides behind the clouds, echoing my dimming mood.
“Anyway,” I sigh. “We should get back to work. You’ve got a new campaign you’re working on, right?”
“Aww.” She glances up at the leaden gray sky. “Just when it was getting nice out.”
“Whatever, Princess of Darkness.”
A short while later, I’m in my office when Cameron storms into the room. He has a folder in his hand, and his eyes are blazing with anger.
“What the hell are you still doing here?” I demand. “I said go home for the day. And if you want to come back, straighten your ass out and start treating people with respect.”
He shakes his head slowly. “We’ve been friends for ages. And you’re choosing her over me.”
“Are you jealous?” I say, astounded.
“Of her? Of you?” He barks out a bitter laugh. ”I’m trying to have your back here. Here’s the facts. I’ve been doing some investigating of my own recently. I was trying to figure out who’s trying to sabotage our company. Excuse me, your company. You’ve made that abundantly clear. Anyway, I knew something was up with Trevor, he’s been acting weird as hell and there’s this filing cabinet that he put a new lock on a little while back, so I broke into it today.”
“You broke into his filing cabinet?” I bark, outraged.
“And guess what I found?” He shakes the folder at me.
“I’m sure you’re about to tell me. Or I could just ask Trevor what you stole.”
His lip curls up in a sneer. “Oh, yeah, please do ask Trevor. You’ve got a special genius for trusting the wrong people. Not sure what else you’re good at, actually.” Wow. He doesn’t just want to burn his bridges, he wants to raze the crops and salt the fields.
He slams the folder down on my desk and flips it open, and I look at the picture inside. It shows somebody climbing up our billboard, with a backpack hanging off their back.
Actually, as I look closer, I see that the somebody is Jillian. The picture is black and white, but it’s pretty sharp and clear.
“There’s a contract in here, between him and you, that you’ve never seen. Trevor blackmailed her into dating you and making you look, to be blunt, less like a boring old fart,” he sneers. “And of course it didn’t hurt her influencer gig any. Dating you made her look a little less crazy, so, you know, win-win. And then there were the side benefits with Trevor. Apparently she thinks blackmail is hot. I’ve told you a million times, chicks don’t like nice guys.”
My blood turns to ice. My lungs forget how to breathe.
“Bullshit.”
“Tell yourself whatever you want.” His eyes gleam with bitter triumph. ”Kind of hard to explain away why she was scaling your billboard right before you hired her and forgot to mention it to you, though.”
It’s not ‘kind of hard’. It’s impossible.
“Plus, I’ve seen some things going on between the two of them that I didn’t want to have to tell you about.”
Anger swells inside me, burning away the hurt.
I’m an idiot when it comes to women. An absolute idiot. Again and again. I truly thought Jillian was different. I thought she was a unique, magical creature, and even more importantly I thought she was my unique magical creature. My person. The woman who saw past the dull façade, the woman who saw my heart and liked what she saw. Loved what she saw.
She’s no different from Lauren after all. Or my high school girlfriend, Amber. At least not where it counts. All those times she told me to smile for the camera... all those times she made me laugh with my whole heart... it was only for the money. Not for me.
I close my eyes and lean back in my seat. “Go home, Cameron.”
I wait until I hear the door slam, then open my eyes again and stare bleakly down at the picture. I sit there as my insides slowly turn to poison and a sour taste fills my mouth. The anger that’s filling me feels foul and dangerous, burning furiously, fighting to break free.
Finally, I snatch up the folder and stalk out of the room and make my way to her office.
She and Trevor are standing next to her desk. They’re looking over a folder together. It’s like déjà vu all over again. Sure, they both have their clothes on, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t meeting up after work to screw each other blind.
“Having fun, are we?” I sneer.
They both look up, startled by the harshness in my tone. They don’t jump apart, though. They don’t act guilty in the slightest. Then again, Lauren didn’t either. Not until I caught my best friend buried dick-deep inside her. And Amber? To this day, a tiny part of me still doesn’t believe it. But there’s no denying the breakup text she sent to me.
“Is something wrong?” Jillian looks at me, puzzled.
“Oh, no, everything’s fantastic. You’re doing really well at your job. I mean, you should be, you’re getting paid well enough to hang out with me. Hope it wasn’t too painful. And then there’s all of those side benefits.” The bitterness in my voice seeps through to my very soul.
“What exactly is wrong with you right now?” Jillian demands.
“What exactly is wrong with me?” I pour all the poison in my heart into every word. “Nothing. How are you doing? Are you having a really good day? Is Trevor part of the package you signed, or did that come later?”
“Excuse the actual hell out of you?” Jillian’s eyes blaze with fury. Trevor straightens up.
I slam down the folder in front of them and open it.
“Believe me, I’m not surprised.” I choke on a harsh laugh. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been played for a fool and used for my money and family name, obviously. And it’s not the first time a girl has gone for someone I thought was a friend. It’s not even the second time. You’d think I’d learn.”
I flip open the folder, and she glances down at it and shrugs, looking puzzled.
“What about it?”
“I’m sorry, seriously? What about the fact that you tried to sabotage our property and then Trevor blackmailed you into dating me?”
“Whoa. Take a step back there.” She glares at me. “You knew about this when you hired me. You knew about the damn picture. You knew I climbed that damn billboard.” I stand there, slowly shaking my head. “And also, all the threats or bribes in the world wouldn’t make me date someone unless I wanted to date them. I’m not for hire in that way, thank you very much.”
“And I’m not a pimp.” Trevor straightens up, and he has the nerve to glare at me.
Seriously. This is a betrayal on a level I’ve never experienced before, a hurt that makes what Lauren did to me feel like a light slap. And both he and Jillian are looking at me like I just strolled in wearing a kitten-fur vest with baby seal trim.
“Clear your things and get out,” I say to Jillian. ”Your obligation here is done. You don’t have to date me anymore, you don’t have to try to make me look like anything other than what I am, which is a dull but hardworking man born without a funny bone. And you and Trevor don’t have to hide whatever the fuck else is happening. And most importantly, you’ll be paid in full.”
“You don’t have a clue what’s going on here. You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Trevor’s voice has gone low and dangerous.
“Oh, I know enough. You, of all people, Trevor. I never thought it would be you.”
The look on Jillian’s face isn’t one I’ll be able to forget, not if I live to be a hundred. She’s gone a sickly white and she looks shattered. Crystalline tears shimmer in her eyes, but she straightens up her shoulders and stiffens her spine.
“You’re going to wake up and realize how stupid you’ve been.” Her voice is hoarse with sorrow.
“I already know how stupid I’ve been, not to see what was happening right under my nose.” I spit the words at them.
Before either of them can say another thing to me, I spin on my heel and walk out of the office.