Trust in Advertising (67 page)

“What?”

“You’re a quitter. You’re giving up on your job, your future in advertising.

Hell, you’re giving up on Vincent too, hiding out in the apartment.”

“I’m not avoiding anything. It’s called self-preservation.”

“No, it’s called being a coward. Don’t you enjoy your job? Isn’t it everything you ever wanted?”

“Of course,” Lexi snapped.

“Then why aren’t you fighting for it? Because some losers are talking about you in the papers, or because you would have to be in the same room with Vincent for, what, an hour? You deserve this, Lexi. This is your chance to shine in the profession you love.”

“There will be other presentations.” Lexi shrugged and picked at the flannel of her pajamas.

“Let me ask you another question. What about Vincent?”

“What about him?”

“Well, are you going to give him a chance or have you decided what he broke can never be fixed?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you any closer to a decision? Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t care which decision you make. I think he was a complete prick, and I support you either way. But ask yourself, what do you want? Vincent or a fresh start?”

Lexi chewed on her lip and thought about Vincent. She wanted to try. She wanted nothing more than to jump into his arms and forget the last week, but then, after a few minutes of happy thoughts, the darkness came back and she remembered the awful things he accused her of. Then she wanted to run far, far away. Her heart was in the middle of a massive game of tug of war, and no team was any closer to winning the battle. Instead her heart felt like it was closer to splitting in two.

“It’s not that easy,” Lexi said, wiping away the tears that always came if she thought about Vincent too long.

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Hope rushed over to her friend and hugged her. “I know it’s not easy, honey, but you can’t stay in limbo forever. I won’t let you. You already did that once.

You have to pick a path and take a step forward, even if it’s a tiny one. Like I said, I don’t care which one you take, but you have to do something. Life won’t stand still for you. It keeps moving, always changing, and time is the one thing you can never get back.”

Now Lexi was the one wiping Hope’s tears as her friend continued. “We both know that there comes a point when you run out of time. It happened to us with our parents. I just don’t want you to wait too long and then realize what you missed out on if you do want to be with Vincent. Mistakes are part of life, Lexi. We all make them. God knows I’ve sure made some doozies. Should you forget about them? No. But learning from them helps us grow, makes us wiser, stronger, and better people in the end. Vincent knows he screwed up with you, and I have no doubt that he will move heaven and earth to make this up to you.

The questions is, can you forgive him?”

“Forgiving him isn’t the issue. I already have. Loving him is.” Lexi buried her face in her hands and took a deep breath. “I don’t know if I can love him without losing myself. Sometimes it actually hurts to love him. He can lash out and be a jerk one minute, then kind and loving the next. I feel like we are constantly taking one giant step forward and then two baby steps back, and I don’t think I can take it anymore.” Lexi’s eyes were sad and full of heartbreak.

“And then the stress of this whole fiasco at Hunter and the mole bullshit is just making everything worse. I feel like we’re living our lives under a microscope.”

“Do you still love him?” Hope’s simple question cut to the chase and managed to make Lexi smile.

“So much that I can’t breathe.”

“Is he worth fighting for? Or would you rather cut ties now and start making a life without him in it?”

The thought of a life without Vincent made Lexi feel empty and incomplete.

Before she could answer, her cell phone chirped. Hope glanced over at it on the counter and smiled. “Speak of the devil.”

Lexi peeked at the phone, then looked away. A second later her eyes were back on it, her curiosity getting the better of her, even as she tried to play it off like she was wiping a spot off the counter.

“Go ahead, look at the message. You know you want to.”

“No, it doesn’t matter.”

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“Then why do you keep staring at it like it’s the last piece of food on earth?”

“It might be important. It might be about the presentation.”

“You mean the one you’re not going to?” Hope made an indignant huff.

“What do you care what he needs for that? It doesn’t mean anything to you.”

Lexi’s eyes rolled. “I know what you’re doing. I took Psych in college too.”

Hope laughed. “Good, then pick up the damn phone and see what loverboy wants.”

“He’s not my loverboy.” Lexi took the phone from Hope’s hand.

Lexi

Traffic is bad on the bridge. Make sure you leave a few minutes early.

Her eyes narrowed as she read his words. He knew she wasn’t going to the meeting. She had made that abundantly clear yesterday afternoon in the office.

Her fingers began texting as fast as possible while Hope watched on.

Vincent

I don’t need to leave early. I’m not coming to the presentation, remember?

We had a whole conversation about it yesterday. Good luck.

“What did he want?” Hope asked innocently, even though Lexi knew she’d seen the message.

“He’s acting like I’m still coming.” Her phone beeped again. “Was he even listening when I was talking to him?” She read the new message and groaned.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Alexandra

You’re coming. I know you’ll be there. Quit being stubborn and get dressed.

“How dare he!” Lexi snarled and pecked away at her tiny keyboard.

Dickhead

Cut the Alexandra crap. I’m not coming.

“Well, well,” Hope said, grinning like a fool. “Someone finally has that twinkle back in her eye. Are your cheeks flushed too, my dear?”

“This man drives me crazy!” Lexi slammed her phone onto the counter.

“And you love it.”

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“I do,” Lexi said, pathetically shaking her head. She wanted him in her life. It didn’t mean she was ready to forget what happened, rather that she was ready to take a step toward fixing what was broken between them so they could see if they had a real chance together. “There’s still a lot of stuff we need to work out.”

“Have you seen today’s paper, by chance?” When Lexi shook her head, Hope grabbed it out of the trash, unfolded it, and laid it across her lap. The headline read:

Proof of t he Super model Super sc a nda l The words jumped off the page, and Lexi’s stomach rolled. She skimmed the blurb under the picture. It said that evidence from an unknown source had surfaced supporting Vincent’s allegations against not only Jade, but David Reid.

The full story could be found on page five. Lexi’s fingers couldn’t get her there fast enough, and when she finally spread the paper out in front of her, she gasped.

Three large pictures of Jade and David in various stages of physical contact stared Lexi in the face. All of the photos seemed to be taken while they had been tucked in the dark corner of the garden where Lexi had discovered them that night. One of the photos was grainy, like it had come from a security camera, but the other two were crystal clear. If you looked close enough, you could practically see his tongue snaking down her throat. The source of the photos asked to remain anonymous, but she was quoted as saying she “hoped they both are now seen for the scum they truly are.”

Lexi couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “How …”

“Everyone remembers that ugly dress.”

“Now there’s proof in black and white that I wasn’t making everything up.

Proof that Vincent was telling the truth.”

“Yep, and the two of them are screwed because they’ve both publicly stated that they weren’t having a relationship. I just saw on the internet that Jade’s been dropped from three modeling contracts already this morning.”

“Karma’s a bitch.”

“So, think about it. Now that Jade’s out of the picture and everyone knows what a liar she is, don’t you think that Marradesi would love to hear a presentation from the brilliant young woman who figured out who the mole was at Hunter Advertising and spoke the truth, even at great personal cost?”

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“No, they deserve to hear it from a skilled presenter who oozes confidence and power and knows what the hell he’s doing.”

“Come on, Lexi. You know you want to do it.”

“I have plenty of other accounts I’m working on. I can build my portfolio that way, even without Marradesi Cosmetics.”

Hope smiled wickedly. “Don’t ya even want to try, just to see if you can do it?” The wheels started turning in Lexi’s head. “Can you imagine?”

The problem was that she could imagine it perfectly. She could see herself in that board room with Paolo, Francesca, and Dante, giving the presentation with Vincent at her side. Instead of scaring her, the idea made her genuinely excited about the possibilities.

For some strange reason, she flashed back to high school, to graduation day, and heard Michelle’s voice in her head.
“And so my fellow classmates, I encourage
you to leave this place and find yourselves. Become the person you are destined to
be. Find that which truly makes you happy and have the courage to go after it, fight
for it, and attain it. Let nothing stop you, because each one of us is special, and we
have something unique to offer the world. Never forget to be true to yourself and go
after your dreams, for dreams really do come true.”

This was her chance to go after her dreams and possibly get everything she ever wanted in life—an amazing job and a man she loved. The question was, did she have the courage to go for it?

Her head started to clear. The fog of uncertainty that had settled in since the confrontation with Vincent slowly faded, and she began to picture her future again. Hope was right. It was time to take a step. If it turned out to be in the wrong direction, that was fine. The great thing about life was that she could always change course. But for now, she was going to take a chance, and the first thing she was going after was Marradesi.

“Time to take a step toward my future. Come help me pick out something to wear.”

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Lexi flew down the highway toward the local offices of Marradesi Cosmetics with an excited smile. For the first time in days she felt alive again. Even if things didn’t work out and they lost the account or she looked like a bumbling idiot, at least she was living the life she’d been blessed with and going after her dreams, both of them. No regrets. Harry would be proud.

The receptionist greeted her as she stepped off the elevator and ushered her into a conference room. Lexi stopped short when she found the room empty.

“Where’s Mr. Drake?”

“He called and said he would be delayed, but that I should go ahead and get you settled because you’d have materials that needed to be set up. Help yourself to coffee, and if there is anything you need, feel free to ask.”

“Wait,” Lexi called to the receptionist started to leave. “Did Mr. Drake say how late he was running?”

“He only said that you would know what needed to be done until he arrived.” The door closed with a click and Lexi whipped out her phone and dialed Vincent.

“Where the hell are you? You left before I did. You should be here by now.”

His deep chuckle on the other end of the phone made Lexi see red. “I had to make a stop and was delayed. You know what you’re doing. Just get things ready.”

“How do you know I have anything to set up? You didn’t tell me to bring my copies.” Lexi had opened her laptop so she could upload the PowerPoint.

Victoria Michaels

“Because I know you. I’m sure you have everything, including a second copy of the PowerPoint on a flash drive just in case the copy on your computer is corrupted.” Lexi smiled and patted the drive in her pocket. “You are the most organized person on the planet and do everything in triplicate.”

With the phone propped between her ear and shoulder, she pulled a stack of papers from her laptop case and began to sort the materials into individual packets for Paolo, Francesca, and Dante, plus two extras in case anyone else arrived unexpectedly. “Yeah, well, you’re lucky I decided to show up.”

“I never doubted you. You’re always there when I need you.”

His kind words made her pause, but her smile was short lived. “I don’t have the revised boards. You have the only physical copy.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get there before you’re at that point in the presentation.”

“You better be here before I start, pal.”

“You can do this.” His words held such certainty that Lexi was beginning to believe them. “I trust you.”

Her eyes closed as she thought about the time she needed him to trust her and he hadn’t, but then she reminded herself that she was moving forward. The past couldn’t change, but people could. He was making an effort, and it was time she tried to as well.

“Wel , I’d love to keep chatting, but you better be driving like a maniac to get your tail here in,” she glanced at her watch, “twenty minutes. I have a presentation to set up because my boss is running late. Men!” His laughter and the revving of his engine were the last things she heard before she hung up the phone.

In record time, Lexi had packets of information, outlines, and projection numbers arranged. She quickly ran through the presentation outline from start to finish, paying extra attention to the areas Vincent had asked her to cover. The receptionist popped her head in to let her know the Marradesis had just arrived and would be down in a few minutes.

Lexi’s stomach fluttered nervously as she paced the room, wondering how close Vincent was. She looked out the window onto the busy road below, hoping to catch a glimpse of his Matchbox car, but with every minute that passed, she accepted that she might have to do this alone. When the door to the board room flew open, Lexi thought she was saved.