Page 126 of My Secret Bandit

And ah! Yes, Peter! The kind of nerdy, Mateo super fan who was geeked as shit to be in his house.

“The kid that came in to set up and left?”

She nodded.

“Okay, yeah. I remember.”

“Well,” she took a deep breath and mine stopped completely. Then the sound of the front door slamming, and an echoing “fuck!“ caught our attention. Xander hadn’t seen us yet. He was too busy staring at his own phone.

“You’ve seen it?” Sierra asked.

“Fuck yeah. I’ve seen it,” he responded, running an irritated hand through his hair.

“Seen what?” I asked. They kept alluding to this “it” without offering an explanation. I went lightheaded thinking over all the scenarios.

Did Mateo get cut?

Did someone else get hurt?

God! Did someone else die?

“Jamie, you good?” Xander asked, his hand on my shoulder taking in what had to be the palest I’ve ever looked.

“No, I’m not good. What isit? What’s the fucking problem?“ My breath came in shallow, and I fought to draw in even one deep, satisfying breath.

My friends exchanged a look. Like neither wanted to be the first one to talk. Then Sierra turned into him and the look he gave her was pained. Something secret and private passed between them. I couldn’t place it and didn’t have time to dwell on it before Xander started.

“So, Rose found out her assistant was stealing from her. She fired him. I guess a couple days ago he broke into her studio and stole her computer.”

That sucks. I’m sure she has a lot of work saved to it, a lot of photos.

Then realization hit. My eyes bulged out of my head and it was the damn article all over again.

“He has my pictures.”

“Hehadyour pictures,“ Sierra corrected.

“Well, where the fuck are they?” My voice raised an octave while they busied themselves playing thewho wants to talk firstgame again.

“Stephanie has them. Peter sold them to her. She’s already posted one,” Sierra explained.

This is a joke. Right? It must be.

I gave an unenthusiastic laugh and slid passed them back toward the house.

Stephanie’s name hasn’t even been whispered in months, so why now?

“Nice try, guys. You almost got me.”

“Jamie!” The seriousness in Xander’s voice held enough power that my legs grew roots and kept me from moving any further up the driveway. “This isn’t some fucked up prank. This is real.”

“She tagged you… and Mateo,” Sierra added.

“Let’s see it,” I said, my voice stern.

Sierra gave in first. With a long sigh, she flipped it between her fingers and held it out for me. A push of the screen lit up a picture of me on Mateo’s bed with my nipples barely blurred by white lace for all the world to see.

Fucking outstanding.

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