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I wonder if their story about how they started Battle Duel Boys as a family channel is all a lie, too. Maybe they get so much pleasure out of getting women to fall for them that they found an international platform for it. Charm, hook, repeat, repeat. I’m such a fool.

I make sure to leave Goldfish inside, because I don’t need him wagging his tail with excitement for our horrible neighbors.

My feet are like lead as I cross the lawn. I just want to get this over with so I can crawl into my bed, deep under the covers, and make the world go away.

“Stella?” It’s Cam’s voice, right next to the fence.

I remember angling my view just right so that I could see them through the fence. Tonight, I stay firmly in front of a wooden slat. I don’t want to risk a glimpse. If they look over the top of the fence, using their stupid tall height, I’ll ignore them.

“I’m here.”

“Stella, what’s wrong?” Wyatt sounds strangled with pain. What a pathetic act.

How dare they fuck me, then fuck their editor—and god knows who else—and act like they’re the victims?

“We’re done,” I say. “What you do is your own business, but it’s not what I want for myself, and it’s not what I want to show my daughter.” Just the thought of Jessie almost makes me break down, but I manage to continue. “I may make terrible choices when it comes to men, but I won’t settle, and I’m never going to let her think it’s okay to stay with men who don’t respect women.”

CHAPTER55

WYATT

Cam’s mouth is hanging open, and so is mine.

“Stella, what are you talking about? What happened?”

When there’s no response, I stretch to look over the fence, and she’s already on her way back to the house.

“Stella!”

She turns, giving me a glimmer of hope, but all she says is, “Please stop contacting me,” and then she goes inside.

“She’s gone,” I say, though Cam’s also looking over the fence, so he already knows.

“What did we do?” he says.

My brain spins, tracing through memories, starting with our most recent encounter and working backward, desperately searching for anything that might have caused her abrupt change in attitude.

She called us terrible choices. Said we weren’t good enough men to be around her daughter.

“She brought us muffins,” Cam mutters, dumbfounded, just like me.

“The way she’s acting now, I’m afraid they might be poisoned.”

“What the hell happened?” He looks over the fence again, then shakes his head, his eyes wide but blinking in disbelief.

“I can’t think of anything. Things were fine last we talked to her.”

“Maybe she saw something on our channel? Some old thing she didn’t like?” Cam slides out his phone and I’m prepared for him to start scrolling, but he stops right at the top of the feed.

“What the fuck?”

There’s a new reel, and even from my upside down vantage point, Cam’s hand going down his pants is unmistakable.

“What did she do?” He lets it play again, the kissy face at the camera, him holding a kite like it’s his dick, his hand going down his pants again. “Why the fuck did Trish post this?”

Cam swipes to his contacts and jabs at Trish’s name. The call rings with no answer.

“That must be what Stella saw,” I mutter. “She must think we’re idiots.”