Page 96 of Warming His Bed
“Your articles. Did you not think anybody would see them while you were still here? Or maybe they just got published earlier than you expected. Was your boss supposed to wait until you were back in New York? So much for the ‘Don’t worry, he’ll never know the difference.’ Tell me Sadie, was the sex worth it?”
My brain froze. My relationship article hadn’t even mentioned him. It had been heartfelt and maybe a little sappy, but I didn’t even talk about sex in it. He wasn’t making any sense.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I pulled up the HypeKey site. Front page was an article all about Axel Everett and his vacation property in Kelly Bay. It was full of pictures I hadn’t taken and included an address I wasn’t even familiar with.
This must be why I hadn’t heard anything out of Eirin since I sent her my articles. But how the hell did she find the Everetts?
My hand covered my mouth. This was bad. But that wasn’t the worst thing right now.
Underneath my byline were links to my other most popular articles and a title I’d never written ranked highest: How to Score a Travel Fling with a Broken Bad Boy.
I clicked the link and the picture I’d taken of the two of us filled the screen, followed by what was a total rewrite of my original article.
“These aren’t my words,” I protested. “Eirin changed the whole thing. Drew, I didn’t write any of this.”
His face was filled with a mixture of disgust and disbelief. “You took that picture, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” I shook my head. “But I have no idea how Eirin got it, and I didn’t write this article. I didn’t write either of these articles. You have to believe me,” I pleaded. “I would never do this.”
I watched as the wall came down over his face. Cold and stony. The same one that had been in place the night he’d left me on his porch in the rain.
“I’m going to go fulfill my obligation to open up this fucking festival. Don’t be here when I get done. Get your shit and get out of my house. Get out of Kelly Bay. No one wants you here.”
My whole body went numb. This couldn’t be happening.
Why didn’t I listen to my gut and keep my heart protected from him?
Instead, it lay shattered on the concrete floor.
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.” Kobie came running at us in a full-on sprint. She pulled up to a quick stop when she got to Drew and yanked at a black pack on his belt. “How the heck did this thing get turned on?” She fiddled with it and a little light on the pack switched from green to red.
“Get her out of here.” Drew looked at me as he said the words, but there was no heat behind them. He was all shuttered up again. Back to the former version of himself where he didn’t engage with the outside world. No passion. No fire. No love.
He was a brick wall, and my heart would’ve broken if it wasn’t already so mangled.
Kobie glanced over her shoulder at me with wide eyes. “Uh…that mic was hot for your guys’s whole argument. I’m not kicking you out or anything, but you might not want to stick around the festival tonight.”
My ears stopped filtering out all the background noise and the surrounding murmurs seemed a thousand decibels louder. Through blurry eyes, I scanned the crowd of onlookers and was met with looks of scorn. I might as well have pinned a giant red A on my shirt for the way people were looking at me.
“Tell me when to go on,” Drew said to Kobie. He strode over to the door at the far end of the barn.
“You have to believe me. I didn’t do this,” I pleaded with her.
She gave me a sympathetic look. “Doesn’t strike me as your style. Maybe you should go try to figure out what happened and then explain it once he’s had a little time to cool down.”
I nodded, grateful for some kind of advice. Instructions. Right now, my brain couldn’t even piece through how to put one foot in front of the other.
Numb, I made my way with jerky steps to the open field that served as the parking lot, doing my best to ignore more stares and whispers on my way. When I climbed into my car, the dampness on the front of my shirt registered. Tears were streaming down my face this whole time.
I let go and full-on ugly-cried alone in the front seat. Sobs racked my body. I slammed my hands on the steering wheel until I worried I might break a bone. My shirt looked like I’d been caught in a rainstorm by the time my tear ducts dried out.
Turning the ignition, I knew what I had to do.