We were still hugging and clapping each other on the back when Kayleen walked in. She was wearing her chef’s whit
es, all smeared and stained with a full day’s work.
Smiling and laughing we opened our arms for her. Waiving our hands merrily, we invited her in.
It wasn’t until she reached us, chin sagging against her chest, that we realized something that made our blood run cold.
Kayleen was crying.
Fifty
KAYLEEN
I couldn’t speak. I could barely see, my eyes were so swollen from crying. There was no way I should’ve been driving, yet somehow I’d managed to make it home.
“Honey, what? What is it?”
I was being asked the same question by all three of them. Pulled into their little circle of caring. Normally, having their arms wrapped around me at the end of the day would feel incredible. Right now, it barely made a dent.
“Tell us!” They were getting worried now. All I could do was sob. “Kayleen, please say what’s—”
I thrust the stupid little tabloid into their hands rather than say another word. I was angry. Devastated. Even ashamed.
There were a few seconds of nothing as the paper rattled in their hands, followed by a moment of stunned silence. It was Burke who finally spoke first.
“I’m going to kill someone.”
It was Marcy who’d called me. Marcy who’d met up with me to break the news. For some reason that made it just a tiny bit better. But not much.
“This is unbelievable,” I heard Chase say. “Who the fuck would do something like this?”
“The people that know my father,” Nathan said miserably. “That’s who.”
It was a stupid little rag, barely even worth mentioning. Only it was one of those tabloids that sat at every checkout, in every supermarket across the country. Staring at you until you picked it up out of boredom, and maybe read some of the stories while waiting for the conveyor belt to move.
In the middle of the magazine, taking up half a page, was a big color photo of me. And not just me, but the guys too. All of them. Surrounding me. Holding and kissing me…
And above it, in big bold lettering:
NEW BEST-SELLING THRILLER
BOASTS REAL-LIFE TWIST:
THREE NEW AUTHORS
ACTUALLY ARE
SHARING THE SAME
GIRLFRIEND!
I read the headline over and over, while staring at the picture. In the photo I was kissing Chase. Not just kissing, but really making out with him. Burke was pressed tightly behind me, his lips against my bare shoulder. Nathan, in the process of pulling my dress up my thighs, had his hands all over me as well.
There was no denying what was happening in the photograph. It wasn’t a matter of bad timing, or anything that could be misconstrued. In fact, it was exactly what the headline described it to be.
I just couldn’t believe it. I wanted to die.
“This was taken the night before the release,” swore Chase. “Under that old pier.”