Total pages in book: 225
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
“Not hurting me,” I reply. “But that’s probably because I’m cooperating.”
“Cooperating?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I whisper.
“You’re fucking him.”
“Yeah,” I whisper again.
She holds the phone for a minute. She’s shocked. Not surprisingly.
“What’s he holding over your head? Just Adam?”
“He’s got the ability to blow Adam’s life up and I can’t let that happen. I’m just … I’m hoping he gets bored. Finds a new fixation.”
“Right,” she mutters. “I’ll just sit back and let him do whatever, so Adam’s feelings don’t get hurt. Listen Chlo, Adam pushed you to do this. Surely he’ll understand that things got out of control through no fault of yours. And if he doesn’t, fuck him.”
“Lan!”
“No! Something has to be done. Blackmailing you into continuing an affair that you don’t want? Making you lie to your friends to keep it secret? You’re not alone here. We’ll get you out of this.”
Leaving things be is the last thing she intends to do. And I feel sick about it.
“Alannah, let me handle this. Seriously. I might catch shit for the things I’m saying, but for real, you and Jeff need to back off. He has a sex tape, too.”
“A what? A sex tape? Of you?”
“He recorded us.” It’s all I can think to say to settle her down. She won’t want that getting out. It’s not like Derek threatened to use it, but he did admit he was recording me last night and if he didn’t lie about me calling out his name that’d just add more gasoline to the fire.
“Fuck, Chlo. This is my fault. I said all that stuff. Me. I took you there. I opened my big, fat mouth about your situation. God, I’m sorry. I want to help you fix this because you’re you, but also… this is my fault.”
“You got graphic, yeah, but it was me that said all the stuff about my personal situation. The lack of sex life. Don’t take this on. The only person to blame for Derek’s actions is Derek.”
“He’s very dangerous. Most of that family is rumored to be connected with organized crime. Sketchy stuff. Links that go back over a century. I got some information from Jeffy and from Craig, and…”
“Craig? God, Lan. What?”
Craig is Adam’s best friend. And a cop!
“I asked about him, said I wanted to know what he was all about for a girlfriend. Didn’t say who. The shit he told me about the Steele brothers, about their father and some of their uncles… maybe we should get you out of town. Anyone who’s been here longer than we have seems to know who they are, and they’ve got stories. Sketchy and ugly ones. Greasing palms to get what they want. Making problems go away. Cops and politicians in Derek’s father’s pocket and so many rumors. Even the Papalias are terrified of them.”
I’d never heard of the Steele family before all this, but I’ve read stories in the paper and seen things on the news about the notorious local Papalia gang that call themselves The Crew with their drugs, prostitution, and chop shop.
“If he does hear this, he needs to realize he’s not fucking with someone who has nobody. We’ll help you. We have connections, too!”
“He’ll tell Adam everything. It’ll set back his emotional recovery significantly. I can’t let that happen. Can’t risk him using recordings he’s got of me. Can you imagine if he plays the recording of us talking and you calling him a bland baked potato and a boring ever after? Sending a sex video to Adam? To my job? My parents, even? Come on, Alannah. He could leak the sex tape publicly. We both know full well the kind of damage that could cause.”
She had a high school boyfriend leak nude pictures of her senior year. It was ugly. It reared its head again in college, too.
I keep going. “He could do so much damage. Promise me you won’t put things at risk by messing around. This is a man who bugged my house. Who’s tracking my car. Who is paying to have someone tail me whenever I leave my house.”
“Fuck,” she breathes. “All this for sex?”
“I don’t get it either.”
“We can’t let him get away with this.”
“So far, it’s just sex,” I say. And then I add, “It’s assholery what he’s doing but at least it’s good sex.” My face burns hot. “It could be worse.”
I can just imagine Derek sitting there listening to this with a smug look on his face. But I’m not thinking straight. All I’m thinking about is that I need to find the words to make Alannah stand down. Downplay it. Derek terrifies me. Confuses me.
“So far, with me cooperating, nothing terrible has happened beyond being forced to have sex with him.”
The line is silent for a minute, then she finally speaks up again. “This is bullshit. If he’s blackmailing you, I don’t care how good the dick is and you don’t either. This is me you’re talking to, here. I know you. This guy needs to fuck off.”