Page 77 of Strut

“No.” Darcy stabbed a finger at my chest. “You only know whathetold you. I didn’t touch that boy—”

“Man,” I growled.

“Whatever. I never laid a finger on him. I adjusted some of his clothing for a better shot, like wealldo, likeyoudo, but nothing out of the ordinary.”

My blood boiled. “So, do you ordinarily grab your model’s dicks, Darcy? Do you shove your erection into their bare arses? Do you make it a habit to threaten their chances at the job or a career in this business unless they let you fuck them? And then do you blamethemin order to ruin their reputation and scuttle any possible claims against you?”

“I did nothing of the—”

“You disgust me,” I spat. “And this isn’t over. You think you can cower Alec into dropping this? Well, you can’t. And you won’t cower me, either. I live in your world, Darcy. I know the same people you do. The same labels, the same agencies. The same magazines who hire you, hire me, and you need to back off.”

“Get real. You don’t live in my world,” Darcy sneered. “You’re a middle-order photog at best. You’re the guy people call when they can’t getme.And as for Alec. Yourboyfrienddoesn’t have the goods and he knows it, not without fucking his way to the top. If you’ve fallen for his lies, then that’s on you. Alec came ontome, Hunter, not the other way around. Berlini was his best chance and he saw it slipping away.” He glanced again at the bridge, and when I followed his gaze, I saw Gary watching us.

Seemingly emboldened by that knowledge, Darcy straightened and continued, “You should be thankful I exposed him for what he is, Hunter. Save you wasting any more time on his cheating ass. I’d have thought you’d learned your lesson with... Steven, wasn’t it?”

“How the hell do you know about—”

“Or maybe there’s a reason your boyfriends can’t keep their dicks in their pants.” Darcy leaned closer. “Maybe you can’t keep them satisfied.”

I clenched my jaw, trying to keep my shit together. Losing it was exactly what Darcy wanted to happen with Gary watching.

“This isn’t over,” I hissed. “Alec couldn’t have been the first guy you tried it on with, and as I said, I live in your world, Darcy. I’m gonna do a bit of digging and see what crawls out from under those rocks.”

He snorted and looked away but not before I caught a glimpse of concern in those pretty eyes. “Yeah, good luck with that,” he scoffed. “You won’t find anything.”

It was my turn to smirk. “I doubt that. Arseholes like you aren’t born overnight. It takes a lot of shitty behaviour to grow you. You’re in my sights, Darcy, and you’re staying there. You might think you’ve won, but I won’t give up until I find something. So, you better keep looking over your shoulder, cos I’ll be there waiting to take you down.” I glanced down and spat on his shiny Gucci loafers.

It did exactly what I’d hoped it would.

“Fuck you.” Darcy’s eyes glittered with rage and he shoved me back towards the lake, which I had to admit wasn’t the best-laid part of my plan. I’d barely recovered my balance when he shoved me again. “You just ended your fucking career.”

I teetered on the edge of the bank, arms windmilling wildly as I started to topple. And then Alec was suddenly there, grabbing my hand and pulling me back from the brink. As soon as I had my feet, Alec was gone, fronting Darcy with just inches between them, staring the man down.

“That was a mistake, arsehole.” He shoved Darcy away from me.

Darcy’s eyes widened and he looked suddenly unsure. He had a few inches on Alec but Alec was more than a pretty face. He was a tough-as-nails farm kid who’d wrestled his fair share of large animals, and this wasn’t last Friday. Darcy wasn’t in charge and Alec wasn’t caught unprepared.

“Get your hands off me.” Darcy pushed back.

Alec stumbled a little but quickly regained his feet and launched himself at Darcy, ramming him back against the tree trunk. Air whooshed out of Darcy’s lungs, but he immediately sprang forward to swing a punch, but Alec got there first with a fist to Darcy’s face.

Darcy’s head snapped back and a spurt of blood split the air between them. It was all I could do not to cheer as Darcy slumped against the trunk, then wiped his face and stared at the blood on his hand with a shocked expression.

“Jesus Christ! You broke my fucking nose!”

Alec shook the sting out of his hand. “It’s your eyebrow, you dipshit.”

Shouts rang out from Darcy’s crew, along with the sound of running feet. I spun to find dozens of eyes focused our way and a couple of security guards hoofing it toward us with Gary leading, yelling and madly waving his hands.

“I got it all.” Alec held up his phone as Gary arrived, gasping for breath, the security guards hovering in the background. “Darcy tried to push Hunter into the lake. I was simply defending him. It’s all here.”

“What the hell?” Gary looked between us, his burnt-orange bowtie askew, his normally perfectly coiffed brown hair free-ranging in the breeze.

Darcy fired Alec a withering glare and made a grab for his jacket. “You’re so fucking finished in this industry, you stupid boy.”

“Take your fucking hands off me.” Alec tore Darcy’s hand from his jacket and pointed to the swelling beginning around Darcy’s eye. “I’m sure a photographer as great as you can manage a shoot with just one eye, right? Good luck with that, by the way.”

Darcy’s fingers probed his injured eye and he winced. “Why you little—”

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