Page 139 of Studs Up
“Except for whoever took the photo, yes.”
“Do you know who did?”
I shook my head. She kept pacing.
“There was no one in the bathroom. I have no idea how they got that picture.”
“Are you sure?”
“I fucking double checked, Alice. We didn’t get this far by being complacent.”
“Well, you fucked up somewhere,” she hissed. I glowered at her. That was not necessary.
“Fucking hell,” she paced. “You are going to be the death of me, you know that?”
I said nothing and let her process. She stopped suddenly and turned to me.
“He sent the fucking card, didn’t he?”
I nodded.
She covered her hands with her face. “Oh my god.” After a moment, she dropped her hands.
“Thank you,” she said unexpectedly.
“For what?” I straightened up.
“For giving me time to deal with this. We are going to have a much longer discussion about this later.”
“Figured,” I mumbled. I hated this. No one had any fucking right to insert themselves into my life, and this invasion that was coming felt awful.
“Do you love him?” She asked.
“I’ll quit if it comes to it.”
Her eyes widened, and tears welled on her lashes, to my surprise.
“Nolan,” she said with a quiver of her lip. “You do have a heart.”
“Fuck off.”
She smiled sweetly and didn’t wipe away the tears.
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine.” When I had him back. If I didn’t, if he was the stubborn prick I fell in love with, I had no idea how I could move forward. For the moment, I wasn’t going to dwell on it. I would get us through to the off season and then go from there.
“Is he okay?” The genuine concern was heavy, and I appreciated it.
“No.”
…
Who could have taken that picture? Anyone in the bar could have. But who would have known enough to even think about it? I didn’t remember seeing a phone or camera sitting around.
But then again, I had been so fucking angry and horny that I only checked for humans, not surveillance devices.
Alex was the only one there who knew, but he didn’t know that night, and I was sure that he wouldn’t ruin his relationship or his chances at a title. The timing ruled him out. If he wanted to out someone, he would have outed me.
