They’re vulgar and private. A part of me feels like running from it all, but I stand strong, my arm slipping around Colton’s waist as I bury my face in his neck.
“I know it sucks it’s out there, but we look hot, don’t we?”
He freezes for a moment, but then I feel him relax.
“Fuck yeah, we do. If anything, there’s that.”
I pull him further into me, comforting him as much as I am comforting myself.
“Should we make a public appearance? Give them something to really look at? To really talk about?”
Colton turns toward me, and his lips twitch.
“You sure about this? No going back now.”
“Selfish, remember?”
He grins and then presses his forehead to mine.
“Yeah. Fucking selfish. But before we go, I need to sneak back to my place and get changed. But I promise I’ll be there.”
His reassurance has me pulling him in for a long kiss. So long, in fact, that Paulie clears his throat to tell us it’s time to part.
“Sorry about that,” I murmur to my friend.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Colton runs a hand through his hair before grabbing his car keys.
“Meet me at the Cove at 12:30?” I ask.
“I’ll be there. Give them something to look at.”
That makes my heart swell. I should be more nervous about this, but I’m not. Not when he’s going to be there with me. We’re going to face this scandal together. And we’re going to win.
So, I watch him leave, and then I sink onto the couch, my head going into my hands. The adrenaline of the weekend and this morning is fading, and I’m starting to crash a little.
“You gonna be okay?” Paulie asks, coming to sit down next to me.
“I don’t know. As long as he shows up for lunch, I will be.”
“I’ll go with you. I’ll take a seat a little ways away and come to your rescue if he doesn’t appear.”
I meet his stare. “He’ll show up, right?”
“Yeah, he will. He’s so gone for you. But this is all so crazy. I can’t believe his stepdad would do that.”
“Yeah, well, now I do. They’re super shitty. I mean, the whole house gave me weird vibes, but his stepdad is dangerous. Seeing him in Colton’s room the other night, standing over him. He did it to gaslight him into thinking he was crazy, I’m sure of it. He wants control of the company so badly. He wants to force Colton into giving it all up to him.”
“But now you have proof of his actions.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have the videos Maya sent you?”
I nod and pull them up on my phone, going through them for the first time with Paulie by my side. I watch the video from that night, Erick in Colton’s room, dropping him on the bed and standing over him, staring at him. Him threatening and trying to blackmail me.
And then I pull up articles from other witnesses Maya gathered, ex-girlfriends who say Erick’s malicious and predatory, how he’s money-focused and power-hungry. It all corroborates the picture Colton painted of this man. Colton’s mother isn’t any better off either. Maya managed to dig up an insurance policy she had out on her dead husband, which leaves her under suspicion. And don’t get me started on the one she has on Colton.
