Page 110 of Without You

“Was she the one who recorded it?”

“Not sure. I think we’ll find out more when we go.”

“My mom? Is she involved?”

She shakes her head. “They didn’t bring her name up so I’m not sure.”

I rub my forehead. “What a nightmare.”

“It totally is. But you know what pisses me off the most? It’s that people commenting were like what a bitch and I can’t believe she’d do that to someone like Chase. Someone said they didn’t see anything special about me to get two hot guys. But then you and Chase come out like rock stars. Especially you because of the video of you having sex with me.”

I groan, both irritated that she read the comments when we promised not to and pissed at the people who felt the need to share their opinion on something that has nothing to do with them. “Why did you read the comments? I thought we decided neither of us would.”

She looks sheepish. “I woke up in the night and had to pee. I grabbed my phone to use the screen for light to get into the bathroom and I accidentally opened up my browser, looked up my name, and fell down the rabbit hole of temptation.”

“Accidentally? How the hell do you… dammit, Katie. It’s a bunch of strangers who are keyboard warriors.”

“I know that. Honestly, I do. I’m not even bothered — well, that much — by what the haters were saying. It was more about what they were saying about the female in comparison to the male. Does that make sense?”

“Yup. It does. I agree that it’s bullshit but I need you to promise you’ll stay offline from it all for a while. We can shut down our social media accounts if it will help. There’s no good reason for us to know what people are saying.”

“I agree. Honestly, Brody, I’m surprised in myself, too, that I’m not letting their words get to me but I think it’s because I truly know that they don’t matter. They can say I don’t deserve you all they want, but you told me just last night that you’re in love with me so why would I believe some idiot over you?”

I cup her cheeks and lean my forehead against hers. “You won’t. You shouldn’t. And I do love you. Very much.”

“I love you, too. I told the policeman we’d be at the station as soon as we could so we’d better get ready and head out.”

“Got it. Let’s get this over with so we can move forward.”

It doesn’t take either of us very long to get ready because we took a shower together last night. Twenty minutes later, we’re leaving my house with travel mugs of coffee in our hands.

“It’s getting colder,” I notice, turning up the heat on my pickup. My garage is insulated and heated but the heater isn’t turned on for the season yet. The temperature gauge on my truck reads only thirty degrees, though, so it I’d say it’s time.

Katie shivers a bit and zips up her coat. “It is.”

I pull out of our street and head toward the police department. “You want to start parking in the garage? I have plenty of room.”

She looks at me out of the corner of her eye. “Are you serious?”

I glance at her then return my eyes to the road. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know. That’s like… your domain.”

“My domain?” I chuckle.

“It is! Isn’t that where you started your custom build business?”

“Custom build business?”

She giggles. “Shut up! I don’t know what else to call it.”

“I’m not very creative with it. It’s Redding Garage. But yes, it is. And now I only use part of it because everything is in the shop. Might as well keep your car safe and warm.”

I reach for her hand across the console and she gives it to me. I lift it to my lips, kiss the back of her hand, and settle them back on the console.

“Thank you,” she murmurs.

A few minutes later, I pull into the parking lot of the police station. “Is it weird to you that we’ve technically known each other half our lives, only been out on one date, slept together not nearly enough times,” she giggles at that, “and now we’re getting ready to go into a police station so they can take our statement because my ex-girlfriend and your well, now, ex-friend uploaded a video of us having sex? And this has all happened in, what, two months? Not even?”

“If the last few months is any indication of what our lives will be like together, we’ll never be bored.”

“That’s for certain. All right, you ready? Hopefully this won’t take long then we can go back to my house and get naked.” I smirk and we climb out of the truck. I round the front and take her hand in mine.

She rises up on her toes and kisses me. “That sounds perfect. But maybe from now on we’ll make sure the shades are drawn before we make love.”

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