“You can’t be stupid enough to think I have the only copy. If you do that, it blows up immediately. Putting me in jail won’t fix her reputation. Are you willing to gamble with her future?”
The answer was no—and he knew it. At least I now had his threats on tape. Problem was that wouldn’t stop him from going nuclear on Bailey’s entire life first.
“If you drag Bailey into this, jail will be the least of your concerns. I won’t have anything left to lose.”
Despite my violent fantasies about Morrison, I’d never seriously contemplated killing him. Until now.
“Oh, I don’t know about that. You have lots of other things on the line. Deluca and I have been chatting lately. Maybe he would be interested in seeing your film debut.”
“Go ahead,” I ground out. Tom Deluca was part of Los Angeles’s management team, and I spoke to him regularly too. “Do that and leave Bailey out of this.”
“Nah.”
I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white. “Why not? It’s me you want to punish.”
“You ruined my life.” He sneered.
Presumably, he was referring to the backlash against him after the last game. He’d never owned up to a thing in his entire miserable existence; that sure as hell wouldn’t change now. “It’s only fair I return the favor.”
“You ruined your own life.”
Luke barked a caustic laugh. “I could say the same for you.”
He wasn’t wrong, though I never consented to that fucking video in the first place.
“Anyway.” Luke feigned a yawn, shifting his weight. “I’ve drafted a detailed email to everyone Bailey knows, complete with video attached. Break it off, or I’m hitting send.”
Heartache rocked through me like never before, mingled with pure, unmitigated rage. My brain went into lizard mode, rendering me speechless.
“Other people have copies, so don’t try anything cute. And don’t even think about trying to fake a breakup and pull one over on me. I have eyes everywhere,” he said. “That’s how I found you here.”
My heart wrenched as I forced out the words. “If I agree, will you leave her alone?”
“I will.” He opened the door and slid out but lingered. “You have twenty-four hours to do it.”
OceanofPDF.com
BAILEY
I glanced away from the article I was working on, checking the time in the bottom corner of the laptop screen. Chase was over half an hour late. It was out of character for him not to text to let me know, but he’d been acting strange for the past two days. Distant and despondent, not like his usual self. No flirty or sexy texts, either, which we usually exchanged multiple times a day.
When I’d texted to ask him what was wrong, he’d shut me down completely. I could only assume he was stewing over his three-game suspension. He seemed to take it in stride at the time, but I could tell being benched really bothered him. Especially when they’d lost their last game in a brutal defeat.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was going on.
Unease settled in my gut, and I returned my attention to my write-up about the school’s art fair. From beside me on my desk, my phone vibrated and lit up with a new text.
999-855-5955: Where was your boyfriend this afternoon?
Bailey: I changed my number for a reason, Luke.
999-855-5955: Oh, I think you’ll be happy I tracked you down.
A photo attachment followed. Fear creeped in as I dragged my fingers across the screen, zooming in. It was Chase on the porch of a green house. The door was open, and Kristen was standing in the doorway.
No.
A familiar form of agony settled in: betrayal. Just like with Luke. Learning about this from him was beyond ironic, like everything was coming full circle. My mind backpedaled, frantically searching for a reasonable explanation. Maybe the picture was old, from before. But then why would Luke even have it?
From inside my bedroom, I heard Shiv answer the door and let Chase in. When he crossed the threshold into my room, his posture was stiff, and his eyes were haunted. He even looked guilty.
“Hi.” He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, leaning against the doorframe.
More alarm bells went off in my head when he didn’t come close and give me a hug or kiss hello.
“Where were you earlier?” I was too upset to be strategic about how I approached what was going on, and his standoffish behavior was only causing me further panic.
“Practice,” he said. “Look, we need to—”
My heart sank. Strike one. He lied.
I cut him off, giving him a sharp look. “You sure about that?”
“What do you mean?” Chase frowned, but guilt swam in his eyes.
“Did you make any other stops along the way?”
Please tell me the truth. Please own up to it.
“I had to do a few things, yeah.”
Pushing my desk chair back, I stood, watching his face carefully. My pulse revved. “Was Kristen one of them?”
Chase broke eye contact and looked at the floor, shaking his head. Almost inaudibly, he muttered, “Of course.”
“What the hell is going on, Carter?”
There had to be an explanation for this. There had to be a good reason he was there, and he was going to tell me what it was. I trusted him. I believed in him.
He looked back up at me with so much anguish in his eyes that tears welled up in my own. “Nothing happened with her. I swear.”
Yeah, I’d heard that line before—a few too many times. But never from him. None of this made sense.
And the worst part was that it felt like he was telling the truth.
I sucked in a jagged breath and sank my teeth into my bottom lip to stop myself from crying. “Then why were you there?”
“I—” He faltered, shaking his head. “Can’t.”
My voice cracked. “Please tell me. I want the truth.”
This was not happening. Could not be happening. This was the guy who’d been there for me unconditionally, even when I pushed him away. Who’d been nothing but patient and kind and—most of all—honest with me. Sometimes brutally so.
“No,” he said more firmly. A flicker of his usual self-assured demeanor appeared, but it disappeared almost as quickly. “I haven’t even looked at anyone else since I met you. I think you know that.”
“I thought I did too, but I need an alternate explanation.”
I took a step, followed by another, and drew closer to him until we were within arm’s reach. His jaw ticked as he watched me, but he didn’t move. Neither of us moved. I searched his face, probing, like I might see into his brain if I tried hard enough.
“I need you to trust me, James.” The muscles in his neck were strained, his voice matching.
A strangled sob escaped from the back of my throat. “How can I trust you when you won’t give me an answer?”
“I love you more than anything in this world, but I can’t give you that.” His eyes held mine, pained but unreadable. “And we can’t…” He let out a heavy sigh. “I can’t be with you right now.”
My world shattered at my feet.
“What?” I shuffled back, putting space between us like it would somehow protect my heart. “How can you—how can you say you love me and then turn around and do this? You don’t want to be with me anymore? Just like that?”