Keaton | The Past
Fordays,Iwrestledwith what was best for Charlie’s healing after Rianna sent me that damn video. The last thing I want is to undo any of the progress she’s clawed her way toward, but I also know this is something I can’t erase or hide from her.
Still wanting to respect Charlie's wishes of no contact, I decided to reach out to Alek a few days later. I have confidence that he'll get the information to Charlie, and then he can let me know where to go from here.
I snag a cold bottle of water from the fridge and step out onto the deck, hoping the night air will anchor me. I sink into a chair, stretch my tattooed feet onto the banister, and scroll to Alek’s name before pressing call.
Granite Bay always amazes me. For such a sprawling city, nights like this make the sky seem endless, the stars burning sharp and bright above the chaos.
Being under the stars with Charlie was always my favorite place in the world.
Sometimes we tangled together, skin to skin, but most nights, it was just us, existing side by side, content in the quiet.
That’s where we dreamed up our futures, traded secrets, and mapped out every hidden part of each other. Beneath the star-scattered sky, I learned the places that made her sigh, beg, and finally break apart in my arms.
It’s where I first told her I loved her, where I confessed I wanted to build a life with her. Babies, a shared name, the whole messy, beautiful future.
But it’s also the place where I shattered everything. Our love, our promises, all the things we swore would last.
"What's up, Keaton?" Alek answers.
Hearing his voice makes my jaw clench and my fist curl, the video’s images flashing behind my eyes. My neck muscles coil tight as I force the anger down. I have no right to feel it. Not now.
"Keaton? You there, man?"
Closing my eyes, I inhale a deep breath and blow it out, extinguishing my anger along with it. "Yeah, sorry." I clear my throat. "You busy?"
A door clicks shut in the background, and then a chair squeaks as he takes his seat again. "I got a few minutes. What can I do for you?"
I can hear the leeriness in his voice and, hell, I can't blame him. Charlie is his best friend and the woman he is currently seeing. Right now, she's really the only thing we have in common. My friendship with David has grown somewhat, but even with Alek being his best friend, we don't really hang out together.
"A few nights ago, Rianna, at least I'm assuming it was her, sent me a video."
"Okay?"
"It was of you and Charlie in your apartment, and you all were being explicitly intimate."
I almost admire how flatly I say it. He can’t hear how much it gutted me, watching her unravel in someone else’s arms, how close it came to breaking me.
So fucking hypocritical of me, I know.
I'm learning to accept my faults even if I don't like them.
Alex spits out a few harsh curses. "You've got to be fucking shitting me. Charlie never catches a break from this bitch."
His words land exactly where they’re meant to, and I rub at the ache in my chest. If I hadn’t been so weak, Charlie wouldn’t have to keep reliving my betrayal. How can anyone heal when the wound keeps reopening? That’s why she cut me off in the first place.
"I'll take care of it, but I felt like you both had the right to know there is a video out there of you two," I tell him quietly. "I can only do something about the copy I have on my phone. Unfortunately, the only option we have to make sure this bitch doesn't spread this anymore is to go to the police."
"And that's something you can't do without one of us," Alek states.
"Which is why I'm coming to you, man. I already have a case against Rianna, along with some other guys, for having sex with us unprotected while knowing she was infected. I own my fuck-up with her. What I did was stupid, and it was the worst choice I've ever made. Believe it or not, Alek, I didn't set out to fuck her that night. Hell, if I had the chance to think for five fucking seconds with a clear mind, I truly don't think it'd have gotten that far."
"So, what happened then?"
I let out a huff before pulling in a long drink of water, wishing it were something a lot stronger. "A mixture of fucking everything and nothing at the same time. I won't go into this too much because there will be a day when Charlie will hopefully want to talk about it, but I can give you a quick rundown.Complacency, my insecurity, alcohol, noticing Charlie pulling away because I was being stupid with Rianna, which scared me-it all just kind of collided in that pool house. So, when I followed Rianna in there and then saw her leaning against the wall with her pussy out, I just froze and my mind blanked. It's like I became a zombie, and my brain went offline. When it finally kicked back on fully, I was buried balls deep inside a pussy that didn't belong to my woman. I knew it was happening, but I blocked it out because I couldn't admit to myself that I had become the one thing I had always actively despised. You're not supposed to hurt the person you love like that, right?"
I exhale, suddenly aware I’ve drifted far from why I called. Lionel and Brock are the only ones I’ve confided in, and I didn’t realize until now how much I needed someone else to just listen.
