Risky Business

She’s right, but I can feel my cheeks go hot. “It’s different,” I try to argue. But Jayme’s eyes are full of laughter.

And she still hasn’t put on my shirt.

“What do you want, Taya?” I bark.

“Just thought you’d want to know that the hot tub is on and bubbly, and The Princess Bride is queued up. So tick-tock, bitches. I’m going to bed and Carlo is passed out on the couch. I was hoping y’all would be done already because someone kept me up late last night. A bitch needs her beauty sleep, ya know?”

I hear her soft footsteps back down the hall.

I fall to the bed next to Jayme, ready to fall into a coma myself. It’s been a long day, from refreshing that video over and over, to my mad dash to the airport, flying to LA with Jayme’s parents, the scene on the beach, and now the best sex of my life with the woman I love. Before I close my eyes, I look over to Jayme, expecting her to be equally wiped. She’s been through a lot today too.

Except her eyes are bright and full of light, her hands are curled beneath her chin, and her smile is wide and toothy. “It’s my favorite movie.”

I’m such a fucking sap for this woman, but I don’t care in the slightest. “Well then, let’s go watch The Princess Bride. If I pass out in the hot tub, don’t let me drown, ’kay?”

“No worries, I’ll save you,” she promises.

I don’t think she realizes that she already has.

CHAPTER 31

JAYME

I’m sprawled out on one of the couches in Taya’s living room, my feet in Carson’s lap as I eat a bowl full of yogurt and fresh berries. Taya sits opposite us, drinking a Red Bull and champagne cocktail that she calls ‘Liquid Cocaine’.

How her heart doesn’t explode on the combination is something I’ll never understand, except that she dances and works out enough to handle it. Still . . . “Really?”

“Hey, you have coffee. Some people have mimosas. This is just my own mix of alcohol and caffeinated goodness,” she argues.

“Is it good?” Toni asks from the television screen where she’s video calling us from Carson’s condo.

“No.” Carson’s barked answer overlaps Taya’s loud sip of delight.

“Mmmhmm.”

Guess it’s my job to rally this meeting back to its purpose, as per usual. “Guys, so we need to discuss how best to address the latest social media firestorm you three started.”

Taya scoffs. “That’s your deal, babe. You tell me where to look and what to say, and I’ll do it.”

That’s a bold-faced lie if ever I’ve heard one. Taya never does what anyone tells her to do, not even me. Maybe least of all, me. Because she knows we’re solid forever. But I can’t be too angry at her for lying when she’s the one who got Carson here so we could get our stuff figured out.

And oh, we figured some things out last night. On the bed, in the hot tub, and on one of those lounge chairs on the pool deck.

As if he can sense me thinking about him, Carson shifts beneath my feet and I can feel his thickness. I wiggle my foot, rubbing him with my heel subtly.

“If I may say so, Jayme . . . I don’t think that’s going to help,” Toni says, sounding rather adultly professional for a college freshman.

“Oops! Sorry,” I tell her. “I kinda forgot you can see us too.”

She laughs. “That’s how video calls work.”

I shake my head. “Right. Videos, that’s what we were talking about.”

I’ve watched Carson’s viral video asking Taya for help dozens of times, and her answering video half as many times. That’s what we have to figure out a response for because people are clamoring for answers.

Who was Carson looking for? Did he find them?

What was Taya talking about with her cryptic answer?

What happened after that? What about the ring and the babies?

These are all questions being posed in stitched videos that are going almost as viral as the originals now.

“What’s the issue again?” Taya asks. “Why can’t you two just do a lovey-dovey, smooch-fest thing? That’s what everyone wants, anyway.”

I sigh. She hasn’t been listening at all. “Because I’m the behind-the-scenes person. I don’t want to be on camera, and it’d torpedo things if I became recognizable, professionally and personally, and you know that. People start digging, and shit hits the fan.”

I glare at Taya, not able to say everything I want to because while Carson is trustworthy with my family secret, Toni isn’t. It’s no fault of her own, she’s just young and doesn’t understand the risk that comes with a family like mine. She was proud to finally be claimed publicly by Ben Steen when her parents got married, so my wanting to be completely separate from my dad would be a hard pill to swallow for her.