Page 50 of Sacred Vow
He steals my phone right out of my hands, his concern gaining Caesar’s attention, and I watch as the two of them look over my phone, both clearly needing some sort of explanation as to why there’s awkward waxing porn all over my screen. “So, you know that unfortunate live video?”
“Yeah,” Zeph laughs as Caesar looks up at me, his gaze narrowed, clearly having no idea what I’m talking about, but Imight as well explain it. After the spinning dildo unicorn video, it’s not as though I could possibly humiliate myself anymore.
“Last week I was in my bathroom, having a little private moment dealing with the removal of some unfortunate body hair, and I had propped my camera up on the edge of the tub to get a better view, you know, and as I was waxing, I realized that I was actually livestreaming to basically the whole college campus.”
Caesar just gapes at me. “Does trouble follow you everywhere you go?”
“I don’t think it follows me, I think I’m just it,” I explain. “I seem to have this natural ability to humiliate myself in the most horrendous ways.”
“I’m getting that,” he says before indicating my phone. “So, what the fuck is happening here?”
I let out a breath. “It’s stupid, really, but this asshole has basically been trolling me ever since. He’s a nobody, using fake accounts to slut-shame me. Though it’s not like I was doing anything remotely sexual in the video. I mean, sure, I had my junk out, but I was just waxing, and yet this guy just won’t let it go. It’s been all week. It started with these disgusting comments on my photos, and when I blocked him, he just opened a new account and kept going. It’s annoying and all, but I could handle it at first. Now though? I don’t know. This makes me feel uncomfortable. Posting still shots of my cooch online for literally anyone to see is taking it too far.”
“Let me look into it,” Caesar says, taking my phone right out of Zeph’s hands and clicking into the settings.
“No, I can’t ask you to do that,” I tell him. “I’m sure you have more than enough going on with your usual day-to-day stuff. You don’t need to be fussing about me. I can handle it. Besides, it’s bound to blow over sooner or later. It’s not as though Irespond to the guy. He’ll get bored and move on to his next target in no time.”
“No,” Caesar says, his tone suggesting that I shouldn’t argue with him. “I work in security. I’ve seen this type of thing before. It needs to be dealt with before it escalates into something worse. He’s already started to post explicit images of you without your consent. It only gets worse from here.”
Horror pulses through my veins, realizing Caesar might be right. I’ve never had to deal with something like this before, but if it’s already creeping me out and this is only the beginning, I can’t imagine what this asshole has in store for me.
“Okay,” I finally say while making a mental note to look into Caesar’s work. How did I not know that he’s in security? Though that could mean a million different things. What kind of security? Soldiers for hire? Or are we talking something a little tamer, like private investigators? Either way, consider me officially intrigued.
Caesar takes down some details before finally handing my phone back when I turn to Zeph and catch his eye. “Speaking of creepy dudes, I met your friend Jordan.”
Zeph just grins. “Ahh, shit. I was wondering when this was going to come up.”
My brow arches, unsure why he seems so amused. There was nothing amusing about it at all, though I suppose I don’t know how the story has been portrayed to him. “What do you mean?” I ask, leaning against the counter and noticing the way Caesar hovers, not even trying to pretend that he’s not listening.
Zeph gives me a guilty smirk and rolls his eyes as though he’s already sorry for what’s about to come out of his mouth. “He said you were a bitch.”
I push back against the counter, shock blasting through my veins like an electric shock. “The fuck? Me?” I question, my brows flying up. “How am I the bitch when he was the ass wholiterally chased me down on the sidewalk and said that because I sucked your dick, that automatically means I should be getting on my knees for him, then proceeded to get pissy with me because I said no.”
Zeph gapes at me, uncertainty flashing in his eyes as Caesar crosses his arms over his big chest. “No shit,” Zeph says. “That’s not exactly the story I was told.”
“Right,” I scoff. “Because he’s really going to come right out and tell you that he was a predator chasing girls on the street. Did he conveniently forget to tell you that after I told him no, he said that I was still going to end up on my knees anyway, and that I shouldn’t try to fight it like some creepy perv with a rape fetish? I had to keep checking over my shoulder on my way home to make sure he wasn’t following me.”
Caesar steps closer to me. “The fuck did you just say?”
“No,” Zeph cuts in, his brows creased with concern. “That couldn’t be right. Are you sure you’re thinking of the same guy? There are a few Jordans on campus. Some of them are real pieces of work. Could you be talking about one of those guys?”
I shake my head. “I’m more than sure. He specifically made a point to tell me how you like to brag about all the things that we do, which is partly where his entitlement came from. He seems to think that just because I’m down to mess around with you means I should automatically be compliant in allowing the same for him.”
Zeph pushes away from the kitchen island, putting some space between us and leaning against the fridge instead. “It doesn’t make any sense. Jordan’s never been this way before. I mean, yeah, he’s odd, but he’s not dangerous.”
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know the guy. I have no reason to lie to you. I can only say what my experiences are with the guy, and he’s absolutely a creep. But not just to women. He seems to have some weird hang-up aboutyou, too. It’s almost as though he needs to have what you have, share in your experiences, or something like that. I don’t know if that’s a bromance thing or what, but the whole time I was with him, alarm bells were going off in my head. Women’s intuition is never wrong.”
Zeph almost looks heartbroken, and as he glances up at me, the overwhelming need to step into his arms and make the pain go away begins to flood me. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah, Zeph. Positive.”
“Fuck.”
I give him a tight smile, and as the kitchen falls into silence, I find myself watching Zeph. He really seems to be struggling with believing me, but Caesar hasn’t questioned me once. He took my word for it, right from the beginning, and that right there is the difference between a man and a boy.
Don’t get me wrong, I have every intention of keeping Zeph in my life. He’s incredible. He’s one of the most genuine people I know, and even during this past week and a half, it’s become more than clear to me that he has a big heart. He’s charming and sexy and has a personality that could have any woman falling madly in love with him, but when it comes to the sexual relationship between us, it might be time to reconsider.
We’re more than compatible between the sheets. He physically can satisfy every need within me. There’s definitely a sexual and physical attraction there. How could there not be? He’s the twenty-two-year-old version of his father. But when it comes to the man I want occupying my time, Caesar is where it’s at. There’s an emotional maturity, a firm understanding of what he really wants and how to get it, but there’s also a strong moral compass. He knows the difference between right and wrong, and he doesn’t allow his beliefs to waver. His confidence is single-handedly the most attractive trait I have ever come across.
