34. Donovan
donovan
“HAVE YOU SEEN this?”
I’d barely stepped off the elevator after arriving home when Preston shoved a newspaper so close to my face, my eyes crossed.
“No, and I can barely see it now,” I said, pushing it aside. “Jesus, what’s your deal, man?”
“ My deal?”
“Yeah.” I stepped around him and unlocked my door. “I’m barely home a second and you’re all up in my face. Can I have a minute to settle in?”
I walked inside and dropped my bag on the floor, and when I turned around, Preston was still standing there with an expectant look on his face.
“Well, have you had your minute?”
What the hell was going on here? Preston was generally the even-keeled one in our group of friends. He had ambition, direction, and for the most part was the most sensible of the bunch. But right now he looked exasperated—with me.
“I have …” I tossed my keys and wallet on the entry table, eyeing the paper in his hand. “So, what’s going on?”
“Wow, you really haven’t seen it.”
“Seen what? I’ve been out of town this weekend, remember?”
“I know, but I figured you— Oh, forget it. Here.” Preston held out the paper again, and I scoffed.
“Seriously? Who reads the paper anymore?”
“Serena’s dad , that’s who, and this was on his kitchen counter this morning.”
I rolled my eyes and took the paper from him.
There, splashed across the number one gossip column in New York, was a photograph of me and Kelly outside of the Elysium the night of the charity event.
That alone wouldn’t cause any worry, but as I skimmed over the article under it, one line jumped out and slapped me across the face.
…many are now speculating over whether we just got a glimpse of the beautiful face that might be hiding behind that mask.
Shit. I’d known this was a possibility, that they might find out who Kelly was and what he did for a living—and that was fine because it was his life, not mine. But I hadn’t expected them to speculate over the masked guy he was with.
Who cared about the masked guy? Kelly was the star. But it seemed my little secret was coming back to bite me in the ass—and not in a good way.
“ Hellooo . Van?” Preston said.
“Did Serena’s dad see this?”
“I don’t think so. I was looking through it before he got up, so…I just took it.”
“Okay.” I let out a breath, trying to think of what the hell to do next.
There were strict rules for members of Elysium, and one of those was not to bring scandal to its doors.
If the board members—a.k.a. all of my friends’ parents—caught wind of this, I would be in a world of trouble.
My parents might actually disown me. Not for the porn itself, but the fact I was discovered.
My eye began to twitch, and I pressed my fingers to my brow in an effort to make it stop. But it was no use—it was as insistent as the vein now throbbing at my temple.
“We have to make this go away. I need to make this go away.”
“No shit,” Preston said as he followed me into the kitchen. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“I wonder why no one else has texted or called. I figured with something like this the guys would be blowing up my phone, giving me shit.”
“They went to Church last night—most of them are probably still sleeping off the hangover.”
That made sense. I grabbed a bottled juice from the fridge and offered one to Preston.
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks.”
I took a long swig of the drink and then put it on the counter and braced my hands there. How had such a perfect weekend turned to shit in a matter of minutes? I let out a sigh, trying to think of the best way to fix this mess.
“Okay, I need someone who can scrub a story from the internet.” I nodded and started to pace the kitchen.
“Someone who can hack into the newspaper and delete a file. I might not be able to get it out of the actual paper , but if I could get it offline, that’s where most people look and read these days. ”
“That’s true,” Preston agreed, then clicked his fingers. “West.”
I screwed my nose up. “West? Uh, I don’t think that’s in his skill set.”
Preston chuckled and shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. He has a guy, um, Harry, I think his name is? He helped him when that video of JT handing him his ass went viral.”
“Oh, that’s right,” I pulled my phone from my pocket. “Harry scrubbed it.”
“He sure did.”
“That’s perfect. Okay, let me text him.”
SOS. My condo.
While I waited for a response, I turned my attention back to Preston sending off a text of his own.
“Serena?”
Preston looked up at me with a crooked smile on his handsome, all-American face. “Yes. I was supposed to have dinner tonight with her and her father, but, um, I’m making my excuses instead.”
I chuckled, feeling his dilemma. “What? Don’t want to face the wrath of Mr. Carrington once he finds out your friend is a porn star?”
Preston grimaced. “Not just him. All of the board are going to have a fit when they find out.”
He wasn’t wrong. But I figured if I could wipe it from the internet then the only thing they had to worry about would be how quickly the next scandal would hit—and in this city, you didn’t have to wait long.
Mine and Kelly’s story would be old news lining garbage cans by the end of the day. At least, that’s what I told myself.
WEST:
Be there in 5.
Oh thank God. The one thing I had to give my friends credit for—if an SOS came through from any of us, we dropped whatever we were doing and were there within minutes.
Something I was very thankful for when West ran inside my condo four minutes later, in nothing but a pair of grey sweats and with mussed-up hair.
“Where’s the emergency?”
Preston grabbed the paper and slapped it against West’s chest. “Read.”
West looked down at the small print and then back to Preston. “You serious? I just woke up.”
“Okay,” I interrupted, not having the patience to listen to them argue. “Don’t read , just look at the picture and listen.” West glanced back at the paper in his hand as I said, “They know who Kelly is—”
“And?” He shrugged. “Who cares?”
“ That’s not the problem. The problem is, they know who he is and that he works with a ‘masked man.’ A masked man who they are heavily insinuating is—”
“ You .” West’s mouth fell open. “Mother. Fucker.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s… Mother fucker .”
“Yeah.” I ran my hands over my face and let out a sigh. “A shitshow, I know. But Preston said you know someone who might be able to help?”
“Uh, this is already out there. Not sure what I can do.”
“Well, if we can get it offline then it won’t go crazy,” Preston explained. “We can contain it a little.”
“Oh, right.” West nodded and scratched at his bare chest. “I could call Harry. Get him over here. He’s really good at this shit.”
I chewed on my lip, looking at the time. “You think he’s free on a Sunday?”
West scoffed. “With what I pay him, he’ll be here before I can put a shirt on.”
“Thank God. Call him.”
West gave a clipped nod and turned away to do just that, as I grabbed my phone and looked to Preston.
“I’ve got to call Kelly and give him a heads-up about this.”
“Definitely. We’ll get the ball rolling while you do that.” Preston waved me off, and I hurried into my room, where I hit Kelly’s number.
A few seconds later it connected, and when Kelly said, “You’ve seen it, haven’t you?” I winced.
“Yeah, Preston was here with the paper when I got home. What about you? How’d you find out?”
“Neighbor. He showed me online. Shit, Donovan. I’m sorry.”
“ You’re sorry? Why? You didn’t do anything.”
“Um, they basically outed you as the guy in the videos with me.”
“Yeah, but that’s not your fault.”
Kelly grunted. “I told you it was a bad idea for you to take me as your date that night.”
“It was a great idea, and I had a fantastic night because of you. These gossip reporters are just sniffing around, trying to find a story. But don’t worry, I’m on it.”
There was a pause. “What do you mean, you’re on it?”
“West has someone who can help make this…disappear.”
Kelly laughed, and I could imagine him shaking his head. “Of course he does.”
“Of course. Listen,” I said, leaning back against my door and staring at my big, empty bed. “What are you doing right now?”
“Uh, well, I just got rid of my neighbor and was about to throw something in the oven for dinner. Then I was going to sit on my couch and reminisce about the most amazing weekend I’ve ever had.”
“Hmm, that doesn’t sound half bad. But you know what would be better?”
“What’s that?”
“If you did all of that but over here, on my couch.”
“You aren’t sick of me? We just spent the weekend together.”
I knew I should probably want some space, and that it was somewhat reckless to have him come over when we were doing everything we could to wipe speculation over our relationship from the internet.
But it wasn’t us I was trying to erase, and the one thing I knew above all else was that I missed him.
“Kelly?”
“Hmm?”
“Please come and spend the night with me.”
He hummed in my ear, and I swear it felt as though he were right there next to me. “How am I ever supposed to say no to you again?”
“You’re not, which is why you’re going to say yes to this too. I’m going to have Scotty pick you up and bring you here. He’ll drop you at the private entrance and they’ll let you up.”
Kelly said nothing for a moment, then, “Are you sure?”
“About what?”
“My coming there? Maybe I should give you some—”
“If you say space, things are going to get ugly real fucking fast.”
“I don’t think that’s physically possible for you. But okay, send Scotty. I’ll be waiting.”
A LITTLE OVER half an hour had passed since I’d called Kelly, and my condo now felt as though it had a revolving door.
One by one my friends had come and gone, some of them sympathizing over my situation, some offering a new identity and a one-way trip out of town—thanks, East—but luckily, the other person who had shown up was West’s miracle guy, Harry.