Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Nathan was much more upset about what happened with Heather than I was. When she appeared at the campground the next day, taking over one of the cabins away from ours, a small pang went through me. I wasn’t jealous. It was obvious Nathan didn’t have lingering feelings for her.
Something didn’t feel right, though. I just couldn’t put my finger on what.
Preston was suddenly front and center again with the arrival of Heather.
She was a beautiful woman and he went out of his way to shower her with attention.
She had smiles at the ready for him and glares in reserve for Nathan.
She tracked his movements around the campground like a shark that sensed blood in the water. It was creepy.
Nathan was bothered by the constant stares, but he did his best to pretend otherwise. He really didn’t remember her. I didn’t doubt that. What did it say about him that he couldn’t conjure a single memory?
Worse, I was bothered most by the fact Preston seemed to know there was strife between the two of them. He was playing it up.
The whole thing was weird.
“What are you doing?” Bree plopped down next to me on the picnic table bench I’d settled at in the shade to watch the Preston Show. I almost came out of my skin because I wasn’t expecting her.
“Hmm?” I dragged my eyes to her. “Did you say something?”
“Well, you’re distracted.” Bree tapped her fingers on top of the table. “You should probably not stare at Preston so much. You’re giving Nathan a complex.”
A complex? “What are you talking about?”
She gestured toward the hammock area, to where Nathan and Brody were lounging. From all outward appearances, they seemed relaxed. Nathan’s gaze was on me, however. When he caught me looking, he smiled and waved, but there was a tenseness to his actions.
My heart gave a lurch.
In that moment, I figured things out. “He didn’t sleep with Heather.” I wasn’t saying it because I was delusional. “Preston convinced her to say it because… well, he’s Preston.”
Bree opened her mouth then closed it. She cocked her head and looked over at Preston, took in the way he was interacting with Heather, then did the one thing I wasn’t expecting. She nodded. “You’re right.”
“I am?” I didn’t mean to sound so dubious, but I’d expected more pushback from her.
“Of course you’re right.” She was calm as she regarded me but there was a fire in her eyes.
“She came out of nowhere and joined the author events late in the game. It would be one thing if she was only going to the restaurant ones. She’s here, though, and a cabin opened up for her out of nowhere, even though we were told they were all booked. ”
Good point. “What do we know about her?”
“Nothing off the top of my head, but we’re going to find out.” Bree stood and glanced around. “Let’s go to your cabin. I need to make a call.” She hesitated. “Let’s not tell Brody and Nathan about this. Not yet. I want to be sure.”
I understood where she was coming from. If we were wrong, we would get Nathan’s hopes up. If we were right, then it was time to take Preston out of the game. I was sick of his crap.
Bree waved at Brody and smiled. “We’re going to do some female bonding,” she called out.
Nathan frowned. “Female bonding?”
Bree nodded. “You know, we’re going to braid each other’s hair and shave our legs.”
Now Nathan looked genuinely baffled. “Um… do you need help?”
Obviously having overheard, Heather snorted disdainfully from her table.
“We’re good,” Bree replied. “We’ll let you know if we need you in a little bit.” With that, she motioned for Hayley to join us, and we headed toward the cabin.
Somehow, I managed to keep a smile on my face, but it took effort. Preston Martin Charles III was going to pay for this if I was right. We weren’t going to play the game by his rules. Not for one second longer.
brEE CALLED EVERY AUTHOR SHE KNEW once we were in the cabin, not stopping until she found someone who knew Heather. I wanted to listen in on the conversation, but I didn’t push. I waited for Bree to gather all of the information.
When she hung up, she was grim.
“You were definitely right,” she said. “She has a terrible reputation.”
“Well, we’re going to need more than that,” Hayley prodded.
“I know. I think we should get the boys in here so I only have to tell the story once.”
I nodded and moved to the door. “I’ll get them.” I felt as if I were walking through sludge I was so angry.
“No, we’ll text them and tell them to act lazy and bored before coming here,” Bree countered. “We don’t want Preston getting suspicious.”
I muttered something under my breath about how I didn’t care what Preston believed, but she ignored me and started typing on her phone. I thew myself onto the couch and waited for Brody and Nathan to join us. It only took them five minutes.
“You’re not shaving your legs or anything, are you?” Nathan asked, timidly poking his head through the door. “I don’t want to see it if you’ve somehow turned it into a group activity.”
“Oh, give me a break,” Bree growled. “We were never in here shaving our legs.”
“Okay.” Nathan smiled at me as he entered, slowing when I didn’t smile back. “What is happening? I’m so worried right now.”
And that was the problem. Preston was trying to ruin him because of me. This was all my fault. Just when I was about to tell him that—and maybe start crying—Bree jabbed a finger in my direction.
“Don’t,” she warned, deadly serious. “You’re about to go full-on martyr. I can tell. Nobody is falling on a sword.”
Nathan visibly braced himself. “What is going on?”
“You didn’t sleep with Heather Franklin,” I blurted before Bree could lay things out.
Confusion had Nathan drawing his eyebrows together. “I didn’t?”
“No, unless you’ve remembered something and haven’t told us about it.”
“I don’t remember anything.” He rubbed his stomach. “I feel sick about it too. What sort of guy sleeps with somebody but doesn’t remember it?”
“Not you,” Bree replied. “Bella figured it out when we were over at the picnic table. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“What’s the only thing that makes sense?” Nathan’s frustration was palpable. “You’re about to drive me over a cliff with this. I need to know what you’re talking about.”
“You didn’t sleep with her,” I repeated. “Preston just wants you to think you did.”
“I don’t…”
I could practically hear the gears in his mind grinding as things started coming together.
“Oh, man,” he said finally. “It makes sense.”
I wanted to curl into a ball and cry. “I’m so sorry.” My voice broke when he raised his eyes to mine. “This is all my fault.”
“That is not helping,” Bree snapped. “Stop blaming yourself for the things that guy does. You didn’t do this. He did it all.”
Nathan strode toward me, determined. “She’s right. This isn’t your fault.” He pulled me into his arms and stroked my back as the tears came. “Please, baby, don’t cry. Don’t give him the satisfaction.”
I couldn’t help myself. The tears couldn’t be contained.
“Shh.” Nathan kissed the top of my head and held me tight, swaying back and forth. “This has to stop. He’s torturing her.”
“It’s going to stop,” Bree assured him. “We have to be smart about it, though.”
“Fine. How are we going to be smart about it?”
Bree cast a look toward me—there was something there I couldn’t quite ascertain—then grimaced. “Let’s start with Heather Franklin. She has a certain reputation.”
“Like I have a certain reputation?” Nathan guessed.
“Yes, but different.” Bree motioned toward the chairs and couch. “Let’s talk.”
“This sounds bad.” Nathan scooped me up and carried me to one of the chairs. When he settled, it was with me on his lap. “Lay it on me.”
“Heather Franklin sleeps with anything that moves,” Bree started. “My friend Casey gave me the lowdown. She’s been to a lot of conferences with Heather, and she says that nobody likes her.”
“How does that prove Preston is setting me up?” Nathan challenged, snuggling me close. He was a big protective bear and clearly had no intention of letting me go.
“Because she’s done it before.” Bree leveled her gaze on him. “Do you remember hearing about that conference in Florida, the one where the organizer was fired?”
Nathan looked momentarily perplexed. They knew a lot more about the publishing world than I did, so it was a story I’d never heard. Ultimately, he’d nodded. “Yeah, Tom Garfield. I remember thinking that story didn’t make sense, but I don’t want to ever question the victim.”
“Well, apparently news has spread that she’s not a victim. She set him up for a payout.”
“Well, great.” Nathan made a hissing sound under his breath. “I hate it when stories like this ruin it for everybody.”
“I bet I hate it more. Heather got a six-figure payout and she agreed to make a public statement. Of course, since none of us know her very well, we didn’t hear about that part. The apology was swept under the rug.”
“You think Preston is paying her,” I guessed.
“Don’t you?” Bree raised an eyebrow as she regarded me.
I didn’t like blaming the victim either, but seeing how she was with Preston, the way they acted together, it was the only assumption I could come up with. “How do we prove it?”
Bree’s eyes went to Nathan. “Your father has contacts, right? He can talk to Preston’s father.”
Nathan didn’t look happy about that possibility. “I’m going to have to talk to him to get him to help.”
Bree made a “so what” circular motion with her hand. “Do it.”
“But… we don’t have the best relationship.” Nathan looked pained. “I just blew him off before we came here when he said he wanted to visit.”
“Nathan, he was reaching out to you,” Brody interjected. “Let him reach out. Let him help you. If we’re not careful, Preston is going to do something even more diabolical to you than what was done to Tom.”
Nathan glanced down at me, completely torn.
“This is my fault,” I said, straightening on his lap. “You don’t have to call your father. I’ll go to Preston and tell him we know what he’s planning.”
“Absolutely not.” Nathan vehemently shook his head. “He’ll deny it and all it will do is make him go even more diabolical. Bree is right. We need to go in under the radar. If that involves calling my father…”
“You need to talk to your father and get him to reach out to the second Preston,” Bree insisted. “It’s important we get him on our side.”
“The second Preston isn’t any more likable than his son,” I warned.
“No, but I bet he’s a better businessman,” Bree countered. “He’s going to understand the importance of not burning bridges over petty stuff.”
“She’s right,” Nathan said to me, his gaze seeking. “We need my father, loath as I am to admit it.”
“I don’t want to force you to do something that you don’t want to do.” My stomach was a squirming mass of snakes. “Maybe you would be better off without me.”
“Don’t say that.” Fury flashed in his eyes. “I want you. I’m not letting him take you from me. I’m also not letting you fall on your invisible sword. None of this is your fault.”
I thought of my mother, of what she would say, and stiffened my spine. “You’re right. I deserve some happiness.”
Nathan’s smile was warm and genuine. “Damn right you do.”
“Language,” Hayley barked, although there was zero heat behind it.
“We need to get the other authors who are here onboard,” Bree said, looking at Hayley. “We need to be careful and avoid anybody who might be on Heather’s side.”
“What about Daisy?” Hayley asked.
“Weirdly enough, I think she might be an asset,” Bree replied. “She thought she was making headway with Preston. She cared about the money. Then he brought in a ringer, and he’s been paying very little attention to her since then. Her nose must be out of joint.”
“Ooh, that’s a good point.” Hayley bobbed her head. “I approve.”
“What’s the plan, though?” Nathan asked. “I mean, say I can get my father to help. How are we going to bring Preston down?”
“Just talk to your father,” Bree said. “We’ll talk to the other authors. Once we get everybody in place, we’ll go from there.”
NATHAN SAID I COULD BE CLOSE when he called his father, but I opted to give him privacy. He took his call out back, near the lake, and I used the opportunity to call my mother.
No matter how old I was, when things went sideways, I wanted my mother.
She was smiling when she answered the call. A frown appeared almost instantaneously. “What happened? Did Nathan do something? That can’t be right. He’s one of the good ones.”
How she could know that when they’d only spent a few minutes talking to one another over video chats was beyond me.
I opened my mouth to tell her—everything—and then burst into tears. It took me a full ten minutes to get the story out. When I was finished, the fire in her eyes gave me pause.
“I’ve always hated that little goat scrotum,” she said, shaking her head. “I cannot believe he’s gone to these lengths. What is wrong with him?”
“So many things I don’t think we can name them all.” I swiped at the tears on my cheeks. “I want to make him pay.”
“Well, it’s about time.” She smiled. “I’ll be on the next plane.”
My heart skipped five beats. “What?”
Her smile was enigmatic. “I have a card to play in this game.”
I was bewildered. “What card?”
“It’s better to talk about it in person. Give me the address of the campground. I’ll be there as early as I can tomorrow morning, and we’ll finish this.”
I had questions—oh, so many questions—but I trusted my mother above all else. “Okay. I really do need you.”
“Of course you do. Every girl needs their mother at some point.”
“I’m an adult. Aren’t I supposed to be handling these things on my own?”
She sounded exasperated. “Belladonna, that’s always been your problem. You feel the need to do things on your own so as not to burden people. It’s time you realize that people want to help. Let everybody help you.”
I made a sniffling noise and nodded.
“You have to trust the right people, Bella,” she insisted. “You’re finally on your way. Let me help you.”
“Okay.” My voice was barely a whisper. “I can’t wait to see you.”
Her smile stretched the whole width of the screen. “Right back at you, daughter of mine.”