I walked out of the bedroom and stared at the window which looked in on Drake’s living room. Someone sneaking around outside in the dark could’ve taken photos of us easily. They could still be taking photos.

I scrambled back into the bedroom and pulled on whatever I could grab first. In one of their t-shirts, I rushed back out and hurried to the window to yank the curtains shut.

“Sonnie?” Cole turned to face me and moved closer to touch my face. “You’re completely pale.”

I held my phone up to him and jabbed my finger at the window. “Someone took pictures of us. In here. On the couch.”

My voice shook and it pissed me off that I felt so close to crumbling. I scrubbed my hands over my face and tried to think of what I needed to do. I had to call Rosie. I had to call Gia back. I… It dawned on me that there was no one else in the world thatI needed to call and explain things to. There was no one else who cared.

“Jesus. Just get rid of her and we can start working out how to fix this.” The woman had taken off her suit jacket and tossed it casually over one of Drake’s barstools. “Do you still keep ice cream in the fridge, D? I’m going to need something sweet if I have to deal with this shit.”

I tilted my head and studied her. She’d said the house was once hers, too. She knew about the ice cream, which really pissed me off for some reason. She looked downright comfortable moving around Drake’s house. Whatever Drake was saying back to her was lost on me because I was looking between the two of them and understanding they’d once been an item. A pretty serious one, if they’d lived together.

My stomach dropped and I blew out a slow breath. I didn’t know why my soul felt like it was getting stepped on because Drake had once been serious with the she-devil digging into his homemade ice cream. I had no claim over any of the men. I’d just been tasked with fake dating Drake, but I’d managed to fuck that up royally. Kissing the three of them in public was my doing. Since the fake dating was out, I had no more business hanging out, being in their way as they tried to clean up the mess I made. Plus, I had no interest in seeing Drake interact with his ex.

I started gathering my things and working out how I was going to get home. I was halfway to the bedroom when Drake grabbed my arm and turned me to face him. I blinked up at him and frowned. I hated that the woman insulting me knew about his ice cream. It made me angry, which I understood made no sense, but I couldn’t help it.

“Hey, you’re not leaving. None of us want you to leave.” He tried to pull me into his chest but I planted my hands against him and stopped him.

“I want to go home.”

He swore and ran his hands through his hair. “Let’s get dressed and the four of us can talk about this. I’m sorry this happened, Cupcake. I know this isn’t what you signed up for. We’ll fix it, though. Somehow. We’ll figure out a way to protect you.”

All my anger dissipated and I pressed my face into his chest. “It’s my fault. I’m so sorry.”

“See? She gets it. She’s not as dumb as she looks. She caused this. Get rid of her. Now.” Samantha The Worst rolled her eyes at me and sighed. “If she starts crying, I swear I’ll throw her out myself.”

CHAPTER 22

Sonnie

“Holy shit, lady, cut your bullshit!” I pulled away from Drake to move across the room so I could look the bully in her face. “I get it. You’re the perfect caricature of the bitter ex who never managed to extract herself from the man’s life. You’re playing up the asshole part a little strong, though. I realize this situation sucks. I can assure you I didn’t plan on the fucking country finding out about my night. So, I’m going to need you to keep your petty insults to yourself and try to remember any manners you might’ve picked up on your journey up from whatever level of hell you were spawned in. And that’s not your ice cream.”

She stared back at me in shocked silence as I grabbed the ice cream she’d been eating and put the lid back on before I shoved it back in the freezer. The bite she had on her spoon slid off and landed on her pristine white shirt, but she still didn’t move.

Drake stood next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Sonnie isn’t going anywhere. You fought to stay on as our manager, Samantha. Do your job. You and the publicist can figure out how to take care of it.”

She gaped up at him. “What are you talking about, Drake? How am I supposed to just take care of this if you’re going to keep her around? The publicist told me you were going to publicly date one of the women on the preapproved list. You can’t be serious about this woman. Jesus, tell me you’re joking.”

Cole stood next to me and slid his hand possessively over my ass. “I won’t speak for Drake or Price, but I’m keeping Sonnie around for as long as she’ll let me.”

Price moved to our side of the counter. “Same. Although, after your shit, I’m afraid she won’t see the benefits of being with us outweighing the bad.”

I met his gaze and sent him a wobbly smile. I felt sick and wanted to lie down and cry, but I was stronger than that and Iwasn’t going to crumble in front of Samantha. “I mean, there’s homemade ice cream. That outweighs a lot of things.”

Samantha let out a strangled sound. “Fine. Fine. If y’all are insisting on this being something you’re doing for the moment, I’ll figure something out. I’ll meet with your publicist and see if we can’t spin this for the brand.”

Drake nodded. “That’s all you need to do. Just your job. If you can’t keep it professional with the woman we date, you’ll need to find a different job. You’ve overstepped before but this was too much.”

“You can’t fire me, Drake. You know that.”

“No, I know that when we divorced eight years ago, I was too broke to figure out how to get away from you. You see the checks coming in. You know I make enough money now to find a way to rid myself of you. You need to have a reality check and ask yourself if you really want to chance that.” Drake took a deep breath and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “If you want to keep your job, you’ll remember that.”

Samantha leveled a hard stare at me. “I’m going to work my ass off to make sure you and your reputation doesn’t tarnish theirs. Make sure you do the same.”

She stomped out and took all my confidence with her. I suddenly felt every bit of sleep I’d missed over the last three years. I ran my hand through my tangled hair and blew out a shaky breath. I wasn’t sure what’d just happened, but the anxiety I felt creeping up told me it was massive. I sagged against the counter and ran my hand over my face. My body didn’t feel like my own. Things were just too out of control.

“Come on. Let’s sit down and talk about this.” Drake took my hand and pulled me towards the bedroom. “Obviously, this wasn’t exactly what we planned, but we’ll figure it out.”