Page 11 of Cocky Brutal Sinner

Peppermint’s interview went viral, and Air Canada pulled the plug.

I switch back to the group chat.

Beau

Fuck, Luke, I’m sorry.

Luke

Don’t be sorry. Be mad. We’re going to catch this Peppermint asshole and make them wish they’d never been born.

James

Let’s not overreact.

Nate

James is right. Damage control first, revenge second.

I’m emailing you to loop you in with the UPS PR team. They can help draft a statement denying the article and plant some industry chatter that ending the deal was a mutual decision.

Ryan

Luke, are you home?

Luke

Seething and plotting on my sofa as we speak.

Ryan

I officially call a team meeting at Luke’s place. If we’re going to find Peppermint, we need a plan of attack.

Luke

FUCK YES. Get over here. Let’s fucking go.

Shit. This is bad. Really, really fucking bad.

Or maybe it’s not as bad as I think. Maybe the interview Peppermint published isn’t that bad, and everyone’s overreacting. Air Canada might see this blow over and start up the deal again. Luke might decide Peppermint isn’t worth chasing.

With that pleasant delusion in my mind, I open the link to the interview.

Which is even worse than I feared.

Peppermint: As regular readers know, I don’t usually publish interviews. But in this case, I think you’ll want to hear the news straight from the horse’s mouth. Today, I’m chatting with Jenna, which is of course not her real name. Jenna posted on Reddit about a bad experience dating the Twisted Devil himself, Luke Windsor. Turns out, he’s even more twisted than we thought. I reached out, and Jenna agreed to speak with me and answer all our burning questions. Jenna, thanks for chatting with me.

Jenna: Of course. I can’t wait for the world to hear just how messed up and nasty Luke is. I just want to make sure this never happens to another woman.

Peppermint: How long were you with Luke?

Jenna: Almost four months.

Peppermint: Really? Wow, I never heard of him having a girlfriend for that long before. He never found a woman he respected enough to spend more than five minutes with.

Jenna: It was an on-and-off thing. Like, he did take me out, but only like when it was convenient for him. He loved to play hot and cold with me. First he’d swear he didn’t want anything serious with me, but then we’d have the most insane sex. You can’t just separate stuff like that.

Peppermint: Does that mean your relationship was mostly built around sex?