Chapter 37 Georgie
Georgie
With my heart thumping wildly in my chest, I push out the words I had hoped I’d never have to say, “Risqué photos. Nothing too explicit, some lingerie shots, but… there are some nude photos, too.”
My eyes flit to James, needing to see his reaction but also terrified of seeing it. What if he thinks less of me? Or decides that being publicly associated with me is too much for him?
There’s outright anger burning behind his eyes. My thudding heart seizes to a stop for a second until I hear him utter, “That fucking prick!” With those three words, I realize his fury isn’t directed at me.
James gets up from his chair to stand behind me, his hands on my shoulders, offering me his silent support.
“Photos only or are there videos too?” Charlotte inquires, her tone businesslike and direct, removing the emotions from the situation. Her clinical approach dampens my nerves, making it almost feel like I’m talking about everything happening to someone else.
“Only photos.”
“Okay, that’s good. We’ve only got a small window of time to get this sorted, so I need to know what we’re dealing with. Start from the beginning and tell us everything, Georgie.”
The knots inside my stomach tighten as I think back to how it all began.
“I was in college when I met him. I guess you could say that Nolan and I started as friends-with-benefits, as in I thought we were friends and he just used me for the benefits.” With an embarrassed grimace, I glance at James.
“We continued sleeping together off and on throughout the two and a half years I went to Alabama, but we didn’t start an actual relationship until later. ”
Over the next few minutes, more of the story spills out.
After dropping out, I started seeing less of Nolan.
I moved off campus and was working my ass off as a waitress.
Meanwhile, he was partying and preparing to graduate and enter the workforce.
Our lives drifted in different directions, but we kept in touch through the occasional text.
Then, about eighteen months ago, he showed up on the stoop of my apartment, drunk and ranting about how his family had cut him off.
Nolan had grown up in a prominent family, but he’d always been the black sheep compared to his two older brothers.
Prone to partying and slacking off, he could never meet his parents’ expectations, and those expectations only grew after he graduated college and joined the family business.
When Nolan’s family kicked him out, I took him in.
He knew I had no one else, and he used that, taking advantage of my kindness.
But I loved having him back in my life again.
Finally, after years of pining away and wishing we could be more than just fuck buddies, things between us were going the way I’d hoped they would.
For a few months, things were good. However, once he’d won me over and wormed his way into my life, everything changed.
Minor problems turned into major arguments.
If ever I got upset with something he did, he’d tell me to “stop living in the past.” But if I stepped out of line? I’d hear about it for months afterward.
Living with Nolan was like walking through a minefield.
I never knew what would set him off. So, I learned to live small.
To be quiet. To be obedient. To sidestep and ignore problems. Not to be a bother.
He’d conditioned me into accepting that ours was a healthy relationship, so I didn’t question whether I deserved better.
But then Nolan started falling behind on his half of the rent, and I picked up extra waitressing shifts to cover the shortfall.
He was staying out late, hiding where he was, not coming home until the early hours—if he came home at all.
When I confronted him, he did what he always did—blamed me and turned himself into the victim.
Nolan claimed he was lonely because I was always gone, so he went out with friends.
It didn’t matter that I was only gone because I was working to keep us afloat.
Somehow, he always twisted it around and made it my fault.
The saddest part? He was persuasive enough for me to believe him.
When I found out I was pregnant, I was terrified and turned to him for comfort.
I didn’t feel ready to be a mother, and I didn’t know what to do.
Instead of supporting me, Nolan denied it was his.
Then, he flipped the script and accused me of planning it, trying to trick him into marrying me.
He stormed out of the apartment, leaving me crying on the bathroom floor, holding a positive pregnancy test and feeling more alone than I’d ever felt.
I take a deep breath, readying myself to discuss what happened next.
“On the night I told him I was pregnant, he disappeared and came home hours later, drunk as a skunk, slurring his words and yelling at me. During his tirade, he wasn’t making much sense, but he kept talking about using the photos as leverage against me, calling the photos his get out of jail free card.
” I’m pretty sure the jail he was referring to was being forced to marry me.
“But I’m glad he mentioned the photos because I wouldn’t have thought about them otherwise. ”
I cringe, dropping my eyes, as I’m swamped with unpleasant memories.
My voice drops to a whisper as a red flush sweeps across my cheeks.
“Anyway, after he passed out, I did what I could to mitigate the disaster. I took his phone and deleted the photos. Then, in anger, I went through and removed every single photo and every mention of me from his social media accounts and his photo albums.”
“Good thinking,” James murmurs, caressing my back.
Charlotte interjects, “When you deleted the photos, did you also go into his folders to delete the deleted photos? Seems redundant, I know, but most phones nowadays keep deleted items for an additional thirty days.”
“Yeah, I did. I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t have any trace of them.”
“Hmm,” Charlotte murmurs. “So, does Nolan have photos, Georgie? Is he just bluffing to get more money?”
God, I’d love to think that Nolan is bluffing, but there’s another way he could have gotten access to the photos.
I’d hoped that I’d never have to tell a living soul about what happened next, but…
I’ve got to come clean if there’s any chance of heading this off before the tabloid goes ahead with the story.
“Until that point in our relationship, I’d had blinders on, but Nolan’s reaction to my pregnancy forced me to open my eyes.
Once I had his phone in my hands, I couldn’t stop myself from snooping through it.
I think I wanted to find hard evidence that Nolan was a bad person to make it easier for me to leave him.
Like if he was cheating or on dating apps, it would give me a tangible reason to break up with him.
I was upset and emotional and hormonal, and I wasn’t sure if I was overreacting.
Maybe his negative reaction was just because he needed time to come to terms with the pregnancy, you know? ”
In hindsight, I realize that my response was exactly what Nolan had trained me to do—doubt myself.
James pulls me out of the kitchen chair, settling on it himself and then tugging me into his lap. He wraps his arms around and I lean into him, drawing strength from his embrace.
“So, I snooped.” I swallow, but it hurts because my throat is so dry.
“I… I found a group chat with Nolan and his friends from college. In the chat, they all swapped nude photos of the women they slept with and critiqued their bodies and sexual performances.” I pause, my breath coming out faster.
“Nolan put all my photos in the chat, so while I deleted the photos off Nolan’s phone, his friends still have access to them in that group chat, Charlotte. ”
For a few moments, I get lost in the memory, pulled under by the tide of emotions flowing through me as I’m forced to relive the discoveries of that night.
When I searched through Nolan’s phone, I had prepared myself to find evidence of him cheating. It wasn’t much of a stretch to think he could be seeing other women, especially given how often he would stay out late or even be gone all night long.
But I hadn’t expected to find what I did. Seeing my nudes in the chat and reading the guys’ crude comments about my body was a total betrayal. It was more than a breach of trust. It was a complete breakdown of trust.
Their group chat went back years, from almost the very first time I slept with Nolan. The sinking realization that before some of them had even met me, Nolan had already sent them photos of my naked body.
That kind of complex betrayal cuts deep.
It doesn’t just go away or get forgotten.
It’s layer upon layer of damage and deceit.
Not only from Nolan but also from the other guys who I thought were my friends, too.
Knowing they had access to my nude photos was sickening, but reading the things they said about my body was truly vile.
It was egregious and disgusting, and that one text thread slammed a hammer to my self-esteem, shattering it.
Each cruel remark was another hit… until all I had left was rubble.
Never knew you were a chubby chaser, Nolan.
She’s got more rolls than a Sunday brunch.
Points deducted for stretch marks and cellulite.
Looks like she’d be a starfish during sex.
Starfish? I assumed hungry, hungry hippo. LOL.
What’s the opposite of a butterface? Pretty face, but that body? Good God, Nolan, get that girl some Ozempic.
You must have sex with the lights off because there’s no way I could stay hard for her with the lights on.
Pass or smash? Definitely pass on that Fatty Patty.
Dimples are cute on a face, not all over her legs and ass.
And Nolan’s response to their vicious texts?
Hey, a hole’s a hole. Plus, all that fat makes for a tighter fit.