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He lets the weight fall and slam down inside the machine. “No.”
“Just hear me out.”
But he’s not even up for that. “I’m not doing it, man. You saw his house. He can literally give her everything she’s ever wanted. I can’t compete with that, and I’m not about to try.”
“Bullshit,” I scoff. “Shewantsyou. She’s always fucking wanted you. You’re just too stubborn to let yourself see it. But that’s not even what I’m worried about here. We just need to get her the fuck away from that douchebag.”
He sighs, grabbing a towel and using it to wipe his forehead. “I thought you were letting that shit go.”
“I tried, but I can’t.”
There’s no other way around this. Nothing I can tell him that will make him understand my hatred for Monty other than the truth. And he’s the only one who can help me get rid of that fucker once and for all.
“I’m going to tell you something, but I need you to promise you’re not going to go allCam the Criminalon me,” I say seriously. “Your ass has to stay out of prison, so no violating your probation. We’re going to do this shit the right way. Or at the very least, the discreet and untraceable way.”
That gets his attention. “What is it?”
“Cam,” I press.
His eyes roll. “Yeah, yeah. No punching anyone. Got it. What is it?”
I take a deep breath and when I let it out, the secret I’ve been keeping comes with it. “He has a sex tape of Laiken.”
“What?” he balks. “What the fuck do you mean he has a sex tape of Laiken? Didhetouch my sister?”
Shaking my head, I push my hair out of my face. “No. It’s of Laiken and me. While we were sneaking around, Monty let us borrow his boat. I should’ve known he was up to something, but I was too caught up in everything to realize it. Turns out, he had planted a hidden camera on it and recorded the whole thing.Thatis the proof he threatened me with.”
Cam’s knee bounces, and I can tell he’s holding back the urge to go rip him to shreds. “And I’m guessing she doesn’t know about it?”
“I didn’t tell her,” I admit. “I realize now that I should’ve. She would have never talked to him again if she knew, but it’s too late for that. If I bring it up now, she’ll just think I’m making it up because I don’t like him. Not to mention the fact that I kept it from her.”
He huffs out a laugh and looks up at me. “You don’t fuck up small, do you?”
“Have I ever?” I joke. “To be honest, though, it’s probably better she doesn’t know, just in case this gets ugly. Innocence by ignorance.”
“No, you’re right.” His head drops and he’s still for a second, then he throws his water bottle across the room. “That fucking prick. He did that shit and then has the nerve to act like we’re all friends?”
I need to rein him in, before he does something that makes me regret telling him in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love nothing more than to be rid of that piece of shit, but not at the expense of losing my best friend.
“We’ve got to be smart about this,” I tell him. “He might just be some entitled rich kid with boundary issues, but that doesn’t mean he’s not connected.”
“He can’t get away with this shit, though.”
“And he won’t. We’re going to figure out a way to make him pay for it, but it has to be in a way that doesn’t jeopardize any of us—especially Mali. I don’t know what she’s doing or how into him she is, but she’s in a dangerous spot.”
For the first time since this conversation started, Cam looks less pissed and more worried. He’s done pretty well at holding himself back when it comes to her, but that doesn’t mean she’s not one of the people he cares for most. If I had to guess, after what happened that night with Isaac, I’d say she’s tied with Laiken for the top spot.
“If he does anything to her, the rules we just agreed to go out the window.” There’s no bluffing in the way he’s talking to me. Every word coming out of his mouth, he means it. “I don’t care if I spend the rest of my life rotting away in a jail cell.”
I sigh heavily. “No one is going to jail, and she isn’t going to get hurt. We just have to find the right way to go about this.”
He nods. “No, I know. You’re right. But before we do anything, we need to find a way to erase that video. That way he can’t release it and make Laiken collateral damage.”
“I’ve tried. Literally tried every possible thing on the internet.”
“What is this, amateur hour?” He reaches forward and grabs my phone out of my hand. “We need an actual hacker. Someone who knows what they’re doing. And Monty isn’t the only connected person we know.”
He holds up my phone, showing me Marc’s contact. I really didn’t want to get him involved in this. Not when so much is at stake. He has more to lose than any of us. But Cam has a point. We need someone with skills that we don’t have, and if anyone would know of someone we can trust, it would be him.
