Page 16 of Cocky Brutal Sinner

“He’s so upset,” Cat says. “Some old blog post went viral and cost him this huge deal. The guys are losing their minds trying to figure out who writes it.”

Eden frowns. “Wait, how do they not know?”

“It’s an anonymous blog,” Pippa explains. “This person, Peppermint, has been writing about our friends for years. She published some shitty interview with a girl Luke hooked up with, spilling details about his whole kinky sex life.”

Eden’s face turns pink. “His what?”

“You can spare us the details,” Maura says drily.

“All I’ll say is, take Fifty Shades and multiply it,” Pippa says. “Anyway, there was this whole morality clause mix-up and Luke lost a big deal over it. It’s so puritanical. Like, so what? The guy likes sex. It’s not a crime.”

Eden glances at me. “I’m sure Brinley doesn’t want to talk about all that.”

I sure don’t. Eden has no idea how much I wish someone would change the subject. I just know that it can’t be me. Long ago, I figured out the safest way to keep people from connecting me and Peppermint was to talk about her and the Toronto Tea as little as possible.

“I feel bad for Luke,” Maura says. “James told me he’s pretty shook up about it.”

“Of course he is!” Pippa nods. “But can I say something controversial?”

“Would saying no stop you?” Cat jokes.

Pippa laughs. “I have to admit, whoever writes the Toronto Tea is kind of funny sometimes, even if this one went too far.”

“I thought you hated them for writing about you and Ryan,” Cat says.

“Of course I do. But before I ended up in their crosshairs, I’d read it for fun. The writing’s good, especially Peppermint’s. She’s got the whole furious feminist thing that can be really refreshing.”

Any other day, I’d be thrilled to hear Pippa praise Peppermint’s writing. Now, though, my stomach churns. All I can do is sip my coffee and pray for the conversation to be over fast.

“Do you have any idea who it could be?” Eden asks.

“No. The guys are thinking maybe a coworker, or a journalist operating off tips,” Cat says.

“Honestly, whoever writes it clearly knows them personally. The details are too specific,” Pippa muses.

My hand tightens around my coffee mug. Shit. What she’s saying is unnervingly close to the truth. What if she tells Ryan? What if the guys have already realized that?

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out. Some of the tension eases from my stomach when I see that it’s Beau—or rather, it’s Kathy, the fake name I put on Beau’s contact. The last thing I need is for someone to see his name on my phone and wonder why Beau would text me.

Beau

Can I come over tonight? Is it okay with Eden there?

A new knot forms in my chest. We’ve always met at my place, with Luke living in Beau’s building. Now that Eden’s my roommate, it changes things. Tonight will be the first time we’ve been a couple in front of someone we actually know. Before this, our relationship existed in a vacuum. No witnesses, no one watching us.

“Hey, Eden,” I murmur quietly. “Wanna go to the biography section with me? There’s a book I wanted to show you.”

Her eyes widen with curiosity, but she nods and follows me to the other side of the shop. I hand her Julia Fox’s autobiography and lean in close.

“Is it cool if Beau comes over tonight?”

“Really?” she squeaks, way too loudly. “Finally, I get to meet this mystery man and judge if he’s worth all this secrecy.”

My eyes narrow. “You have to be nice to him, Eden.”

“I’ll be good,” she says, waving a dismissive hand in a way that tells me she has no intention of following through. It was probably too much to expect, anyway.

“At least be cool about it around the girls, okay?” I mutter. “Seriously, Eden. This isn’t a game. If you slip up in front of anyone—a look, a comment, anything—it’s all over.”