AFTER SPENDING MOST of Sunday with Archer, I’d gone to Serena’s that night to have “the talk”—the one I hadn’t expected for us to have anytime soon, but the one she’d known was coming. Maybe Archer and I both leaving the Winter Ball early had tipped her off to how serious things had gotten so quickly, but she took the news in stride. Hell, she was smiling at seeing me so happy, and even though it was still strange, she was glad that her dad had found someone she knew would treat him well. Even if it meant she was losing her “boyfriend.”
“So, where’d you disappear to Saturday?” West said from where he sat across from me in the Sprinter van Monday morning. “You missed an epic afterparty.”
Travis smirked as he scrolled through his phone. “No, he didn’t.”
West narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?” When Travis didn’t answer, West kicked my foot. “Hello? What did you end up doing?”
“You mean whom,” Travis corrected him, and I rolled my eyes.
Gavin shot up in his seat like something had burned his ass. “No way. Is that why Mr. Carrington left so early? Everyone was talking about it.”
Now that had my attention. “People noticed?”
“Uh, yeah,” Gavin said. “He was supposed to do a speech, and one of the other board members ended up going up there and talking out of his ass.”
I shrugged. “Well, maybe he got food poisoning and wasn’t feeling well.”
“Or maybe he ended up naked in a certain someone’s apartment that he shares with moi,” Travis said. When everyone’s attention turned his way, he added, “What? If he didn’t want me to see his hot ass, he shouldn’t have been walking around without clothes.”
“You didn’t see his hot ass. He had pants on,” I pointed out. “You only wish you saw him naked.”
“Well, yeah. I mean, I did ask if you two wanted a third.”
My eyes went wide. “You did what?”
“Hellooo.” Donovan moved up to his knee on the seat, rising above us so he could get our attention. “You’re all missing a very important point right now. Which is Mr. Carrington left his event and his date to be with Preston.”
There was a brief moment of silence before the entire van broke out into catcalls and whistles, and I couldn’t help but laugh as West reached over and mussed up my hair.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, shoving him off and smoothing my hair back into place.
“Does that mean he’s willing to risk it all for you?” East said mockingly, like he’d believe it when he saw it.
I didn’t have to tell him to fuck off with that, because Daire did it for me.
My lap buzzed once, then twice, then a third time, and when I saw the texts that had just come through, I frowned. “Huh.”
Travis leaned over to peek at my screen. “What’s wrong?”
“Something’s up with Serena. She just sent an SOS and said for us to meet her in our spot.”
“Us?” East arched a brow.
“Apparently all of us.”
“Guys,” West said, his voice wary, “why is Harry the Hacker messaging me asking if we need his help?”
“His help?” I repeated. Shit, did this have anything to do with Serena sending an SOS? “Tell him to meet us in our spot. Just in case.”
West nodded. “On it.”
I called Serena, but it went straight to voicemail. In all the years I’d known her, I couldn’t remember a time that had happened.
A wave of anxiety rolled through me, but I didn’t have time to focus on it as the Sprinter pulled up to Astor. The guys filed out ahead of me as I pocketed my phone and grabbed my bag.
The second I stepped into the courtyard, I noticed something was…different.
The dozens of groupings scattered around all stopped talking and turned in our direction the second we walked past the gates. It didn’t feel like the usual stares of admiration, though.
My steps slowed as I looked around, catching a few sneers, a few more looks of disgust. Some turned away to whisper to their friends; others looked down at their phones before shaking their heads at me…
Shit. They weren’t staring at my friends at all. They were staring at me.
My heart began to thud loudly as my steps slowed.
Daire glared right back at every one of them before growling, “What the fuck are you lookin’ at?”
“Your cheating-ass friend,” a jock nearby said, before spitting on the ground a few feet from me.
East stopped moving so abruptly that I almost ran into his back. He turned slowly, like a king deigning to give attention to a peasant, and pinned the jock with a look so full of loathing, I would’ve pissed myself were I on the receiving end.
“I’d advise you to strongly consider apologizing for misspeaking.”
The jock’s eyes narrowed as he gestured at me. “He cheats on Serena with her dad like the pervert he secretly is, and you want me to apologize to this piece of shit—”
“You motherfucker.” Daire grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and a flicker of fear passed through the guy’s eyes. “Say that again.”
“What, are you gonna hit me too? I doubt the dean will go easy on you this time, even if one of you guys are screwing her kid.”
Daire’s arm reared back, but Gavin jumped forward, catching him by the bicep and yanking him away before Daire’s fist could make contact with the guy’s jaw.
“Jesus, he’s not worth it,” Gavin said as he struggled to tug him back before West and Donovan moved in to help block our surly friend from doing anything stupid.
Like defend me.
Because what the jock had just said meant that somehow my secrets had come spilling out.
“Your girlfriend’s dad?” a girl at one of the benches yelled. “What kind of sick human does that?”
Her words set off a cacophony of insults:
“How could you do that to Serena?”
“I thought you were straight?”
“You’re fucking the daughter and the dad?”
“Who’s the better lay, Preston, huh?”
“Interesting family dynamics, isn’t it? Swapping out one Carrington for the other.”
It went on and on, each comment slapping me in the face, and I could only stand there, taking it. My feet felt rooted to the pavement, and it wasn’t until East swiped the jock’s phone and took a look at the screen that he addressed the others.
“Get him out of here.”
I felt someone’s arm wrap around my waist, but I was in such a surreal daze that I didn’t know how they managed to get my legs moving. All I knew was that they got me inside the building and into our meetup room in a blur before depositing me into one of the chairs.
“Oh no,” a soft voice said, and then Serena was kneeling in front of me. “Preston? Put your head between your knees and breathe, okay?”
I did as she said, taking in slow gulps of air as she rubbed my back. Faintly, I heard the other guys storm in, their voices raised and angry as the door slammed shut.
“I’m assuming whoever took that photo sent it to everyone but us,” West said.
“Whoever did it is an amateur.” East gave an inelegant snort. “Who doesn’t use something like that as blackmail? Instead, they gave it out to the masses for free. Idiot.”
“East,” Serena snapped.
“What? If Preston or your father had been blackmailed instead, we could’ve gotten ahead of this.”
“Or if Preston had kept his pants zipped outside an event filled with hundreds of guests, maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” Gavin said, and the room went quiet. “Don’t look at me like that—I’m just stating the obvious here. What the hell were you thinking, man?”
“Obviously, he wasn’t,” Serena said. “And can you put the photo away? You of all people should know what it’s like to see a family member getting too…handsy.”
When I finally felt in control of my breathing again, I lifted my head and rested my elbows on my knees.
Serena gave my arm a squeeze. “You okay?”
I shook my head. “I should be asking you that question.”
“I’m fine.” Her tight–lipped smile didn’t agree with her words, though. “People are assholes. It’s not like we didn’t know that.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…” I gestured toward the now-blank screen of Gavin’s phone. “I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t realize.” And now Serena would have to pay in humiliation for something we’d hoped to be able to control on our time.
“Preston, seriously, don’t worry about the rumors. They’ll pass whenever the next person fucks up.”
“They think I cheated on you.”
She shrugged. “You and I know the truth. Your friends know the truth. Who gives a shit what those morons think? Besides”—she flipped her hair over her shoulder—“they’ve all said worse about me before, and those things were true.”
There was a knock on the door, and West opened it to find a frazzled Harry, the tech guy we referred to as Harry the Hacker for his ability to make things disappear online, standing there holding on to the straps of his backpack.
“Do you want me to set up in here?” he asked, as West ushered him inside and shut the door.
“Yes,” West said, the same time I answered, “No.”
West shot me a look. “What do you mean, no? There’s a photo of you and Carrington in a pretty compromising position, and it’s only spreading. You want to keep that out there, or can Harry do his job and erase the image of Carrington’s hand down your pants?”
I blanched. That’s what the photo was? I’d assumed it was just us kissing, nothing more than that. This was even worse.
When I didn’t answer, West nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
Harry took a seat and began to set up as I rubbed my hands over my face.
Sure, he could get rid of anything online, but the damage was done. People had already seen it, were already talking about it. It would get around now, filter through the ranks of the Upper East Side…
It wasn’t the thought of my parents finding out the news that had my chest tightening.
It was what would happen to Archer when his colleagues found out.
Cursing under my breath, I pulled my phone out of my pants pocket, my hand shaking as I brought up Archer’s number and hit call. It went straight to voicemail, though, and I ended the call before leaving a message and sent him a text instead.
Please call me as soon as you get this.
“Um.” Harry looked at me nervously as he pushed his glasses up his nose. He always looked nervous around us, so that was nothing new. I got the feeling he wanted to ask me a question, though.
“Yes?” I said.
“Did you want to make a statement or anything? Set the record straight or deny it? AI’s gotten better with deep fakes, so we could say the photo’s been manipulated and didn’t actually happen.”
I was tempted to deny it. Oh so very tempted. Not to save myself the embarrassment of what was happening, but to make the situation better for Archer and Serena.
But then I thought about waking up beside him yesterday, only hours after he’d told me he loved me. That he wanted to be with me. And it made my heart swell with feelings bigger than hate for whoever had outed us.
“No,” I said, getting to my feet. “I’m not denying anything. And I’m not putting out some statement to give people an insight to my private life. We’re consenting fucking adults.”
“Emphasis on the fucking,” Travis said, causing Serena to slap him upside the head.
Donovan came to stand beside me and squeezed my shoulder. “Are you sure? Because we’ve got your back no matter what. Hell, if you need a Van Talk before you decide, I can have Scotty bring the Sprinter to the back entrance.”
“I appreciate that,” I said, looking around at my friends all gathered together and skipping class to help me. I winked at Daire, who was sitting alone in the corner, his arms crossed. “I even appreciate your wanting to use your fists to defend me, but please don’t do it again.”
“No promises,” he grumbled.
“Look, I won’t be able to be with Archer if I’m not honest with myself and everyone else,” I said. “And that’s what I haven’t told you.” I took a deep breath, and Serena nodded, giving me the reassurance I needed to say it. “The truth is, Archer and I have decided we want to be together. No more secrets, no more hiding.”
One by one, jaws dropped, but I kept going.
“Obviously, we were still trying to figure out how to make that happen without causing some scandal. So…fail on that, I guess.”
“Epic fail,” East agreed.
“But…” Donovan shot East a look that said to shut up. “At least it’s out there now, even if it’s not the way you planned.” He pointed at himself. “If anyone understands a public outing, it’s me.”
That was true. It wasn’t like he’d wanted his secret life of dipping his toe into the porn waters with Kelly to get out, and once it had, the repercussions he’d expected hadn’t manifested at all. In fact, he’d recently driven us all out to the billboard in Times Square that featured him and Kelly because of their scandal.
Somehow, I didn’t think Archer and I would get the same treatment.
I glanced down at my phone again. Still no response from Archer, and I wondered what that meant. Had he gotten a heads-up, or would this all blow up in his face the way it had mine?
“He hasn’t answered me either,” Serena said quietly. “But I have a feeling he knows.”
I swallowed, not sure which option was the better one.
It’ll all work out, I told myself, forcing a calm I didn’t feel so my body didn’t head straight for a panic attack. It has to.
