Page 119 of The Best Friend Power Play

"I can c-c-call her a n-name, if that would help?"

"It's just seeing you guys growing up and making decisions and doing things I don't know about."

"Uh…" Katie's gaze flickers back and forth between Hannah and me. "I don't think we're the only ones doing things we don't know about."

"That's…true." Hannah sits up taller, reaches over to take her hand in mine, and announces "I have something to tell you about Culver and me."

"We know," they declare together.

"How?" I ask.

"It's all over social media."

"What?" Hannah and I exclaim in unison.

Chester cackles. "It's f-f-funny. We just s-s-said something at the same time, and now you guys said someth—You know w-w-what? Doesn't really m-matter." He gestures to Katie. "Show them."

She takes her phone out and brings it over to show us.

Hannah takes it from her, and I scooch in closer to get a look.

"Oh, my gosh. They're right." Hannah clicks on a link. It takes us to an article on one of the biggest sports news websites. The headline reads, Palladino's Off-Season Love Match.

We both read the first few paragraphs in silence, confirming that yep, the media has somehow found out about our relationship. Not the fake wedding part since they're referring to Hannah as my girlfriend and not my wife, but it's clear that our story has been leaked.

The question is, how?

Or rather, who?

"I don't understand," Hannah says. She gives the phone back to Katie and turns to me with a puzzled look on her face. "Who would've leaked this?"

The answer hits me like a slap in the face. "Bianca," I grunt angrily through clenched teeth, rising to my feet and storming out of the room.

"How do you know?" Hannah's voice follows me. "Maybe it was someone from town?"

Comfort Bay is full of busybodies, but it's also home to a lot of well-known, affluent, and powerful people.

Why?

Because what happens in Comfort Bay stays in Comfort Bay.

Locals may like to gossip amongst themselves, but no one has ever once gone to the press with anything.

I return to the living room, clenching my cell phone tightly. "The article said we've been together all summer. If it were a local—which I doubt that it is—they only saw us kissing much more recently. It's got to be her." I rage scroll to Malik's number on my phone. "Where's the best place to go where no one can hear me yell at my brother?"

"My bedroom," Hannah says.

"That's the last d-d-door on the left, in case y-y-you don't know."

Katie flings the pillow back at Chester, and it hits him square in the face.

"Thank you, Katie." I aim a tight smile at Hannah. "I'll fix this. I promise."

She smiles back. "Of course."

I hate that she's getting dragged into this media frenzy at all, but I especially hate that it's happening on the day she's dealing with her first ever hangover.

I charge into her room, slam the door shut, and unleash on my brother, who confirms, after checking with his wife, that it was indeed Bianca who leaked the story to the press.

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