"I'm not." He flicked his head toward the suitcase. "So pack."
"You can't be serious?"
As an answer, he reached into his front pants pocket. He pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He held it out vaguely in my direction. I pushed myself off from the bed and snatched the paper out of his hand.
I looked down and scanned the sheet, a printout of some bogus email between me and my boss. By the time I finished reading, my blood was boiling. I looked up. "What the hell?" I said.
"You can thank me later."
"I'm not gonnathankyou," I said, waving the paper in his direction. "You forged a resignation letter?"
"Email," he corrected.
"Whatever," I gave him a hard look. "Please tell me you're joking."
His voice was flat. "I don't joke."
"You do too," I said. The guy had a wicked sense of humor, or at least heusedto have a wicked sense of humor – not that anyone would guess it now.
I looked down at the paper, zooming in on the originating email address. "And how," I asked through clenched teeth, "did you get into my email account?"
"I'll tell you later." His voice hardened. "Now, for the last time, get packing."
I glared up at him. "Why?"
"Because," he said, "if you're still here tomorrow, it won't bemeyou've got to worry about."
I shook my head. "What are you getting at?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone. His fingers skimmed across the smooth screen, and he thrust the phone in my direction. Silently, I took it and looked down. My eyebrows furrowed. "But that doesn't make any sense," I said.
"You're tellingme."
From somewhere in the apartment, a door slammed. I heard soft footsteps coming fast. A split-second later, my bedroom door flew open. The doorknob slammed into the neighboring wall, sending bits of plaster tumbling onto the faded carpet.
I jumped to my feet.
Oh crap.
Maddie stood in the doorway. Her body was naked, and her eyes were blazing. Her long red hair was a wild mess. Either she'd just been attacked by a ferret, or – more likely – she'd just woken up from the best sex of her life.
Embarrassingly, I was rooting for the ferret.
Still, for someone who'd gotten lucky four times over, Maddie looked decidedly unhappy. "What. The. Fuck!" she said.
It wasn't the first time I'd seen Maddie naked. She had a nice body, and apparently, didn't mind flaunting it. To me. To her boyfriends. To the maintenance guy, who surprise, surprise, always came the first time we called. Maybe that's why the thermostat kept breaking. Sabotage.
My gaze bounced from Maddie to Jake and back again. "It's not what it looks like," I said.
"Then why," she gritted out, "ishein your bedroom?" Her gaze flew to Jake. "And why the hell aren't you wearing a shirt?"
As if she didn't know.
"Because," Jake said, "you ripped the damn thing off. Remember?"
A choked sound escaped my lips, half snort, half laugh. This had to be a dream. No. A nightmare. I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched myself on the arm.
I didn't wake up.
Damn it.
