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Most of the time it didn’t touch me. They might talk about me, or my family, but they didn’t dare say shit to my face. Now though, with my dad going to trial, the ones who had always been too cowardly to say anything would have a sudden brave streak as strong as the idiot streak.
Dread sat heavy on my chest, knowing I’d be walking Astrid into the viper’s nest in less than two hours.
“We know Thatcher’s up. Jonah’s ridiculous about school, so he’s definitely up. Why don’t we break this gently to Astrid over breakfast? We can hit up Sally’s over on Frankfort St.” Beck scratched at his ear, his gaze still glued to the screen.
I knew what he was looking at. The pictures had burned themselves in my brain after only allowing myself a few seconds to glance at them. If one of us had taken them, I’d love them. They were great shots.
But in everyone else’s hands, they seemed tarnished. Dirty. They would judge us and the unconventional relationship we were in because people were asses. I couldn’t care less about what people thought about us, as long as it didn’t fuck with our futures.
Jonah would care. Astrid would too. The jury was out on Beck and Thatcher, although with Thatcher’s call this morning, he was probably on the caring side of the line. He had Trinity to think about.
“I need to go inside and talk to my mom. Why don’t you take Astrid out with the guys and I’ll call you all when I’m done? If there’s enough time, I’ll join you.” My jaw clenched through the lie.
He didn’t deserve it, and after the pregnancy scare, we were all fiercely focused on being honest. But this wasn’t something I was going to hold onto forever. I just needed some time to figure out my plan.
No one was going to like it. They’d rebel against it.
Only, it wouldn’t be their choice.
* * *
“There’s nothing you can do?” I slammed my hand down against the counter.
“Without the use of your father’s accounts, no, unfortunately not.” George didn’t sound any happier than I was, but he was holding himself together.
“I have a trust fund that wasn’t touched.” I never planned to touch it either, but for this, I’d use every penny. “I can give you access to that.”
“You can’t. The funds are not accessible to you until you turn twenty-five and have a college education, bachelor’s at minimum,” George informed me, his gravelly voice scratching over the words.
“What can we do?” I stalked to the counter and started another cup of coffee, this one a large size. It was still seven in the morning, so liquor was out. I could go for a run now that I was cleared though. A runner’s high sounded really fucking good right about now.
“You can lay low. We can also make a statement that what they captured is not the truth.”
“No.” The rejection popped out before I could stop myself. My teeth grounded together as I turned to lean against the counter, sorting through how to break this to George.
“What do you mean, no? Without the ability to purchase the story and photos and kill it, that’s the only card in your pocket.” His breathing picked up and I knew he was getting just as frustrated with me as I was with him.
“I won’t make a statement like that.” As much as I didn’t want to drag my friends through the mud with me, I wouldn’t demean what Astrid meant to all of us by stating it wasn’t true.
Anyone with eyes could see we were together from the kiss they’d caught on camera.
Jonah? He had love in his stare as he brought her hand to his mouth. And what do you know, there I was in the backseat, watching the whole thing without an ounce of surprise or anger. No one would believe we weren’t in some type of joint relationship. What they didn’t know was how many members we had in our group. I wanted to keep it that way.
“You’re not saying…” He trailed off.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” I left no room for argument in my tone. “My life isn’t anyone’s business but my own.”
“Rhys! It is everyone’s business! You were born to be everyone’s business just because of who your family is! Did you really think you could fuck around, and no one would find out about it? That they wouldn’t judge you for it?” George’s voice was a clap of thunder in his anger.
I took a calming breath, working damn hard to regulate my pounding heart. The exercise was pointless, but I was able to keep my voice steady.
“Neither me nor my friends are fucking around. You have no right to say that, and you don’t understand what’s between us.”
“If you’re not willing to do this, you’re not as smart as I thought you were.” He sounded disappointed, as if he had a right to be. Like he was my father. “If you’re not willing to protect yourself for your family’s sake, then you should do it for your friends. Because this is going to get much worse over the next few months, and they don’t deserve this.”
“No,” I repeated, pinching the bridge of my nose. But wasn’t this what I was contemplating anyway? Not renouncing what we had but separating myself from them. The less we were seen together the less they’d show up on gossip sites. Which also meant the less reason people would have to investigate them.
“You’re eighteen. I can’t tell you what to do, son.” I sneered at his use of words. “But there are consequences to your actions. I hope you’re willing to pay for yours.”
