Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
I pulled the sheet up over me as if I were still nude, or as if it could shield me from what was about to come. But it was no use.
My brother swung through the door, and when his eyes locked on me, his neck and face turned a bright, beet red.
He looked at me, at the absolutely wrecked room, at the mugs of tea we’d abandoned on the table, and then back at me again.
“I’m going to fucking murder him.”
“Vince, wait!” He had already turned before I could scramble out of bed, and he didn’t stop when I asked. I heard him storming down the hall, and I slid into the doorway just in time to watch him shove Jaxson hard in the chest.
“You are a fucking dead man. Dead.”
Jaxson held his hands up as Vince pointed a threatening finger right in his face. “Vince, take a breath.”
“Take a breath?” my brother repeated incredulously.
He laughed then, backing up with his tongue pressed against his cheek. He stared at Jaxson like he was Brutus, like he was still holding the knife he’d used to stab my brother in the back.
“We can talk about this,” Jaxson said.
“Oh, can we? Sure. Which part would you like to start with?” Vince asked, thrusting his hands out. “Do you want to start with how I trusted you to be a fucking gentleman around my sister and instead, you took her on a fucking road trip behind my back? Would you like to go into detail about how you both,” he gritted, turning to look at me only briefly before his murderous gaze was back on Jaxson. “Lied to me, to everyone? Would you like to tell me how funny it was to be at the tournament sliding under all our radar?” He shook his head. “Or should we skip to the good part, where I found out along with the entire fucking nation when videos were leaked from Grace’s phone this morning?”
Ice slithered through my veins, my next breath so hard to take that black tingled at the edges of my vision.
“What?” I asked, voice barely a breath.
“Yeah,” Vince answered with his eyes still hard on Jaxson — who looked like he was going to be sick. “Someone found your phone and posted everything. It’s all over the fucking news right now.” He gritted his teeth, stepping back into Jaxson’s space. “You should see the headlines. They’re fucking fantastic. My personal favorite was Jaxson Brittain Shacking Up with Teammate’s Little Sister.”
I pinched my eyes shut, heart threatening to beat out of my chest as I tried to process what he was saying.
Someone had found my phone.
Someone had found my phone and broken into it.
It wouldn’t have been hard to do. I didn’t even have a password on it. I just thought with where I’d left it, it would have been safe. No one was going back in. The only person who could have even found it would have been a teammate’s family member, maybe a wife or girlfriend, or a janitor.
I realized then how fucking stupid I’d been. Who’s to say there wasn’t a girlfriend or a wife of a player who would have jumped at the chance? Who’s to say a janitor wouldn’t have sold to the highest bidder to make some cash?
I’d been so desperate for Jaxson that I didn’t care about anything other than getting to him, and once I did, I couldn’t stand the thought of either of us leaving.
I thought it could wait. And now, we were both paying the price of my ignorance.
The word leak replayed in my mind on a loop, and then I covered my mouth with my hands as I catalogued everything they would have found.
The pictures I took of Jaxson when he didn’t even realize it.
The videos of us — some innocent, some far from it.
All of that was supposed to only be for me. I didn’t even have social media. That phone was more like my journal than anything else.
Now, the rest of the world had access to my most private thoughts and experiences — whether I wanted them to or not.
When neither of us spoke, Vince shook his head, over and over, eyes washing the length of Jaxson as if he was seeing him for the first time. Suddenly, he turned and stormed toward me.
“Get your shit. We’re leaving. Now.”
I almost shot into action at his words. My instinct was to do exactly as he said, but my heart refused to let me move.
“Grace,” Vince warned, steaming. “Get. Your fucking. Shit.”
“Vince, I need you to take it down a notch,” Jaxson tried just as I said, “I’m not leaving.”
“The hell you aren’t!” Vince ignored Jaxson and pointed at me, his jaw tight. “We have a PR nightmare to handle. Mom and Dad are already at the house with Maven making a plan with the team.”