She doesn’t even cringe, which tells me she thinks of this as a job, nothing else. And I can’t help but feel a little sad for her. “We’re printing information from our sources.”
“Bullshit,” Allie sneers.
I glance over my shoulder and see Allie’s glare, when Penelope says calmly, “What we print always has some truth behind it.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Allie replies, her voice cold and hard. “You dig for dirt in places you shouldn’t be digging. You want that juicy story, regardless that it could ruin a person’s life.”
Penelope lifts her chin, clearly a defensive move. “If a secret is so dirty, then who’s the bad person here? Me or the person behind the dirty little secret?”
“Or,” I interject before the tension turns into a catfight between my best friend and this reporter. “You speak up to ensure secrets don’t become dirty at all.” Which is why this is so damn stupid. If Darius simply told the world all the good he did, then told them about his damn sex club and the type of sex he enjoyed, who would care?
Maybe a few uptight people. But they’d get over it. Or at least, I think they would. And if they didn’t, fuck ’em.
Penelope leans forward across her desk, her eyes probing. “So, you’re telling me you’ve told me everything about Darius Bennett?”
Well, he owns a sex club because he used to play a Dominant role to submissive women who fulfilled his every kinky fantasy. “Yup, that’s it.” Darius said himself that he’d never share information about his club to protect his members, and I would never tell that secret either, but it would be the only secret between us and the world. Nothing else. I just can’t stand it any longer. People need to see him the way I see him.
Penelope glances over my shoulder at Allie, her eyes twinkling. “Well, then, are you planning on telling me all of Micah’s secrets now?”
Allie snorts. “Not in this lifetime.”
Penelope barks a laugh.
I chuckle, too. I might feel good about this, but it’s obvious by Allie’s clear distaste for Penelope that she doesn’t agree with me now. She would never have this interview. But I know, instinctively, that it’s the right thing to do for Darius.
My heart is telling me I needed to come here today. And I guess that’s what makes me see Darius in a way that Allie never will. She might be his sister. But I hold his heart, and it’s about time he knows it.
“Anything else you’d like to say?” Penelope asks me.
I’m so tempted to find out who the mole is. I don’t doubt in the least that Penelope knows who it is. That it’s very likely she pays this person directly for digging up dirt on Darius and the other guys. Instead of doing what I want to do, I say, “I think that’s it.”
“All right, well, thank you for sharing your story,” Penelope says, rising from her seat.
“Do you know when it’ll be printed?” I ask.
“This story?” Her eyes dance. “Without a doubt, it’ll be on the cover tomorrow.”
As I rise from my chair, Allie interjects, voice tight, “Words of warning: be careful what you print in your trashy magazine. You realize who you’re dealing with, right?”
Penelope grins, almost in challenge. “Is that a threat?”
“No,” Allie replies, her grin deadly. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t be pissing off the most influential men in San Francisco, who possess the money to make your life a living hell.” I notice a glimmer in Allie’s eyes, and I know exactly what she’s going to say next, when she adds, “Because I can almost bet that they’re not the only ones with secrets.”
In full support of Allie’s line of thinking, I add, “And dirty little secrets, at that.”
Penelope’s eyes flick to mine, blazing hot. “Is that another threat?”
I pause to consider how much pain this woman caused me, regardless that she does actually seem like a very nice person, and shrug. “Keep sharing all of my dirty little secrets in the tabloids, then it’s fair game to share yours, too.”
Chap
ter 20
Darius
“Sir! You cannot go in there!”
I ignore the tiny Spanish woman chasing after me and stride into the hallway of the last place I thought I’d ever be, the offices of Gotcha! Emotion is leading my steps. I can barely control the anger lacing my veins when I spot Taylor hugging Allie.