Punchable.
“Hey, that was all me,” he said with that same arrogance. “You heard him. He loved my reel.”
He did, but not for the reason Josh thought.
At Tripp’s suggestion, I’d asked for the reel to lend credibility to our story. We didn’t have to watch it, but curiosity got the better of us last night when we’d been going over everything at Tripp’s.
Maddie had insisted we make it a whole experience, so the four of us had settled into the recliners upstairs.
At first, I’d been salty about using the media room for the first time for something like that, but it ended up being perfect.
Well, the opposite of perfect, but that was what made it so good.
Maddie and I had tossed our popcorn the moment Josh’s face filled the large screen. We should’ve held off since it only went downhill from there. Like an episode ofMystery Science Theater 3000, we’d spent the whole time cracking jokes and mocking his wooden performances that relied heavily on his brooding smolder.
His expressions were so bad, I doubted he could pull off a corpse or zombie.
If it were anyone else, I might’ve felt bad. But it wasn’t, so I didn’t.
I was scrambling, trying to figure out what to say.
But again, the effort wasn’t needed.
“If I were you,” Josh started before leaning close to scan me. “I’d get used to working with me. If that’s too hard for you, then youshould quit now. Because if you get in my way or try to make this difficult, I’ll go live on every platform. Get on every news program. Go viral with every gossip vlogger. One misstep, and I’ll blast my videos far and wide so everyone sees how guilty your dad is.”
How did I ever love him?
I used to think his cockiness was endearing. I would make excuses for his inattentiveness. Justifications for his selfishness.
But he’d always been his mother’s son.
A spoiled dickhead.
I knew I wasn’t hiding my reaction well when he looked down at me and smirked. “Do the smart thing. Quit now.”
“That’s not very nice,” Easton said as he came into the room, his voice gruffer than usual.
Tripp followed him in, his forced smile in place as he slammed the door and leaned against it. “I know. It makes me want to rescind my generous offer.”
Josh returned the smile with a strained laugh. “I’m just fucking around?—”
“Hold on. Let me confer with my counsel.” Tripp’s words reminded me of the Alex interaction at his birthday party. “Can I legally rescind the offer?”
A rare glimpse of amusement lightened Easton’s face as he shrugged. “You could if it was a real offer.”
“What?” Josh’s gaze darted between the two men, and he looked every bit the immature boy he was. “What’re you talking about?”
That brief bit of humor was gone just as fast when Easton moved to stand across from Josh. “Were you aware that California is an all-party consent state?”
My ex jolted out of his seat like his ass was on fire, and his arms shot up. “I don’t know what she told you, but everything we did was consensual.”
Tripp looked enraged at the reminder that I was standing next to a man I’d dated.
Easton just looked like he was praying for patience as he closed his eyes for a long second. “With recordings,” he clarified. “An all-party consent with recordings.”
The blank look he got made the answer clear.
“Do you know what an all-party consent state is?”
