Page 237 of Call the Shots
“I put a fucking gag order on you.”
“Because of the NDA, Marrs would want to keep the lawsuit quiet, your parents would want to keep it quiet, my parentswould want to keep it quiet, look at my fucking face and tell me any judge wouldn’t want to keep this off my record—you know what’ll bepermanent?”
“Get the fuck away from me?—”
“We both know why it was so easy for you to take down Bear’s nudes—because he’s a fucking guy! Yours are going to be fifty times harder. Politician’s daughter, football player’s girlfriend? Your stuff will be on every hard drive for a hundred years!”
“I don’tcare!”
“You know who’ll care? Every future employer!” He laughed. “Not to mention the texts! I could change timestamps, make fake ones, it wouldn’t matter!”
I stopped at the start of the parking lot, breathing hard. My hands were shaking, I felt like a caged animal.
“They’re not pulling me into some behavioral meeting,” he warned. “You don’t know the kind of damage Bear did to my reputation. What were you thinking, I’d let thisgo?They want to cut me out of everything—I’ll have nothing left!”
“That’s your fucking fault.”
“No, it’s yours, because you ignored the rules of our game—you were supposed to keep itbetweenus. Instead, you had to open your legs for?—”
I punched him in the face, and he stumbled back. The punch wasn’t good enough, I used my fingernails, clawing at him in any way to get purchase but he was way stronger than me, and easily shoved me away.
“Go right ahead, you cantry,” he said. “Do it with witnesses though.”
I recoiled, fumbling for my bag.
“That golf cart you ran into the lake, screaming at me at the office, taking my furniture, purposely staying on campus so you’d be close to me—you’remy psycho ex!” he taunted. “Youknow how easy this’ll be to sell? Go ahead, hit me! It’ll look great!”
I scrambled away from him, and he grabbed my bag, jerking me back. My heart leaped to my throat. “Let go,let go!”
“You might as well play along,” he warned. “You don’t have a choice.”
I spentthe night in a hotel, frantically texting my friends. The picture of the fight had been sent to King’s coach and most of our friends—it’d been awful.
At least him and his coach talked it out, but there was no way that’d happen with the rest of it. Because it’d be out of the program’s hands and on every front page.
My stomach rolled when Xavier texted me again.
Unknown Number
My house - 5pm
Before we leftGianna’s,Xavier said he had the perfect opportunity to begin the fake relationship. His parents were throwing a summer party for friends and family. It’d be a trial run before my apology tour.
I had no fucking intention of going through with it.
Fine, I couldn’t stop Xavier from posting everything, but I could slow him down.
There were three things I needed to get before I left his house—the folders, Xavier’s phone, and his laptop. I’d bring them to Cleo and hopefully prevent the floodgates for King. I knew I wasn’t thinking clearly. The heartbreak with Bear threatened to spill over and I pushed it down, struggling to focus. I couldmourn later, right now, I stuck to being numb. Going through the motions like a robot.
With a deep breath, I knocked on the front door to his parent’s house. Xavier’s mother opened it. “June!” Her forehead crinkled. “You look…tired?”
“Did you tell Bear about the party?”
“Bear?” Shawna repeated.
“The stepson you’ve ignored all his life.”
Her eyes almost popped out of her head. “Why would you say something so nasty?”
