Page 61 of L.O.V.E

“And felt the need to show it to everyone in the goddamn bar? Why? Because she dumped your sorry ass? You bitter fucking prick.”

“Again, why the fuck do you care?”

“You know what this will do to Ellis and Lacey.”

The weight of a two-ton puzzle crashed over me, pieces clicking into place, crushing my body.

Ellis and Lacey. Video?

My drug stupor lifted. “What video?” I yelled over the angry voices.

“The fuck?” one of the men grumbled.

“What goddamn video are you talking about?”

The curtain rustled. Martin came around the corner, his face a bloody, swollen mess. “Nats?” His lower lip was two sizes larger than normal. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Natalie?” the other man said. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

More rustling. Martin was shoved aside. A bloody and not as bruised as Martin, but still damaged Cole, stepped into my field of vision, blocking everything out of sight.

“What the hell?” His fingers were on my face, too delicate for a man his size, too tender for a man who wasn’t mine. “Who did this to you?”

Heart racing, my breaths came jagged. “What video?” I asked again, terrified of the answer.

Cole only stared at me, jaw tight, gaze hard.

His chest rose and fell four times before I shouted again, “What video?”

Nothing.

“Martin?” I tried to peek around Cole. “Martin! What video?”

Martin stood at the end of my bed. Bloodshot eyes, three-day stubble. He pulled his cell from his back pocket.

“Don’t fucking do it, man,” Cole warned.

“Yes,” I argued, pushing Cole away from me. “Show me.”

I knew. In my gut, I sensed what was coming.

Martin thumbed his screen, his tongue darting out to lick the cut on his lip. He handed me the phone.

And there it played in glorious HD.Thevideo. The culmination of my years of suffering under the sadistic hand of Victoria Ford.

The image of me, a naked white girl, smashed between two large, dark, muscular bodies—my twin cousins—seemingly entwined in passion.

“Hey,” Martin smirked. “If I’d known you were into that kinky shit—”

Cole’s fist hit Martin’s face, laying him down for the count.

I couldn’t find it in me to care about Martin.

I needed so desperately for Cole not to jump to conclusions. “It’s not what you think.”

“Doesn’t matter what I think. This is bullshit. The fucking video should not be passed around.”

“That was high school,” I muttered.

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