Page 31 of Hot Hearts
“Some cheap red.”
“I’ll take it.”
I give her a refill, and she takes a large gulp before starting, “I started following Felipe several months ago. He seemed so cool and interesting. I left comments, but he never responded. I noticed he was always commenting on Slater’s TikToks. I managed to bump into Felipe in person, and when I told him I was friends with Slater, he began paying attention to me, replying to me online, meeting up with me. He told me that if he had a few more followers, a few more views, that he’d be able to get some real endorsements, and then he’d be able to take me out instead of always meeting here.”
She pauses for another drink. ”After a while, I realized he was using me to get to Slater. They started going out officially. He gained a lot of followers by being in Slater’s TikToks, but the endorsements didn’t come through like he wanted. I thought if he just had more exposure, he’d get the money he needed and then we could be together. I didn’t mean to hurt Slater. I just wanted to be with Felipe.”
“What will you do about the videos?”
Her chin goes up. “I’m going to report his disgusting ass.”
The door flies open, and Felipe appears in the frame. Sara jumps to her feet and throws the glass at his head. He’s too shocked to duck, and it strikes the middle of his forehead.
“Fucking hell, that hurt. Am I bleeding? I’m bleeding!” he cries, his hands red from the wine.
“It’s wine, you ass. I can’t believe you recorded me. I’m reporting you to the police and pressing charges! Your career is over!” Sara runs out, leaving a stunned Felipe behind.
He stumbles into the apartment. “Get me a towel! I’m bleeding out!”
I step aside and watch him careen against the island. “You never should have targeted Slater. Forget she exists and maybe your career is the only thing you’ll lose.”
With that, I walk out.
Chapter Nineteen
SLATER
When I wake up from my nap, the first thing I notice is that Brooks isn’t here. I grab my phone off the charger, wondering where he went. Normally he would leave a note or text me. It makes me think he’s up to something, but what? That man has a way of keeping me on my toes.
My first thought goes to Felipe, but that can’t be right because we have a plan. At least I think we do. It sounds complicated, and I’m not excited about dragging all of Brooks’s friends into my mess. Kaden, and hell, all of them have careers or their lives in some kind of spotlight, and I don't want to tarnish that in any way. I’ve already brought this on Brooks, and I don’t want that for anyone else. I know how the internet can turn on you. I’ve been living it.
I really had a great time with all of Brooks's friends. Especially the girls. They are the definition of ride or die. I know without a doubt that you’d never catch them in their friends'beds, not only because that's not their style— they're girls' girls—but also because their men would kill each other. It was adorable how possessive Brooks was toward me around them.
I pile my hair on top of my head in a messy knot before getting dressed to head downstairs. My hand goes to my stomach. “Do you know what your daddy is up to?” I smile, feeling the bump more today than I have before. A flutter of excitement fills me.
When I enter the back of the kitchen at The Plate, there are only a few people there. It’s still early. “Anyone seen Brooks?” I ask.
“He hasn’t been in yet,” one of them tells me. What the heck? Then where the hell did he go?
I pull my phone back out to call him when I notice a bunch of missed texts. I click it, seeing it’s a group chat I’ve been added to called Heart Connection. It only takes a couple of seconds for me to realize that it’s all the girls from last night texting, asking what is going on and if Brooks has gone AWOL and done his own plan because Felipe is losing it on social media.
I don’t have to ask Brooks if that’s the case. We might have only known each other for a short time, but I know that man, and the Felipe situation was driving him insane. He wanted to fix it for me. I’m starting to think he might be more upset than I am at this point.
I flick out of the texts, hopping over to social media. I have to unblock Felipe to see his crap. He's cursing into the cameras and screaming about being hit in the head. Oh God, Brooks is going to jail. He went and hit him.
Felipe is on a tangent going on about a range of things. It's hard to keep up with his erratic behavior, but my eyes drop down to the comments. Everyone is laughing at him and calling him a creepy pervert. That's a change from before.
I'm not sure why the tide has turned, but that's the power of the internet for you. Changes happen in the blink of an eye. One second you’re the victim, and the next you’re a villain or vice versa. But everyone is going on about him filming the people he has sex with and all his stuff being a con.
I think from the things he’s saying and going off the comments, he’s snapped and is telling on himself while blaming the public for turning him into who he is. That he's done everything for his followers. Yeah, he's completely lost it and is likely going to jail.
Another person comments, asking if he really had cancer a few years back that he did a GoFundMe for. If I had to bet, that was all a lie, like the rest of him. At least I wasn't the only person he fooled.
My phone starts to ring in my hand, showing Frankie’s name. I answer. She doesn’t even wait for me to say hello, she’s already chattering the second I pick up.
“Girl, is that the tea over there? That perverted man was filming sex with girls, and the wine is all fake?”
“Wait, what?” I think Frankie has more tea than I do. “Maybe you should fill me in.”
