Page 101 of Without You

“That whore!” Katie shouts, stepping away from me, making all of us chuckle. “I’m gonna rip her shitty-ass synthetic extensions out of her whore head then shove them up her whore ass!”

“It appears whore is the word of the day,” Johnny says, laughing.

Her head whips in Johnny’s direction. “This isn’t funny,” Katie snaps.

She’s right. It really isn’t. But if we don’t laugh, we’ll cry or do something that we can’t take back, like commit a major crime.

“We need a plan,” Chad states.

“Ruin her,” Katie offers. It’s so unlike her and out of character that it causes the rest of us to laugh. “I’m serious. If it is Hannah who leaked this story and made up lies about me, she needs to be in jail. This can’t be legal, right?”

“The part of someone taking video of us, no, that’s not legal. Whoever did that definitely broke a law or two. The rest? I don’t know, baby. I’m not a lawyer or a cop. I have no idea what’s legal and what isn’t when it comes to selling stories to the press.”

Johnny opens up another beer. “Anyone else want another?”

Chad and I nod but Katie, who’s only taken a few drinks, shakes her head. He hands out another to us then speaks up again. “I agree that Hannah had something to do with this. We know it. Is there any way that Chase did, too? For press?”

No one says anything for a few minutes, until Katie speaks up. “I don’t think it was Chase.”

“Why do you think that?” Chad asks. “You know him that well?”

She pauses for a few seconds. “Well, no,” Katie admits. “But it’s a feeling I get.”

“You’d imagine Hannah stooping to this level, though?” I’d be surprised if she says yes to my question because even though I think Hannah’s capable of a lot, this is extreme.

“Honestly? I’d be shocked but I don’t know. Maybe? Then again, I said I didn’t think Chase would do something like this so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

My anger begins to spike again. “I need some air.”

I storm out of the office and into the cool early evening wondering how the day turned to complete shit.

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