Page 119 of Keeper
The next picture was a video. The preview showed a still frame of Tanner’s Lamborghini in the parking lot. Tanner hesitated to press play. Like me, he probably knew in the bottom of his heart exactly what the video was the moment he saw the preview.
“Is this what I think it is?” he asked.
“Sure is,” I said with a sigh.
“Great,” he murmured.
After taking a breath to ready himself, he thumbed the play button, and the video began to play. Marta held the camera up against the window, offering us a glimpse through the car’s tinted glass. In the cabin of the car, two writing figures passionately made out in the driver’s seat. Completely oblivious to the fact we were being filmed, Tanner grabbed and spanked my ass while we locked lips.
That would be embarrassing enough for the world to see, obviously. But oh, it got so much worse. Marta aimed the camera lower at Tanner’s lap. My hand could clearly be seen inside Tanner’s waistband, vigorously pulling at a bulgein his pants. While we swapped tongues, the tent in his joggers went up and down, up and down.
“WELL WELL WELL! Imagine my surprise when I caught my former best friend and current PHOTOGRAPHER, giving a parking lot handie to MY photo shoot model like some kind of trashy truck stop hooker. Ainsley, of course, lied to me about this happening. She denied it until she was blue in the face. As if I weren’t there to witness it with my own two eyes or film it with my phone. And now she’s refusing to give me the photos that are rightfully mine. Since she won’t share the photos from that day, I thought it was only fair to show everyone this video, since it’s the only evidence I have of our photo shoot.”
“She was out therefilmingus?” Tanner muttered. “I had no idea. Damn, that’s creepy. Who does that?!”
“Marta. That’s who.” I grumbled. “I can’t get over how she says I ‘lied’ about it ever happening. That’s totally not true; she accused me of having sex with you in your car.That’swhat I denied, not that we were kissing. Obviously, I wasn’t going to correct her and say,no, we weren’t screwing, but as a matter of fact, Iwasjerking him under his joggers!”
Tanner laughed. “Seriously. Besides, there’s not nearly enough room to screw in this car.”
I laughed, too. “I can’t believe we’re laughing right now.”
“Hey, it’s the best medicine, right?”
“Yeah …” I sighed. “There’s one more picture, Tanner.”
“Great,” he said. “Here goes.”
I waited for him to swipe to the last picture, studying him with eagle eyes. Because how he reacted to this would determine a lot. Like if we had a future together or if we were already done.
Tanner swiped, and almost dropped his phone.
“Whoa!” he shouted, surprised. “Hey, what the fuck?” He turned to me, his gaze sharpening. “How’d she get this?!”
The last picture was the one Tanner sent me last night after our session over the phone: a mess of cum splattered across a rippling set of abs, and another black bar covering his spent cock.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I was hoping you’d know.”
The caption to Tanner’s picture read:
“Tanner Vaughn, Dallas Devils goalie and fuckboy extraordinaire, is known for pumping and dumping girls all the time. How do I know? Because he’s done it to several of my friends. If there’s any silver lining of this whole ordeal, it’s that there’s only a matter of time until he dumps Ainsley, too – since he’s ALREADY sharing this picture with the OTHER girls he’s trying to bang. Oops! He didn’t tell you that, did he, Ainsley? Sucks to be played, doesn’t it?”
I feared what Tanner’s answer would be, but Ihadto ask him.
“Tanner, I need you to be honest with me,” I began. “Is that true? Did you share that picture with anyone else?”
Please let the answer be no.
Because if Tanner sent that picture to someone else? I knew what it meant: we were over. The Devils boys were obviously very close, but Iseriouslydoubted he’d ever send a picture like that to any of his buddies. No, if he was sending that picture to anyone else, it’d be because of what Marta said—he was messaging other girls. And if Tanner was chasing other girls—while at thevery same timepretending to be this great, reliable, loyal guy with me—then obviously, we wouldn’t have a future together. And how could I ever trust a guy like that? How could I open my heart to a guy who asked me to be his girlfriend and introduced me to all his friends at the same time he was still trying to score ass on the side?
No, if he was doing that, we’d be done.
I stared at Tanner, my stomach twisting into knots as I awaited his answer.
“No, Ainsley,” he said, imploring me with his raw and vulnerable eyes. “I don’t know how she got that picture but I swear, I didn’t send that toanyoneelse but you. That was for your eyes only.”
“So you’re not messaging other girls?” I asked. “Please, I just need the truth.”
“No, I’m not messaging any other girls. No way. I wantyou.” He frantically shook his head and reached for my hand. “Yeah, okay, what Marta said about me being a fuckboy extreme or whatever—guilty as charged, man. I’ve spent the past few years sleeping around. I’ve been an asshole. I know that, I’m not proud of it, but I won’t lie about it and say it’s not true.”
