“I’m so sorry about running off last night, but when I tell you the reason, I think you’ll understand.”
“You have…” I looked at the screen to see how much time was left on the transfer. “Four minutes and thirty-two seconds to explain yourself.”Damn it.I hadn’t expected for it to be so much time. It would have been much more effective for me to give him like…twelve seconds or something.
“Can we meet up? It would be better to show you.”
“No thanks. Just tell me.”
“Okay. You’re going to want to sit down.”
“Just tell me already.” I didn’t need to sit down to hear his lame excuse.
“I think I might have found a picture of your sister.”
What?Another one?
“Ash?” he asked when I didn’t respond. “Are you still there?”
“Yeah.”
“That was why I ran off. I saw that photographer leaving the spit roast, and I realized that I’d seen her there every time I’d ever participated in Society Wars. So I ran after her and asked if she’d saved photos from past years. She drove a hard bargain, but eventually she gave in when I agreed to give her photography company exclusive rights to take all the Odegaard product shots for the next year. I was up all night drafting the paperwork.”
My mouth dropped open. He’d run off to get me the photos too? And then I’d spent all night on a date with Cole? And blowing Dr. Lyons? What the hell had I done?
“I’m really sorry I left so abruptly,” he added. “Usually I would have made Nigel do it, but I couldn’t find the little bugger. When I texted him he replied with a voicemail where all I could hear was bubbles and him mumbling something about scheduled time off. Anyway, I didn’t want to wait to get you those photos, so that was why I ran off so quickly.”
Damn it, Tanner!Why couldn’t he have told me where he was going? Or taken me with him? But no…he just had to run off. So then I went on a date with Cole. And blew Dr. Lyons. And now my stomach was twisted into knots. Tanner was the one who should be pissed at me, not the other way around. I put my face in my hands.Fuck my life.“Did you look at the photos yet?” I asked.
“No. I was waiting to look at them with you. But when I went to your suite this morning, you weren’t there. And you weren’t answering my calls. Where have you been all day?”
With Cole.I lifted my face out of my hands. I’d messed everything up. Cole was a freak and was able to forgive me for what I’d done with Dr. Lyons. But Tanner would have to forgive me for all of it. There had to be a way to explain all this. I liked Cole and Dr. Lyons, but I loved Tanner. No matter how much I tried to deny it, I did. That’s why it had hurt so much when he left. I needed to fix this. “I got called into the office.” It wasn’t a total lie.
“On a Sunday?”
“Yup, courtesy of Mr. Frost.”
“Man, that guy sounds like a real dick. When will you be done? I’ll come pick you up and we can grab a late dinner. How about some Gochujang Palace?”
“That sounds amazing.”Shit!Could I ever tell him that Cole got the photos too? Or about what happened last night? How could I ever explain that to him?I thought you left, so I went out with that guy you hate. And then I let him watch me blow Dr. Lyons. And then I met his parents.
My love life was a total mess.
Chastity waved toward the computer. The transfer had just finished.
“Hold on,” I said. My love triangle - or was it a square? - would have to wait. It was time to finally see who Rosalie had been hanging out with at the Society.
I leaned over Chastity’s shoulder as she clicked on the first thumbnail. A photo of last night’s spit roast filled the screen. I was sitting in the throne, my face flushed courtesy of Tanner’s fingers. The rest of the red team was all around us. But Chastity was only focused on one thing.
“Jesus lord have mercy,” said Chastity, fanning herself. “I look fucking hot!”
“What did Chastity just say?” asked Tanner.
“Nothing,” I said. “One sec.” I put myself on mute so that Tanner wouldn’t hear anything else. “See?” I said. “There’s no reason to take sex tapes of me. You’re for sure gonna win the Onyxies with that one.”
“If it was a gif, definitely. But alas…this is just a still image. So it’s not eligible. That’s okay though. I’ll just have to do it again and make sure I get a gif.”
“Sure. Let’s stay focused, though. We’re trying to find a picture of Rosalie.”
“Got it.” Chastity saved the photo to her desktop and then went back to the list of files.
