Zoey takes a large gulp of her drink and moans a little. “How the hell could it be worse than Ed threatening to expose the fact that you’re having hot sex with your student teacher?” She holds up a hand. “Still not judging. Promise. I’m just terrified of what else you’re about to say.”
Liam comes by with our drinks, giving me a few seconds to figure out how to say this.
All too quickly, though, everyone’s eyes are on me again. They smile at me encouragingly, though their expressions hold a certain degree of apprehension and fear.
Sophia grabs my hand again. “It’s okay. Whatever it is. You can tell us.”
Madison gives me a sad smile. “I think you’ll feel better if you get it out.”
“And we’ll be able to help you.” Quinn grimaces. “I hope …”
Finally, the words erupt from me. “He has naked photos of me. He’d supposedly deleted them, but he didn’t,” I huff. “I didn’t know this until he started texting them to me after we were already broken up. He’s basically been threatening me with them, saying he’s going to show them to people or e-mail them to the school or something. Then he got wind of Sawyer and me, and that seems to have made things worse because now he’s threatening to show them to Sawyer, too. I go back and forth, I’m not sure which part of the whole mess is worse. Sawyer seeing the pics? Having the pics e-mailed out for everyone to see? Or having Ed tell everyone I’m with my student teacher.” The last bit comes out pretty shrill, and when I’m done, I cover my face with my hands, not wanting to see everyone’s reactions.
“Nooooo.” Madison is the first to respond. “No. No. Just no.”
Piper and Quinn speak up at the same time with the same exact question. “What the fuck?”
“That bastard.” Sophia shoots me a flustered, apologetic look.
Zoey goes for her drink again, draining it. “There’s more to this story. I mean, how did this happen? You thought he deleted them? Sweetie, did you pose for these pics?”
I cringe, pulling my hands from my face. “Yes … sort of. But not. No, I mean, no.” I blow out an exasperated breath. “Let me explain.” I grab my bag and dig through it, looking for my phone. “Shit. Well, I was going to show you one of the photos and the texts, but I think I left my phone at home.” I grit my teeth and suck in air through them. “Anyway, I definitely didn’t know he was taking actual photos. I’d been hanging out at his place and had taken a shower. When I went to get out, I realized I’d forgotten my towel in the bedroom. He came in to see why I was calling for him, but he wouldn’t give me my towel, he just kind of stood there staring at me. I may have said something smart like, ‘Take a picture, it’ll last longer.’ I never thought he’d actually take photos. That’s when he started joking around, acting like he was a photographer and I was a model, holding up his phone like it was a photo shoot.” I groan. “I may have posed a bit, thinking it was all just a game, so some of the photos look like I posed for him on purpose. When I realized what he was doing, I told him to stop. I told him to delete them.” I’m embarrassed to see my hands shake as I bring them up to tuck my hair behind my ears. My cheeks heat as blood rushes to my face and stains them a deep red. This is mortifying. “Guys, he told me he deleted them, but obviously, he didn’t. He keeps sending them to me as a reminder that he could show them to people if he chose to.”
“And Sawyer doesn’t know any of this?” Zoey questions. Her disbelief at the whole situation is clear on her face.
“He’s aware that Ed knows about us, and we’ve been trying to lay low all week because of it, but he doesn’t know about the photos. He knows I’m not telling him everything, but he hasn’t pushed me to explain what’s going on. And now I’m so screwed. I feel like such an idiot.” The last word comes out of my mouth on a gasp. Out of nowhere, tears fill my eyes, and I cover my face with my hands again as the stress of the last several weeks hits me all at once.
“Had, we’re going to figure this out. You’re not alone.” Piper gets out of her seat to wrap her arms around me. “Come here.”
She pulls me out of my seat, hugging me tightly. I let her hold me and I sag against her, letting her take on some of the burden of my situation. Before I can even blink again, everyone is out of their seats and we have one massive, comforting group hug happening right in the middle of the cider mill.
Sophia is the first to speak once we ease apart and sit back down. “Ladies? We need a plan, and I think I have an idea how to fix one part of the problem.”
Chapter 28
Sawyer
Hadleigh gave me a key to her apartment yesterday so I could feed Space Ghost for her while she was out with her friends for her birthday. She’d said they might be late, but I was welcome to wait for her if I felt like it. Ha. If I felt like it … I’ve been waiting for Hadleigh my whole damn life. I’ll gladly wait tonight so I can see her on her birthday, for sure.
When I get to her place, Space Ghost greets me with a yowl and winds himself around my feet
