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I was about to turn my phone right off when it vibrated with a notification of an incoming video chat request. An icon with Emi’s picture popped up.
I hesitated, my hand tensing around the phone. Niko’s sister had guessed at our joint relationship, but to have seen the proof of it in such explicit detail… I wasn’t sure I wanted to face her right now.
On the other hand, she might be the only friend I had left outside this room.
Bracing myself, I hit the answer button.
Emi’s face filled the whole screen, her eyes round with sympathy. “Lou, I just heard. This is crazy. Are you okay?”
How could I even answer that?
I made a vague motion with my free hand. “Not really. That video isn’t something I’d ever have wanted anyone seeing. And it means one of the people we thought was an ally has betrayed us. We had no idea he even filmed us.”
“I hope his ancestors rain down bad luck while they’re watching over him,” Emi declared with an angry huff. “I didn’t watch it, of course—but people will be able to tell you didn’t know you were being recorded, won’t they? They’ll know it’s not your fault.”
My mouth twisted with the misery tangling tighter inside me. “I don’t know how much that’ll matter. No one had any clue that I was dating JasperorQuentin. For it to come out that I’m with both of them—and to come out likethis… There are already a ton of judgmental comments all over the internet.”
Emi gave me a firm look. “You’re a good person, Lou. And an amazing skater. That should matter more than anything. The important people will see that.”
I wished I could believe her reassurance, but it barely touched my jangling nerves. Still, I appreciated it.
“Thank you,” I said. “I know you’ll always see it that way. I don’t suppose you have any idea how we get people focused on something else?”
Emi bit her lip. “I’m not sure. Usually it takes another big story, but you can’t force that to happen.” Then she brightened a bit. “But I’ll think about it and let you know as soon as anything comes to me.”
I had to smile at her enthusiasm, despite the nausea still churning in my gut. “That’d be great. And thank you for checking in on us too.”
“Of course. Tell my brother he’d better update me as soon as he isn’t so busy.”
As I ended the call, I glanced over at Niko. He was still pacing while talking into his phone in brisk Japanese, sounding curter than I’d ever heard him. I’d been picking up the most useful basic phrases and bits of vocabulary here and there over the past several weeks, but I couldn’t make out a single word in his rapid-fire delivery.
He ended the call and lowered his hand with a jerk. When he turned to face us, his expression was so grim it made my heart ache.
“One of our sponsors just pulled their support. I wouldn’t be surprised if others do too. There are clauses in the contracts around professional conduct… I don’t know how to fix this.”
I rubbed my face, struggling to sort through the clash of emotions inside me. “Is there any way we could convince people that it isn’t us? You can’t see our facesthatwell.”
Quentin frowned. “Everyone’s already sure it is. Now that our names have been attached to it, I don’t know how we’d change that. And it isn’t like people haven’t noticed the three of us skating together. If we didn’t already have some connection, maybe, but…”
“Yeah.” Guilt swelled up over everything else. This was my fault. “If I hadn’t trusted Frankie—if my mom wasn’t such a fuckingcunt—”
Rafael slid his arm around me. “This isn’t on you, Lou. You made the best decisions you could with the information you had. You three are the victims of a crime. There’s nothing wrong with what you were doing.”
“A whole lot of people seem to think there is.” I looked desperately at Niko. “What are the skating officials saying?”
His anguished expression didn’t shift. “I’ve only listened to a couple of the messages so far, but they’re even more concerned than before about the publicity. Talking about lack of professionalism and things like that.”
“Shit.” Jasper raked his hand through his hair. “And the judges will hear about it—maybe even watch the recording. Even if they say it won’t make them biased against us, you know it’ll skew their opinions.”
My agonized thoughts had already traveled even farther than that. “Will they even allow us to compete after this kind of scandal?”
Quentin’s gaze darkened. “I don’t know. I don’t think there’s ever been a scandal quite like this in the sport.”
Niko looked haunted. “I’ll talk to all of them. I’ll impress on them that you were the ones violated—that it was totally consensual—that it has nothing to do with your careers. And I should be able to have the video taken down… from the more legitimate sites, anyway.”
His attention shot back to his phone as he got to work on a task I doubted he could have ever imagined he’d need to take on as our coach. I dropped into the nearest chair, my head spinning so fast I was dizzy and my stomach clenched tight.
Was this it? The end of everything I’d worked to achieve—destroyed because of my sex life, of all things?
