Page 84 of True Blue

“Why the fuck is he even in the state?” Axel exclaims.

“I don’t know,” I say as we jog down the path toward West Tower. “But I don’t want him anywhere near Janette either.”

We pass a few people on campus as we rush toward the dorms. Axel pushes up to jog beside me, pulling out his phone and checking it as well. His eyes widen as he reads a notification on the screen and we both slow down.

“What is it?”

“I just got a text from my ex-boyfriend. He said ‘tough luck losing out to Bentley Marshall. Let me know if you want to talk about anything’ with a winky face.” He looks up at me. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

I pull out my phone, seeing some random notifications and then a text from my parents’ PR manager, Molly.Call me. We can fix this.I furrow my brow. “We need to get to Janette. Then we can deal with everything else.”

Axel nods and we continue across campus, taking the stairs once we make it into West Tower, rather than waiting for the elevator. Our steps echo again in the stairwell, crashing against my ears as we get closer and closer to Janette and Mira’s suite.

Axel pants behind me as I knock on their door, pounding a little harder than I should.

I hear Mira’s muffled voice on the other side as her voice comes nearer. “That better be them.” The door shoots open, and Mira stands on the other side. “Where have you guys been? I texted you a half hour ago.”

I walk past her and Axel rushes toward Janette’s room once he’s around Mira. “What happened? Where’s Christopher?”

“He left. Right after berating Janette.” I head toward her room, heart clenching. Mira’s hand lands on my forearm. “He outed you guys, Bentley.”

I turn toward her. “What?”

“He had pictures of you with Janette and Axel with her too. He sent them into tabloids. They’re saying she’s cheating on you.”

My hands ball up at my sides as a restlessness whips through me, a need to do something. But too many thoughts pop up and disappear before I can grab one and run with it.

“He read her the comments on a video about it.” Mira looks down, releasing my arm. “It was brutal.”

I spin and walk straight into Janette’s room. She sits on the floor, head between her knees. I notice a tremor in her shoulders and step closer. Axel is sitting beside her, running his hand over her hair while he tries to coax her to look up at us.

“Come on, Blue. Bentley’s here now.” He looks up at me with worry lines indenting his forehead. “We can deal with this together.”

I nod. “Mira told me what Christopher did.” Axel sits forward and Janette’s eyes peer out timidly over her knees. Tears dampen her face and leak from her red rimmed eyes. She looks up at me with so much fear, making my stomach turn. I kneel in front of her, cupping her cheek and turning her head up further to look at me fully. “This is not your fault.”

She tries to shake her head out of my hold, but I bring my other hand up to trap her face between them.

“It is my fault, Bentley!” Her voice comes out dry and off pitch. “Neither of your ex-boyfriends decided to ruin everything.” She pulls her face away, tucking it into her knees and tightening her arms around them.

“What did he do?” Axel asks in a low stony voice.

I give him the brief explanation Mira shared with me and his jaw tightens with each sentence.

“I’m going to kill him.” He moves to stand, but I reach out and grab his arm, nodding down to Janette when he glares atme. His face falls, arms reaching out to wrap around her. “It’s okay, Blue. We can fix this.”

“How?” She laughs listlessly, lifting her head again. “Everyone thinks I’m fucking you both behind the other’s back. My phone has been going off nonstop since the news dropped. They already know it’s Bentley in the one picture. How long do you think it will take for them to figure out who you are?” She looks at Axel with fire in her eyes. “How long until they start berating Layla and Gwen? Uncle Jack? Anyone they can to try to get a quote from that they can use to fan this flame into an inferno. And they’ll twist whatever we say to try to fit whatever scandalous narrative they want. Why do you think I did everything my mom wanted me to? This is exactly what I wanted us to avoid!” Fresh tears stream down her cheeks as she huffs at the end of her speech.

“We can fix this, sunshine.” Her eyes turn to me, glaring. “Together. Remember?”

“You’re both better off walking away now. Save your reputations and leave me to salvage whatever’s left of mine.”

“We are not leaving you,” Axel insists. He looks over at me and I nod, mouth closed as I run through every solution I can think of.

“Christopher ruined everything, Axel.” Janette turns, facing him. “If you stay with me, the press will only get worse. They’ll start hounding us every time we step off campus, and I refuse to make fools of either of you publicly so unless you want to stay behind closed doors forever, I don’t see how this is going to work.” Axel’s face pinches at her words and my heart falters in my chest.

I grab her chin, pulling her face up to look at me. “Do you want to be with us?”

She gasps, eyes widening. “It’s too late, Bentley. People already think?—

---