Page 100 of Without You

“We know. Another long story,” I say.

“What a day. Anyway, I thought he looked familiar and then it hit me that it was him but I still couldn’t really believe that it was him so I googled his name to see a picture and then I saw the pictures and everything else.”

“What is it? What kind of pictures could be that bad? Why are there pictures of me? And what about Elijah… I mean, Chase?”

Maybe it will be best if we start at the beginning and build up from there. “Someone took a picture of the two of you kissing at the café and your “relationship” went viral from there,” I growl.

“We never kissed!” she shouts. “I promise! He kissed my cheek before I could stop him but that was it.”

“I believe you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I don’t know why I would think otherwise, quite honestly. I have quite a bit of faith in the way you feel about me and I don’t think you’d cheat.”

She blows out a breath and hugs me tight. I toss my phone on the table and wish it would break and somehow simultaneously break the internet so we could remove everything that’s been posted, saved, screen shot… all of it.

I sit down with her on my lap in my office chair and Johnny moves to the fridge, grabbing a beer for each of us and handing them out. He takes the bottle opener off the side of the fridge, pops the top off then takes a long guzzle of his own. The rest of us follow suit, including Katie, who isn’t a big drinker, especially of beer. But today’s news calls for more than a little alcohol.

“What else? I know there’s more. If it was just the one picture, you wouldn’t be this upset.”

I meet Chad’s eyes over her shoulder and he nods once, encouraging me to tell her what she needs to know.

“Brody?”

“It’s not good, baby. There’s pictures and a video.”

“What kind of pictures?”

“The kind that you don’t want in public. The kind that paint you as Chase’s girlfriend who’s cheating on him with me.”

“What in the world! How is that even possible? That makes no sense at all. We are nothing!”

“I know that. But the pictures and articles say differently.”

She nods against my chest then sits up, looking at me with wide eyes. “Wait. You said there’s a video? What video? The one of you and me the other night?”

I swallow down the lump in my throat. If it wasn’t public, I’d probably like watching that video of the two of us together. Now, though, that night’s been tainted by someone standing outside the office window, recording every sensual second of our encounter. It’s beyond fucked up and it makes me want to find the person who was watching us and beat the living shit out of them. “Of us. In the office… but not the other night.”

“What?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper. She looks around the room and points at the table. “You mean earlier when we…?”

“Yeah.” I lick my lips. “It’s clear. You can see it’s us. There’s no doubt who we are. Our faces are visible. I didn’t turn up the volume so I have no idea if you can hear anything. It’s about ten minutes long.”

On my lap, I can feel her entire body quaking. “How did that happen? I don’t get it. That was less than an hour ago, Brody. I am so confused.”

I rub up and down her back, trying to soothe her and take away some of the fear that’s no doubt settling in. “Someone outside must have been watching,” I admit. “It looks like you’ve been followed around. Not sure if it’s because of the initial picture of you and Chase that sparked interest or what.”

“Fuck this.” Johnny slams his bottle on the counter. “And fuck her.”

“Me? This isn’t my fault!” Katie yells, quickly standing up.

“Not you, her. Her her,” he snarls. “That bitch is the one who spread this. I know it.”

I nod, agreeing with all of it. The fact that Hannah’s a bitch. The fact that she’s the one who spread it. She had lunch with my mother. I wouldn’t put it past my mother to ignore my wishes and continue meeting with her. I also wouldn’t put it past my mother to tell her about Katie and me.

“Who?”

I stand, too, place a hand on Katie’s back and murmur, “Hannah, babe. One of the pictures is at her wedding and Cameron’s looking at you.”

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