Page 54 of Inked Beasts

“Everyone was asking about you, and I didn’t know what to tell them.”

I make a small sound of acknowledgement to fill the silence. It occurs to me to point out that he could and should have told his family that we broke up and that’s all they needed to know, but the urge to be confrontational has left me.

“I don’t want to spend Christmas without you, baby. When are you coming home?”

Does he truly care for me, or does he hate being single? Maybe showing up to his family holiday alone was a blow to his ego.

But Scott has always had other options. I’ve seen other women checking him out, even when I was with him. He’s an attractive man, so if it was simply about image and companionship, I’m sure he could have found someone to replace me.

“We need a chance to work things out,” he says. “You can’t just throw away all of the years we’ve spent together.”

Is that what I’m doing?

“What do you say, babe? Are you ready to come home?”

“I … I don’t know.”

Is Atlanta still my home? Maybe I could build the kind of family there that I’ve always envisioned myself having. Maybe, here in Las Vegas, I’ve been trying to fit myself into memories of the past rather than creating my future.

LEXY

The unsettling calls keep coming.

The next day, it’s Ava.

“Been on any social media apps lately?” she asks without preamble.

I’m still half focused on an email I was composing when she called, so I answer distractedly. “Only on my work account, I think. What’s up? Something I need to see?”

My brain catches up then, and I realize that her tone, like my dad’s yesterday, does not hold the promise of a pleasant call. In fact, the bearer-of-bad-news vibe is heavy when she says, “You might want to check your mentions.”

I reach for my cell phone and bring one up. “What’s going on, Ava?”

The number of notifications are alarming.

“Are you looking?” she asks. I can see her cringing in my mind’s eye as clearly as if we were FaceTiming.

There are pictures. “Shit!” I say, keeping my voice low, remembering my surroundings. I scroll to find more and more pictures. Kai kissing my hand. Gage kissing my lips. Me hugging each of them goodbye.

Those were clearly taken at Beasts Ink, but there are more. Gage and I walking down the street together, Kai opening his car door for me, my head resting against Thorn’s back while he’s giving me a ride on his bike.

They’re like paparazzi pictures, but they may have been taken by fans.

“Did you find the posts?” Ava asks.

“I found a lot.” More curse words come, but I keep them in my head.

There are video clips, too. And captions.

And comments. So many comments.

“Look at this slut.” “Fame wh*re” “Is she trying to date all three of them?”

My stomach churns, and I’d run to the bathroom if only I could stop scrolling.

“You okay, Lexy?”

“No.”

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