Siarra’s gagging caused Alivia to smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “A few ‘I’m sorrys’ and my name.” She searched my face. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I glanced at my sister, who began bopping again, having grown bored with our “mushiness,” as Siarra often called it. “I was getting on the bus and saying goodbye.” Instantly, a frown formed around her lips. “Hey… let’s not ruin our day thinking about that.” I knew the request was in vain. We were always thinking about that… at least I was. I suspected she was, too, most of the time. Unfortunately, all the other shit hitting us overshadowed our impending separation.
Christ, it felt as though I’d aged ten years in the past week. Once that press release went public, my life had been thrown into chaos. You’d think I’d be prepared for it with who my parents were, but I wasn’t. I also wasn’t dumb enough to think it was me who drew all the attention.
Nope… that was most definitely the by-product of having Jack Lair as a father. His fans were out of control, and now their spawns traveled down the same road with me. There was actually a small army of them who instantly created pages dedicated to my life. With that press release, Lair Lovers II, the next generation, had made me their latest obsession.
Bam, just like that, I was getting tagged in every one of their posts on every social media account they participated in. Seemingly overnight, my online presence had blown up, and that had Alivia’s accounts doing the same. It had happened so fast we didn’t have a chance to make our accounts private, and because of it we now had thousands and thousands of new “friends” trolling our past posts.
It got so bad my mom assigned JLL’s PR department to monitor the situation and put out any fires before they spread. Personally, I just wanted to close our accounts and ignore it all.
Already, there had been way too many nasty comments, and that pissed me the fuck off. Alivia seemed completely unfazed, which was why I suspected she was working hard to keep her distress from me. I didn’t want to push her into opening up, just in case she was better at this than I was. But on the other hand, if she was struggling, then we needed to talk about it before I left.
My stomach rumbled, creating a nice distraction. “Come get something to eat with me?” I stood before pulling her up and leaving her no choice.
At seeing us, Siarra tapped her phone and asked, “You’re ditching me?”
“As much as that tempts me, we’re just getting food.”
“Do you want anything?” Alivia asked.
Her nod came quick. “My seaweed chips, please… and a bottle of water.”
“Sure, sweetie,” Alivia said while I now pretended not to gag. Siarra was a nut when it came to her diet and gave farm to table a whole new meaning.
While wrapping my arm around my gorgeous girl’s waist, I pointed to the ocean. “Why not just save us the trouble?” That earned me a smack from Alivia. “What? Seaweed is seaweed.”
The brat rolled her eyes. “You’re a jerk.”
Before I could get into it with my sister, something we were both damn good at, Alivia dragged me away. “Let’s go, jerk.”
The moment we were out of view, I ducked behind the pool shed to kiss her long and hard. “I have to have you, Liv,” I murmured against the smooth skin on her neck. “Let’s do it right here, right now.” No one, especially anyone with a dick swinging between their legs, could blame me for asking.
“No.” Yet, she contradicted her denial by pushing against me, making my dilemma worse. She smelled like my soap, now mixed with coconut suntan lotion, and the combination made me wild with need. And if that weren’t enough, the tiny pink scraps of fabric she wore had me hard as stone in two seconds flat.
“My parents won’t care.” Her head swung back and forth before I even finished my claim.
“I’m not having sex behind the pool shed while your family is milling around, Shane.”
“Okay, let’s do it in the pool shed. We’ve done worse before.”
“Not in broad daylight. Sneaking around in the middle of the night is very different.”
“My dick would argue it isn’t.”
Unamused, she shook her head with a sigh and resumed tugging me along. “Come on.” When we walked into the nicely cooled house, we found my parents sitting at the table, staring at a laptop.
“Hey,” I said, not loving the looks on their faces. “What now?”
Mom’s gaze landed on Alivia before saying, “We need to tell you something.” Dread eliminated the hunger pangs as I expected the worst. They waited for us to take a seat and then slowly turned the laptop around.
On the screen was a photo of Molly in tears and a long post.
To whom it may concern…
As the world anxiously waits for Shane Lair to make his debut on Cannon Davis’s tour, I’ve struggled with whether or not I should reveal something that has crushed my inner spirit.
I literally rolled my eyes at the dramatics just one line in, until I saw Alivia pale as her eyes danced across the screen.
I’ve known Shane Lair most of my life and was stupid enough to trust he was a kind, sincere, honest person. In fact, everyone in our graduating class thought the same.
Well, folks, we’ve all been duped.
Shane allowed his longtime girlfriend, Alivia Taylor, to manipulate him into bribing a boy who I thought loved me. I won’t name him, as I feel he was manipulated into hurting me by agreeing to this disgusting plan.
“Oh my God, she’s blaming me too,” Alivia said in a harsh whisper. Her eyes welled as they bounced between all of us—waiting, maybe hoping, for us to deny that statement.
My mom took her hand and squeezed. “She’s a nasty person, sweetheart, who will do anything to seek attention.”
Unconvinced, Alivia resumed reading, and I followed suit.
I did some digging on the situation. Apparently, their plan was meant to stop the need to defend myself against the constant bullying I had to endure at Alivia’s hand. Her toxic fixation stemmed from deep insecurities because of history between Shane and me. Alivia has gone to great lengths to embarrass me with no remorse, threatening harm if I so much as spoke to her boyfriend.
By using the boy that I had feelings for, they dangled a very generous scholarship funded by their parents, all while knowing how much I truly liked this boy. Shane Lair and Alivia Taylor convinced him to date me for the summer as a cruel and vicious joke. Once the terms of this little deal had been met, my so-called boyfriend could then end our relationship, having received exactly what he wanted—the chance to attend his first-choice college.
And now, here I am, left with a broken heart and so many questions no one can answer. So, I’m hoping you all can see my struggle. How can a girl who is guilty of nothing but the desire to love and be loved take on all the resources that Shane and Alivia have in their back pockets because their parents are famous?
I can’t.
But… I can ensure everyone knows just the type of people they are.
To my now ex-boyfriend… I wish you all the luck in your college career. I hope betraying me as you did was worth it down the road. To my friends and family, thank you so much for your endless support. And to the two individuals who think it’s okay to play with people’s lives, I hope karma finds you someday.