Page 151 of The Friend Situation

“I’ve got my team on this. They’re doing whatever they can to find out who’s behind this. Might take them about a month, but when I learn who it is, because I will, they will pay,” I say between gritted teeth, feeling an overwhelming surge of anger from seeing her so upset.

Carlee pulls up the LuxLeaks website, her fingers trembling. “They used the same layout as my LuxLeaks website. It feels like a clue. Like whoever is behind this knows the truth. What should I do? Let them continue to monetize us? Deny I wrote it? I’m freaking out. I’m worried about the videos getting leaked or them exposing that I’m LadyLux. I have a lot on the line.”

She starts to hyperventilate, and I stand to wrap my arms around her.

“I’ll text it to my publicist and legal team and see what we can do,” I assure her firmly, wanting to comfort her. “We’ll figure it out, I promise. I also know some people who can hack the website and get it shut down.”

“The damage is done. You won’t be able to erase everything.” Her face turns bright red. “They’ve structured our friendship like it’s a modern-day love story. It already has thousands of views in hours. The world has already written our story.”

“No.Youwrote our story,” I say, smiling as I glance at the screen. “Right here. These are your beautiful, powerful words that are setting the stage for us. No one else’s. Not even LadyLux’s.Yours,babe. Thousands of people are reading Carlee Jolly right now. Kinda jealous, to be honest. You’re my favorite writer.”

She swallows hard. “Spoken like my number one fan.”

I shoot her a wink. “You know it.”

“Always finding the bright side of things. How do you do that?” she asks, smiling.

“Just proving that I’m not the evil twin,” I say, easing the conversation away from her anxiety.

“Thank you,” she whispers. “You always save me before my thoughts have me crashing.”

“I always will.” I press my lips against hers. I gently move her hair over her shoulder and meet her eyes. “I’m suddenly in the mood for pancakes.”

I shut the laptop and turn my full attention to her.

“I don’t like you being exposed like this,” I say. “Whatever you said about me doesn’t matter. I’m really sorry you’re going through this, and I somehow feel like it’s my fault. Someone must have been watching us to know we’d been meeting and targeted you to get to me.”

“Or maybe they found out about LuxLeaks and want to ruin me personally for all the things I’ve written about. You were just a bonus. My journal is the juiciest thing they’ve found so far. And I can’t point blame anywhere but at myself for being so careless. Neither of us asked for this.” She lets out a frustrated huff. “Weston, I called you a pretentious asshole. A cocktease. I wrote in detail about how you were frustrating and stubborn.”

“And? Iamall of those things. So are you.”

Her face cracks into a smile despite the circumstances. “That’s fair.”

“When you’re with me in any capacity, whether as friends or lovers, there willalwaysbe some publicity stunt to wedge us apart. I can’t keep people in my life because of it.” I grab her cheeks gently in my palms, looking deep into her eyes. “Only the strong survive. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she whispers, her conviction unwavering. “I’ll be okay. I’m spiraling, but I don’t crack under pressure.”

“Diamonds are formed from pressure. And, oh, how you shine,”I say, brushing my thumb across her cheek. “It will take more than you calling me an asshole or stubborn or frustrating to upset me. I hear that from Easton daily.”

Her eyes twinkle, and a hint of resilience returns as her shoulders relax. I refuse to be the cause of any more of her stress.

“Thank you,” she says.

“If it’s your truth, fuck it. I will always support your truth over my feelings.” I gulp down the rest of my coffee, now barely warm. “I think I’d like chocolate chip pancakes today with whipped cream. Need to change.”

I head out of the kitchen, but she doesn’t directly follow behind me.

“You’re joining me today, fiancée. Get dressed,” I call back over my shoulder as I take the stairs.

“Fake! You forgot the wordfake,” she hollers back, but I can tell she’s smiling.

“Okay,” I yell, my voice echoing off the walls upstairs.

Carlee Jolly will be the fucking end of me, and Iwanther to be.

24

CARLEE

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