Page 201 of Tenderfoot

Shanti shot me a raised-brow look, while Willow’s brow lowered.

But I knew it was Javi at the door, and I did not expect him to take this news well. He was not that guy who would ever consider doing this to a girl.

I mean, I knew they knew this was the blackmail gambit, but having the depth and breadth of it exposed in a cloud folder might make him lose his mind.

Though, I kinda wanted Gabe to see it, just to, you know, test the waters there.

Luna went to answer the door, and I was right. Javi filled it.

Luna tried to play it cool. “Hey, big man. Want a beer?”

Javi’s gaze went to me, the laptop, me again, then Luna. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said breezily.

“We thought we’d change into our bathing suits and take a dip,” Willow lied.

“Maybe we could get an Oasis Sunday night barbeque going?” Shanti suggested.

“Okay, no.” I stood.

Luna knew what I was thinking and surprisingly didn’t hesitate to get out of the way.

Javi entered.

Luna closed the door.

I took a big breath and laid it out. “Enough with the competition. This has been real for a while but now we know how real it is, and sure, Trev is now very out of commission. But we have to figure this stuff out.” I pointed to the laptop. “We have to find out who those girls are. We have to find out who killed Trev. And we have to find a way to contact those girls and tell them they’re off the hook. Tell them the videos have been deleted forevermore. And tell them they’re free.”

“What girls?” Javi asked, and although his tone was sexy low, it was freakishly scary low too.

“I’m not going to show you because you might lose your mind,” I replied.

“What girls?” Javi repeated.

“Again, I’m not going to show you. I’m just going to say, there are a lot,” I told him.

“Harlow.”

“Javi.”

“Harlow.”

“Javi.”

He came my way, got toe to toe with me and only tipped his chin down to look at me so he was towering over me when he said, “Baby, not gonna ask again. What girls?”

“Just show him,” Luna sighed.

Bah!

I reached around him, opened the laptop and jiggled my finger on the touchpad.

This time, Luna’s password page came up. She bent down to show the screen her face, and then the folder appeared.

Javi’s breath whistled, he sucked it in so fast when he saw the video file icons.

“I take it Kev didn’t share what a massive racket this shit was,” Willow stated angrily.

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