Page 12 of Our Secret to Keep

Did he not learn his lesson last week?

All summer, his addictions have worsened. His need for sex, drugs, and alcohol is concerning. I don’t know how to save him from drowning this time.

Samantha shrugs. “I’m down. Might help me forget about my throbbing foot.”

Nate hauls her into his arms, ready to rock and roll. There’s no point in talking him out of this. When Nate makes up his mind, he follows through with his plan. And right now, he wants to lose himselfinsideher.

He thinks he needs to fuck and get high to forget about his past—to drown out the voices in his head. Lately, his nightmares are escalating. Most mornings, I find him in my bed, curled up beside me. Sometimes, he cries in his sleep. Other times, he yells.

“Nate, we need her to sign an NDA.”

He groans. “Fuck. We need you to sign a paper saying you won’t tell anyone about what we do tonight.”

Samantha blinks. “Why?”

“Because River is kind of famous. The non-disclosure agreement protects him from scandals and drama.”

Her eyes widen on me. “Famous?”

“You didn’t know?”

She shakes her head. “No, who are you?”

“River Rousseau.”

Samantha takes a second to ponder my name and then says, “Oh god. You’re the captain ofourhockey team. That’s why you look so familiar.”

“I play on the team, too,” Nate adds, a little bitter as he shrugs.

She beams a smile at him. “Right. I’ve seen the videos of you guys on TikTok. The Kingston Spy has been posting about you lately.”

I cringe at the name of the mysterious TikTok creator. That stupid bitch has been fucking with my life for too long. My father has a private investigator looking into the account. So far, he hasn’t found anything concrete to trace it back to the owner.

The person is located in New York and never shows their face. Their profile picture is the school’s logo. Whoever it is lives close enough to Kingston University for it to make sense the account belongs to a student.

At first, I assumed she was a fangirl or an ex-hookup. But she also attacks other students. Lately, she’s been obsessed with athletes, which makes me think she has an axe to grind with someone who plays a sport for Kingston University.

“The Kingston Spy is obsessed with us,” Nate tells her.

She bats her long lashes at him. “I can totally see why.”

“So, about the NDA,” Nate says. “We need you to sign it… or this isn’t happening.”

Her entire face lights up as she stares at me. I can already see the dollar signs flashing across her eyes. Thank God the contract covers both of our asses. Sadly, I can’t even have sex with a woman without worrying about her screwing me over.

But this is my reality.

Some girls get angry when Nate tires of them, which often leads to retaliation. Our sexcapades have cost Nate a fortune.

“I’ll sign whatever you want.” Samantha flashes a smile that reaches her eyes. “I completely understand why you guys are careful. You never know who you’re letting into your bed.”

Whenever girls realize who I am, they all act the same. Like groupies. Fangirls. They either want to fuck me, my dad, or both of us. But if Nate wants her, I won’t say no.

I grab several beers from the fridge and walk up the back staircase behind them. The house is over ten thousand square feet and has plenty of empty bedrooms. We would typically fuck around in one of those, but Nate is acting like she’s a keeper. Knowing my friend, this will fizzle out as quickly as it started.

Once inside my bedroom, Nate hands Samantha a document and a pen. “Read through it. If you wanna go, we’ll understand.”

She sits on my bed, clutching the pen. “Not a chance.”

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