Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Daniel rushes me again, but Lawson and Pax are holding me back, so I can't block the shove and the three of us stumble backward before we regain balance.
“You think you would fucking care,” he says. “You think you would step up and talk some sense into her. No amount of views or brand deals is worth this.”
All I see is red, barely hearing his words and only feeling his aggression as I try to break free of my friends’ hold.
Daniel takes a swing, but one of his friends stops him, and then there's a whole hell of a lot of Captain barging in the middle of us.
“Break it the fuck up,” Kiplin snaps, glaring at us. “I don't know what the fuck this is about but it's not happening here. You two twats are not going to bring down the entire team when we’re on a winning high. Grow up and act like the adults instead of territorial teenagers.”
Daniel and his friends shake their heads, but they listen to Clay, flipping me off before heading back to their lockers.
Lawson and Pax finally let me go. I stand statue-still for a few moments, doing my best to quell the rage trickling into my veins.
How the fuck can they blame Reese for some followers’ actions?
Clay looks at me, something like pity shaping his face. “She hasn't taken the video down.”
“What?” I ask, glancing at Pax and Lawson for confirmation.
They both cringe but nod.
“She hasn't turned the comments off either,” Clay continues. “The video that's getting the most views is the one stirring up all this intensity.”
Doubt slips into my chest, grabbing on to that distance I've felt and shaking it up.
“She can't know,” I say. “That's the only explanation,” I continue. “Reese would never condone leaving a video up if it was causing this much damage. Not just for the views.”
“Have you two not talked about it?” Pax asks.
I rake my fingers through my hair, shaking my head. “We haven't been able to connect much lately. We've been busy, her with a viral page and all the attention that's getting, and me on the ice, trying to get us to a Cup situation.”
“Do you even know who she is?” Daniel calls from his locker as he shoves gear into his bag with a little more force. I can tell he's imagining that bag is my face, but there is shit all I can do about it.
“I do,” I say back, taking one step forward, but Clay moves in front of me again. “She can't know—”
“She does know. She's known since the first string of comments started. She doesn't care. All she cares about is views.” Daniel cuts me off.
Anger slices through me, hot and boiling on Reese’s behalf. “You don't know her, man,” I promise. “This is a giant misunderstanding.”
Daniel rolls his eyes. “Damn. Now I almost feel sorry for you. She has you wrapped around her pretty little fingers. Do you even know that she's got a date set up with Darrell, to talk about her helping him the same way she helped you? Guess your videos with her aren't getting enough attention so she's going to have to cook up something else with someone new in order to keep it going. Bigger and brighter things. It's fucking pathetic.”
He throws his bag over his shoulder and storms out of the locker room, leaving me standing there, looking like an idiot.
Because I didn’t know that.
She hadn’t told me about any intention to do videos with Darrell.
Clay huffs and stalks off now that the fight threat is gone.
I look to Pax and Lawson, silently questioning everything Daniel just said. “She's not,” I say, completely dumbfounded. “Right?”
My heart clenches at the idea that this really all is just a game to her. That she never liked me and was just using me for views and good sex.
And if that's all it was, then why did she say she wanted to stop pretending when I did?
I mean, fuck, I'd been deep inside her, driving her wild with lust, so maybe she would’ve agreed to anything in the moment, but it’d felt real.
Everything between us felt real.
She wouldn't set up dates to create drama on the page, right?
Icy doubt clings to my insides.
My mind spins with the worst possibilities.
I can’t find any sense of solidarity.
“Tell me you two don't know anything,” I say to my friends. “Please,” I beg. “Please tell me you have no clue what's going on because I swear to God if you've heard something from Monroe or Blakely and didn't tell me I was being played for a fucking fool—”
“Breathe,” Lawson says. “Nash, you just have to breathe,” he says again. “I don't know anything. I promise.”
I cut my eyes to Paxton.
“I don't know anything, either,” Paxton says. “But I know Reese, she wouldn't do anything malicious on purpose. But you two are the ones who set this up as a fake thing. Have you ever actually confirmed that it wasn't?”