A Twisted Love Story(57)

She stands up, knocking a pillow off the chair. “I guess that’s it, then. Nothing more to talk about.”

“Don’t be like that,” Wes says, getting up off the couch. “Don’t be mad. This is what we have to do.”

“You’re the one who’s mad. You’re so . . .” Ivy waves her arms around, gesturing to nothing and everything. “You’re so angry with me.”

He is, because of that call she made to the police. She must know that, though he’s not going to be the one to say it. Turns out, he doesn’t have to.

“How was I supposed to know?” she says. “We have no connection to Joey . . . None. At all. And it’s been seven years. Why would I think anyone would dig it up now?”

Wes actually feels a little bad for her. No way she wanted to start all of this.

“Hey.” He walks over to her and puts his hands on her shoulders. “We’re going to be fine. Just stick to the story, and this will all blow over.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Okay,” she says. A smile. A small one, but it’s enough.

“Stay here tonight,” he says.

“You’re dating that girl.”

“I haven’t seen her since the night at Liver,” he says. “And you’re dating that guy on your Insta.”

“I am not.”

“You posted his picture.”

“You ghosted me.”

“You ignored me.”

They stare at each other, neither one backing down. Like kids in a blinking contest.

Ivy never breaks first. She looks at him, jaw tilted up, hands on hips. Seriously, why is she so hot when she’s angry? It’s so annoying. So distracting.

He slides his hand down to hers, taking it into his own, and leads her to the bedroom. She doesn’t argue with that.

Wes pushes her onto the bed. She turns over on her back and smiles at him. An invitation he accepts.

Until she rolls away from him and off the bed.

Now he’s lying down, and she stands over him. A smirk on her face.

“You really think I’m that easy?” she says.

“You really want me to answer that?”





47




Ivy slams the phone down on her desk. Tired of checking it, tired of trying to decide what to do next. Tired of making the wrong decisions. Last night was a mistake; Ivy knew it before the sun came up.

She picks up her phone and texts Heath.

I saw Wes last night.

His reply: ???

She grips the phone tight for a second, then gives in to the urge to confess. I slept with him.

Minutes go by before he responds. Way to play it cool.

That had been his advice: Play it cool, act like you don’t care. Don’t get angry, don’t blow up at him. It was good advice—she knew that—and she had sex with Wes anyway.

I tried, she says.

She waits, expecting him to answer. Maybe he’ll bring up therapy again. Over the years, he has tried several times to get her to see someone. Once she did see a therapist he’d recommended, an older woman with deep bags under her eyes. Not even her glasses hid them, and her personality was even worse. She was like a mean girl who turned into a cruel therapist. Ivy lasted two sessions before quitting.

That hasn’t stopped Heath from trying. Ivy isn’t sure when he became such a convert to talk therapy, but he’s convinced it’s exactly what she needs.

Not today, though. He doesn’t answer her last text.

Ivy puts down the phone and goes back to the list of lawyers she found online. Google seems like a terrible way to find a defense attorney, so she researches each one and checks all the rating sites.

Last night didn’t go exactly how she’d expected. It all went sideways when he brought up the lawyers. Logically, she does know Wes is right. They’re not married, they’re not even officially together, so of course they have to do it. Separate lawyers, same story. A solid plan, and probably the correct one.

But he brought it up at the wrong time. Telling her like she didn’t already know, and doing it when she preferred to talk about something else. Like the fact that they need to stick together right now. A united front.

Which is why it was stupid for her to leave as soon as Wes fell asleep.



* * *



—

Wes started at the top, with the two largest law firms in the area. Expensive, but every lawyer is expensive. Only a matter of degree.

The first one he contacted never responded to his call. The second cited a “potential conflict” and said they would get back to him. It didn’t make sense until he did a little research. Law firms rarely represent two defendants for the same crime, largely because one usually blames the other.

Ivy was already doing the same thing he was. She was way ahead of him, no doubt giving the firm his name in case he also called. That’s something Ivy would do, and it made him a little nervous. Maybe a lot nervous.

Add in the fact that Karen had called Ivy about the Joey Fisher case but she hadn’t called him. Wes didn’t like that at all.

Worst of all, Ivy left in the middle of the night. Ten years into this relationship, and she has never done that.

Which makes him think of Heath.