Chapter 33
“Those are the options you’ve come up with? A sting operation or we pay the blackmailer?” I repeat Stone’s words, uncertain I’ve heard him correctly over the hum of the Land Rover we’ve rented to transport all of our stuff over to La Vida Buena.
Hands twisting the leather wheel, he makes a slow right turn. “Paying is easiest but risky,” he says, glancing at me as he straightens out the wheel. “No telling if the person won’t come back later, and it’s impossible to track Bitcoin once we’ve made the payment.”
My cell beeps with a text I ignore. I hate the idea of paying someone to keep this information quiet. Especially if the person I’m paying is the person who brought me out to the beach and set me up. I grind my jaw.
“Who will we get to handle this sting operation?” I ask, because this isn’t my first experience with blackmail. Cecily threatened me with a lot of things if I turned her in to the cops.
He taps the steering wheel. “We handle it in-house. I take it on. Me. That’s it.”
“How?”
“It’s best if you don’t know the particulars.”
I can’t help but wonder if whatever he has planned is supposed to flush Yolanda out. Stone’s suspicions of her have lodged tentacles in my heart and jaw, but grinding my teeth to dust isn’t going to help this situation.
“East?” Stone says, his voice raised enough that it’s obvious he’s said it before. “What do you want me to do?”
Paying feels like going against everything I stand for. “I think I made Cecily face the consequences for her actions, so it seems only fair I should face mine.”
I would easily if it wouldn’t bring down Yolanda. Assuming she isn’t blackmailing me. I’m so turned around I don’t know what to think. But I keep going back to when I first found out about Cecily. For those two weeks, I stared at the evidence, unable to believe it was true.
“You’re seriously comparing a woman stealing millions from charity to you frenching someone on the beach? An act that literally hurts no one.”
“The contest rules…”
“Were designed to make sure no one has an unfair advantage getting onto the show. You’re not a judge, have zero control over the show, go out of your way to coach each contestant, and work hard to combat Parker’s instincts when it comes to featuring you and Yolanda. So stop beating yourself up.”
He makes it sound so innocent. “It wasn’t just the kiss, Stone. It’s like you said… This points to my bad judgment. I fucked up with Cecily, put the company in a bad position, and I did it again with Yolanda.”
“Look, if Yolanda is the one blackmailing you?—”
“I don’t believe that.” Not wholly. “But that’s not the point. The point is that I shouldn’t have taken a walk on the beach. I knew where it could lead. In fact, I wanted to test that connection and look where that got me.”
We drive on without a word, each of us becoming lost in our own thoughts, or at least I do. We’re pulling in at La Vida Buena when I decide. “No payment. But the sting operation…” Fuck. “Sure. Okay.”
We pull around to the front of the hotel and Stone gives the one-minute sign to the valet, who discreetly drifts back.
“One last thing.” Stone pulls out his phone and holds it up so he’s filming me. “It’s time for Humiliate The Loser.”
“Seriously, man?” I put my hand up to block his camera.
He swats it down, and I am seconds from punching my best friend in the face. And meaning it.
I ball my fist. “You’re going to pile on me right now? I can’t take that shit. Wait ’til we get back to NYC before you do that.”
He shakes his head. “Oh, no. You lost the dance to Yolanda. The bet was if you lost, I could devise a punishment, and I’m not waiting.”
“Fuck, Stone,” I’m so pissed that I’m seeing red. “No more toothbrushes, man. People still mail me those damn things. I had to start donating them.”
Stone laughs evilly, and I go for the phone again. He holds it up out of my way, putting his leg in my chest in a move that is way too flexible. “Nope, East. That was old-school bullshit. My HTL is twenty-four-hour kiss and click bounty on you. It’s kind of like a reverse kissing booth.”
“What?”
“I’m giving everyone on the FTW show, including grips and stagehands, a thousand dollars for a charity of their choice if they get a photo of themselves kissing you, and post it on my socials, within the next twenty-four hours.”
I drop my hand and blink at him in understanding and horror. If there are photos of me being kissed by so many people on the show… then my kiss with Yolanda is just another photo.
Plus, if Yolanda knows nothing about the blackmail, she’ll react a lot differently than if she knows about it. “No, Stone. HTL can’t be illegal and this sounds like sexual harassment.”
“Of who? You’re not kissing anyone. You just have to let yourself be kissed by anyone on the show for the next twenty-four hours. And it’s for a good cause. HTL, my friend. Think of it as a new-school kissing booth.”
“But… no one is going to do that.”
He snorts. “Oh, they will. And for the record, they can kiss your ring, your cheek, or your ass. I don’t care how they get it done, amigo. I only care that it gets done. HTL stops for no one.”
“No. Don’t post that shit. It’ll humiliate me.”
“That’s literally the name of the bet.”
I scrub a frustrated hand through my hair. “It’s hard to tell if you’re a more devious asshole as my lawyer or as my best friend.”
He laughs. “I’m putting that quote on my website under reviews. Do I have your permission to use your full name, Easton Yaris Blake, III?”
“Fuck. Don’t use my middle name. Don’t post that video. Don’t. Asshole.” Disgusted, I jump out of the car.
“Anything to say to your adoring fans,” Stone calls after me.
I turn around to see him still filming me through the window. I give him the one-fingered salute, tipping it off my head like a cap before I storm away.
The valet heading toward the car gives me a welcoming grin. Digging in my wallet, I hand him five hundreds and read his nametag. “Ramon, do you mind getting my bags?”
Normally, I’d help get my own bags, but I’m so pissed at Stone I have to get away. It’s that or start a very public brawl out front of Yolanda’s resort.
“Of course, Se?or Blake.” He takes the money with a cheeky grin. “That’s actually why I’m here.”
I force a smile and enter the hotel that I’ve been dreaming about for a decade.
* * *
Forty minutesafter arriving at La Vida—Stone got us the same room we’d had that long-ago night—I’m rounding the corner of my floor, headed to my first coaching session with Kay Lee, when I’m blindsided.
Kay Lee and Fonzie come up on either side of me and kiss me on my cheek. I startle. Fonzie holds up a camera and snaps a photo while Kay Lee does her best to hold onto her hat.
“I hope you have a good charity in mind,” I say, grinning despite myself.
“Clips for Creatures,” Kay Lee says. “They do free grooming for underprivileged pets.”
“And you don’t have to worry about no-shows at your kissing booth,” Fonzie adds, winking at me. “The cast and crew have started a text chain to let people know where you are at all times.”
“Just texted everyone.” Kay Lee fist bumps Fonzie as I stand there thinking that my asshole friend might actually be an evil mastermind.
Fonzie holds his phone out so that I can see the screen. He’s posted the kissing picture under the video Stone had taped of me earlier.
“One hour down,” Kay Lee says. “Only twenty-three more to go.”
I groan.
“Everyone’s saying it’s kind of a douche move by Stone,” Fonzie says. “No offense.”
Offense actually taken. “I’ve done worse to him. He’s my best friend and a great guy.” They look at me like I’m a total sucker. Little do they know Stone is getting shit upon to protect me, so, yeah, not going to put the man down or let someone else put him down on top of that.
“Let’s check out the gym,” Fonzie says, by way of smoothing over the awkward.
I pass my cell with its downloadable key over the security pad at the gym doors.
“Heads up,” Fonzie says, and I spin around to find Parker, who has a determined look on her face.
She points a long-nailed finger at me and says, “Wild Horses of Carolina Fund.”
With that, she gives me a peck directly on the mouth.
I hear Fonzie snap another photo and Kay Lee laugh.
It’s at that moment, with all of us laughing and pushing into the gym, that I really begin to wonder how Yolanda will react to all of this.
If she knows nothing about the blackmail and Stone posts that picture of her kissing me on the beach, along with all the other photos online, what will she think?
Will she think I had someone take the photo of us? Will she think I’m playing some kind of game with her?
Fuck. When did my life become a teen drama?