After a split-second of debate, I rolled down the window. "What do you want?"

"Let's chat." Luke flashed me a shit-eating grin.

I reached over, unlocking the door. Why not? My day was already fucked. My life was fucked, really. Plus, he just caught me leaving Kristen's, so he had the upper hand.

But I had a few tricks up my sleeve, too. I quickly glanced down at my phone, switching on the voice recording app and setting it down, screen facing away from him.

Luke pulled open the door and hopped into the passenger seat. The overwhelming stench of his cologne wafted over to me, further amplifying my queasiness. He gave my truck a disdainful once-over. "Very pedestrian choice of vehicle. Fitting." Leaning over, he handed me a folded piece of white paper.

I snatched it out of his hand. "What the hell is this?"

"You tell me."

Transcript of video recording

Location: Private residence, 9516 - 32 Ave

Date saved: Saturday, April 21st at 1:27 AM

— RECORDING BEGINS —

[1:27:02 AM]

[music, background noise]

[1:30:37 AM]

CHASE: Fuck. Hang on. Where's the lighter?

FEMALE 1: Are you seriously stopping right now? What the hell?

CHASE: Chill out, Nikki. Just let me light this.

[background noise]

[coughing]

FEMALE 1: Oh my god. (coughs) That's strong.

CHASE: I know, my dealer is the shit.

FEMALE 2: Gonna save some for me?

FEMALE 1: The joint or Chase?

FEMALE 2: (laughs) Both.

CHASE: Don't worry, I can go all night. Can't say the same for this spliff.

[laughter, background noise]

[1:35:02 AM]

— RECORDING ENDS —

A chill flooded my body, veins turning to ice. Seeing the events written out like that made me look even worse. Everything turned sideways and I came closer than ever to emptying the meager contents of my stomach onto the floor of the truck. I'd barely eaten all day so at least there wouldn't be much.

And it was still only half of the video. Even with his apparent digging, Luke hadn't been able to uncover the whole thing, either.

Gripping the paper, I reread the transcript two more times. It was like reading a story about someone else. I didn't feel like the same person who was in that video anymore. It didn't help that I barely remembered that night. When I tried to play it back in my head, everything was a blur. My hangover had lasted two entire days after.

"Wonder if Callingwood Daily would like to run with that for a story. Front page, maybe."

I glanced up, trying to keep my expression neutral. "Where did you get this?"

"Just fell into my lap. Kind of like that skank, Nikki, huh?" He snorted. "Or Female 1, I should say."

"What do you want?" I tossed the transcript onto the black leather console between us.

"My private investigator does good work," he said, ignoring my question. "I have a copy of the video too, but I'm sure you've already seen that."

At this point, I was starting to wonder who hadn't.

"In case you're curious," he added, "it only took three grand for Kristen to sell you out. I bet you were willing to cough up a lot more than that to keep it quiet, huh?"

A hundred times over.

"Get to the point."

Luke tilted his head and stroked his chin, pretending to think. "Isn't Bailey up for some big scholarship package right now? I thought I heard something about an important internship, too. Sounded like the kind of thing that could really set her up after graduation."

My stomach leapt into my throat at the mention of her name. Bailey was one of five finalists due to meet with the scholarship adjudication panel next Tuesday. Penalty Box Online had contacted her references and invited her for another interview on Friday. She'd been over the moon about both things all week. After seeing her hard work and dedication start to pay off, I had been, too.

I wasn't sure how Luke found out about all of that, but if he managed to track down the video, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised he knew other, intimate details of our lives.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

He paused and adjusted the collar of his light blue polo beneath his jacket. Oppressive silence filled the vehicle while he intentionally delayed, relishing in my fear. I looked at him blankly, refusing to give him the satisfaction of asking again.

"That video is interesting, you know. 'Female 2' is off-camera the whole time. It would be a shame if people thought that voice belonged to Bailey." Luke gave me a pitying look. "Making sex tapes with her boyfriend could really hurt her chances of landing those opportunities. Would hurt her future career prospects in general, really."

Panic gripped me by the throat, putting me in a chokehold. It took every ounce of strength I had to keep my voice level. "You know damn well that voice doesn't belong to Bailey. We weren't even together then. She was still dating you."

Luke shrugged. "Good luck proving all of that. There's no time stamp on that video, it's buried deep in the metadata where no average person cares to find it. Everyone knows she's with you now anyway, and she'll be guilty by association. And once people hear that about her, they'll always believe it on some level."

Regret churned in my stomach. All this time, I'd been worrying about protecting her from Luke, and now it was me she needed protection from. Guilty by association because of me and my choices. About to pay the price for something I did before I even knew her. Or something done to me.

"Again, what the fuck do you want? I know it isn't cash."

"End it."

It was like being stabbed in the gut with a rusty blade.

"What?" I knew I should have been expecting it, but a small, desperate part of me was hoping for something else. Anything else.

His blue eyes held mine, cold with malice. "Did I stutter?"

"She'll never get back together with you." My pulse roared in my ears. "This is about control. You don't even love her. If you did, you wouldn't do this."

He waved me off. "We could play armchair psychologist all day. It doesn't matter. Question is, are you willing to blow up her life because of your mistakes?"

The blade in my gut twisted, like I was being torn apart from the inside out and disembowelled all over the inside of my truck. It killed me to think of Bailey losing out on something she clearly deserved because of me. But it killed me to think of losing her, too.

Luke held her future in his hands and he knew it.

I needed the other half of the video, the part where I got mad and called Kristen by her name. If nothing else, it would exonerate Bailey. I didn't care about myself. Stewart's PI was going to start digging, but it was unlikely he'd find it quickly—if at all. But then what? Leak it myself to prove it wasn't Bailey? There wasn't a good solution even if I did locate it.

"Why would you do that to Bailey?" I asked, desperately trying to locate some shred of humanity hidden deep within him. "And Nikki?"

I could deal with the fallout in my own life—somehow—but the collateral damage in this scenario was criminal. The amount of guilt I was feeling was off the fucking charts.

Luke scoffed. "Who gives a fuck about Nikki? As far as Bailey goes, if you make the right call, I won't."

"If I say no?" I asked hoarsely.

"I'll make it so everyone who searches her name will think she directs amateur porn for the rest of her life. Potential employers, prospective boyfriends—because let's face it, we know you two won't last—even the teachers of her future children someday." He leaned back, leisurely placing an ankle over knee like we were two old pals, shooting the breeze.

Denial seized hold of my brain. "That can be scrubbed."

"Not fully." Luke smirked, tone even more condescending than usual. "The internet never forgets, Carter."

Neither did I. Somehow, I was going to get even for this someday. But first I had to defuse the bomb. Or minimize the damage, at least.

I decided to try a different tactic because Morrison was nothing if not a coward. "I'm sure you realize blackmail is a crime. A felony, in fact."

"I'm not too concerned about that."

Holy fuck, he'd lost his mind.

"Why not?" I snapped. "You think your lawyer parents are going to bail you out?" I knew I was running the risk of provoking him, but I was filled with so much rage, I could barely contain myself.

Luke remained eerily calm like the psychopath he was. "Speaking of parents, have you met Bailey's? Lovely people." He frowned, studying me with disapproval. "Not sure they will say the same about you if this video makes its way into their hands."

"Are you willing to risk jail just to take me down?" I spat out. "I could call the cops right now."

"You can't be stupid enough to think I have the only copy. If you do that, it blows up immediately. Putting me in jail won't fix her reputation. Are you willing to gamble with her future?"

The answer was no—and he knew it. At least I was getting his threats loud and clear on tape. Problem was that wouldn't stop him from going nuclear on Bailey's entire life first.

"If you drag Bailey into this, jail will be the least of your concerns because I won't have anything left to lose."

Despite my violent fantasies about Morrison before, I'd never seriously contemplated killing him. Until now.

"Oh, I don't know about that. You have lots of other things on the line. Deluca and I have been chatting quite a bit lately. Maybe he would be interested in seeing your film debut."

"Go ahead," I ground out. Tom Deluca was part of Los Angeles's management team and I spoke to him regularly, too. "Do that and leave Bailey out of this."

"Nah."

I gripped the steering wheel so hard I thought it might break. "Why not? It's me you want to punish."

"You ruined my life." Presumably, he was referring to the backlash against him after the last game. He'd never owned up to a thing in his entire miserable existence; that sure as hell wasn't going to change now. "It's only fair I return the favor."

"You ruined your own life."

He barked a caustic laugh. "I could say the same for you."

I guess he wasn't entirely wrong, though I never consented to that fucking video in the first place.

"Anyway." Luke feigned a yawn, shifting his weight. "I've drafted a highly detailed email to everyone Bailey knows, complete with video attached. Break it off or I'm hitting send."

Heartache rocked through me like never before, mingled with pure, unmitigated rage. Words evaded me. I just stared at him, jaw clenched.

"I have other people holding onto copies as insurance, so don't try anything cute. And don't even think about trying to fake a breakup and pull one over on me. I have eyes everywhere," he said. "That's how I found you here."

My heart wrenched as I forced out the words. "If I agree, will you leave her alone?"

"I will." He opened the door and slid out, lingering. "But you only have 24 hours to do it."

I glanced away from the article I was working on, checking the time in the bottom corner of the laptop screen. Chase was over half an hour late and he hadn't even texted to let me know. It was out of character for him, but he'd been acting strangely in general for the past two days. Distant and despondent, not like his usual self. No flirty or sexy texts, either, which we usually exchanged multiple times a day.

When I'd texted to ask him what was wrong earlier, he'd shut me down completely. Based on what little I knew, I could only assume he was stewing over his three-game suspension. He seemed to take it in stride at the time, but I could tell being benched really bothered him. Especially when they just lost their last game in a brutal defeat, according to Shiv.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something else was going on.

Unease settled in my gut and I returned my attention to my write-up about the school's art fair. From beside me on my desk, my phone vibrated and lit up.

999-855-5955: Where was your boyfriend this afternoon?

Bailey: I changed my number for a reason, Luke.

999-855-5955: Oh, I think you'll be happy I tracked you down.

A photo attachment followed. Fear creeped in as I dragged my fingers across the screen, zooming in. It was Chase, standing at the front door to a green house. The door was open, and Kristen was standing in the doorway.

No.

A familiar form of anguish settled in: betrayal. Just like with Luke. Learning about this from him was beyond ironic, like everything coming full circle. My mind backpedaled, frantically trying to think of a reasonable explanation. Maybe the picture was old, from before. But if it was, then why would Luke even have it?

From inside my bedroom, I could hear Shiv answer the door and let Chase in. He walked into my room with his posture stiff, eyes haunted. He even looked guilty.

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, leaning against the doorframe to my bedroom. "Hi."

More alarm bells went off in my head when he didn't come any closer to give me a hug or kiss hello.

"Where were you earlier?" I wanted to ease into it, to get him comfortable first before dropping the hammer. But I was too upset to be strategic about it and his standoffish behavior was only causing me further panic.

"Practice," he said. "Look, we need to—"

My heart sank. Strike one. He just lied.

I cut him off, giving him a sharp look. "You sure about that?"

"What do you mean?" Chase frowned but I got the sense he knew exactly what I meant.

"Did you make any other stops along the way?"

Please tell me the truth. Please own up to it.

"I had to do a few things, yeah."

Pushing my desk chair back, I stood up, watching his face carefully. My pulse revved. "Was Kristen one of them?"

Chase broke apart from my gaze and looked down at the floor, shaking his head. Almost imperceptibly, he muttered, "of course."

"What the hell is going on, Carter?"

Something was wrong. There had to be an explanation for this. There had to be a good reason he was there, and he was going to tell me what it was.

He looked back up at me with so much anguish in his eyes that I felt tears well up in my own. "Nothing happened with her. I swear."

Yeah, I'd heard that line before—a few too many times. But never from him. None of this made sense.

And the worst part was, it felt like he was telling the truth.

I sucked in a jagged breath, sinking my teeth into my bottom lip to stop myself from crying. "Then why were you there?"

"I—" he faltered, shaking his head. "Can't."

"Did something happen with her?" My voice cracked. "Please tell me. I just want the truth."

This was not happening. Could not be happening. This was the guy who'd been there for me unconditionally, even when I tried to push him away. Who'd been nothing but patient and kind and—most of all—honest with me. Sometimes brutally so.

"No," he said. "I haven't even looked at anyone else since I met you. I think you know that."

"I thought I did, too, but I need an alternate explanation."

I took a step, followed by another, and drew closer to him until we were within arm's reach of each other. His jaw ticked as he watched me, but he didn't move. Neither of us moved. I traced his face, probing, like somehow I might see into his brain if I tried hard enough.

"I just need you to trust me." The muscles in his neck were strained, voice matching.

A strangled sob escaped from the back of my throat. "How can I trust you when you won't give me an answer?"

"I love you more than anything in this world, but I need you to trust me." His eyes held mine and I couldn't read what lay behind them. "And we can't..." he let out a heavy sigh. "I can't be with you right now."

My world shattered at my feet.

"What? How can you—how can you say the things you've said to me and then turn around and do this to me out of the blue? You don't want to be with me anymore? Just like that?"

"That's not—I want to be with you more than anything in the world."

"Right, except you're choosing not to." A sudden ache erupted in my chest, so consuming that I thought I might literally be having a heart attack. I'd read about people dying of a broken heart and it seemed highly likely at the moment.

"I'm sorry," he said. "This is what's best."

With another pained look he turned and left, taking my heart with him. Moments later, the sound of the front door shutting quietly behind him followed.

Tears started to flow in earnest, accompanied by huge, gulping sobs. Everything I thought I knew was false. Everything I thought I had vanished. I couldn't breathe, couldn't catch my breath, couldn't make sense of a single thing that had just happened.

"Bailey?" Shiv called. "Are you okay?"

"No."

She appeared in my doorway, rushing over to me and giving me a hug as soon as she saw my face. "What happened?"

"I don't know."

My babies! This was a hard chapter to write.