Page 51 of The Boyfriend Experience

“That’s not going to work! What if people can’t tell? What if they say Buffed Up is better? Then what do I do?”

“Look, I’m doing my best, OK? We just need to think about this a little. Not jump to any conclusions and not do anything stupid that could get you sued.”

“Sued!” I huff out a laugh. “Let that bitch try!”

By this time we’re back over at my building. We walk into the lobby and I force myself to smile and be nice to the waitresses and hostesses as we pass them, making our way towards the elevators. I don’t take my crazy out on the employees. That’s just not right. So when we get into the elevator I just punch the top floor.

“I cannot believe you just did that,” Law says.

“Did what?”

“Punched the button for the top floor and it just accepts it. You didn’t even use a keycard!”

“It’s business hours,” I say.

“Someone could rob you blind, Oaklee. Just go up there and take whatever they wanted.”

“Well, I do have cameras. So I’d catch them if they did. Besides, the waitresses all keep an eye on it.”

“Not when they’re busy, they don’t.”

“Look, it’s been this way for as long as I can remember. No one has ever—”

But I stop talking and in the same moment we both say, “Hanna broke in and stole the recipes.”

“That bitch!”

“I told you your security sucked.” Law takes out his phone and presses a contact. “Eduardo? How long before you can get the new security in?” He waits, smiles at me and nods his head just as the elevator doors open into my apartment. “Uh-huh,” he says to Eduardo.

We both walk out into my apartment and he continues to listen to Eduardo talk. “Well.” He finally sighs. “We think there was a breach.” Then he looks at me. “Where do you keep your security footage, Oaklee?”

“I only keep it for a week. It gets deleted every seven days. She had to have stolen those recipes years ago. She won’t even be on there.”

“Right,” he says. “OK. But where’s your security room? Eduardo is gonna upgrade you so that from now on, we’ll know.”

“Basement,” I say. “There’s a locked door at the end of the barrel room. My keycard will open it. It’s all in there.”

“Got that?” Law says into the phone. I hear Eduardo’s faint response and then Law hangs up.

The thought of Hanna Harlow being in my apartment makes me sick. Like… literally, I want to throw up.

I run to the nearest bathroom and that’s exactly what I do.

Law comes in behind me, pulls my hair away from my face as I dry-heave, trying to make that sick feeling go away, and says, “This is a sign of a perfect boyfriend, by the way.”

Which makes me smile, then laugh. Because he’s right. You know a guy is a keeper when he holds your hair as you throw up.

Twenty minutes later I’ve brushed my teeth, Eduardo has come and gone, running a new security setup by Lawton, and we’re both sitting on the couch.

He’s got my feet in his hands again. Massaging my toes.

“I feel so sad,” I say.

“Don’t feel sad,” he replies.

“But I do. I mean, I’m so stupid. Of course she broke in here and stole my recipes. I practically handed her an invitation. And oh, my God. What if she got the Assassin Sour too?”

I want to cry. And the moment I think that in my head the tears just pour out.