Playing Dirty(48)

Josh gave me a wolfish smile. “I’m glad we can be friends, too,” he said. I expected him to throw in some casual remark about ‘more than friends,’ but oddly enough, he stayed quiet and started eating some of his dinner.

Even though I was enjoying myself more than I thought I would, my mind wasn’t at rest. I couldn’t stop thinking about Jay. How was I going to tell him about the photographs? Should I wait for him to say something first? No, I should definitely confront him. My stomach twisted and I began to lose my appetite as the images from earlier popped back into my head.

Jay with another woman’s tongue down his throat.

Jay making out with a woman in public, not even caring about who took his picture, and not even caring who might see.

Jay, who had left one woman in his bed and gone out to meet another.

My heart hardened slightly under my blouse.

“You’re being quiet,” Josh said with a smirk. “Normally when I take you out, it’s Kate the Chatterbox.”

I tried to smile. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

“No worries,” Josh replied. He winked at me. “I have to go use the little boy’s room.”

I watched as he stood up from the table and smoothly navigated his way towards the back of the restaurant. My phone buzzed on the table, and reaching for it, I noticed there was something slightly different. Oh, yeah, duh, I thought to myself. It’s Josh’s phone. Before I could put it down, a text flashed across the screen:

‘Did she fall for my Photoshop job? Better hope she doesn’t go through TMZ and catch you lying!’

Frowning, I set the phone down on the table. Josh was devious, but I didn’t want to think that he was that devious.

“Hey,” Josh said, catching me off guard with his return a moment later. He slid down into his chair and looked at me. “Wow, Kate, you really need to cheer up. I don’t like seeing you without a smile.”

I bit my lip. “What is this?” I pressed the main button on his phone and showed him the text. “This came up while you were gone.”

He laughed, and underneath the table, my hands clenched into small fists. “Kate, don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “What are you talking about?”

“The pictures you showed me earlier,” I said through gritted teeth. “Did you get them from TMZ and get a Photoshop-savvy friend of yours to change the time stamps to make them look more recent?”

Josh shook his head and ran a hand through his brown hair. “Kate, you’re being really crazy,” he said. “I was gone for five seconds and I come back and you attack me like this? That message is about a work thing.” He shook his head again and gave me a wounded expression. “I can’t believe you think I would do this to you. After all this time.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Stop making me think I’m crazy,” I said. “I don’t think Jay was seeing someone else at all, and I don’t think you have a ‘friend who works in media’ here in Manchester. I think you got someone to doctor those photos.”

Josh smiled at me and shook his head. “Kate, if you even heard yourself right now, you’d be embarrassed,” he said. He leaned over and hunched his shoulders. In a conspiratorial whisper, he said: “Men don’t really like it when you act crazy, honey. It makes you much less attractive. You know that, right?”

I snorted. As if I gave a crap whether or not he found me attractive. “I’m not acting crazy,” I said. “You’re lying to me.”

“Why would I do that?” Josh gave me the same wounded look. “Kate, I care about you. We’re friends. We’ve been friends for years, right? I mean, before we dated, that is.”

I frowned. I didn’t want to believe that Josh would do something so odious, but come on…I wasn’t an idiot. Then again, I didn’t want to believe that Jay would be playing me, either. But one of them had done something wrong. As much as I wanted to be friends with Josh for professional reasons, something in my gut was telling me that he was lying. I knew he’d never admit it, though.

“I’m choosing to trust Jay,” I said coolly. “He told me that he had something important to take care of today, and that he’d explain everything later.”

Josh laughed again. “Kate, don’t be so naïve. For a man like Jay, an illicit date very well could have been the important thing. He’ll just lie to you, you’ll see.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “But me, I’m over here, trying to help you. I flew over here just to see you! Isn’t that pathetic, I’m chasing you,” he added, laughing to himself.