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She laughed. “No, I’m not. And to prove it, I’ll share another unpleasant truth. You could do with a breath mint, Eric.” She turned to Jaxon. “Let’s go.”
“You don’t want your photos?”
She laughed. “You’re not going to give them back. And I don’t want them, anyway. You keep them. It’s more of me than you’ll ever see.”
Eric wrinkled his nose and stood up when they did. Jaxon wanted to say something, but he was choked up. He couldn’t speak without seemingly either bursting into tears or laughter. “You won’t get them back,” Eric spluttered. “They’re as good as everywhere the second you leave here.”
“Go for it,” Teagan said.
“I will. I hope you like life as a porn star, Teagan.”
“I hope you like it as a kiddie porn peddler, Eric.”
He stopped short. “What did you say?”
“It’s kiddie porn, isn’t it?” she asked.
“It’s not, you were legal, I did the math.”
She pursed her lips and shrugged comically. “I don’t know. I know how old I was when I took them, and I know how old I was when I sent them. Who’s to say?”
“You were fucking eighteen when you took those,” Eric hissed.
She simply shrugged again. “We’ll see what I remember. Besides, it’s considered sexual assault to share nudes without the subject’s consent. I’m fairly certain at least one of those charges is a felony. Prison’s not fun for kiddie smut peddlers, Eric.”
Jaxon almost choked again, but Teagan didn’t falter. Didn’t look away. Not even after Eric did.
“Fucking hell, here.” He snapped at a nearby table, and the guy sitting at it jumped up, handing him a folder. He pushed the folder into her hands. It was manila. Folded. And Teagan took a moment to check what was inside. Once she did, she glanced back up. “And where did you get them? Originally.”
Eric sighed heavily. “Look, I don’t know his name. He’s a friend of one of these guys.”
“Where did you get them?” she repeated.
Eric turned to another table, where one of his dogs shuffled forward, scribbling a name down on a napkin. He handed the napkin to Teagan and she looked at it, wrinkled her nose disdainfully, and stuffed the napkin in her pocket.
“If these show up again, I’ll be calling someone.”
“Consider them gone,” Eric said softly.
“Good,” she said. “Now. Go fuck yourself gently with a spike, Eric McKinnon.”
She was breathing heavily when they reached the car. Her hands were shaking where she was gripping the envelope, so Jaxon took the keys and drove for her.
“What was that?” he asked, unsure of how else to address it.
“That was me, taking control of my own narrative. I refuse to play-act anymore. I don’t care what happens with these bloody pictures.”
“Well you got them, and the name-”
“Oh they will be all over the internet before bedtime tonight,” she said harshly. “He won’t post them, he’ll get one of his cronies to do it. And it won’t be traced back to him. But it’ll ‘ruin’ me, just the same.”
“Teagan, why did you-”
“Because. I don’t care anymore. Those photos aren’t me. They’re of someone who naively thought herself in love with Joshua Dwight. Someone so eager to please that she gave too much. And Jaxon, I am fucking sick of giving too much to the wrong people. There are so many right people who aren’t getting shit. So to hell with the rest of it. I don’t bloody care anymore. I’d rather spend my time working on my future than fretting about someone finding my past.”
“Who are the ‘right people’?” he asked softly.
“What?” she asked, still incensed as hell and looking like a fiery flame goddess at once when she turned to face him.
