Page 102 of Without You

Katie

My butt hits the chair and I stare blankly at the table.

“You okay?” Chad asks tentatively.

I shake my head. I’m really not. Just the thought of a video out there of Brody and me having sex is awful. I’ve never even dreamed. “I need to see.”

Johnny is quick to shoot me down. “No way.”

I glare at him. “Yes. It’s about me so either you hand me back my phone now so I can look or I’ll do it later. Either way, I’m going to see and I need to know what I’m dealing with here.”

“Brody should be with you when you look, then,” Johnny explains. “It’s… not good, Katie. It’s not just the articles or the pictures and video. It’s also what random people are saying.”

“I hate people,” I grumble.

“Yeah,” Chad agrees. “In this case, especially, I’d say that’s fair.”

“You guys really think it was Hannah?” I look between Chad and Johnny and see them share a look again. They’ve been doing a lot of that since they arrived with the great news. “What? Just come out with it. I can tell that you’re hiding something.”

“Brody missed something in one of the articles.”

“What is it?”

“They didn’t name sources, and said the typical ‘source close to the couple’ however, a vehicle is in the background of one.”

“Whose?” I demand.

Johnny huffs and grumps, “His fucking mother.”

“Okay? What does that have to do with anything, though?”

“She’s not welcome at the salon, Katie.”

What am I missing? “Why? Did she steal from them, too?”

Chad snorts. “Of course she has. Who hasn’t she stolen from?”

I curl my lip when I put together what I think they’re trying to say. “She took the picture?”

“We can’t be sure, of course, until we do some digging but that’s our best guess. She’s always looking for money.”

“What a bitch,” I mutter just as the door opens and Brody joins us. The three of us turn to face him and I take a step back when I see the look on his face. Rage. Pure and total rage.

“I’ve been thinking,” he says loudly, slamming the door behind him and pacing around the small room. “We’re going to the police. I’m calling Chase and sorting shit out with him to see what the hell he knows because he’s got people to take care of this shit. And we’re going to sue the ever-living hell out of anyone who had a part in this. I don’t give a shit who it is, they’re going down.” Chad, Johnny, and I shift uncomfortably and he notices. “What?” he demands, his voice still harsh.

“Your mom might have had a hand in this.”

“You don’t think I’ve thought of that?” he barks, surprising me. “Of course I have! She was having lunch with Hannah for fuck’s sakes. I told her Katie and I were dating. I know she had a part in it. I’m not a fucking moron!” he yells, getting angrier by the word.

Just then his phone rings and he looks down at it, lifts it to his ear, and answers with an irate, “You’d better be taking care of this.”

He listens for a moment before pushing a button and setting the phone on the table with the screen up. “You’re on speaker. I don’t want to have to repeat anything and the look on Katie’s face right now tells me that she knows what’s going on, even if she hasn’t seen anything yet.”

“Hi, Katie,” Chase says through the phone.

“We’re here, too, fucker!” Johnny yells.

“Who’s that?” Chase asks, not even reacting to the fact that he was just called a name.

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