Page 48 of Crave

In silence, we read the rush of comments. People chose sides and asked for more info from Gabby. Gabby teased in the comments to follow her, like and share, and maybe she'd give everyone an update.

And it worked.

In real time, I watched myself get famous for something I wanted to keep private—something that tore my chosen family apart. And now the world was there to judge, and pick apart every nuance, like we'd filmed a scene inVanderpump Rulesin the Bravo universe.

Adam muttered a curse. "The page for Unison is also blowing up. And so is Max's account."

"How did she do this?" I asked in wonder. "Why does anyone care about us?"

Adam's tone was slightly bitter. "Because everyone loves drama. Because judging and watching us is easier than dealing with their own shit. You should know, Landon It's always been the game."

I bit my lower lip. “What do we do? I can’t believe she did this to us. I’m going to kill her!”

“Gabby’s always been a wild card but I never thought she’d hurt us on purpose. I thought we were close. Guess not.”

“She posted this late last night when she was probably still at the club. Do you think she got drunk and everyone was in on it?”

He shook his head. “No. She’s obviously narrating it from a quieter place. She did this afterward. And she knew what she was doing.”

On cue, texts began rolling in. The first one was from Elle.

Were you in on this?

My head throbbed. “I have to call Elle.”

“I better call the band. I made your coffee—it’s on the table.”

“Thanks.” I turned, then stopped to grab him. “Adam?”

“Yeah?”

My words wobbled. “Last night meant everything.”

Immediately, his face softened. Last night had really happened and he wasn’t taking it back with the light of day. “Same, princess. Same.” He pressed a kiss to my lips then took his phone into the bathroom.

I sucked in a lungful of air and called Elle. “What in the hell is going on, Landon?” she practically shrieked. “Did you tell Gabby to post this so you can get followers? It’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

I ignored the pang of hurt my bestie could think like that and kept calm. “No! Why the hell would I do that, Elle?”

“Because you lied and you’ve never lied to me! Maybe you and Gabby are much closer and I had nothing to do with thiswhole plan to blow up your platform and secretly have sex with Adam.”

“It wasn’t like that and you know it,” I said softly. “You were the only one who knew how I felt about Adam. I never told Gabby, no matter what she said. And this video? I don’t want my private life out there so I can become some weird zoo like animal!”

Elle was quiet for a while, and then I heard a whoosh of breath. “I have such a headache,” she muttered. “I can’t deal with this right now.”

“Meet me at the diner,” I begged. “Please. I want to talk to you in person.”

“Now?”

“Right now. I need you.”

I waited for her answer with a pounding heart. If Elle didn’t believe me, no one else would. What if everyone believed I urged Gabby to post so I could get attention? This whole thing could blow up in so many bad ways.

“Okay. I’m leaving now.”

“Thanks.”

I finished getting dressed and peeked my head into the bathroom where Adam was talking to JJ. I mouthed I was meeting Elle and he nodded. Then I raced out and toward the diner where all of our big moments seemed to occur.

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