Chapter 31
Thirty-One
Earlier
To say I’m pissed is an understatement.
With Lucy taking my car, Rhys leaving me stranded, and my phone in pieces, I have no choice but to walk to the neighbors and ask for a ride.
Since it’s a small town—and a Sunday—nowhere is open. Not a car rental or a phone store.
I had to convince the neighbor to drive me a few towns over, where I find a random personal truck rental from a website that looks suspicious. It takes hours.
I don’t see my car in the guest parking lot of Lucy’s building but go inside and try knocking on her door anyway. After a few minutes of silence, I let myself in with my key, only to find it exactly the same way we left it before we went to the lake house.
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath. If she isn’t here, it probably means she’s at her parents’ place. I have no clue how I’m supposed to show up there and try to talk to her without tipping anyone off to the nature of our discussion.
It takes another hour to get home, but I'm thankful River isn’t here and won’t have to witness any more arguing between Rhys and me. My cheek throbs as I walk into the house. My son clocked me good, but I guess I deserve it.
I’ve gone and fucked all of this up for everyone.
The late afternoon light seeps through the windows, illuminating the fact that there are no shoes next to the door, and after I check the garage, I realize Rhys isn’t here.
Since my phone is unusable, I power up my office computer and check for the nearest phone store that’s open.
Rhys can’t have gone far. I can drive around and look for him, and then I’ll get a new phone before going to Lucy’s—give myself some time to think about how I’m going to play this all out.
The proverbial cat is out of the bag now. We might as well come clean to everyone.
By the time I search for Rhys and get a replacement phone, it’s nearing dark when I return home. Kicking my shoes off, I tread through the dark house, wrinkling my nose at a foul smell as I plug my new phone in and set it on the kitchen island.
It definitely didn’t smell like this when I was here earlier.
I follow the smell to my office, where a splintering of wood litters the floor in the hall. Alarmed, I push the door open to find the entire room trashed. Books and binders and bric-a-brac are strewn across the floor, surrounded by smashed ceramic and puddles of whiskey.
“What the fuck?”
The glow from my computer screen illuminates a pile of puke in the middle of my desk. The stench is so strong it makes me gag.
There’s solely one explanation for the destruction of the only place in this house that was truly mine.
Rhys.
“Rhys?” I call out, storming down the hall to the basement. His truck wasn’t in the driveway, but I didn’t recheck the garage. Maybe he’s passed out in his room.
But the basement is dark, and the air smells stale like no one has been down here in ages.
Rhys’ door is shut. I know I shouldn’t encroach on his space, but I open it anyway to see his bed is exactly how he left it before he went back to Mississippi.
There’s no sign of him anywhere—except all over my office.
Regret and concern tighten my chest. If Rhys is drunk and driving around…
Panic settles in as I hear the new phone go off upstairs—a barrage of dings, one after the other, to indicate multiple incoming texts. I take the stairs two at a time as a call comes in. Fear races through my veins as I hope it’s not someone about to tell me my son was in an accident.
A little relief dilutes the anxiety when I see it’s Jules’ name flashing across the caller ID.
“Hey, now isn’t a good time,” I greet in a rush.
“No shit, it isn’t. What the fuck, Lawson?!”
I’ve never heard her sound so worried, and my brows draw together. “What the hell did I do? ”
Another beep disrupts whatever she’s about to say, and I pull the phone away to see Cameron calling. “Hold on, Cam is calling. I’m merging the calls.”
Might as well tell both of them about the shit that went down this morning.
As it connects, Cam’s angry voice mixes with Jules’ as they talk over one another to the point where I can’t understand either of them. “Will both of you shut the fuck up and tell me what you’re going on about?”
“I’m going to assume you got hacked. Have you not checked your email? Upper management is pissed. They’ve had a flood of calls from HR for the last hour,” Jules says in a calmer—though still stressed—tone.
“No, I haven’t checked my email. Rhys showed up at the lake house, and I stupidly sent Lucy off to dinner with him, where he told her he thought Charlotte and I were getting back together.
She’s pissed at me and took off with my car.
” I put them on speaker and pull up my email app.
“Then he overheard me yelling at Charlotte this morning and put two and two together. He knows about Lucy and me now.”
“Well, I think everyone knows about you and Lucy now, Law. This is bad, man,” Cameron states.
“What is bad? What are you two—?” My question dies in my throat as I see an email in my sent folder dated earlier today. It’s to the entire Chicago office. The only thing in it is a familiar thumbnail of a video of me and Lucy. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
“Yeah,” Jules drawls. “Lawson, you’ll likely lose your job for this.”
“I have to go.” I don’t wait for them to reply before I end the call and pull up Lucy’s number. I couldn’t care fucking less about my job, but this will destroy her.
My stomach twists, bile rising in my throat as I grab the charger and run to the rental truck. Lucy’s cell keeps going to voicemail. I try Rhys, but his doesn’t even ring, and I think about calling Charlotte to see if she’s heard from him.
A text comes through from Cameron.
Cameron
They’ve got Tailor Tech on it. The video will be wiped clean from everyone’s emails within the hour. It will be harder to track who opened it already… or worse… saved it.
“Fuck!” I hit the dashboard.
There’s no doubt in my mind, after seeing the state of my office, what happened. Rhys must have trashed the place before finding the videos.
Cameron is right. This is bad. My thoughts don’t even linger on the fact that I’m probably now jobless—my son could face jail time for distributing revenge porn.
Only if you tell people it was him who sent it.
I keep trying Lucy on my way to her house, mentally preparing myself for the shit storm I’m no doubt about to walk into. M.I.G. headquarters calls, but I send it to voicemail. I can’t deal with them right now. I need to get to Lucy, and I need to find Rhys—wherever the fuck he is.
Will’s truck is next to my car in their driveway. I throw my rental into park, ripping the keys from the ignition before jogging across the lawn to pound on the front door. Seconds barely pass before it opens, revealing Liam with an unamused glare pasted across his face.
We stare silently at each other briefly before he rolls his eyes and steps aside.
As I enter the Bradee home, I hear Bree and Will arguing with Lucy, her pained cries echoing throughout the large space.
Charleigh and Kendall speak into their phones, respectively, in opposite corners of the kitchen, and I can make out words and phrases like “felony” and “pressing charges.”
“I don’t know!” Lucy is crying when I enter the dining room, and her hazel eyes dart to me, crinkling at the corners with a fresh batch of tears.
All eyes turn to me, but I only have eyes for her. Rushing to her side, I ignore Will’s outraged protest.
“You have some fucking nerve, Lawson.” In my peripheral, I can see him move toward me, but Liam grabs his arm to keep him in place.
“Baby, I’m so sorry,” I sink to my knees before Lucy, grasping her face in my hands. “I’m so sorry.”
She launches herself at my chest. “How did this happen?” she cries, clutching me like I’m her only lifeline.
Part of me calms now that she’s in my arms, even if every other part is in utter chaos. “Rhys found out. I’m so fucking sorry, Lucy. This is everything I didn’t want to happen.”
“You have a lot of fucking explaining to do,” Bree snaps, standing at the other end of the table with her hands on her hips.
I look at both of Lucy’s parents as I smooth her hair back and continue to whisper how sorry I am until she’s calmed down. “The video will be wiped from everything soon. We have people working on it.”
“There shouldn’t be a video in the first place! I trusted you with my daughter, Lawson! What the fuck is wrong with you?” Bree screams, causing Lucy to flinch in my arms.
“The second you let go of my little girl, I swear to God I will give you a black eye to match the other one,” Will growls.
Her father’s threat causes Lucy to pull away from me slightly, lifting her hands to my face. “What happened? How did Rhys find out? How did he find the videos?”
“Lucy, I think you need to go upstairs,” her mother suggests.
This beautiful woman—this radiant artwork, even in her deepest despair, turns in my arms to glower at her parents. “I’m not a little girl. I love him.”
“Over my dead fucking body,” her father exclaims, trying to come toward me again.
“Dad, stop!” Liam shouts.
Will whips around and gets in his son’s face. “You fucking knew about this? Why am I not surprised? You’re a fucking pro at keeping shit from us.”
Hurt flashes across Liam’s face before a stony stare replaces it. “She’s an adult. She can make her own decisions.”
“This is jail time, Lawson. This is a serious fucking matter. My child’s sex tape with a man twice her age…” A visible shiver racks Bree’s body. “I’m going to ask this one time, and I swear I want the truth. Did something happen between you two?— "
“No.” Lucy’s grip on me tightens as if she’s afraid her parents really will physically tear us apart.
“Nothing happened until he came back,” she lies, burying her face in my neck again.
“It’s not their business,” she whispers against my skin, shielded from the intense gazes of everyone in the kitchen.
“It was Rhys who leaked the video,” I inform them, untangling myself from Lucy to stand at her side after she settles back in the chair. “He’s understandably upset.”
“I don’t give a fuck what he is, you don’t share a fucking sex tape!” Bree shrieks, near hysterics as her momma bear nature comes out in full force.
“Look, I know this situation is terrible. I had hoped to come to you under different circumstances about Lucy and me, but here we are. I love your daughter.” Bree and Will both scoff, shaking their heads in unison.
“I know that I’m a lot older than she is, and trust me, I have grappled with the decision to pursue a romantic relationship with her.
But I genuinely love her. I’m not asking you to understand, but I am asking that you don’t punish her for keeping it from you. ”
“She isn’t the one who should be punished!” Bree jabs a finger in my direction. “You should have known better and not taken advantage of a child!” Her accusation sends ice-cold dread down my spine, affirming everything that’s sat in a compartment in my mind since the conference.
Lucy seems to know exactly how her mother’s comments would affect me because she reaches for my hand and threads her fingers with mine. “I’m not a child, though, Mom. I can make my own decisions. And I’m going to be with Lawson.”
“You realize we’re pressing charges?” Bree asks pointedly, glaring at me. “How does that make you feel, Lawson?”
When Lucy doesn’t correct her, I turn my gaze to the woman I love. She meets my stare, and her hazel eyes harden as she searches my face for something I can’t give her at this exact moment.
Inwardly, I begin to panic. “Lucy, I?—”
“He can’t get away with this.” My heart drops as she pulls her hand from mine. “I can’t go back to work. I’m humiliated . I already gave my resignation.”
Fuck.
This is all spinning out of control faster than I can manage it.
“Can we just calm down and talk about it?” I know it’s the wrong thing to say by the way her eyes widen. “Lucy?—”
“He has to have some kind of consequence,” she says incredulously.
“I understand he’s upset. But this…” Tears line her lashes again.
“Lawson, this is going to ruin my life. How will I ever get another job? People at work saw the video. How many do you think saved it and shared it to other platforms?”
“We’re working on it, Luce,” Charleigh calls soothingly from the kitchen. “M.I.G. has already called in Tailor Tech before Daphne could reach out to her contacts.”
I don’t pause to wonder why Daphne has contacts with Tailor Industries in New York, but I look back at Lucy. “Baby, I know this is awful.” I ignore Will’s sound of disgust. “Please, just let me find Rhys while they tackle the video. I don’t know what the answer is here, but… jail?”
I let the rest of my meaning fall silently between us. Never in my life did I think I would be here, between a rock and a hard place. It’s one thing to figure out how to navigate life moving forward without Rhys cutting me out entirely, but this is now a whole other mess that he’s put us in.
A heavy, tangible silence spreads throughout the room, and as it does, I can see Lucy withdrawing from me more with every passing second.
“It’s just a storm, rainbow…” I whisper, reaching for her. Lucy closes her eyes, tears falling down her cheeks as she turns away from me, and it feels like my heart implodes.
“Go. Find Rhys.” Her words are barely audible.
“Lucy…”
“I think you should go,” Bree echoes her daughter.
At a complete loss, I brush my fingers along Lucy’s. “We’ll talk later, rainbow.”
To my surprise, Liam walks me to the door. “Tensions are high right now. They’ll calm down. Especially once the video has been removed.”
“The last time we spoke, I wasn’t your favorite person.” I notice his scraped knuckles as he reaches up to scratch his short beard. “You seem awfully calm, considering the circumstances.”
“My sister loves you,” he states simply. “It’s up to you how the rest of this plays out.”
As I leave, I can’t help but feel the weight of the world sitting on my shoulders. And for once, I feel too weak to take it on.