CHASE: Chill out, Nikki. Just let me light this.
[background noise]
[coughing]
FEMALE 1: Oh my god. （coughs） That’s strong.
CHASE: I know. My dealer is the shit.
FEMALE 2: Gonna save some for me?
FEMALE 1: The joint or Chase?
FEMALE 2: （laughs） Both.
CHASE: Don’t worry, I can go all night. Can’t say the same for this spliff.
[laughter, background noise]
— RECORDING ENDS —
Ice ran through my veins. Spelled out like that, the encounter looked even worse. The world tilted around me, and I came closer than ever to emptying the meager contents of my stomach onto the floor of the truck. I’d barely eaten all day, so at least there wouldn’t be much.
And it was still only an excerpt from the video. Even with his apparent digging, Luke hadn’t been able to uncover the whole thing, either.
Gripping the paper, I read the transcript twice more. It was like reading a story about someone else. I wasn’t the person in that video anymore, and I barely remembered that night. When I tried to play it back in my head, it was all a blur. My hangover had lasted for two days after.
“Wonder if Callingwood Daily would want to run a story. Front page, maybe.”
I glanced up, keeping my expression neutral. “Where did you get this?”
“Fell into my lap. Kind of like that skank, Nikki, huh?” He snorted. “Or Female One, I should say.”
“What do you want?” I tossed the transcript onto the console between us.
“My private investigator does good work,” he said, ignoring my question. “I have a copy of the video too, but I’m sure you’ve already seen it.”
At this point, I wondered who hadn’t.
“In case you’re curious,” he added, “I only had to pay Kristen three grand to sell you out. I bet you’re willing to cough up a lot more than that to keep it quiet, huh?”
A hundred times over.
“Get to the point.”
Luke tilted his head and stroked his chin with an arrogant look on his face. “Isn’t Bailey up for a big scholarship package right now? I thought I heard something about an important internship too. Sounds like the kind of thing that could really set her up after graduation.”
My stomach did a nosedive. Bailey was one of five finalists who’d been selected to meet with the scholarship adjudication panel. Penalty Box Online had contacted her references and invited her for another interview on Friday, too. She’d been over the moon about both things all week.
If Luke had managed to track down the video, I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised he knew other intimate details about not only my life, but Bailey’s.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
He paused and adjusted the collar of his pale yellow polo beneath his jacket. Oppressive silence filled the vehicle while he intentionally delayed, relishing in my fear. I looked at him blankly, refusing to give him the satisfaction of asking again.
“That video is interesting, you know. Female Two is off-camera the whole time. It would be a shame if people thought that voice belonged to Bailey.” Luke gave me a pitying look. “Making sex tapes with her boyfriend could really hurt her chances of landing those opportunities. Would hurt her future career prospects too.”
Panic gripped me by the throat, putting me in a chokehold. It took every ounce of strength I had to keep my voice level. “You know damn well that voice doesn’t belong to Bailey. I didn’t even know her then. And she was still dating you.”
Luke shrugged. “Good luck proving that. There’s no time stamp shown on that video. She’s with you now, and she’ll be guilty by association. And once the rumor gets out, they’ll always believe it on some level.”
Regret churned in my stomach. All this time, I’d worried about shielding her from Luke, but I was the one she needed protection from. Guilty by association because of me and my choices. About to pay the price for something I did before I even knew her. Something done to me.
“Again, what the fuck do you want? I know it isn’t cash.”
“End it.”
The words stabbed me in the gut like a rusty blade.
“What?” I should have been expecting it, but a small, desperate part of me hoped for something else. Anything else.
His blue eyes held mine, cold with malice. “Did I stutter?”
“She’ll never get back together with you.” My pulse roared in my ears. “This is about control. You don’t even love her. If you did, you wouldn’t do this.”
He waved me off. “We could play armchair psychologist all day. It doesn’t matter. Question is, are you willing to blow up her life?”
The knife in my gut twisted and tore me apart from the inside, disemboweling me all over the inside of my truck. It killed me to think of Bailey losing out on something she clearly deserved. But it devastated me to think of losing her.
Luke held her future in his hands and he knew it.
I needed the other half of the video, the part where I’d gotten mad and called Kristen by her name. If nothing else, it would exonerate Bailey. Stewart’s PI would start digging, but who knew how long it would take to find it—if he found it at all? But then what? Leak it myself to prove it wasn’t Bailey? Even if I did locate it, the solutions were all shitty.
“Why would you do that to Bailey?” I asked, desperately searching for a shred of humanity hidden deep within him. “And Nikki?”
I could deal with the fallout in my own life, but the collateral damage in this scenario was criminal. The guilt I was feeling was off the fucking charts.
Luke scoffed. “Who gives a fuck about Nikki? As far as Bailey goes, if you make the right call, I won’t.”
“If I say no?” I asked hoarsely.
“I’ll make sure that a search for her name will imply she directs amateur porn. Potential employers, prospective boyfriends—because let’s face it, we know you two won’t last—even the teachers of her future children.” He leaned back, leisurely placing an ankle over his knee like we were old pals shooting the breeze.
Denial seized hold of my brain. “That can be scrubbed.”
“Not fully.” Luke smirked, his tone even more condescending than usual. “The internet never forgets, Carter.”
Neither did I. Somehow, I’d get even for this. But first I had to stop my life from imploding. Or minimize the damage, at least.
Morrison was nothing if not a coward, so I changed tactics. “You realize blackmail is a crime, right? A felony, in fact.”
“Eh. I’m not concerned about that.”
Holy fuck, he’d lost his mind.
“Why not?” I snapped. “You think your lawyer parents will bail you out?” I ran the risk of provoking him, but I was filled with so much rage, I could barely contain myself.
Luke remained eerily calm like the psychopath he was. “Speaking of parents, have you met Bailey’s? Lovely people.” He frowned, studying me with disapproval. “Not sure they’ll say the same about you if this video makes its way into their hands.”
“Are you willing to risk jail to take me down?” I spat out. “I could call the cops right now.”