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“Total little sister vibes.” Phoenix laughed.
“Shut up.” I purposefully elbowed him on my way past his seat to the side door.
“Stop,” Titus barked. “No leaving the vehicle.”
I huffed. “But they’re right there.”
“And so are they.” Titus pointed to three cars idling twenty feet away and pointing right at us. “It’s not a coincidence they got here a few minutes after us. I clocked at least ten other vehicles tailing us here from Kingston’s place. I guarantee you they didn’t give up and go home.”
I deflated, my excitement at seeing my parents for the first time in weeks draining away. “Oh.”
“Right now, Mak escorting a middle-aged couple out of the airport isn’t a story. But if the paps spot you, they’ll be all over your parents and you like that.” Titus snapped his fingers. “And as far as I know, that’s not the plan yet. Right?”
“Right,” I repeated weakly. Pivoting, I slunk into the captain chair behind the driver seat like a puppy with their tail between their legs. In all the lead up tothe plan, I forgot about this part. The part where I had to explain to my parents what hadhappened—how I was sleeping with my boss and how there were pictures of us doing so all over the internet.
I really didn’t want to tell my parents. Especially with an audience. What was I thinking? Maybe it wasn’t too late to back out now.
“Chin up, lil sis.” Phoenix leaned over and patted my back. “Here they come.”
The side door opened at the same time as the back hatch. My mom came scrambling into the SUV, with my dad on her heels, as Mak loaded their luggage into the back.
“Briar. Rose. St. Clair.” My mom glowered at me from the back seat next to Phoenix. “What on earth is going on?”
Phoenix tried and failed to cover his laugh with a cough. “Damn, full named. And Rose? Really?”
I sighed. I guess I was really doing this with an audience. “Mom, Dad, this is Kingston’s brother, Phoenix. He’s here for moral support and to be a general pain in my butt.”
Mom smiled tightly at Phoenix. “Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll love you as much as we do your brother. And your niece.”
“Nice to meet you, son.” My dad reached over my mom and shook Nix’s hand.
Phoenix shook my parents’ hands and then laughed. “Nice to meet you folks. I gotta tell you this all has been so fucking entertaining for me. It’s really bizarre that perfect Kingston Grier is the one who screwed up for a change.”
I closed my eyes and groaned as my mom swung around and demanded, “What does that mean, Briar?”
“Uh, that depends.” I smiled weakly. “How much do you know?”
“Briar.” My mom gave me her disappointed mother look she was so flipping good at.
And I caved. “I’m dating Kingston.” It seemed like the best explanation for our tangled history. “We were keeping thingsbetween us kinda secret, so his assistant, Adam, didn’t know and didn’t appreciate it when I turned him down. I think. I’m still not a hundred percent sure what set Adam off. But he flipped out and sold some inappropriate pictures of me and King to the media. The pictures are everywhere, and now King could lose custody of Zoe.”
“Inappropriate?” my dad drawled. “What does that mean?”
Oh god. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t look at them when I said this part. “They’re pictures of us…naked…”
“There arenakedpictures of you on the internet?” my mom shrieked. “That’s why those vultures are out there?”
My stomach bottomed out. Shame and humiliation blanketed me as tears burned my eyes. I didn’t know how to do this. I didn’t want to do this. I’d spent so much time this morning obsessed withthe planI’d purposefully blocked the whole naked/sex pictures thing from my mind. I’d rather be in bed with the blankets pulled over my head, avoiding reality.
Mom still had a horrified expression on her face. “Oh, Briar. Honey. I’m so sorry.”
My dad shifted in his seat. A muscle flexed in his jaw as he stared down at his hands. “Kingston could lose custody?”
“No,” Phoenix chimed in from his perch on the other side of the backseat. “He won’t. He can’t. We’re going to hire the best lawyers in town. We won’t let him lose his little girl.”
I smiled sadly at Nix. Some things you just can’t control. No matter how hard you try. “His ex-in-laws have said that they’re going to file for custody. That his relationship with me—and the leaked pictures—are proof that he’s an unfit parent. King, apparently, is confident that he’ll win.” I swallowed hard. “I’m worried.”
“Just to clarify,” Nix chimed in again. “Briar and Kingston didn’t do anything wrong. Two consenting adults should be able to have a relationship and not have the intimate details spewedall over the internet. The pictures were stolen. King’s assistant went into King’s office and took pictures of the security feed. He broke his NDA at the very least, but King’s lawyer is looking at—”
