Page 87 of Lucy and Her Wicked Three

Fuck. I know I do. He gives me a minute to cool down. It was easy to slip into my usual chill mode when I saw her snuggled and cute in bed this morning. But the reality of finding that picture, the stress of all the pictures that've been accumulating, it's just been a lot. As much as I want to stay in this room, in the apartment, play video games and shut out the world today, we have to go make some progress and get Lucy some protection.

I follow Noah down the hall and we find Lucy and Mateo arguing in the kitchen over her insistence that she no longer go for runs or run errands alone.

"You're not locking me up in this apartment Mateo. Been there, done that, and it sucked. I was miserable that week I barely moved and I've made a lot of progress since then. You can't just expect me to go backwards, to hide from my problems."

"I'm not saying you should stay in the apartment and not move. We'll buy you a treadmill."

"A treadmill? You motherfu—"

"Okay!" I clap my hands together once, then aggressively swing my arm around Mateo's stiff shoulder. "How about we worry about tying Lucy up later."

"You can tie me up, Silas. Mateo has lost his privileges."

I grin wide but when I turn to look at Matty, he's glaring at me.

"Alright, we should go." Ever the diplomat, Noah takes Lucy's hand and guides her toward the front door. He doesn't make it far before his and my phone beep at the same time, Mateo's right after.

Lucy frowns. I dig my phone out of my pocket, but when I see the alert, dread drops in my gut, and I swear. Glancing at Lucy, she eyes me cautiously.

"Is that the alert you set up?"

"Yeah." After all the times Delaney posted lies about Lucy online, we decided it would be smart to set up google alerts on our phones when she was tagged in certain posts.

That hollowed out feeling in my gut worsens, and I try to block my phone from Lucy's view but it's pointless. I don't want to blindside her, either, so together we read through the post. It's an anonymous account of course, but we all know who's responsible.

Lucy stiffens beside me, but she doesn't fall apart.

ZenInTheCity not so wholesome? Southern girl from Port City who's made a living selling healthy tips and tricks to the public has been outed as being a part of an underground sex ring. Seen here with several different men, sources close to the influencer say she's selling lies. In front of the camera, her followers are treated to big smiles and positive affirmations. Behind the scenes she's apparently known to frequent sex clubs and engage in group sex. After months of scandal, is this thething that finally puts ZenInTheCity in her place? Comment below!

Lucy doesn't say anything at first. Matty swears, and Noah attempts to wrap Lucy in a hug but she waves him off, scrunching her face in frustration. Though the whole underground sex ring part is a lie, the rest of it is kind of true. And the pictures of her kissing all of us, the comment about group sex… definitely true.

So, she can't rely on her friends to support her by exposing Delaney like all the previous times this happened. She can confirm or ignore, denial no longer possible.

"Can't I just catch a break?" She whispers. But she doesn't cry. She's angry, and that's what makes Lucy whirl her finger in the air like a helicopter blade and growl, "Let's take this bitch down."

Noah and I trail after her. She rushes through the hall into the elevator and downstairs, outside into the sun with the fury of a scorned woman.

"Lucy, we need to talk about this."

"Talk about what?"

"Lucy. Lucy!" I sneak in front of her, forcing her steps to slow.

"We need to talk about the fact that our relationship was just outed." There were too many shots of the four of us not to have some speculation of the truth.

She shrugs one shoulder. "I'm not ashamed."

"Glad to hear it. We still need to talk about what we're going to do."

She sidesteps me and Noah and keeps walking before rushing up to the curb and throwing her hand in the air. A yellow cab pulls over almost immediately.

Lucy opens one door before turning to face us. "I wasn't ready for the world to know. I don't know if I ever would have admitted it. But it's out there, with pictures. I'm not denying who I am anymore and I'm certainly not denying what you three mean tome. So, if this is the hill I die on—if this is her last battle with me, then fine. I'm fucking embracing it."

Noah and I stare, stunned, then scramble into the can after her. When we're shut in and the cab starts moving toward the precinct, she turns to me. "I probably should have confirmed if that was okay with y'all first."

Rolling my eyes, I reply, "We're just waiting on you, baby. We're not ashamed, and we've never tried to hide who we are."

Lucy nods once, then turns away, like that settles it. She's taking all this remarkably well.

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