The pounding continues.
"Emmett! Jo! Open the door!"
Is that Collette? My stomach drops, something's wrong. I'm already up, rushing to the door. Collette bursts in, her face is pale, and her phone is shaking in her hand.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry about what?”
Moments later, Emmett joins us.
“The world knows,” she says.
Why is she talking in riddles I don’t understand? "You're banging on our door at ..." I glance at the clock. "Seven in the morning to tell me the world knows what?” I stare at my sister.
“You’re trending,” she says, holding up her phone.
Trending?
I gasp. "No. No. No." It's a photo of Emmett and me in the medical room yesterday. My hands on his face, him looking at me like I'm his entire world, the moment we said I love you.
The headline reads.
MAVERICKS CAPTAIN'S SECRET ROMANCE WITH TEAM PHYSIO
"Oh my god." This can’t be happening.
Emmett is beside me now, looking at the screen. "Fuck."
“They also leaked Pierre and Issy’s engagement, the slimy fuckers,” Collette states.
I’m shaking. "How did this happen?"
"Someone had a camera in the medical area, they posted it last night. By morning, every gossip site picked it up."
"Pierre. Felix. Do they know?"
"I don't know. I came straight here when I saw it. But it's only a matter of time."
Emmett grabs his phone from the coffee table and turns it on. His face goes white. "Thirty-seven missed calls. Fifty-two texts."
I look at mine. Six missed calls from Felix. Four from Pierre. Two from Mom.
"What are we going to do?" My voice is small.
Emmett reaches for my hand. "We tell the truth. We're together. We're in love. The secret's out."
"But my brothers …”
"I'm not letting you face this alone." He pulls me closer. "We do this together."
"Are you sure about this? About us? Shit just got real."
He cups my face with his one good hand and wipes away tears I didn't realize were falling. "I've never been surer about anything in my life."
"Together," I whisper.
"Together."
