Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“It’ll get better. I know that sounds like a cop-out right now, but I promise you it will. Time heals everything. You need to focus on staying safe.”
“I can’t let it end like this. Not with him. Not with any of it. I have to fix this. He is in danger now, and so am I. I opened a can of worms, and I can’t just pretend I didn’t.”
“Risking yourself isn’t going to fix that. For now, you need to sleep and get yourself together. Then you can decide what comes next.”
I don’t answer him, because I know Leo well enough to know that whatever I say to him will only be given back with equal amounts of protest. I understand that. He loves me and he doesn’t want to see me hurt, but this goes far deeper than he could ever imagine. Not only that, but Western deserves me to fix this for him, even if I don’t know how I’m going to do that right now. My article made a lot of people angry, and I basically put the club at war with people that are quite possibly more powerful than them.
I also need to know who did it.
Who released that article and why.
Pete was the only one who had it, and...
Wait a second. Jerimiah.
He made a comment about the article the day I walked out of there after agreeing with Pete that we weren’t going to release it. He is quite possibly the only other person who saw it. Would he do something like that? Release a story he was instructed not to? I mean, he has the skills and opportunity to do it, that’s part of his job, but why would he do something like that? I don’t even know him.
Still, I’m going to be asking him questions.
I will find out who did this.
But for now, I’m going to close my eyes and wish the pain away.
For just one second.
2
“He’s not here.”
I turn, seeing Luna’s pretty eyes focusing in on me, her arms crossed over her chest, a towel tossed over her shoulder. She’s pissed, and I can’t say I blame her. I didn’t just lie to Western, I lied to her, too. We are friends, at least, that’s what I thought we were. Now, I’m not so sure. Judging by the look she’s giving me, I’m guessing she isn’t on board for our friendship any longer.
I came into the club tonight in hopes that Western would turn up.
He didn’t, and I suspected he might not, but it was worth a shot. The club won’t let me anywhere near them, so this was my only option, and I’m not going to leave any stone unturned. I need to talk to him, I’m almost desperate at this point. The feeling of not having closure, of being desperate to say something and not being able to, is all-consuming.
“I’m sorry, Luna,” I say, because there isn’t any point in saying anything else.
“For which part? Lying to me the entire time, or actually pretending to be my friend?”
I exhale, closing my eyes for a moment, the loud music in the background making it incredibly hard to concentrate.
“I was doing my job,” I answer. “I understand what I did hurt people but that was never my intention, believe me. As for pretending to be your friend, that wasn’t an act. I care about you, Luna. A lot.”
“If you cared about me, you would have just told me what you were doing. I would have helped you.”
I shake my head. “That’s not how it works. Trust me, I wish it was.”
“Releasing that story ... It was brutal, Bonnie.”
“I didn’t release it,” I say, my shoulders slumping. “Someone else did, and I don’t know who it was. I would have never released it because the more I dug, the more I realized I was out of my league, and now my life is in danger and Western hates me. So, trust me when I say, there is nothing you can say that is going to make me feel any worse than I already do.”
She stares at me for a moment, then exhales. “Dammit, I can’t even be mad at you. You look like a wounded puppy. Come with me.”
She calls out that she’s taking her break and we walk out to the back room, where it’s quieter and I can actually think. Luna turns to me once the door is closed and steps forward, putting her hands on my shoulders. “What kind of danger?”
I explain it to her as best I can, and the more I speak, the wider her eyes get. When I’m done, she drops her hands and shakes her head. “You need to go to the police, get some sort of protection.”
“That would be a fantastic plan if the police weren’t as corrupt as the rest of them when it comes to this.”