“Is this it?” I glanced up at her, eyebrows raised, and passed the phone back. Her hand brushed mine in the process, and I fought the urge to yank it away.

Her perfectly arched brows pulled together. “What do you mean?”

Careful, Carter.

“I was hoping it would be longer.” I shrugged. “You’re not in the video.”

“Maybe next time.”

“Maybe.” Never fucking ever. “No one else knows about this, do they?”

She blinked rapidly, taking a small step back. “No…”

Lie.

“Do me a solid and keep it that way, okay? It’s hotter that way anyway, right?”

“Totally.” She smirked.

“Thanks, Kris. I have to get to practice, but I’ll text you,” I lied.

I stalked back to my truck, climbed inside, and turned the ignition. Then I slumped against the leather-wrapped steering wheel. My thoughts were a tangled mess. How would I break this to Bailey? What could I even say to her?

Part of me thought she might hear me out. But what if she didn’t? The contents of the video were damning—me with two girls, one of whom was someone else’s girlfriend. At the time, I didn’t know she had a boyfriend, but it still looked bad. Bailey had been so upset about Derek and Jillian. Would she lose respect for me over this? Decide I wasn’t who she thought I was after all?

Not to mention the catastrophic effect this could have on my life—and Bailey’s, by association. Her reputation as the girlfriend of that guy could jeopardize her scholarship, her internship, her career. Would she resent me for dragging her into the vicious gossip and the trash talk?

Good god, I hadn’t even met her parents, and now they would hate me. And so much for any headway I’d made with Derek.

A sharp rap on my window startled me. I glanced up, expecting to find Kristen.

It wasn’t.

54. 24 hours

CHAPTER 54

24 HOURS

Chase

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.

Without hesitation, I unlocked the door. Why not? My day was already fucked. My life was fucked, really. Plus, he’d caught me leaving Kristen’s, so he had the upper hand.

But I had a few tricks up my sleeve too. My phone was still in my palm, so I quickly switched on the voice recording app and set it on the center console, screen down.

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

— RECORDING BEGINS —

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