They all focused on her, and she noticed the side of Newman’s mouth lift. He knew she was cornered and would have to say something. She opened her mouth, but he stopped her.
“No interruptions until she’s done.”
“Who made you boss?” Annabelle glared at him.
“Annabelle, you can’t be quiet for five seconds. I’m just asking that you at least try.”
“Do you know this story already?”
Newman nodded, and that had Annabelle’s lips tightening.
“I don’t like him knowing stuff I don’t, so let’s hear it, Hope.”
So she talked, and they listened. She even found herself mentioning the clips Jay had of her. Annabelle broke her vow of silence briefly to ask a question, Newman rolled his eyes, but after that, they let her finish.
Jake whistled. “What a peach of a human.”
“So how do we get him?” Annabelle said.
“Tell them about your friend at Wildlife, Hope,” Newman said.
She threw him a look, but his face was still calm. The man was turning her inside out. She’d never experienced what she had in his arms, with any man before him. She and Jay had had a pleasant thing, but it didn’t set her alight like Newman did. Just another reason she needed to get out of Howling.
“A colleague from Wildlife called me to say she hadn’t believed Jay, but hadn’t said anything because she was scared of losing her job. She’s sort of a friend,” Hope added, and wasn’t entirely sure why. Maybe she wanted these people to know she had people in her life when she left here.
“How do you have sort of a friend?” Jake asked.
“Not everyone has lifelong buddies and lives like an episode ofFriendslike you weirdos,” Hope muttered.
“Tough, you’ve always been one of us, you just never figured that out,” Annabelle said. “So we’re not ‘sort of’ buddies, we’re friends. Suck it up, buttercup, that’s just how it goes when you live in this town.”
Hope refused to smile, but it was there. She felt warm on the inside that these people actually thought of her as a friend. Maybe not the really tight kind, but still, it was a nice feeling.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Okay, so if this limp dick is all about the status and money, then that’s the angle,” Brad said.
Newman watched as Hope’s eyes flicked between his friends as they talked. He couldn’t read her thoughts, but he sensed her excitement at the possibility that just maybe something could be done about what had happened to her.
“I say we set up a fake scenario. A wealthy professor has come to Howling to do research on the wildlife here, he wants to employ a photographer, and needs him ASAP. But not just any photographer, this guy has to be the best, as there’s a grant in sight, and awards, accolades, etc.”
Hope looked at him when he finished; looked but not really saw as he knew she was thinking about his words.
“It would be hard to do something like that, because Wildlife pretty much know most people who are involved in conservation. Especially photographers, or anyone in the film industry who made documentaries.”
“Sure, but Ethan and I have a few contacts, so let’s just see what we can come up with. You got this douche bag’s e-mail and contact details, Hope?”
She nodded.
“Okay, so that’s good. We don’t have to actually make contact through Wildlife in that case. It can all just be through the limp dick.”
“I just don’t think it’s right,” Hope blurted out. “I mean, I get what he did was wrong, but then two wrongs don’t make a right, and I’d be no better than him, surely?”
Everyone looked at her like she had two heads. Buster was silently elected speaker.
“Hope, Hope, wise up, sweetheart. The world is not a fair place, and if you want your job back we have to expose this piece of shit. Plus, you need to seriously think about going down the legal route. You have a strong case. Morals are all well and good, and have their place, so I’ve been told.” This made everyone but Hope laugh. “But unless you want to spend the rest of your life singing in seedy bars, and not well, or so I’m told, you need to do this to clear your name.”
“I wasn’t that bad.” She glared at Newman.
