Chapter 49 The Exposure
The Exposure
Harper
Tanner narrows his eyes on Caden when Caden enters the art room on Thursday. Will today be the day something happens? It feels like I’m sitting on a ticking bomb. Several actually. Just waiting for one of them to go off.
Caden takes the chair on the other side of me and slips his foot around the leg of my chair, drawing me closer to him and farther from Tanner.
“What did you guys do?” Caden doesn’t ask Tanner. He’s only asking me.
“We decided on a color scheme.” Or rather I decided on a color scheme, since Tanner continued to pout. I’m just waiting for him to figure out his next move.
“Show me.” Caden’s hand rests on my thigh, and sparks sizzle through my veins. Both he and Luke took care of me last night, and I fell asleep hard, snuggled between them.
I show Caden the colors I chose. He looks through them and nods.
“Good choice. Still having a tantrum over there?” Caden’s gaze goes to Tanner.
“Fuck off, Caden.” Tanner folds his arms on the desk. “It’s not like any teacher would dare to give a horseman less than an A in a class.”
“Jealous that we’re actually smarter than you?” Caden leans back in his chair like he doesn’t have a care. “You can check if you like, but we earn the grades we’re given.”
Tanner just scoffs and shakes his head. “Whatever.”
Caden doesn’t bristle as we finish the class in relative silence. When the bell rings, Caden takes my hand, and we head to the cafeteria. Nico falls in step behind us.
The cafeteria is still not my favorite place.
The girls watch Caden, but the guys are watching me. Again my skin crawls. Something definitely feels off about the way they see me now when they never saw me before. A shiver creeps down my spine, and Caden draws me in closer to his side.
“You okay?” he murmurs as we pass Zach’s table. The Cheermonsters are present as always.
“It’s the anticipation of something happening that’s driving me mad.” I lean into his warmth, and he leads me around the table to his seat next to Luke.
My cheeks flush remembering how Luke made sure I was satisfied last night but didn’t want it reciprocated. He just kissed me and told me to go to sleep.
His eyes meet mine. Tonight we’re supposed to go out on a date. I don’t even know what that will look like. A date with Death.
Caden pulls me down on his lap. Sighing, I pass him a sandwich and begin to eat my own. Jack has his laptop out as he works through lunch. Nico and Eli are talking about the game tomorrow.
I should be happy and content. Everything seems fine on the surface. It feels like I’m treading water, but there’s this undercurrent waiting to drag me under.
Meanwhile, Zach just sits over there without any repercussions from trying to rape me. I’m sure the horsemen have a plan, but I wish they’d get on with it. He’s not our only problem though.
“Luke.” Sidney stands in front of our table, her hands on her hips. She’s wearing an off-the-shoulder shirt with jeans today. Her whole vibe is sex.
He leans back in his chair and looks at her with those icy eyes.
“We’re partying at my house on Friday after the game.” She says it like it’s a given he’ll be there. She doesn’t look at me.
“We have plans.” Luke shifts his focus back to his food.
“But you guys go to all the parties.” It isn’t a whine. No, whining is way too good for Sidney Brown. But she’s clearly unhappy.
Luke lifts his gaze to her like she’s annoying him, which she probably is. “We choose to go to parties. The great thing is we have choice.”
Sidney’s laugh is bitter and sharp. It draws the attention of the cafeteria. Most people were already leaning in to listen, but now they stop pretending to be covert about it.
“You guys wouldn’t know the first thing about choice. Sure, you like to make it seem like the girls you harass choose you, but they don’t. Not really.” Sidney’s cheeks are ruddy.
“What’s your point, Sidney?” Luke leans forward. “Are you trying to make my girl feel uncomfortable? Or are you trying to rally support from the other girls who may have felt we took advantage of them? Or are you going to admit that often you had a hand in who we went after?”
A collective breath is drawn. For a second there’s silence but then the noise returns as people turn to talk to their friends. That can’t be new knowledge, can it?
“I had nothing to do with your current conquest.” She turns her head away with an eyeroll.
“You mean, my girlfriend?” Luke leans forward. “You’re right. You had nothing to do with Harper, but how many others did you ask us to take down for you?”
Sidney’s lips pinch. “I’m glad you aren’t coming to my party. Maybe then people will see we don’t need you guys always dictating what we should or shouldn’t do.”
My breath catches. What the hell will they do to her? This is as public as you can get for a confrontation. I should know it wasn’t long ago I was spanked in front of this cafeteria. But is Sidney too powerful to punish?
“We don’t control parties, Sidney, but it’s nice that you believe that.” Luke glances at the table of basketball players and cheerleaders. “Besides, you have your own men to raise up, right?”
She stiffens, and so do I. It’s not like she told me that in confidence. But now she knows that I told them. Was that some kind of break of girl code?
Wait, I don’t owe Sidney anything.
She takes a few steps closer as she does something on her phone. Her smug glance at me makes my insides tighten. Whatever she has won’t be good for me.
Setting the phone on the table in front of Luke, she leans in to say quietly, “You might want to double-check your whore. The guys are passing this around.”
My heart stalls as my gaze drops to the phone. There’s a picture of me naked on it. I cover my mouth to stop from making a noise. All those times on webcam when they got me naked run through my mind. Jack promised he wouldn’t take pictures. Sidney smirks at me.
Luke pulls the phone closer and studies the picture. “It’s not her.”
He tosses the phone back on the table, making a definitive thump.
I lean forward to look. That’s definitely my face and hair, but not my naked body. Jack grabs the phone and narrows his eyes on it.
“Bad photoshop job.” He taps on the screen a few times and hands the phone back to Sidney. “Someone needs help with their skills.”
She snatches her phone out of his hand. “It doesn’t matter that it’s fake. I just thought you’d want to know what the guys of our school are passing around about your girlfriend.”
No, she doesn’t. She wants to cause a stir. Put the guys on the defensive again.
Caden tightens his hand on my hip. At least, that explains the heated looks from the other guys in our school. My stomach churns. Even fake, it’s out there. That kind of shit can ruin a girl.
“We can still be helpful to each other.” Sidney’s gaze rests on Luke. “We don’t have to be enemies.”
“Is that what you are? My enemy?” Luke’s smirk tells everyone listening he doesn’t believe it for a moment. Broadcasting to the school that Sidney is weak, which won’t sit well with her.
Eli rises next to Sidney and quietly says, “If you come after ours, we’ll ruin you.”
Sidney laughs, but there’s a hint of fear in her eyes. “We’re not the ones coming after your girl. We just want to be there when she falls.”
Sidney spins on her heel and walks away. As she passes the other table, the Cheermonsters rise and follow her out of the cafeteria. Zach lounges in his chair with his foot out in front of him, watching the whole thing carefully.
He catches my gaze and smirks before sending an arrogant kiss in my direction. My heart freezes, and my gaze drops to my food, which I don’t want anymore.
“Do you have it down, Jack?” Luke’s soft voice catches my attention.
“Yeah, but I can’t take it off every asshole’s phone, unfortunately.” Jack looks at me. “Sorry, sweetheart, but I’ve got an alert running to catch it if it’s reloaded onto the internet.”
“Thank you.” There’s not much they can do. It’s out there. Thankfully a fake and not a webcam session screenshot. It’s stupid and risky to continue to do the webcams, but I like seeing them all at night.
Besides, Jack says it’s secure.
Luke glances my way. “You okay?”
I haven’t really processed it yet. Or looked around the cafeteria to see how others are reacting. Caden tips my chin his way.
He searches my eyes to see how I’m doing before he rests his forehead against mine and takes a deep breath. I close my eyes and absorb Caden, letting him fill every inch of me instead of the drama and worry of the day. He doesn’t have to say a word to make me feel protected and wanted.
“We need to go on the offensive,” Nico says, drawing me out of my moment of peace.
“It’s time.” Luke blows out a breath, and his gaze focuses on me. “How about a short date tonight, princess? Dinner and then we’ll join the others to figure out how we’re going to handle this.”
“That sounds good.”
“H.” Kenz hurries to catch up to me in the hallway. “What the fuck happened in the cafeteria?”
I release my breath and avoid the look from the guy leaning against his locker. “I know why the guys are all looking at me like fresh meat.”
She turns and glares at the guy before hooking her arm in mine as we walk. “What is it?”
“Someone photoshopped my head on a naked body.” Red, hot heat fills my stomach. “And then shared it with all the guys.”
“Fuck. Is it on the internet?” Kenz squeezes my arm.
“Jack got it down and will continue to take it down.” I stop at Caden’s locker and put my books away.
“Where are all your men?” She glances around as if just realizing I’m all alone for the first time in a while. Of course, not really alone, as the hallways are filled with students.
“Practice. Can I get a ride home? I was going to call Mom.”
“Of course.” She leans against the lockers and looks up and down the hallway. “We need to get you some sort of weapon in case one of these assholes thinks it’s all right to make a move.”
“I have five very effective weapons.” I smile, thinking about the guys.
“Still, you have to be alone sometimes.” She shakes her head. “I’m not letting you out of my sight from now on.”
Closing the locker, I turn to lean next to her, bumping her shoulder with mine. “I’m glad I have you.”
She grins. “Come on. Let’s get out of this house of horrors.”
We walk together to her car. The parking lot is busy with everyone trying to leave. So many faces I recognize but don’t actually know. Yes, I’m finally not hiding, but I still feel isolated just with five new additions to my isolation.
If I don’t count Penny and the girls.
“How are you and Brandon?” I ask and pull my seatbelt on.
She smiles. “Still loving every minute we get to spend together. We’ve been talking about after high school and what colleges we want to go to. It sounds like we might be doing long distance, but it’s so far off I’m not thinking about it.”
“The guys have me applying to a bunch of schools.” I lean my head back as we start the familiar drive to my house. “They want me to go where they go.”
“Yeah?” Kenz turns surprised eyes my way. “I thought they just wanted you for the year.”
Shrugging, I glance at my chipped nail polish. I’ve been picking at it all day. It was better than seeing the boys in school undressing me with their eyes.
“That’s a huge step, H.” Kenz turns down my road.
“I know. They’ve kind of taken over my life, but I don’t think I mind.” I turn my head her way. “I mean, my life was pretty low key before this year.”
Nodding, she pulls into my driveway and turns off the car. “I can’t imagine deciding my college based on where Brandon goes. I love him, but we’re still kids and have so much growing up to do. I wouldn’t want to regret my decision.”
“Understandable, but my criteria for college wasn’t that great to begin with.
Affordable and far away from the horsemen while staying close-ish to Mom.
” I blow out a breath. “If we’re still together, I get to go to a school with five guys I kind of like and keep having amazing sex.
But if we’re apart, I still get to go to a better school than I was picking for myself. ”
Kenz grins. “Amazing sex?”
My cheeks flush. “Definitely.”
She shakes her head. “Man, if I’d known, I would have gotten you a boyfriend years ago and stayed available.”
I laugh. “No you wouldn’t have. You would have been snatched up as a snack the second you were available.”
We both get out of the car and go into the house. Mom comes down the stairs as I hang up my backpack.
“Just the girls today?”
Kenz smiles. “Hi, Ms. D.”
“Kenz.” Mom stops at the island and looks me over. “You good, kid?”
“I’m good, but someone decided to share a photoshopped picture of me. My head, someone else’s naked body. We don’t know who did it.”
Her eyebrows pinch. “Is it on the internet?”
I shake my head and reach into the fridge to get Kenz and me a soda.
“The guys made sure it was taken down.” I hand Kenz her soda and open mine. “Someone’s just trying to send a message.”
“I don’t like this, Harper.” Mom sinks onto one of the stools. “Maybe we need to think about homeschooling like you wanted at the beginning of the year.”
“The guys keep her safe.” Kenz’s eyes are wide. “I don’t think it would be better if Harper was on her own all day.”
“I don’t know.” Mom’s worried eyes lock with mine. “Too many fucking coincidences.”
“What do you mean?” I lean on the island.
“My schedule. Your new boyfriends. Someone harassing you when you’re alone. The flat tire. Now this. I don’t like it. Someone’s obviously targeting you. Maybe we should call the police.”
I never told her about the guy in the house or the laundry room at the game. Just that I saw someone outside the window. I should tell her. She’d know what to do.
“We think it’s just some other kids at school.” Kenz looks between us.
“Then we should talk to the administration.” Mom sighs. She looks so tired and worn out. I wish I didn’t worry her so much. The guys have this under control and they don’t leave me alone. We’ll figure this out and bring her in when it makes sense.
“Why don’t I go in and talk to the principal tomorrow?” I offer because she needs to sleep during the day. “I’ll tell him you work nights and about everything that’s happened. He can contact you if he needs to pull you in on anything.”
I don’t know how the guys will react to this, but we’ve already done what we can to protect me and her here. Maybe it’s time to tell the officials what is happening.
She nods. “Fine. Until I’m on day shift again, I’ll let you handle this. But if you get in over your head, you tell me. I mean it.”