Page 144 of Forever Defiant
“Shut up, I’m thinking.” I put my hands behind my neck and stared at him. “Okay, we can fix this.”
“How?”
“We take their power away.”
Dustin stilled. “I need more words, Peterson.”
“Blackmail, it’s about power. It’s the knowledge that someone has something over you that you don’t want other people to know. Something scandalous. Like the wide receiver for the championship-winning Lions getting his cock out on a weeknight for a girl to suck him off in the street.”
He grimaced. “Do you want to say it louder, Hadley?” he demanded.
“Yes. I do.” I nodded as I thought it through. “At this moment in time, their threat to out you — and me by default — is their power. So we take that away.”
“You said that. How? I amnotleaking that picture,” he said seriously.
“No. Obviously, Jesus, virgins everywhere will weep with fear if they think every guy is carrying a monster like that around.”
“Are you helping me, or insulting me?”
I shrugged. “Both.” I gestured to him. “Come here.” He walked forward hesitantly, and I grabbed his arm. “Say cheese.” I took a picture. “Take another one, you look terrified.” I kissed him on the cheek, and when he turned to ask me a question, I kissed him and snapped the picture.
I walked away from him. Then I adjusted the lighting, blurred out the background, and then, with a deep breath, I uploaded it to my socials.
“What have you done?” Dustin asked me.
“I just set the narrative and announced our relationship,” I told him, heart pounding. “If we look like a couple, act like a couple, andbea couple, then the picture of me on my knees ready to service my hot boyfriend’s cock loses its power. Is it still inappropriate? Absolutely. Is the person who took the picture morally at fault for an invasion of privacy? Abso-fucking-lutely. But they no longer have leverage.”
He looked confused. Maybe. Or it could be shell shock.
I smiled at him. “I took the power back. You’re welcome.”
I waited for him to correct it. He didn’t. Instead, Dustin watched me like I was some exotic animal he’d never seen before. “I don’t know whether you’re a genius or batshit crazy.”
“It’s a fine blend, depending on the weather, I think.” I gave him a smug smile. “You should be thanking me, on your knees, Slater.”
He was watching me closely. “Did you take the picture?” When I didn’t immediately answer, he realized I didn’t know what he was talking about. “The picture I just showed you. Did you set it up?”
I gave him a flat stare. Was he serious?
“No, Slater. If I’d taken it, honey, I’d have waited until those Draft dollars hit your bank account and then taken my paycheck.” I saw his eyes widen. “Oh my God, I’m joking.”
“You scare the shit out of me, Peterson.”
“Won’t it make foreplay fun, though?”
“So we’re fake dating?” He didn’t look happy.
“’Fraid so.” I laughed at the look on his face as I walked out of the classroom.
Now all I had to do was find the creepy asshole who got their rocks off watching me and Dustin make out.
No one fucked with me and thought I was the story.
Ichased the story.
It sure as hell didn’t chase me.
Chapter 32
