That’s what does it.
I physically hear her heart break. It explodes inside her and comes out of her mouth in the most daunting and painful cry. She shakes her head, clinging to me like she’ll bottle all this back up again if she doesn’t. I think she’s desperate to feel it this time. In a place where she’s safe.
So we sit there.
I stare at those bills on the table, and she lets out tears she’s been holding in since she was eleven.
CHAPTER THIRTY
arden
I’mat work when my phone starts blowing up. Every three seconds, it’s vibrating in my pocket. I’m working solo today. No Whit. No Autumn. Either something happened with my dad, or hell is freezing over. Nobody should be contacting me this much.
I stealthily pull my phone out of my scrubs as I stroll down the hall, my brow furrowing at the mounting notifications. Whitney, Autumn, both of my sisters, Penny, Noah… Carter. Lots from Carter.
Serena’s text is the most recent, so that’s the one I open first.
Serena
Oh my god! The nerve! Have you seen this?
She sends me the link to a social media post. My stomach sinks when I see the bruised face of the man who squeezed my ass all of those weeks ago. That’s him. That’s Collin. It’s a video from his public account, and in a fancy font, he’s titled it:
POV: you were assaulted by a beastly defenseman.
Oh, hell no.
I watch in horror as Collin retells the story, including a couple of significant tweaks that are completely untrue. My gut sinks as he talks. He never mentions Carter by name, but his Forkerro jersey is hanging from the curtain rod behind his head. He’s treading carefully, saying a lot without saying much at all. He’s coming forward publicly without risking any legal repercussions.
To sum up his bullshit: He stumbled into me. Apparently. Then, Carter went crazy.
I know that isn’t true. Carter knows that isn’t true. Collin knows that isn’t true.
My blood is positively boiling, staring at his bruised face, knowing he filmed this ages ago and likely waited for everything to calm down before he sent it all back up into flames again.
I pick up the phone and dial my fake boyfriend.
He answers instantly. “Red.”
“Are you okay?” I ask quickly, sliding into an on-call room. “I just saw.”
He lets out a long breath. “Areyouokay?”
“Carter, I’m fine,” I bite out, running a hand over my face. “I… He’s lying. About you. You… You didn’t just attack him fornothing.”
“We know he’s lying,” he reminds me gently. “That’s all that matters. We have the truth on our side. He doesn’t.”
“It’s a smear campaign.”
“Of course it is,” he says, and the calmness in his tone soothes my panic. “But we knew it was coming. I’m showing up to everything I have to show up to. I’m being a good citizen. My lawyer is handling everything. He’s just…embarrassed, I think. Apparently, someone leaked his name this morning and this came shortly after.”
“He didn’tstumble,” I seethe.
“I know, Bub. I know,” he says softly. “It was going to get worse before it got better. It’s why we worked to get ahead of this. The public already knows what he did to you. I told them. Only a moron would believe this guy now.”
“But what if they do?” I whisper, leaning against the wall.
“Then they do,” he says simply. “Ididhit him. I’m owning that. Anything else he wants to aim at us, we’ve got it covered.”
