Dangerous Exes (Page 9)

I made a face at her.

Penny meowed in agreement while the other two just stared at me blankly like it was normal to have stare-downs with cats. The phones kept ringing. Abby ignored them while Blaire grabbed another piece of licorice and made herself comfortable.

“What?” I looked around nervously. “He followed me to my aunt’s retirement home! He sent them orphans!”

“Whoa, back up, he sent orphans to a retirement home?” Blaire asked in a confused voice. “Is that legal?”

“Keep up!” I thrust my coffee mug into the air. “So naturally my only option was to move into his rental!”

Abby spit her coffee onto the newspaper, and Blaire’s licorice dropped out of her mouth.

“That’s perfectly normal behavior,” I said defensively. “I’m a PI, sometimes we do the crazy things in an effort to get the cheater.”

“You do realize Jessie isn’t a target anymore, right?” Blaire said softly, like she was seconds away from patting my hand and asking if I needed a good cry. “Besides, he’s pissed at us, that doesn’t mean you need to move in next to him and make his life a living hell.”

I grinned. “He’s breaking into my circle of trust, I’m going to blow up his. It’s as simple as that.”

The phone rang again.

Abby finally answered it. “Yeah, I’ll get her.” She covered the phone with her hand. “Isla, line two.”

I confidently marched over to my desk and shoved away all irritation with Jessie. “This is Isla Turner, how can I help you?”

“I heard you’re the best.” The woman sounded troubled. “I need the best.”

Back in my element, I took down all her information and tried to soothe her when she started crying about the state of her marriage. Apparently her husband had been cheating for at least a year, and she needed proof before she filed for divorce. Blood roared in my ears. This, this was why we started Dirty Exes! To protect those who needed it. To make sure that no woman was left with nothing postdivorce when she was the innocent party. I thought back to Wayne and shuddered. I was going to bring down her man and shove my success in Jessie’s face once and for all. Preferably in front of the world, on live TV, and if that didn’t work, at least, you know, in front of Penny.

By the time I hung up I was refreshed beyond reason. “New client!”

“Isla,” Blaire groaned, “we have to hire another investigator as it is, we can’t just take on a new client.”

I sat and fired up my laptop. “Look, I have a feeling about her. This case should be an easy pop-in, pop-out, not full-scale Dirty Exes warfare.”

“Okay, fine, but if anyone gets to be bait, it’s you.”

“Deal.” I winked. “Now let’s get started!”

See? Everything was looking up.

I was going to drive Jessie absolutely crazy.

He was eventually going to have to back off.

And everything would return to normal.

I ignored the hollow feeling the word normal brought to my body, like I didn’t want normal anymore, but that was ridiculous.

I liked order in my life.

Not the chaos that Jessie brought.

I’d lived that life before, and I was in a better position now. Right? That was why I felt in control. Calm. Completely calm.

Chapter Ten

JESSIE

I had her entire schedule.

I visited her office with a box of donuts and charmed her office manager, Abby. When Abby told me about her long, hellish day, I sent her to Colin’s bar and told her that she and her husband should order anything they want, on me . . . but not before swiping the keys to the office.

And boom.

Schedule obtained.

Life. Ruined.

I grinned.

I knew it all.

Where she ate. Where she visited on Tuesdays.

Her fucking routine was mine to memorize.

And I only felt slightly guilty about it, mainly because it was an invasion of privacy and I knew I’d clearly lost my mind if I was planning my day around driving her insane and making sure she knew I wasn’t going to back down.

For one minute.

I’d second-guessed myself.

And then I’d stupidly turned on the TV to see news of my old charity’s annual holiday gala.

And the anger returned tenfold.

Had she never taken my ex on as a client, embarrassed the living hell out of her, and basically used entrapment—I wouldn’t be sitting on my couch upset over my life’s work getting stripped from me based on rumors and bad publicity.

Blaire was in on it too.

But for some reason I blamed Isla more.

Isla had made me feel like she genuinely liked me. She made me think she was real, that our friendship was real, not just a way to get at me in order to expose something that wasn’t even true.

A falsehood.

She’d thrown our friendship, or whatever the hell it was, away for a paycheck.

And I wasn’t sure I would ever forgive her for that.

For giving me a taste of what it could be like. What it should be like.

And ripping it the hell away.

I checked my watch and smiled when her Lexus pulled up. “Right on time.”

Part of me had to respect the rigorous schedule she kept, another part of me was horrified that there was another human being on the planet as punctual as me.

The woman probably only had sex in one position and preferred the lights off.

I scowled.

Where had that errant thought come from?

She jumped out of her car and grabbed a black duffel bag. Her leggings hugged every inch of skin like she was poured into them, and her bright-pink shirt only made me stare longer than necessary at the expansive cleavage getting pushed up by her pink-and-black-striped sports bra.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

Or the best idea I’d ever had?

I snuck in behind her and winked at the receptionist I’d bribed, then casually strolled right into the hot yoga studio.

The doors closed with finality behind me.

I cringed.

The last time I did yoga I couldn’t walk for weeks.

But the receptionist had convinced me this was a beginners class, that I’d be just fine as long as I had no health issues. I almost felt the need to remind her who she was talking to but didn’t want to come across like a jackass.

If I can stay in the NFL for eleven years as a star quarterback, pretty sure I can handle an hour of hot yoga.

I eyed Isla, grabbed my mat, and then rolled it out right next to hers. “Hey, neighbor.”

“Son of a bitch,” she hissed under her breath, knocking her water over in the process of trying to scurry away from me.

I grinned at her horrified expression. “You miss me?”

“Like I miss my braces and feathered bangs.”

“You? Feathered bangs?” I reached out to touch her silky black hair, but my hand was slapped away with a burning sting.

“Stop that.” She scooted to the edge of her mat and sat with her legs crossed. “You’re taking your creepy stalking to a whole other level if you’re following me to yoga class, you psycho.”

“Psycho.” I rolled the word around in my mouth and grinned. “Kind of has a nice ring to it, also maybe next time you should say that while looking in the mirror since you’re the one who basically moved in with me.”

“I did not move in with you.” Her cheeks flashed pink. “I merely saw an opportunity to drive you insane and took it.”

“And yet here we are.” I spread my arms wide. “In yoga class.”