Page 109 of The Billionaire Mismatch

“Still, what are you doing here?” I ask both of them.

“He’s right,” Sadie says eagerly, “What are any of us doing? Besides maybe getting airborne diseases.”

“What do you think we’re doing here, dumbass?” Matt asks.

“Excuse you?” I snap.

“Hey, we aren’t at the office. Here, you’re not my boss. You’re my friend and you need help. Also, I need a beer. Can I get a beer? And whatever Sadie wants.”

“Are we really doing this right now?” I ask, bracing my head in my hand and willing back the headache I feel coming.

“We’re really doing this right now,” he says.

“Chardonnay?” Sadie asks the bartender, who just stares at her. “Okay. Whiskey on the rocks.”

Matt looks at her with a smirk, and she smiles back. “What? I’m Irish.”

“You have until I finish drinking this glass of whiskey to tell me what you want,” I say.

“I want you to get your head out of your ass,” Matt says, and Sadie swats him.

“What he means is you need to talk to Olivia,” she says.

“Says the girl who is supposed to be her best friend and also tried to sabotage her happiness,” I argue.

“So you’re admitting you two were happy together. As in, happy in love,” she says with a smirk, and my eyes narrow.

“So now you’re suddenly okay with that?”

I don’t usually argue like this. Like a teenager. But between the whiskey and the pain in my chest, I’m not really myself right now. I think my choice of bars confirms that.

“What Sadie means is that you were both fucking with each other, then you fell for each other, then you fucked with each other again. Now both of you are hurt and miserable. It’s obvious that you should be together. So do that. Go find her. Talk to her. And figure this out so the rest of us can stop dealing with your shit,” Matt says, and Sadie smiles and nods.

But I’m not so easily persuaded.

“You left out the part where she is running a podcast about how I’m the world’s biggest catfish and the entire thing was just a ploy to destroy my reputation,” I say, taking another sip and sucking my teeth afterwards.

“And you left out the part about how you haven’t even listened to her entire podcast,” Matt says.

“Don’t need to,” I state. “I’ve heard enough.”

Matt opens his mouth to say something, but Sadie tramples him.

“No, you absolutely have not fucking heard enough,” she says. “Because while you and I were talking that day and I was telling you all about the podcast, Olivia was busy airing her most recent episode of her podcast. An episode that she never finished.”

“Probably because people realized that what she did was fucked up,” I say, taking another sip. And Matt has the gall to rip it from my hand.

“No. That’s not why,” he snaps, and I am about to ask where he gets off, but Matt doesn’t give me the chance. “And if you listened to the damn podcast episode, you’d know that.”

I stop, studying my friend and Olivia’s friend and the attention we have attracted. I hate to say it, but I’m starting to agree with Sadie. This place is sketchy AF, and I want to get out of here.

“Listen,” I say to both of them. “I know you guys are just trying to help. But I don’t need help. Olivia was using me. She was using me and then she lied to me. And as far as I am concerned, that’s not really acceptable.”

“What’s not acceptable is that you, a man who is all about logistics and realism and proof versus opinion, are too stubborn to look at the facts,” Sadie says.

“Or too afraid,” Matt presses, and I glare at him.

“I have nothing to be afraid of.”