Page 74 of Beyond The Break

I pause. “I said we didn’t have sex, not that nothing happened between us.”

They both squeal and Kairi sits up, grabbing one of my accent pillows and hugging it to her chest. I roll my eyes and sit up as well, facing them both as they stare at me expectantly like a child in a candy store.

“Spill the details,” Maliah presses.

I sigh. “We may have done other stuff.”

“There is not a single detail in what you just said,” Maliah says flatly.

I hear a cough from the hallway and the hairs on my arm stand.

“Maybe we should plan a girls’ night out and talk there,” I whisper.

They both nod in agreement before Maliah slowly stands up and tiptoes to my door, swinging it open. Zale, who was pressed against the door falls right in, cheek slamming against the wooden floor.

“Fucking hell,” he groans, grabbing his head with both hands and rocking side to side in agony.

Watching him suffer through this hangover is giving me flashbacks to my own hangover in Hawaii. I was certain I was going to die, and I swore off tequila from that day. Poor guy.

“You would think someone with a hangover as bad as yours wouldn’t be up doing stupid shit,” Maliah chastises him, returning to her spot on my bed.

“Fuck off, Mal,” he groans, “I came to show you guys this.”

He waves a rolled-up newspaper in the air, and I lean over taking it from him and opening it up. It’s a copy of today’s local newspaper, The Coastal Times. The front page is a picture of Colton, with his bleeding forehead, being escorted away fromGriffin by Kairi. The headline reads “Coastal Conflict: Ex-team member’s Griffin Jones and Colton Harrison fight it out at secret beach bonfire bash.”

I read the article, tuning out the others’ talking and by the end I feel stressed and disgusted. The journalist that wrote the article focused more on painting Griffin in a bad light, claiming he attacked Colton and beat him until he was bloody and unconscious, all because he left the team. It also hinted at a girl coming between the two, but it never mentions a name. I flip the newspaper back to the front and search the paper until I find what I’m looking for. The journalist who wrote the article is Meghan Martinez.

“I knew she had bad intentions from the moment Griffin introduced her to us.” Maliah jabs a finger at Meghan’s name.

“She was always asking so many questions and would get so jealous whenever he wanted to spend time with us instead of her,” Kairi adds, sadly.

“She had a really nice ass, though.”

All three of us swing our heads toward Zale who is still laying on the floor, head in hands. He slowly lifts his head and glances around, his eyes widening in fear.

“But that was the only good thing about her,” he adds. “Your ass is better, Eli?—“

“You can stop talking now,” Maliah cuts in.

“Stopping right now,” he rolls onto his stomach and slowly stands, clutching his head, “I’m going to call it a day and go back to bed.”

“It’s nine in the morning,” I say.

“See you tomorrow.” He waves over his shoulder as he exits my room and walks down the hall to his.

I look back down at the article. This is a mess, and it’s not going to go over well with the teams’ fans and sponsors. I need to kill this story before it gets any bigger.

“Coach is going to blow the roof off this house when he getsback and sees this,” Kairi mumbles into the pillow she’s hugging.

“Knowing his connections, he probably already saw it,” Mal mutters.

I stand up and rush to my desk where my camera is charging, an idea forming as I run down the stairs and burst out the back door. I spot Griffin and Colton still sitting side by side, their laughter carried over by the wind.

“Hey, mind if I take a picture of you two?” I ask as I jog up to them.

They both look over their shoulders at me then back at each other before nodding. “Go ahead,” Colton says.

“Perfect,” I walk around to face them both, raising my camera and aiming, “pose and smile, please.”

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