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“She’s my everything, too,” Braden replied quietly. “I swear to you, Emmett, I never meant for this to happen.”
“You really expect me to believe that?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. This was spiraling out of control so fast. “He’s telling the truth, Dad. He was trying to protect me.”
“Protect you? With his dick?”
Heat flooded her cheeks at her father’s crude words. “Stop that. It’s not… you don’t know the whole story.”
“I know my supposed best friend apparently fucked my daughter. You think I don’t know what kind of club he runs? What it means for you to call him Daddy?”
“I really, really don’t want to think about that,” Lottie mumbled.
“That makes two of us.” Eyes blazing with fury, her dad turned back to Braden, who was watching the scene unfold with a carefully blank expression. “We’re fucking done, Braden. I don’t want you anywhere near me or my daughter ever again. Come one, Lottie, we’re going home.”
“Dad, no. I need you to listen.”
“There’s nothing he can say that will change my mind.”
“I did it for you!”
The words burst out of her, tiny little winged demons born of desperation. Braden and her father both froze in place and turned nearly identical confused expressions her way.
“You… slept with my best friend… for me?” Her dad’s voice was so full of pain, it threatened to shatter her heart. “I don’t understand.”
Oh, god. She’d never intended to tell him what she’d done. Even if she’d eventually caved to Braden’s pressure and told him why she’d put herself up for auction, she would have made him promise not to let her father know.
But it looked like that was no longer an option.
“I… I… I…” Air. She needed air, but she couldn’t seem to get it into her lungs.
“Charlotte. Explain. Now.”
Surprisingly, the whip crack of her Daddy’s voice seemed to break down the walls holding back her words, and they came pouring out of her in a rush. “I was at brunch with the girls, and it was my turn to pay but my credit cards kept getting declined, so I came home and I snuck on your computer to see what the problem was and I’m sorry, I know I’m not supposed to but I was sure it was just a glitch or something. But then I saw your accounts, and the gambling, and I didn’t know what to do, and then I found out about this auction and I just…” Feeling as helpless and alone as she had that day, she held out her hands. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“Gambling?”
“Auction?”
Their questions clashed in the air around her, and once again she couldn’t breathe. Suddenly, the thought of actually explaining everything was more than she could bear. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I can’t… I’m sorry.”
Half-blinded by tears, she shoved her chair back and raced for the front door, ignoring the voices calling her name. By some miracle, she made it all the way to her room without anyone catching her.
Yanking her phone from her pocket, she swiped at her eyes as she pressed buttons with trembling fingers.
“Frankie? Oh, thank god. I need somewhere to lay low for a bit. Does your dad still have that cabin?”
21
SHOW ME YOURS, I’LL SHOW YOU MINE
BRADEN
What the hell had just happened?
Sitting in his dining room, with one empty chair half-haphazardly shoved away from the table and his best friend still standing over him like some avenging God, Braden was, for once in his life, at a complete loss for what to do next.
He wanted to go after Charlotte, to hold her and comfort her and tell her everything would be okay. Before finally taking the virginity she’d been all but begging him to take.
