Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
“Obviously, it’s what it looks like. This was probably close to a year ago, or more, and I was partying with the guys.”
“And you hooked up with her.”
I tap her screen, send the photo to myself, and then delete it off her phone. She doesn’t try to stop me.
“First of all, I sent that to myself so I can have Gideon look into it, not so I can save it. And I probably did hook up with her, yeah. We already said that we aren’t going to bring up who we fucked in the past.”
“If someone sent you a picture of me all over one of the men I’d had sex with before you, you’d be cool about it and not get your feelings hurt?”
“Fuck no, I’d want to find him, cut off his hands, and bring them to you in a box.”
She blinks and then blows out a breath. “This is fucked up.”
“I have not touched another woman since you and I—”
“I know.” She shakes her head and stands to pace. “I know that. So what was the point of that text? Someone just wanted to piss me off?”
“Probably.” I stand with her and pull her to me, wrap my arms around her and rock her back and forth. “I didn’t delete the number from your phone. I’ll see if Gid can find out where it came from.”
Suddenly, her phone blows up again, and she reaches for it, and her eyes widen as she scrolls on her screen. I have a bad feeling about this.
“Jesus.”
She closes her baby blues and swallows hard and simply passes the phone to me.
When I look down, the fire of a thousand suns streams through my veins.
So many photos.
Of me, with plenty of different women. Some in bars, some at the arena after games. But some are inside my motherfucking penthouse.
Naked.
I’m fucking them in my bed.
Willow lets out a shaky breath and brushes a tear off her cheek, and I immediately call Gideon.
“Miss me already?”
“I’m sending through some photos that you’ll want to bleach from your brain. They were sent to Willow just now. All of me, from an unknown number. I need to know where these came from.”
He’s all work now, his voice hard and cold.
“Send me everything you’ve got. I might need her phone to trace the caller, but I’ll reach out to the cell provider first.”
“Whatever you need. Find this asshole. They hurt my girl, and now we hurt them.”
“Understood. I’ll be in touch.”
I forward everything to Gideon, who replies with one word.
Gideon: Fuck.
Yeah, fuck.
Gideon: Are we going to find out that there are photos of you fucking Willow that get leaked to the goddamn media?
Fuck.
Me: There better not be, but I don’t know anything right now. Jesus fucking Christ, Gid.
Willow’s standing by the windows, looking out into the darkness. Her arms are wrapped around her, and she’s rocking back and forth, as if she’s trying to soothe herself.
“Sweetheart.”
She shakes her head. “Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. I just can’t unsee that, and I never wanted to know—”
“Hey, I know.” I want someone to bleed for this. Anger is a living thing inside me, but I need to reassure her, to remind her that she’s all that matters.
“They were in your house. Do you film the women you fuck? Christ, did you film us—”
“Absolutely fucking not.”
I turn her to face me and hold her neck and jaw between my hands, gently rubbing her lips with my thumb.
“Look at me right now. In my eyes, Trouble.” Her stormy gaze finds mine. She looks scared, and that fuels my rage. “I did not take those photos. Someone planted that camera in my place, and I’m going to find out who, and when I do, they’re going to regret it. I would never violate someone that way. What happens between you and me is just that: between you and me.”
She swallows hard and closes her eyes again before she nods and another tear escapes, spiraling down her cheek.
“I know you wouldn’t do that.”
“That’s right, you know me. Christ, baby, just the thought of it makes me sick. Those women might not have meant more to me than that one night, but they absolutely did not deserve that, and I will make sure those images are destroyed. He violated me and them, and he’ll pay for it.”
“Oh, God, you’re right. Those poor women. I’m so selfish.”
“Stop it.” I kiss her forehead, and then her nose. “Come here.”
She walks right into my arms, and the relief is immediate. She’s not running away from me, even after my past was literally thrown in her face in glaring detail. She’s right. She can’t unsee that.
But I can do my best to wipe it from her memory.
I lift her bridal-style and walk up the stairs and to our bedroom. It’s no longer mine. It’s been ours for weeks now, and that’s what it will always be.