Page 121 of Our Secrets and Lies

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Dylan was first in for pre-school training. He was glad the locker room was empty. He threw his kit bag on the floor and sat down. It had nearly killed him to get up when his alarm clock went off, but he knew he was on thin ice with everyone – at home and at school. That thought alone had forced him out of bed. He felt hung-over and guilty about shouting at his mother. He’d never done thatbefore and he felt terrible. She hadn’t been up when he’d left the house. He’d apologize later. He swore to himself that he wouldn’t drink any more with Taylor. He’d see her, but he wouldn’t take anything. And he was going to spend the next six nights straight studying like demon. That would make his mum happy.

He gulped down more water and opened his kit bag. Three of the lads came in and whistledat him.

Guy slapped him on the back. ‘Very decent of you, Dylan, sharing Taylor’s assets with us all. I must say, it was a bloody nice image to wake up to.’

‘What a rack. As good as I always imagined it would be.’

‘You’re a lucky man.’

Dylan frowned. What the hell were they on about?

Conor came in behind them and sat down beside Dylan. ‘Dude, were you drunk? Taylor’s going to freak out.’

‘What are you all talking about?’ Dylan asked.

‘The photo you sent to the football WhatsApp group of Taylor topless.’

‘What?’ Dylan jumped up.

‘How drunk were you?’ Conor asked.

‘I never sent that! There’s no way … I …’ Dylan stuttered. Had he? Did he send it out? No way. He hadn’t been that drunk. No. There was no way in hell he would do that.

He pulled his phone out of the pocket of hiskit bag. His hands were shaking. He had tons of messages. Oh, Jesus, it had been forwarded on. Shit. His phone flashed as more messages flooded in. He opened the photo and looked at the time it was sent, three a.m. He remembered going to bed, setting his alarm clock and thinking, Shit, it’s half two and I’m up at six. He was fast asleep at three a.m. Someone else must have sent it. He’d found hisphone on the kitchen table earlier.

Oh, my God. Dylan’s jaw dropped open as the awful truth hit him. Mum.

He remembered how upset she’d been when he’d come home – she’d even cried, which she never did. Jesus, had his mother done this? Could she be that psycho? She was obsessed with St Jude’s and she had been really upset last night, way more upset than he’d ever seen her before … Dylan sat down.He felt sick.

‘Nice tits, dude! Thanks for sharing.’ Josh slapped his back.

Dylan felt sweat trickling down his back. Panic was setting in. His phone flashed. It was Taylor calling. How the hell was he going to explain this?

He walked out of the dressing room and outside the building. ‘Hi.’

‘You lowlife scumbag. How could you do this? How could you humiliate me like this? That was private,Dylan, between you and me. My phone hasn’t stopped since I woke up. It’s gone viral,’ Taylor screamed.

‘I swear to you I didn’t do this. I don’t know how ithappened, but I’m going to find out. I’m taking it down now and deleting it.’

‘It’s too fucking late! It’s out there now. The whole world is looking at my boobs. You’re an arsehole. I trusted you. Melissa was right, you are a lowlife.’

‘Taylor, please, I swear I didn’t send it. I wouldn’t do that.’

‘At least have the balls to own up. It came from your phone and was sent to your football team!’ Taylor shouted. ‘I hate you! I will never ever speak to you again. You’re dead to me.’ She hung up.

Dylan ran over to a hedge and threw up. How could she do this to him? How could his mother do this to Taylor? Anger welled inside him.It was her, he was sure of it. She’d been so obsessed about him breaking up with Taylor. The anger surged through him as he ran to where he’d parked his bike. He yanked the key out of his pocket, unlocked it, flung the lock on the ground and jumped on, pedalling furiously.

They were finishing breakfast when the door burst open. Dylan stood there, sweat running down his face, panting. He heldonto the countertop and caught his breath.

Lucy, Billy and Kelly stared at him.

‘Did something happen?’ Lucy asked, sounding worried. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘How could you?’ Dylan shouted. ‘How could you do this to her?’

‘What are you talking about?’ Lucy had expected him to apologize to her this morning. What the hell was this?

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