Page 119 of Serenity
“Duke, you’re scaring me.”
“Our tape.”
She blinked. Those onyx eyes got that far-off look informing me she’d checked the fuck out. A thousand miles. Her thoughts had fled away so quickly. Her eyes were the last to follow suit.
“What about it?”
“It was leaked.”
Her shoulders fell, as did her face.
“Leaked where—how, Duke?”
“Everywhere. I don’t know how.”
Dragging her phone forward, she tapped it a few times, attempting to pull up any information she could locate about us on the internet. The lengthy nails she sported slowed her movements. I was quicker, shoving my device into her hands. I wasn’t on any form of social media platform, but I had the article discussing our private acts handy.
“Oh.”
The single syllable left her lips as her eyes raced left and right across the screen to read the article. Puckered lips and blinking eyes fought against the thunder and rain threatening to be freed.
My dick on display was one thing. I could take the heat. But Bee? Seeing her exposed to everyone –near and far– dismantled me. My baby didn’t deserve that. A hard-working woman with a flawless reputation was now being besmirched publicly. Adding to that, her body was a treasure meant for exclusivity. Admittedly, jealousy and rage loomed like a heavy weight over my chest. While misplaced at present, I failed to circumvent such feelings. So many fucking feelings threatened to chew me up and spit me the fuck out.
Guilt,
Shame,
Fear,
Worry,
The list was fucking endless.
That ass, those titties with the D-hoop rings, wasn’t meant for public consumption. That was solely for me. Everything we’d done in Turkey was now content in an unforgiving cyber world.
“Did you?”
She uttered the two words which should have been cause for offense, but I took none. This was her acting in due diligence. She’d be a fool not to ask.
“No, baby. I’d never do that to us. To you.”
Whoever the culprit, I was prepared to react callously. Bashing their head open against cemented pavement seemed far too fitting a response.
The blowback from such a humiliating event would be immense. Our freakiness would now be shared with her brothers, her friends, clients, her parents—fuck! My standing was no different, with the value of Colonial’s stocks and partnerships hanging in the balance, but I was more concerned for Bee. I was a man. I could bounce back from this particular type of public ruin. I didn’t know what the fuck this would do to Bee.
She nodded as tears finally made their appearance. Instinctively, my hand rose, and my fingers pushed away the wetness. Unable to articulate the right words, I cloaked her in my arms and allowed her to fall apart.
Shattered, she was. Into a million pieces, I watched her inevitable demise. The poised and demure was now demolished and pitiful. Her pain was my pain, and it was all-consuming and ever-present.
Minutes passed before we moved, and it was only for me to lift her off her feet and carry her to the SUV. With her head tucked into the side of my neck, she said nothing. The vocalization of pained sniffles was the only sound made.
Once we made it inside the SUV, she laid her head in my lap and dozed off. She stayed that way even after we made it back to the penthouse. The stress of public humiliation was a powerful sedative.
Hours later, it was more of the same. Calls erupted from both of our phones. Calls, texts, and emails. Eventually, I turned the devices off for the sake of quiet. We needed that for the sake of peace.
As Bee slept, I spent my time wondering who the hell had gotten ahold of our tape and how. I had my computer picked up by one of Daughtry’s staff to do a sweep for viruses as well.
Returning to the bedroom later that evening, I found Serenity awake but unresponsive. She was in a fucking daze. A fragment of her typical self. Staring at nothing, she held that blank expression.