I shake my head, hating myself for saying this. I promised to keep my girl safe, and I’m failing, like a fucking loser. “I just spoke with Colton and my agent. They said it’s now impossible to contain.”
Drew’s head lolls forward, and Vesper shoots off her chair, pulling Drew into her chest.
Hitting End on the call, I push through the restaurant entrance and make a beeline straight for her.
She pulls back from Vesper and flops into me. “Get me out of here—right now,” Drew pleads between silents sobs.
Heartbreak isn’t something I’ve ever experienced. Until this moment.
With one arm still looped around Drew, I reach into my back pocket for my wallet.
“Sir, there’s no need to settle the bill. This one is on the house. Miss Callaghan is an excellent customer of ours, and we are all huge fans of yours.”
I nod my appreciation at a dark-haired guy, who I assume is the manager, and lace my fingers through Drew’s.
Stepping out into the cool night air, we keep walking. Vesper tails us a few paces behind. She’s carrying Drew’s jacket and purse and trying to give us some privacy, which I appreciate ona day when it feels like the whole world is judging us from their misplaced moral high ground.
When we round a corner onto a calmer street, Drew stops walking and looks up at me from beneath my arm. Eyes now red, they contrast with pale skin. “I think I’m going to puke.”
She takes a step back from me before she heaves once, twice, and empties her stomach all over the sidewalk.
I try hauling Drew into my arms so I can carry her the rest of the way home when she steps back again, one hand out in front of her.
“Wait. The messages must’ve come from your phone. I have multiple secure passcodes set on mine, and our text chat is locked down. I never leave my phone unattended and …” Her rambling fades to nothing but silence, face paling further. “Last night. Your phone.”
I shake my head. “No. I don’t think that’s when it was hacked. And I should’ve been more careful with security and listened to you when you warned me about easy-to-guess passwords.”
Trying to swallow past the lump in my throat, I attempt to gather Drew in my arms when she looks at me in horror.
“Will, please tell me you changed your password from those goddamn jersey numbers.”
Guilt charges through me like a freight train leaving the tracks. Deep down, I know the leak couldn’t have come from Drew’s cell because she’s too careful and I’m too fucking laid-back to listen to her advice when she warned that I was being lax with online security.
“Tellme you aren’t that fucking stupid, William,” she bites into the freezing fall night, big puffs of air filling the space between us.
“Drew …” Vesper approaches her from behind, hanging my girlfriend’s jacket over her shoulders. Vesper’s eyes find minebefore they rest on the back of Drew’s head. “We need to get you home so we can talk through the best way forward.”
“Let me take you?—”
“No!” Drew bites out at me, eyes ablaze with rage. “I’d say you’ve done enough with being a careless asshole, wouldn’t you?”
It feels like my molars might snap when I clench them together.
She’s right; I fucked up. And there’s nothing I can say or do right now to make her feel any better.
“Fuck!” I yell toward the sky, white-hot rage tearing through me.
“If you don’t think your phone was hacked last night, then when do you think it was?” Drew whispers, now shivering beneath her jacket.
She’s in shock, and it’s all because of me.
“The only time I leave my phone is in the locker room.”
Drew presses her lips together. “Are you suggesting that Tristan is behind this?” She shakes her head. “You guys might not get along, but he wouldn’t?—”
“He could, and he would,” I cut her off and immediately regret it, desperate to set a palm on her hip.
I reach out, and Drew steps back again.
