Page 83 of Payback
“DeWalt! Do you always record your sexual encounters?” a voice calls out.
In a split second, I’m tearing toward the velvet ropes and grabbing the fucking photographer by his shirt.
The crowd gasps at my assault. And before I can grab the ass fuck’s camera and throw it on the ground, two large hands grip me by the shoulders and pull me off the squirmy asshole who continues snapping photos despite his near-death experience. That’s what would have happened to him if I had another second with him. A fucking painful death.
“Calm down, lad…You don’t need this,” Mac’s Scottish accent growls in my ear.
He drags me down the red carpet and waves for one of the cab drivers who’s parked in the line by the curb. The first one pulls up, and Mac shoves me inside, tucking himself in behind me and stating our home address at the driver.
As we pull away, I look out the window and see all four of the Harris Brothers jogging down the red carpet after us. They look fucking murderous, but it’s a different kind of murder than I remember from when we played soccer at Vaughn’s house. This look is for real.
They bang on the trunk as we take off, and I look back to see them waving down the next cab.
Mac looks at me wide-eyed and terrified. “Fuck me. What did you do?”
I lean forward and run my hands over my head, crouching my head between my knees. “What the fuck is happening?”
“You tell me!” Mac bellows. “All I know is that your date started saying shite about you being in a sex video online, and now we’re being chased by the Harris Brothers by the looks of it.” He looks behind us and shakes his head. “I think I can take Booker, but they have us outnumbered.”
I sit back in the seat and purse my lips together, rage coursing through my veins. Without pause, I thrust my fist into the backseat of the cab.
“Knock it off, or I’ll drop you off in the middle of the street!” the cabbie snaps at me.
“Aye, sorry, lad. We’re having a bit of a moment. I’ll tip you well, dinna fash.” Mac turns to me, his voice deep and serious. “Fucking cool it and tell me what’s going on.”
“Allie made a fucking sex video of us and it’s been published to some porn site.”
“Fuck you!” Mac barks in disbelief. “How do you know it was her who did it?”
“There’s a point when she looks like she tried to press something on the screen, but it kept recording.”
Mac runs his hand over his jaw, shaking his head. “When did she do it?”
“Our first night together, fucking two years ago.”
Mac huffs, “What is that? Some kind of kinky fetish she has?”
“Mac, I swear to fuck,” I growl, clenching my fist and holding it up to his face. “I want to hit something so fucking bad right now, so keep it up and it’ll be your damn face.”
He frowns, sitting back in his seat and shaking his head. “But why did she do it? It doesn’t seem like her.”
“I don’t fucking know.”
“And you’re sure she did it?”
I nod, my jaw ticking like a heartbeat. “She was trying to apologise before I saw it on Catalina’s phone.”
“Christ on a cracker, this is fucked.”
I shake my head and look out the window, racking my brain for reasons why she would do this to me.
Is this why she didn’t want to see me when she came back to London? Was she trying to make a quick buck by selling the video? Why is it coming out now? How is she fucking okay with having herself out there like that? None of it makes any sense.
The rest of the ride back to our house is in eerie silence, and a second cab pulls up right behind us when we arrive at our duplex. I step out of the cab first and wait on the sidewalk, ready for whatever the fuck the Harris Brothers have to say to me.
Gareth is the first one out of their cab. He strides straight toward me, his hands balled into fists at his sides. I know what’s coming. I can tell the second I lay eyes on him. But rather than duck or protect myself, I stand my ground and watch him pull his arm back and clock me square across the jaw.
“Gareth!” Tanner yells, running up behind him as I stumble backwards and drop down on one knee.
