Chapter 40
Levi
Settling into our new routine of life was nearly effortless. It may have taken a few extra days for Tessa to process everything that had happened and to accept the terms of future tasks to come. But other than that, a week of our version of fucked up normalcy couldn’t have gone any easier.
“When’s the next tour?” Tessa asked, plopping her ass onto one of the barstools in the kitchen as Lucas rummaged through the fridge for a snack that wasn’t her for once.
“Two months? I think? Levi would know that information; he’s the one who schedules them. I just show up and look pretty.” He pulled his smug head out of the shelves with a yogurt in hand before closing the door. He pulled open a drawer for a spoon, then strolled closer to her.
“Two months, and this time you are staying on for its entirety. No more of this ‘switch out with me, I’m all depressed and want to stay home’ bullshit.
” I mocked from the living room couch. “This tour is yours, and as we’ve always done, I will take the next one.
And if you’re a good boy, I’ll even let her tag along for a couple stops so you don’t have to go too long without your princess. ”
“First off, I’m not a dog, and I’ll act how I please. Secondly, it was one time, and look what happened? I found my girl in the end.” Lucas smirked, peeling back the lid on his cup before licking it clean, taunting Tessa with his tongue in the process, eyes heatedly locked on hers.
“I found our girl, you just couldn’t keep your dick in your pants long enough and sprang on her like a feral animal with a breeding kink.”
“You know, I would find what you just said offensive… If you weren’t right. Guilty as charged and fucking proud of it.”
“Do you two actually fight? Like ever?” She teased, her gaze flicking between mine and my brother’s right before she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, sinking back on the stool.
“We make love, not war, babygirl.”
“Because god fucking knows that if we were to start a war, it would only be in your honor, princess. The face that launched a thousand half-naked men.” Lucas paused eating to gesture with his hands as if he were reading from a headline written in the sky.
“Cute. You should put that in a Hallmark card.” Tessa quipped, pushing herself to stand and skirting around my brother to refill her wine glass, all while he fixated on her ass, fighting the urge to smack it.
“Hey, can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“No, but I can blame him for using the cheesiest pick-up lines imaginable.” She joked, pursing her lips while pulling the bottle of white wine from the fridge.
“Oh, you haven’t heard the worst of his lines, babygirl.
” I got up from the couch, retrieved the remote from the mantle under the TV, and flicked through the various news channels over my shoulder before landing on TMZ.
“Remind me, brother, didn’t one of them end with your date stabbing you in the chest with her fork before the night was over? ”
“Eh… She liked her steak rare. I guess she saw me as a fresh piece of meat.” Lucas shrugged, laughing before he dropped his spoon on the counter, the color draining from his face as he stared straight ahead at the screen.
“Lucas?” Tessa frowned, peering over her shoulder at him as if he’d frozen in time before following his gaze. “What’s—”
I turned around to see what had thrown them both into a state of shock, and in an instant, my stomach bottomed out.
“Holy fuck…”
Our home fell silent. Nothing but the TV and the sound of a wine glass shattering on the floor, as we all gaped at the shit show unfolding before our eyes.
Without looking at her, I could feel the hurricane building in my girl as she took a step forward, its wake with a current ready to drag her under at any given second.
“Levi,” Lucas hissed while snapping his fingers at me to focus, and I almost dropped the remote as I fumbled it between panicked hands, trying to turn it off.
“No…” She rushed out under her breath, completely entranced by what she was seeing. “Turn it up… Please…”
“I don’t—I really don’t think this is a good—”
“Just do it… Fuck sake… Do as she asked, Levi…” My brother stopped me, knowing that nothing good would come of what we were witnessing. But she’d already seen the start, so there was no avoiding it, and we had far more problems heading our way if this was just the tip of the iceberg.
All we could do now was protect her from the fallout as best we could.
“Famed Actress Tessa Bradley has been found, and you won’t believe where. It appears as though for the past month and a half, she’s been hiding not too far from home. In Las Vegas, Nevada—”
I dropped the remote onto the counter, my eyes locking with my brother’s before we both turned our attention to our girl as she witnessed the unraveling destruction of her once pristine reputation.
“A valuable resource has provided us with photo and video evidence of Tessa working at Pulse, a popular nightclub on The Strip, under the guise of a cage dancer by the name of Evie Sinclair—”
“How the fuck did they manage to obtain this shit?” Lucas gritted out, his jaw tight enough to break teeth.
“That’s our security footage…” I added, pointing at the clip they were now playing of the moment where Tessa held Brandi pinned against the wall in the locker room.
“Oh fuck—”
“Brandi…” We confirmed together.
The only person who would’ve held a grudge against Tessa and also known of her true identity.
“It appears as though Tessa has cozied up with not one, but both of the owners, and it has also been brought to light that she is now married to one of them. The context of the relationship is still unknown at this time, but we hope to have additional details for you very, very soon…”
“How did she get the video footage?” Lucas asked, and I hung my head, staring at the counter while I chewed my lip.
Our office and computer were always locked when unattended, leading me to suspect that she’d managed to bribe one of our cleaners for access. And I wouldn’t put it past Brandi to sell her body for a chance to get even. And the check that came with selling that kind of information to the press…
“Good question, and I know exactly who can answer it… One of us needs to hunt the bitch down and the other—”
“Dustin.” My brother threw out his name as if a light bulb had gone off.
“The one man with enough power to clean this mess up and wipe it away like nothing more than a bad publicity stunt,” I snapped my fingers, considering him as our only option.
“If anyone can influence the media into believing that Brandi is full of shit and everything was faked for money and clout, it’s him.
None of the footage they’ve shown has actually been of Tessa.
The lounge clip was just the back of her head, that could’ve been any brunette on our staff, and her hair is pink in the photos… ”
Dustin could erase everything that had just unfolded within a matter of hours, but it would come at a cost, and I was more than willing to pay the fee if it meant saving my girl from having to suffer the consequences of this tabloid nightmare.
“The faster we get to Dustin and hand Brandi over to him, the sooner we can make this go away. All of this.” Lucas nodded in agreement, fierce determination in his eyes, as he stepped up behind Tessa and wrapped comforting arms around her.
“No one gets away with hurting our girl…” He breathed into her hair as she stood there, still frozen with shock.
Numb, speechless. “I’ll kill her myself if I have to; tear the cunt apart with my bare fucking hands, I’d—”
“We need to go, now, Luke, before this gets too far out of our control,” I interjected before his rage got the better of him.
“From the looks of it, this is only the beginning, but if more news outlets pick it up, we’re fucked.
” Moving fast to grab my jacket and keys, I turned back to her, still motionless, and my heart constricted.
“We’ll be back, babygirl. Don’t worry about any of this.
Luke and I will fix everything.” I promised as my brother gave her a firm squeeze, whispering something into her ear before releasing his hold, and then followed me out the door.
Time was of the essence if we were going to resolve this.