Colton #2
He scoffs and downs the rest of his drink.
“Don’t worry, I think she can handle it.
She’s more cutthroat than you give her credit for.
The stuff she’s done to people…” He shakes his head and blows out a theatrical breath.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this was someone finally getting payback,” he finishes, raising a hand to the bartender to get another pour.
“What do you mean?” I ask. I’m not blinded by my affection enough to pretend that some of the things she does isn’t, lets’ say, less than reputable.
But since I started at Cirque, I haven’t seen or heard of anything that would warrant some form of payback like what James is implying.
Maybe a threatening text or a scathing review, but nothing that would permanently etch a scowl on her normally calm face.
“I mean look at all the Cassandra Harlin stuff that just happened, that can’t be a coincidence.
She has an event at Cirque and suddenly this massive story about her goes public.
” His glass is refilled, and he swivels to face me, prepared to gossip his little heart out.
Unfortunately, I have no idea what he is talking about.
I have alerts on every device I own for mentions of Harper or Cirque in the news and social outlets, but I haven’t heard a thing about a connection to Ms. Harlin.
James drops his head and takes a long dramatic sigh, grumbling that I need to care a little more about pop culture.
“Anyway…” I look at him expectantly. “Are you going to tell me what happened or just leave me in suspense?”
“Well, apparently the day after her bachelorette night, a huge story broke out that she had been having an affair. There were photos and text chains, everything that basically shed a light on how royally she was fucking over her fiancé. Whoever leaked the story never released who the affair was with though.” He leans in for dramatic effect, like this is some secret between us and not headlines for every gossip magazine in the country.
“Apparently, any photos that were released had the other person always blurred out and the text chains always had the contact blurred out. Which is weird. Harlin even released a statement saying it wasn’t her in the photos and within an hour, close up photos were released that are clearly her, all time stamped so she couldn’t say they were old or from a past relationship,” he pauses to take a swig of his beer.
“I saw ones of her and the guy in a town car and apparently, she was on her way to a wedding dress fitting, sporting the massive engagement ring and everything. Whole thing was wild.”
“I still don’t really see how Harper fits into this riveting story?” I ask him, trying to keep my tone light, but the whole thing screams Harper. I want the proof, though. Right now it’s all Jame’s wild speculation.
“Well, the texts that were released look like they were taken right from Cassie’s phone, and everyone knows that guests’ phones are taken when they enter Cirque.
And it was the last place she was seen before the story hit the headlines,” he explains knowingly.
“But I don’t know who would be able to break into someone’s phone and copy everything that quickly.
Also, she’s a celebrity so obviously her phone would have passwords and everything. ”
I do. Damnit, Sadie.
“Then, the day after the story broke, Cassie’s former fiancé made a very hefty donation to a non-profit organization.”
“Sounds like a real asshole,” I deadpan, side-eyeing James while I wait for him to get to the point.
“The largest sponsor for the non-profit and a member of the board? Harper Mathers. Coincidence? I think not!”
He’s so giddy as he finishes, he’s practically bouncing in front of me. The man does love puzzles.
“One thing still doesn’t make sense to me though,” he says, finally rocking himself back to plant his ass on the stool.
“It just doesn’t make sense for her to do this, and honestly, that’s probably why she hasn’t been mentioned in anything surrounding the scandal or speculation about where the info came from.
As far as everyone knows, there is no bad blood between them to have caused this.
No motive. All insider reports say that the event at Cirque was a massive success and the two got along great during the planning. ”
“Still, you believe she had a hand in this?”
“Well, I have something that they don’t have,” he leans back, smug grin lifting the corner of his mouth.
“Which is?”
“You, dumbass.” He swats the back of my head lightly, angry that I’ve been holding out on him.
“What happened the night of the bachelorette event, and don’t give me the generic answer that nothing happened.
Something had to have happened for Harper to have lost her damn mind.
I mean, she didn’t just ruin her engagement, Cassie’s entire aesthetic and reputation was destroyed.
She preached purity and shamed others for years, to turn around and be outed as the biggest hypocrite of all time.
Whatever she did, she pissed off the wrong person.
Harper didn’t just go for the kill, she obliterated her.
So, tell me, what did she do that was so terrible.
” He’s facing me now, waiting with bated breath to get the gossip, the inside scoop and all the dirty details.
He's going to hate every second of this.
What did she do to deserve her life going up in smoke?
She touched what wasn’t hers.