Page 28 of Tainted Love
Asher mirrors my movement. “Yep.”
Neither of us says a word, both lost in our own thoughts until both our phones ping with a notification.
“Oh, shit,” Asher breathes out, his gaze lifting to me.
Our social media page has been tagged by an online gossip blog, and when I click on the article there’s a photo of Bea’s house–ourhouse–with me standing in the front doorway. My arm is wrapped around Bea’s waist and Hunter is scowling at the two of us. If you didn’t know what was actually going on in that moment, Bea and I look extremely cosy, not to mention scantily clad—with the grainy technology, it looks like Bea is in her underwear and we’ve just been caught mid-romp by her angry ex-boyfriend. The headline reads: Mystery brunette in affluent Melbourne suburb caught up in love triangle with Forever Summer’s lead singer.
Fuck.
I scan the article, and while our address hasn’t been published, there’s enough of the house in the grainy, zoomed in picture to be identifiable. This is going to be a nightmare.
“This is bad, man,” Asher says with a shake of his head. “And not just because your parents are going to see it. The fans are going to know where you live. That shit’s dangerous.”
“What I want to know,” I growl out in frustration. “Is how the fuck they knew where I’d be? Something feels off.”
Ash shrugs. “Whatever, man. You’d better lock your front door, or you’re going to have groupies popping out of crazy places when you least expect it.”
I mutter a curse. “Come on, man. Kill and Wyatt will be over soon to practice. We can get Kill’s cousin to issue a takedown order for us. You want a lift to mine, or are you going to drive?”
“I’ll grab a lift,” he says. “They can drop me home later.”
With one last glance up at Troy’s bedroom, I walk around to the driver’s side and climb into my car. I’ll find out what he did to my sister, and when I do, he’ll wish he never went near her.
Chapter 15
Bea
I’M WAITING ON the bottom step of the staircase with my phone in hand when Elias walks into the house. Asher trails in behind him and they’re laughing about something, but they abruptly trail off when they see me.
“You need tofixthis!” I seethe, waving my phone in the air.
“Your phone?” Elias quips, rolling his eyes. “Sorry, Duchess, not my expertise.”
I cross the distance between us and shove my phone directly in his face. It’s open to the gossip article that outs me as his dirty little side piece or some shit.
“The article, you psychopath!” I practically scream at him, causing Asher to lift his eyes to the ceiling and rub the back of his neck. But I don’t give a shit if I’m making him feel uncomfortable. I donotwant to be known as Forever Summer’s new groupie skank. My dad cannot see this. “Why does it say we’re dating? I don’t even like you. You need to contact the website and tell them you’re suing them for slander or defamation or something. You. Need. To. Fix. This.”
“No,weneed to go practise,” he says, placing his hands on my shoulders and physically moving me out of his way. “Be a doll and tell Kill and Wyatt to come straight up to the practise room when they get here, won’t you.”
“Fuck you, Elias,” I hiss after him.
“Not right now, I’m busy. But if you want a follow up from this morning, I can come past your bedroom later once the boys have gone … unless you want them to join in? We can take it from a love triangle to a pentagon.”
Asher groans before he hightails it up the stairs and leaving us alone to battle it out.
“You willnevertouch me again,” I snap. “I wouldn’t let your pin dick anywhere near me if you were the last person on earth.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Duchess,” he chuckles, palming himself before he heads upstairs.
I let out a frustrated huff and storm into the living room. Flopping down on the couch I bring up Maya’s number and press the call button, not caring what time it is in Milan.
The phone rings five times, and I’m about to hang up before my best friend’s sleep laced voice drifts down the line. “Bea? What’s going on?”
“I’m going to fucking murder him!”
“I’ll make sure and slip a nail file into your birthday cake,” she chuckles as the sound of rustling comes down the line. “Hold on, I need to go out into the living room. Matteo has to get up for a meeting in a couple of hours.”
That’s why I love her: no matter what’s going on in our lives, she’s always my ride or die.
