Page 94 of Places I've Never Been

“Maybe next year we go skiing?” Brandon suggested.

“No way,” Cooper said. “Too cold. I want sun and bikini babes.”

“You need a girl to treat you right,” Mattie said, “not another babe.”

“Can’t I have both?” Cooper grinned.

“Next trip,” Adam promised. Just like that, he’d agreed to future vacations. “But next time you jackasses are paying your own way.”

“Definitely somewhere cheaper then,” Cooper said.

“Yo, Adam,” LT shouted from the hut behind them.

Everyone but Flynn turned their heads in his direction.

LT waved his cell phone at them. “You see this?”

Mattie stiffened. “See what?”

LT jogged across the sand to Adam and Mattie and held his phone out. Brandon and Cooper crowded around so they could see the screen.

The group shot the photographer had taken before they went Jet Skiing was displayed in vivid detail, but it was zoomed in so that he and Mattie were centered, while only half of Cooper’s face showed. Tina and Brandon were cut out entirely.

Mattie stood up and took the phone from LT. “Where did you find this?”

“Buzz 9. It posted about an hour ago.” LT kicked Flynn’s foot. “Dude. Did you send this shot to the vultures?”

Flynn snorted and jerked awake. “Hey! Watch it.”

“No way Flynn did that,” Brandon said. “Like, literally. Flynn didn’t bring his phone, and besides that photographer never sent us the image. Not to me, anyway.”

“Me either,” Cooper said. “And he should have, since my name’s on the account.”

“He didn’t send it to me either, and I’m paying the bill.” Adam looked over Mattie’s shoulder while she scrolled through the blog post. Tension rolled off her in waves.

Cooper pulled out his phone and tapped to bring up the website.

“What?” Flynn rubbed his face with both hands. “What’d I miss?”

“Buzz 9posted that group shot of you guys, that’s what,” LT said. “The story’s the usual crap. Not a big deal, but someone’s definitely sold out.”

“What’s it say?” Brandon asked. “Read it.”

Cooper cleared his throat. “‘Bellamy and Brooks in Paradise. Look who isn’t wasting any time! It turns out therumors might be true. Mattie Bellamy and Adam Brooks, along with the entire Delusions of Glory band, are in a tropical sweet spot and it looks like things are heating up. We think they look pretty cozy. Is it just us, or has this Bellamy Babe forgotten all about poor Devon Morales? No word on whether Devon is devastated over this latest development.’”

Mattie groaned. “Perfect. Just perfect.”

Adam watched the tension creep over her face to crinkle her forehead. Gossip like this was a daily fixture in his life. Most of the time, he made fun of it or shrugged it off. His friends and family knew the truth, and that was all that mattered.

But he didn’t like that worried look in Mattie’s eyes. He wanted to punch the asshole who put it there. He flexed his fists in anticipation. “Who the hell sent them that shot?”

Brandon snatched Cooper’s phone out of his hand. “They post anything else?”

Adam looked at Cooper. “Would Tina do this?”

Cooper’s face clouded over. “I don’t know, man. A few days ago I’d say no way, but she was pretty pissed off when she left. She could have done it out of spite.”

Mattie handed LT’s phone back to him. “It doesn’t really matter now. It’s out there.”

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