Page 61 of The Last Love Song
Shit. He cursed that word and a whole lot more, his brain reeling from the images he’d seen. Images that were definitely not Megan Bryer, but pictures digitally altered to look like her. Anyone would know it was the work of malicious slander. But ohshit.
Her father would be devastated if he saw that page. Any father would. But most of all, Megan must be humiliated.
Plus, Heather had told him how overprotective Dan Bryer could be when it concerned his daughter. The girl needed adult help. She had a serious cyberbully, and whoever it was didn’t settle for just calling her names. The smut on that page—directed at an underage teen—was horrifying. As tough as it might be for Megan’s father, it would be worse for Megan. The emotional consequences of that kind of public abuse could drive a teen to desperate acts, a risk Zach would not take.
He’d call Sam and involve law enforcement. Let them handle getting in touch with Megan’s father. And no matter how much he didn’t want to cause Heather more stress, Zach planned to give her a heads-up. For one thing, he felt as if he owed her that much since she’d asked him to wait until she spoke to Megan.
For another, he refused to keep secrets from her. She’d been hurt that he hadn’t divulged the news of the missing townmoney sooner, and he’d sat on that for all of a day because he’d thought he could fix it. Yet, she’d been keeping her health issues hidden for months, and she must know there was no fix for her condition. How long did she plan to battle the disease by herself? Zach knew firsthand how much that kind of self-imposed emotional exile could be soul-destroying. Ellie had barely survived it.
Heather could choose to walk that lonely path by herself. As an adult, that was her right. But Megan didn’t get to make that choice. Not as long as Zach was around to help.
Discharge papers in hand,Heather waited on the curb outside the small medical facility as Zach pulled up in his SUV. After her conversation with Dr. Ruiz, things had moved quickly. She had a prescription for some temporary medications, but the doctor had insisted on follow-up care and had scheduled an appointment for Heather next week.
Her head spun with the new information about her condition, information she’d avoided hearing before tonight since she’d been afraid of what the disease meant for her future. But the doctor had been encouraging. The people who best managed RA were the patients who sought aggressive, regular treatment. Something Heather had planned on down the road. She simply hadn’t wanted to start off with that approach immediately. And to be honest, her pride had kept her from doing so because the effects of the drugs might be noticeable.
She breathed deeply. She needed to confront the next phase of her problem: explain to Zach why she hadn’t shared her health issue. Dreading that conversation on the long ride home, she allowed the hospital orderly to hand her into the vehicle. Herjoints weren’t quite as stiff and painful, thanks to a cortisone shot, but she didn’t exactly move fluidly. And she still felt drained.
Once the orderly closed the door, she glanced at Zach and tried to find the right words to explain herself. No easy feat when his jaw was set, his cheek muscle working back and forth as if he were chewing over the harsh words he wanted to say.
As he pulled out of the parking lot onto the small county road that would lead back to the highway, he shot her a glance across the console. His amber eyes were serious, his expression grave.
“Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to go home?” he asked. “Do you need somebody to stay with you?”
“I’m better now,” she assured herself as much as him. “I’ll be fine once I get home. I’m just going to catch up on some sleep.”
His terse nod acknowledged the answer, but he was a long way from agreeing with it.
“You could call Bethany or Nina. I understand why you’re wary of telling your mother about this, but one of them could?—”
“I’m not burdening them with that.” She pulled the blanket tighter to her chin, grateful for the warmth and wishing she could turn back the clock to when they’d shared the same covers.
This was so not how she had wanted their night together to end.
“Your family would never view it as a burden. You know that.”
“I just want them to be happy for me when I leave, okay? I don’t want everyone second-guessing my decision and worrying about how long it will be before I give in and come back here.”
“You’re denying yourself a whole lot of support.” He quieted for a long moment, but she had nothing else to say on the subject. She wasn’t ready to share this news with her family.
He huffed out a long breath. “Okay. I get it. I disagree with your decision to deny yourself the help and support of a familywho loves you, but I understand it’s your business and not mine.”
“Thank you.” Her voice wavered. She cleared it and sat up straighter.
“I discovered a whole other problem while I was in that waiting room.” His expression remained grim. “Megan is in more trouble than we first realized.”
“What do you mean?” She chewed her lip, hating to think of her student battling more problems.
He picked up his phone where it had been sitting in the cup holder. Passing it to her, he flicked the screen to turn it on. “Take a look at the web browser. And brace yourself.”
Instantly, her focus shifted.
Shoving aside the discharge paperwork she’d been carrying, she tapped the button on his phone. The simple touch opened a page on the web.
“Oh my God.” She wanted to tap it closed again, her hands trembling with the urge to throw the phone aside like a poisonous thing. There hadn’t been a way to brace herself for what she’d just seen. She scanned the content from a popular social media community. It was set up to look like Megan’s profile, but the short description read as though she was a prostitute.
It related the information in the foulest terms possible, including detailed information about her services. The images on the page were clearly tampered with, the photos of an absurdly proportioned woman with Megan’s pretty face copied and pasted onto the shoulders of the mostly naked body.
“The page has already been removed from the site,” Zach informed her. “It looks like it was only posted briefly. But I’m not sure if the site took it down because of the violations of their rules, if Megan saw this and reported it, or if the bastard whoposted it in the first place thought the better of it and pulled it down himself.”
