Page 98 of Love Under the Microscope
“I brought you this.” He drops sheets of paper onto my desk. “It’s my article on Mr. Z. If you read it and don’t want me to publish it, then I’m sorry. It’s a damn good piece.”
I push the pages toward him. “I don’t want to read it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Read it.”
I shake my head.
“Want me to go all Say Anything on you and play it under your window?” he asks.
“Go all what?” I ask, crinkling my brow.
Jack rolls his eyes. “Jesus, woman, you need an old-school education in romantic movies. Let me guess, you don’t even know the dance from Footloose.”
I can’t help but smile, and Jack stares at me with a huge grin.
“Hanging out under my bedroom window is stalking,” I say.
“That’s the point.” He shakes his head. “I know. I’ll keep playing the song until you know the lyrics by heart. Or maybe I’ll just play boy band music until you agree to read my article. But wait, you actually like that shit.”
“You know I hate you, right?” I turn away so he can’t see my smile.
“You think you do, baby, but really you’re just stubborn.” He leans closer and lifts my chin so we’re eye to eye. “Maybe, for once, you could stop being stubborn and listen to your heart.”
As I gaze into his eyes and wish I could let go like he wants, I exhale. “My heart tends to sing a lot of sad songs. That’s the problem.”
“Okay. Have it your way, Zelda. I love you, but you’re too stubborn for it to be enough.” He pushes the papers back to me. “Read the damn article, Lowe.”
Then he walks out.
If we have a chance to be together, I shouldn’t read it and just trust him, right? Or maybe I should read the article like he asked. Or do I simply go after him?
Ugh. Why do relationships have to be so difficult?
I finally decide to take the unread article with me and go after Jack. It’s still working hours so he should be at the magazine, but when I arrive, his desk is empty. All the desks are empty. The place smells like old coffee and pickles. An odd combination, but reporters are a different kind.
A movement in an office catches my eye. At least someone is here. I make my way over to the doorway. “Hello?”
“What can I do for you?” Drew asks with a frown.
“I’m looking for Jack.”
Drew snorts. “Sure you are. I bet you just want to plead Jack’s case, but don’t bother.”
“Excuse me?”
His gaze shoots to a print copy of the newest edition on his desk. “But you should be grateful to Jack for what he wrote about one of your co-CEOs.”
His words confuse me because the article is about me. Well, Mr. Z, which Jack knows is me, and that was to be his big exposé. “Why?”
“Because Jack told me I could fire him if I didn’t print it, so I fired him. He deserves to be unemployed for refusing to give me the dirt on your company. I could have made him and this magazine a lot of money with the story, but he wouldn’t budge. It seems your Mr. Z has Jack strongly by the balls.”
The man’s ego shocks me. Plus, he has no idea who I really am. But the fact Jack no longer works there? “You just fired him?”
“Not until he wrote me a story about the Z guy. It isn’t what I wanted. No dirt or juicy gossip, but it’s a solid piece. He handed in the article this morning and quit.”
I scratch my head, even more confused. “I thought you fired Jack.”
“Tomayto, tomato. He said he’d quit without a reference if I didn’t print the story, so basically, I fired him.”
