Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“You’re lying to your two best friends, Jamie.” Trey ducked his head to catch my eye, and I reluctantly dragged my gaze up to meet his.
“I fucked her,” I told them. Because it was a way to give them an idea of how I was feeling without blowing the big secret.
Trey froze, staring at me. Braden’s eyebrows drew together, and he asked, “Who?” Because it was just too inconceivable to imagine me being with a movie star, right? Little did my friends know that the whole truth was even more unbelievable than that.
“Vanessa Hale. She and I were, you know… together.”
“Like together together?” This from Braden, who apparently still couldn’t wrap his head around the concept.
Trey still didn’t speak or move.
“Did I stutter?” I jabbed my finger at the cover of the magazine Trey was still holding. “I was with Vanessa Hale. Over the summer. We had a thing.”
Suddenly, Trey started laughing and rocked back on the sofa. “Okay, you actually had me going there for a minute.”
My face was like stone, waiting for them to take me seriously.
“But she is one hot babe, though, right?” Braden tugged on the magazine in Trey’s hand and took another look at the picture. “I heard she’s doing a topless scene. They said it on this entertainment blog. Not that I read those things, but you know how you end up on the wrong side of the internet if you’re not careful.”
“Stay away from the free porn and the peer-to-peer pirating sites and you’ll do just fine,” Trey suggested. “I never end up on the wrong side of the internet. And I never get viruses like you do.”
It was all too clear that neither one of them believed me, and even through my sadness that managed to piss me off. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and flipped to my photo gallery. Then I scrolled to a selfie of Vanessa and me, taken in the gym of the Alcazar during one of Kage’s practice sessions.
They stared at it for a long, stunned moment. After a while, Braden smirked at me. “Good try, buddy. Anyone can ask to take a selfie with a celebrity. They do it all the time. I have one with that guy who played the cop on that TV show from a few years ago. What was it called?”
I pulled my phone back and scrolled through my gallery again. Found several shots I’d taken the morning after the slumber party that changed my life. Vanessa and I were lying on Kage’s bed, twisted up in the rumpled sheets. All of the photos were of our faces, but I chose one that revealed enough to make it obvious we were in a bed. I held it up to them, praying I didn’t inadvertently scroll over to the next shot, because Kage was in that one with us.
Braden and Trey stared at the photo like they couldn’t trust their eyes. Like I was perpetrating some elaborate Photoshop hoax on them.
They still didn’t believe me.
At that point, I was determined to prove the truth of my half-lie, so I stupidly showed them Vanessa’s number on my cell phone. I’d never actually called it, but we had traded numbers.
Before I could fathom just how diabolical Braden could be, he’d grabbed my phone, hit the call button, and put it on speaker. I lunged for it, but it was too late.
“Jamie? What time is it?” Vanessa answered in a sleepy voice. There was a squeak and a shuffling sound, and I imagined her rolling over in bed to check the time. “Is everything okay?”
Silence as everyone stared around at each other. “Um… Sorry, Vanessa. I butt-dialed you. Everything is fine. Just go back to sleep.” My voice broke, and I know she heard it.
“Jamie…” She sighed my name. Took a deep breath and let it out. “You must have seen one of the write-ups. I know this is hard for you. I’m sorry. Mikey wants—”
“Is he there?” I heard myself ask. It sounded like someone else’s voice from far away.
“Jamie—”
“Is. He. There.” I ground out the words more like a threat than a question.
“Of course not. He’s at training camp. His next fight is Saturday, you know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“You wouldn’t answer your phone, you silly goose.” Her words were playful, but her tone was somber. She genuinely felt bad for me.
“Yeah, right.”
Now, listening to Vanessa’s too-calm voice, knowing she had a ring on her finger, everything was coming together in a way that did the most damage to my ego. I’d been snoozing. All of this had been going on right under my nose, and I’d been so stupid, so naive. I’d trusted him, even with the late nights and the mysterious trips. Four days in New York I hadn’t even questioned. What a fucking chump.