**I know ya'll were FUMING the house after the last chapter, so here's an early update bc momma loves u so much.**

Roxie's POV

I scoffed, catching the attention of both Jonathan and our waiter. Jonathan gave me a look that dared me to defy what he said.

"I'm allergic to quinoa," I lied with a surgery sweet smile, "I'll have the lobster, please," I finished, noting that the lobster dish was one of the most expensive things on the menu. I might be more of a crab legs girl, but fuck this pompous asshole and his presumptuous ordering. With him being the flashy asshole I already knew he was, I was more than certain he was going to demand that he pay the bill and I wasn't going to argue with him. If I didn't get some sort of revenge for putting up with this dickhead thus far, then I was getting more than screwed.

The waiter didn't give Jonathan even a second to correct my order before he swiped both menus from our hands and scurried off. Jonathan cleared his throat and tried to maintain his calm exterior, but I could see the bulging vein in his forehead that told a different story.

"So, Jonathan, what do you like to do for fun?" I asked before taking a heady gulp of my champagne. He blinked a few times before his eyebrows furrowed. I knew this question was going to throw him for a loop. I had no doubt most women usually ask him about what he does for a living, but I could give a shit less about that. I was doing just fine for myself, I didn't need to dip into his pockets.

"Um, well, I...I like to collect art. I have many original pieces that are one of a kind and basically priceless. Well, obviously they're not priceless," he joked, recovering rather quickly. I hummed back. Was there any topic this guy couldn't relate back to his money? And, not to be a dick, but who found collecting art to be fun? I mean, interesting, yes, but fun? Maybe I just wasn't sophisticated enough to understand.

I was fine with that.

"What do you like to do for fun, Roxanne?" he asked with a challenging glint in his eyes. I gave him a wicked smile before answering.

"Well, cooking is my passion but I also love to read, go hiking, camping is a lot of fun. I did paintball one time which was a blast, but I had this huge bruise on my ass for weeks after. I try to go tubing as often as I can - when I was younger my-" I paused, almost slipping up and saying my boyfriend, "my best friend and I would go out to his family lake house and his dad would purposely wipe us out every time. I can't tell you how sore I always was the day after," I finished with a chuckle. When I finally glanced up and met his eyes after I was done with my tirade, he looked mortified.

"I was thinking you would be the type of girl to enjoy things more along the lines of dance or something," he commented. I snickered before shaking my head. I could see how quickly the image he'd built up of me was tumbling down behind his eyes as he stared at me. Our waiter appearing with our food saved me from trying to find some kind of topic of conversation to fill the awkward silence.

My mouth watered as the delicious smell of my food wafted into my nose. I immediately dug in, purposely using my hands to pull the lobster from its shell. Jonathan cleared his throat as I licked the juices off of my fingers and finally picked up my fork and knife with a shit-eating grin. I only got a few bites into my dish - which was incredible - before Jonathan started talking about himself again. I did my best to keep my mouth shut and not say anything rude or sarcastic between my bites of food - though at some moments I lost and couldn't hold my tongue.

"Well aren't you the coolest thing since sliced bread?" I asked sarcastically under my breath. 

"Excuse me?" he stuttered, shocked by my outburst. I cursed under my breath, realizing I had to fix my stupid mistake. I started to try and cover my ass with some bullshit excuse when I felt the telltale buzz of my cell phone in my clutch. I finally snapped out of the daze he'd put me in. I paused with my excuse mid-sentence before sneakily slipping my phone from the confines of my bag and quickly reading the caller ID. My heart fluttered in my chest before I composed myself. I rushed out the rest of what I was saying, seemingly pacifying him, and waited impatiently for the voicemail notification before throwing back the rest of my champagne and wiping my mouth. 

"I'm going to run to the ladies' room, I'll be just a second," I spoke softly with a smile before dashing off to find said restroom. It only took me a few seconds before I pushed the door open and ducked into one of the stalls. I leaned up against the locked door as I pulled up the newest voicemail from Jedrek.

"Hey, Roxie girl. I hope your day has been good. I don't know if you got my earlier message, but I've been writing and editing this contract all day. I just had to call and tell you that we finally made the deal. The papers have been signed and everything is set in stone," I could hear the smile in his voice, which in turn made me beam, "Once I'm done with the two personal projects I have going right now, I'll be working with Ezekiel's team in designing structures for his clients while our local projects go to our other guys. This is absolutely huge and is going to completely change our business. I had to call because I couldn't imagine sharing this news with anyone else. I have to go, though. Both our teams are leaving for a celebratory dinner. I love you, Roxie girl. Be good."

Don't do it.

Don't do it, Roxie.

Don't. Fucking. Do it.

Before I could repeat the mantra one more time I was already dialing Ezekiel's number. I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears, making it hard to make out the sound of the dial tone.

"Roxie, are you there?" I heard Ezekiel call out. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm here," I finally spoke up. "I just wanted to call and say congratulations on the deal."

"How did you know already?" he asked, sounding stunned. "Well, regardless, it was all because of you - so thank you. This is going to be huge for both our companies," he said. Seconds later I could hear a shuffle of noise in the background followed by, 'Is that her? Who are you talking to?' before the line abruptly went dead.

I sighed deeply and exited the stall, making quick work of washing my hands. Sitting back down at the table, I felt like a hunk of lead had settled in the pit of my stomach as I dreaded finishing out this awful dinner date. Jonathan continued to ramble on and on about himself for the forty-five minutes that followed my bathroom break until he finally asked for the check. I praised the Lord when we finally got the receipt and were able to leave. As we were waiting for his car from the valet, he whipped out his phone and began typing, completely ignoring me. At least I had the courtesy to fake a bathroom visit to use my phone.

He didn't even look up and acknowledge the valet worker as they handed his keys back, just shoved a couple of bills in the kid's face and walked off. I met the boy's eyes and mouthed an apology before climbing back into what might as well have been a damn toy car. Deciding I didn't care about common decency anymore, I pulled out my own phone and shot Khloe a quick text.

I'm going to fucking maim you when I get home.

Was it really that bad? She replied a few seconds later.

WORSE. Tell you about it when I get home. If you're going to be home that is? I asked.

We're not to that point...yet ;) Yes, I'll see you when you get home.

"So, I've got a pretty great wine selection at my place if you're interested," Jonathan said all of a sudden, plopping his hand down on my knee. He massaged my lower thigh before beginning to move it upwards as he pulled up to a red light. This time I didn't hold back my scowl before shoving his hand away from me.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm pretty tired as it is," I grunted back.

"So that's it? I buy you a nice dinner and then you just go right back home?" he growled, his shoulders visibly tense with pent up anger. I felt a shiver of fear inch up my spine and leaned as far away from him in the car as I could.

"Yes, that's it. If you were expecting a quick lay, then I'm sorry to break it to you but that's not my style. I can't even say I was looking forward to a second date because, quite frankly, you're the most pompous jackass I've ever met - and that's saying a lot considering I live in the heart of the fucking city. Just a word of advice, maybe you should consider asking even one singular fucking question about the person you're on a date with rather than droning on and on about yourself the entire time like the self-absorbed douche bag that you've proven yourself to be. And no, Jonathan, no girl worthwhile is going to think it's fucking rad that you own more than one yacht. Maybe try and buy a personality with all that money you love talking about. Have a great life," I hissed before throwing myself out of the car right as we got stuck in traffic once more. I was close enough to my building that I could walk the rest of the distance or even call a cab if I felt inclined.

Once I walked up to my complex, I practically sprinted inside before smacking the button for the elevator. I wasn't able to breathe easy until the doors closed and I felt safe again. I looked over my shoulder just to be sure as I unlocked our apartment door and stepped inside.

"Now I know why Xander's friend is having so many issues with ladies! It's cause he's a fucking douche bag creep!" I shouted while storming towards the lit-up living room. Khloe and Ivy were perched on the couch, both wearing similar looks of amusement and hiding their smiles behind their wine glasses.

"That was a date from fucking hell!" I yelled before pointing an accusing finger towards Khloe. "If you want me to move on, you just took a thousand steps back as far as progress goes," I grunted while kicking my heels off.

"Alright, I gotta hear this," Ivy snorted before setting her glass down and giving me her attention.

"Nope. There's something I need to do before I tell this story," I mumbled before snatching Khloe's phone off of the coffee table. Her passcode hadn't changed since the day we met, so I punched it in and quickly maneuvered my way to her contacts before calling the one person I was searching for.

"What the hell are you doing?" Khloe asked while swiping her arms out towards me in a half-assed attempt at getting her phone back.

"Leaving customer feedback," I grunted jokingly.

"Did you call to accept my offer concerning you sitting on my face?"

"He asked you to sit on his face and you declined?!" I deadpanned, looking at Khloe like she was an idiot - because she was. Her face blushed bright red before she shot off the sofa and started chasing me around. I was able to get into the kitchen and on the opposite side of the counter, ensuring that she wouldn't be able to catch me.

"Who's this?" Xander growled out, the tone of his voice much more serious than before.

"This is Roxie, I've called to give you some more pointers to relay to your friend for whenever he cons another girl into going on a date with him." Xander's light chuckle followed my statement.

"First of all, I have no illusions as to why he's been having trouble with women ever since he moved here. It's because he's a self-centered, money-obsessed asshole who assumes that buying a girl a nice lobster dinner entitles him to sex - or sex-related activities," I stated. "Which, I might've been inclined to partake in had he not been such a douche and had we had a decent connection. However, I don't think it's possible for anyone to have a real connection with that man unless they're there for his paycheck."

"Can I be honest with you, Roxie?" Xander asked.

"I wish you would've been honest before you set me up on this freaking date!" I hissed, though a playful smirk was tugging at the corner of my lips.

"The guy is a total moron. He negotiates his deals like he conducts his dinner dates, apparently, and that's with no social awareness whatsoever. That's the reason he got transferred. The only reason I even thought of setting you up with him was so I could have a nice evening with Khloe without her worrying about you," he remarked. His tone wasn't snide or rude in any way, he was just simply stating a fact.

And I felt like the world's biggest fucking bitch.

"I'm so sorry, I promise that won't be an issue any longer," I mumbled before saying goodbye and hanging up.

"What did he say?" Khloe asked with concerned eyes.

"Just that he knew Jonathan was an asshole and he was sorry. He thought my attitude would shape him up. Obviously, we're both disappointed," I joked-slash-lied. She smirked before snatching her phone back with an annoyed glare.

"You seriously turned a guy down who wanted to eat you out?" Ivy asked from where she was still sitting on the couch a few feet away, observing the scene in front of her. I laughed at the abrupt question.

"We're not going there," Khloe grumbled. "Now, are you going to tell us all the gory details of your date or not?" she questioned.

"Alright, alright. Twist my arm why dontcha?" I spoke while plopping down next to them on the couch. "He didn't come up to even pick me up, Khlo. He just texted me to say he was here. Then he didn't help me out of the car or open the door for me - not a huge deal, but still ticked me off - and after we got to the restaurant, he tried to order for me!" I exclaimed to which Ivy choked on her drink and threw herself into a coughing fit over. "And, to make that part even worse, he tried to order me a fucking salad!" I yelled.

"Oh, that's just bad. How much more cliche could this dude possibly get?" Khloe muttered.

"So, then our food shows up - which was the only good part about this whole shit fest - and he proceeds to talk about himself the rest of the night. I couldn't get a single word in edgewise even if I'd wanted to. After he paid and we got back into the car, he put his hand on my thigh and asked me to come over. He got pissed when I turned him down and it freaked me out."

"Yeah, fuck that guy," Ivy stated matter-of-factly. Khloe nodded in agreement before checking her phone.

"Oh my god," Khloe abruptly shouted as an odd look took over her face.

"What?" Ivy and I both asked at the same time.

"Check the Rouge group chat." Ivy and I both did as told until all three of us were staring at the same picture.

It was of Jedrek and Tori standing next to one another in a traditional wedding photo pose with the country club in the background, however it was obvious Jedrek was standing as far away from Tori as he could possibly get. I could feel Khloe and Ivy's eyes burning into the sides of my face as I stared.

I couldn't help myself as I burst into a fit of laughter. I was almost in tears, my bladder threatening to let loose from how hard I was howling.

"W-who the fuck did she hire for her makeup? Because I c-can still see the black eye I gave her!" I cackled. Khloe and Ivy joined in on my loud, obnoxious laughter while pointing out the other flaws in the photo.

"Her eye is still crusted shut!" Ivy pointed out while wiping her tears.

"Goddamn, you really did do a number on her. I've never been so proud," Khloe retorted before examining the photo one last time. "Did you read Catarina's message she sent with the photo?" she asked. I shook my head no before pulling the messages back up once again.

Yet again proving you're one of us, babe. Proud of you, xoxo

I smiled happily. I was so lucky and thankful to have such a large group of girls behind me, supporting me blindly. Ever since they found out about what's been going on in my life right after I left for the wedding, they'd taken to stalking Tori and her friends and keeping up with the drama as it unfolded through Ivy and Khloe. They offered their moral support through text messages and hugs at work.

So he really did marry the bitch? I thought to myself as I closed the photo. I mean, I knew that's what was going to happen, but having the proof right in front of my face...sucked. The only thing that was keeping me from losing my shit was the promise that Jedrek made me in that first voicemail.

God, please let don't let him start to break his promise now of all times.