“Luke got a hold of a copy. Told me if I didn’t end things with you, he’d send it to your advisors and the scholarship committee and tell them you were the other girl on the tape. Kristen is offscreen in the clip he has. She’s just a voice on camera.”

Bailey’s body turned bolt stiff. “Luke did what?” Her eyes widened and her hands balled into fists. “Oh my god, I’m going to kill him and Kristen.”

I’d never heard Bailey threaten bodily harm to someone else. That probably meant she’d spent too much time with me.

“I finally tracked down the second half of the clip today,” I said. “In it, I call Kristen by her name, so everyone would know it wasn’t you. There’s a time and date stamp in the metadata too, along with the geolocation. That should take the teeth out of his threats regarding you.”

She shifted her weight, scooting closer to me, and stroked my face.

“But why didn’t you tell me? We could have faked a breakup. We could have figured it out.” Her eyes were so wide and full of sadness, expressions so earnest, that another fresh shot of regret hit me. Maybe she was right. But I wasn’t thinking clearly, and my only priority was shielding her. The stakes were astronomically high, and I didn’t want to gamble with her future.

“I panicked, James. I was afraid Luke would know. I didn’t want him to derail everything you’d worked so hard for. Turns out, he had a PI tailing me, so he probably would have found out if we faked it. Plus…” I trailed off and cleared my throat, forcing out the words. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure you’d want to be with me once you found out. I thought you would be better off without me and this mess I created.” The last part was the hardest to admit, but I wanted to give her the honesty she’d asked for.

“Chase,” she said. “You have to know that isn’t true. There is no scenario where I am better off without you. Ever.”

“Are you sure? Whether or not I agreed to being recorded, there’s a video circulating of me getting high while having a threesome. That would be a deal breaker for a lot of people. I would understand if that’s how you feel.”

It would kill me inside. But I wouldn’t blame her. One bit.

“Kristen took advantage of you,” Bailey said firmly. “You didn’t consent to that. Imagine how you’d react to this situation if I were in your shoes.”

I huffed. “I wouldn’t be here. I’d be sitting in jail. Literally.” I’d have been cuffed and placed in a holding cell within hours of finding out, and the guy would be six feet under.