Page 64 of Lilies in Autumn

“Fuck, Red, I love when you get worked up.” Dante silently enters the room, a contrast to Celeste’s heavy steps. “Let’s go to my room and take that energy out.”

She whirls on him like a fucking banshee and holds out one finger. “First off, Mr. Italia, that was a two-time event. I hope you have a photographic memory because that shit is not happening again.” Raising a second finger, she continues, “And second, you overgrown ogre, I will take my energy out by killing you and dragging you out into the woods for the bears.”

Dante looks at me with a glint in his eyes. “God, this is the best fucking foreplay.” Sick fucks.

Celeste is about to explode, but Ava raises her voice, cutting through the impending tirade. “C, logically, it’s probably Felicity, but I can’t say that with absolute fact. There’s no evidence, hell, there hasn’t even been a text message or another picture since the first one. So, honestly, we don’t know anything for certain.”

“Okay,” Celeste responds. “But what was that shit with the Campus Hotties last night?”

Fuck, I forgot about that. Shifting Ava off me, I grab my phone and pull up the screenshot from last night. Holding it up, I show both of them the picture posted on the site last night. “Whoever runs this account took a picture of your Instagram story and posted it, along with your contact information last night. D reported it and got that shit pulled.”

“Fuck, is that why I woke up to texts asking if I was down to fuck?” Celeste questions.

“Who the fuck sent you those?” Dante bellows, wrapping a hand around his pit bull’s wrist and pulling her phone out of her hand. “I’ll fucking tear their dicks off.”

“Did you get any texts, vixen?”

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t charge my phone last night and it’s in my bag.” She looks up at me with wide, watery eyes. “Why would someone do this, Grey? What have I done that’s so terrible to warrant the continual invasions of my privacy.”

Fuck. I rub a hand down my face, trying to wipe the self-loathing off. The only reason she’s going through this shit is because of me. A better man would let her go, tell her to be with a guy that doesn’t bring problems to her fucking doorstep. But fuck that. I’ll slay the fucking dragons and bring her their heads as a goddamn trophy.

“Fuck, vixen, you haven’t done shit. They’re coming at you because of me. Your pit bull over there”—I nod my head toward Celeste—“is just being dragged into the crossfire. Fuck, baby, I’m so fucking sorry.” I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her into me.

A notification goes off on my phone, silencing the room. I look down at the blocked number and my blood runs cold. This motherfucker resurrected like a damn zombie. Swiping the message, I see the picture I posted this morning along with a video attached with a text below:

Unknown: Hope your slut is ready for her debut. Didn’t know I had a video of the live event, huh? Will she still be interested when she realizes you fucked her over? It’s live BTW ;)

“Fuck! Fucking shit!” I throw my phone against the cabinets, standing quickly and knocking my stool back in the aftermath. Ava looks at me with wide eyes, trembling from the outburst. “Fucking goddamn cock sucker.” I lean over the counter, gripping the edge while I figure out what the fuck I’m going to do.

“Grey, you’re scaring me. Who just texted you?” Ava’s voice breaks through my fury.

I turn to her, gripping her face in my hands. “I’ll fix this, vixen. I fucking swear.”

“Fix what?” Before I can respond, Celeste’s phone goes off and dread pools in the pit of my stomach. I close my eyes, breathing in deeply.

“Oh, my God.” Celeste’s voice is low, a whisper that echoes like a scream throughout the kitchen. “Ava, they posted.”

“W-What? What do you mean they posted?” Ava turns to me. “Greyson, what does she mean? Are there—” She pauses, trying to speak through the sobs wracking her body. “Is there a photo of us out there? Are m-my parents going to see this? Oh my God.” She grabs the phone and looks horrified at the screen.

I grab her shoulders and pull her in, cocooning her in my strength. “Baby, I’m going to get the best fucking lawyers involved, hell, we’ll call our fucking parents and blow this shit up. But right now, we need to screen record this and start reporting it as soon as fucking possible.”

“Greyson, my body is on display with the caption, ‘A whale gets sperm,’ along with all of my fucking contact information.” She shakes, seemingly unable to control the movement of her body. “Oh my fucking God, I think I’m dying. I’m in shock. I need a paramedic.”

“Ava, baby, you are not dying. We need to report this and call our parents.”

“Oh my God, my parents. They’re going to kill me.” She continues chanting, “Oh my God,” unable to comprehend or say anything else. I’m about to shake her when Celeste walks up to her, a cup of water in hand, and throws the water in her face.

“Snap the fuck out of it, Aves. We need to deal with this shit,” CeCe shouts. I’ve never been more grateful for how fucking feral Dante’s woman is.

Ava

My parents are going to see a video of Greyson fucking me with his mouth.

That sentence is on repeat in my head. God, how can this happen to me? They’re going to murder me and be pardoned for justifiable filicide.

Water assaults me, startling me out of my near-catatonic state. “Snap the fuck out of it, Aves. We need to deal with this shit,” CeCe snaps.

“Dammit, C. I’m soaking wet.”

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