Page 97 of Winning You
“And Elodie?”
“Briar already has her. This could be a problem. She’s going to teach her all her thieving ways,” Lucas heard Bowen say, walking up to hug him too.
Lucas squeezed him tight. “Look, I’m the bard, Gage is the Barbarian. Our party could always use a new thief or two.”
“I am so annoyed I know what that shit means now,” Bowen said, knocking his side gently. “Also, I think your boyfriend is one of us already. Adele just gave me a thumbs-up.”
Lucas felt something unknot in his chest. “And no one is going to give him shit about his age?”
“I wouldn’t put it past Frey,” Bowen said. “But I think…Frankie, right?” Lucas nodded. “I think Frankie can take it. Besides, Frey’s excited about having another little one around.”
Lucas grinned, and then he heard more familiar footsteps on the deck. “Would you all quit hogging my best friend? I already have to share his time with his new boyfriend. I put in all the work on him, so I should be reaping these rewards. All of you, fucking shoo!”
Lucas burst into laughter as Gage wrapped around him. He was hugging him a little tighter than normal, and Lucas knew in that moment something was wrong. He turned his head. “Frankie?”
“Here, p—uh. To your left.” Lucas knew he had almost stumbled over the nickname they’d both agreed not to use tonight. He’d let that one slide.
“I’m going inside with Gage for a bit. All of you, if you aren’t really fucking nice to him and make him feel like he’s a king in this castle, I will never cook for you again.”
Everyone burst into laughter, but Lucas knew it was a heavy threat. They all loved his cooking a little too much. He turned back to Gage.
“Let’s go to your old room. You sound like you need to talk.”
Gage let out a trembling breath. “It’s bad.”
“Okay. Lead the way.”
Lucas wasn’t as familiar with the inside of this house as he had been with the one that had burnt down, but the layout wasn’t entirely different. And Gage’s old room hadn’t been changed much, so Lucas was able to find his old spot on the bed by the L shape in the wall and settle in as Gage flopped beside him.
The room was quiet for a long, long while.
“I’ve been getting texts,” he finally said.
“Okay…”
“I think they’re from…from them.” It was obvious he didn’t want to say their names. “I’m not sure which one. But they have…they have video of me. They sent me a clip.”
Lucas felt a new emotion in his body—white-hot and overwhelming. It raced up his spine, and for the first time in his life, he understood how someone could commit actual murder. “What’s on the video?”
“Me. Passed out. They’re making me drink something. Um. They…” He let out a rough breath. “They said they’ll post all of it if I don’t agree to the paternity thing so they can get benefits. And they said she’s going to sue me for child support.”
Lucas took a fortifying breath, his brain switching into logic, problem-solving mode because it was the only thing that saved him from losing control of his emotions. His brain filtered through all the information it had.
“Tell them you want proof of what they did. The video of it. Tell them you don’t believe them.”
“What?” Gage whispered, sounding shattered. “I don’t want to see that.”
“I know, babe. I know. But it’s proof of what they did. The very illegal thing they did.”
Gage was quiet for too long.
“Get the proof and turn it in.”
He could hear Gage swallowing several times in a row. “You think? What if they delete it?”
“Nothing is ever gone for good. Do you know how many true crime podcasts I listen to?” Lucas said. He was telling the truth. It was too fucking many. “There are people who can find anything. Even if they throw the phone away, if it’s on their server or whatever it is, they can recover it.”
“It could work,” Gage said after a long beat. “But I can’t watch it.”
