Page 139 of A Little Broken

“Blake,” my dad calls to my mom.

“I’ll send it right now,” my mom answers through the cell.

“Send what?” I ask.

Reaching for the remote, Rory pauses our show before giving me her full attention. I lift a shoulder, then push the speaker button, so we can both hear the conversation. “Rory’s here, too,” I announce.

“Hey, Squeaks!” my dad calls. “Tell me about this guy, Pax.”

“Pax?” she squeaks. Her eyes bulge, and she gives me a look that screams,what do you want me to say?

“How do you know about Pax?” I interrupt, because, uh, what the hell?

“Check your text, babe,” my mom interjects.

Opening the app, I click on the link, barely scanning the headline before gasping. “Are you kidding me?”

Paxton Six Has Been a Dirty, Dirty boy. Luckily, His Maid Seems More Than Willing to Offer Her Services—In Public! Oh, My!

IndieCent Vows guitarist, Paxton Six, seems to be enjoying his time off in small town, Harden Heights and was recently seen heating things up on the beach with his latest fling. Sources say the woman in the photo is his maid, though she’ll be leaving the beach dirtier than she left it if the photo is anything to go by. The question is, is this true love or is the penniless maid only spending her time with Paxton Six for his money and connections to the rock band, IndieCent Vows? Seems only time will tell.

Curious, Rory darts to my bed and collapses onto it. As she reads the article over my shoulder, a gasp slips out of her. “No freaking way.”

“So?” my mom prods. “You okay?”

It’s a good question, but I’m so blindsided by the whole thing, I don’t even know what to say. “I mean…yes?” I laugh, inspecting the article all over again. “What the hell is this?”

“This is what happens when the paparazzi sniff out a famous person’s new relationship,” she answers. “Aunt Mia went through the same thing when she started dating your Uncle Henry.”

“Yeah, but I’m not even officially dating Pax, yet.” With a scoff, I scan a few more lines of the article. “Just offering my services, apparently.”

Rory’s elbow connects with my ribs, and I jerk away from her, mouthing, “What the hell?”

“Tatum’s downplaying her feelings,” Rory announces to my family. “You should’ve seen what he did for your daughter last night. Pax is the sweetest guy ever and treats Tate like gold.”

With wide eyes, I scold, “Rore!”

“What? You don’t want to fill your parents in on what isn’t in the article? Or should we let them focus on how good he is in bed, er,beach?”

Fighting the urge to smack my best friend, I examine the photograph attached to the article again, and damn. Not going to lie. This probably isn’t a photo any parent should have to see, let alone the world. The lens on the camera is something else, and even though the image blurs out the intimate bits, it doesn’t take a genius to see I’m clearly enjoying being railed on the beach last night. My head is thrown back. My mouth is open wide. And my legs are wrapped around Paxton’s waist while his pants are wrapped around his ankles.

Yup. If that isn’t the definition of scandalous, I don’t know what is.

“Rory’s right. Pretty sure we didn’t need to see that,” my dad grunts, and I swear I can hear the embarrassment in his voice.

Biting back my amusement, I point out, “Honestly, it’s kind of a miracle this is the only article written about me so far.”

My mom chuckles in the background, and it makes me love her even more.

“You’re not helping, Blake,” my dad grumbles.

“I mean, it’s kind of funny,” she argues, standing up for me in a way that makes me want to crawl through my cell and hug her.

“Right?” I interject. “How did you even find this article?”

“Your sister sent it to us,” my mom answers. “Asked us to check in with you to see if you’re okay.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, my humor dissipates.

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