Page 89 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)

JUNE

TAKE THE CHECK

It was like the guest room had been waiting for me. An animal ready to swallow me whole. I stared at the ceiling, waiting for the hours to pass, my head swimming from Shawna’s sea grass diffusers.

You’ll have to call your parents.

There went the progress between us.

On Thursday, I invited them to brunch and talked about moving in with Bear. My mom had squeezed my hand. The agreement was, as long as I kept up my therapy appointments and stayed healthy, they’d approve. It wasn’t like they could’ve stopped me, but I didn’t want this big chasm between us anymore.

Like the chasm that would appear with the leaked messages.

I put my head in my hands, on edge. Twitching to leave this place.

The clock on the nightstand flashed the time—two o’clock in the morning. Everyone in the house would be asleep for the big party tomorrow.

“Folders,” I whispered under my breath, picking up my bag. “Xavier’s phone, his laptop. Take those to Cleo.”

What if he has copies on the cloud and another easily accessible device?

I pressed my forehead against the door, taking deep breaths. This was the only solution I could think of. I was overwhelmed and so tired, but I had to focus. Carefully, I inched down the hallway.

Xavier’s door was open a little. Inside, he was asleep. Against the wall was the glass cabinet full of awards, including the ones he used to have in his office. He must’ve moved those. Probably he was worried about me ransacking his office again. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

His laptop was on the desk. Carefully, I slid it across the wood, closer and closer to me.

“I’m awake, June.”

My stomach dropped. Oh, shit.

Xavier shifted up. “Is this it or do you have something else planned?”

I let go of the laptop.

“Smart choice.” He patted the blankets. “Come to bed. You’ll get used to this.”

“I need a glass of water,” I managed and shut the door behind me. Fuck —this was too much—I had to leave. I took to the stairs two at a time, almost stumbling at the bottom.

A hand reached out and I jerked away. “Don’t touch me!”

“Sorry—I thought you were going to fall?—”

Bear.

Overwhelmed, I dropped my bag and threw my arms around him. Panic hit me full-force and Bear was my safe place. I didn’t care that we weren't together anymore.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry—” I blubbered. “I need to go home?—”

“I didn’t mean to scare you—I was coming upstairs to talk to you.”

I pulled away. “What?”

“Paisley texted me. She sent me these paragraphs, apologizing for everything.”

On my run out of his dad’s house, the most shocking thing was to hear that. I stared up at him in the darkness, fumbling with my words. “Because—because she’s threatened with a lawsuit?—”

“I don’t think so. She apologized for everything,” he said quietly. “Stuff she didn’t need to.”

“Did you message her back?”

“No, I don’t have anything to say to her.”

“Bear, she wants you to back off, that’s all this is?—”

“What if she’s changed and this is an actual apology?”

“Do you really believe that?”

“I believe people can change if they want to. Because I’m changing. I can feel it.”

My chest twinged. “That’s different.”

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but you didn’t have to leave RV. I just needed some time to clear my head. June, I don’t care that you made fun of me. That was months ago and you’re the only one who gets to?—”

“No. No. Even if you did upload your nudes, it was so shitty of me and so wrong.” I stepped to the staircase, twisting my hands. “I didn’t feel good about it, I knew it wasn’t right, but I didn’t stop it.”

“This is what couples do,” he said firmly. “They argue and they talk and they get past it. This is our first real couple’s fight, so we didn’t know what to do.”

I blinked. “Bear?”

“We didn’t break up.”

“Uh—”

“We needed to talk. That’s all.” His warm brown eyes watched me in the little slivers of light from the windows. “I don’t want to be so hurt that I forget about the most important person to me again.”

His words rang from our rooftop conversation, watching the stars together.

I stopped breathing and only realized when I had to start up again, taking deep, ragged breaths.

Oh my god, Bear was right. I didn't want to be so hurt over this that I pushed him away.

Maybe our relationship didn't come from the best starting place, but I didn't want to say goodbye.

I couldn’t fully see him in the darkness but everything in me said this was him, my home, the man I loved. I buried my face in his chest. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he whispered.

“Bear, your family is fucking crazy, I—I can’t be here.”

“Let’s go home.”

I gestured to Xavier’s bedroom. “He has my nudes, my old texts, stuff I said about my parents, King. He said he’s going to post everything if I don’t tell everyone I was lying?—”

“ What? ”

Bear stiffened and pushed away from the staircase. I tried to ask where he was going but he didn’t answer. He ripped open the closet door. Muttering under his breath, he yanked scarves off their hangers.

Upstairs, Bear took the lead and kicked open Xavier’s door, scaring the crap out of him. I thought Warren and Shawna would’ve woken up, but Bear shoved Xavier down and took twenty seconds to tie up Xavier, tying a plush, cashmere scarf around his mouth to muffle him, cussing us out in his pajamas.

Huh .

This was the guy I was so scared of?

“Either my dad and Shawna are doing something about this or we’re taking him to the police,” Bear said matter-of-factly, hustling Xavier down the hall.

I picked up Xavier’s phone for proof. I could scroll through the evidence as long as they needed. A huge weight lifted off my shoulders, I felt so much better just having someone believe me.

We pushed into Warren and Shawna’s bedroom and I stood at the foot of their bed. “Warren? Shawna?”

Nothing, they continued to snore.

Fuck it.

“WAKE THE FUCK UP!” I screamed. “ WAKE UP! ”

The couple jolted in their beds, screaming when they spotted us, and Shawna continued screaming when she saw what happened to her son, tied up with expensive scarves. I gestured for her to quiet down.

“Your son is threatening to release my nudes, old messages, and stuff against his NDA if I talk at his behavioral meeting!”

Warren rubbed the bridge of his nose. “My god.”

“ Xavier, ” Shawna admonished, flipping on the lamp beside her. “This is certainly out of hand. June, you should’ve come to me earlier! What were you thinking?”

I blinked. “What?”

“I’m sorry he pried into your private life,” she said sharply, “but there’s no reason for you to cause a scene like this. Obviously, you’ll have to cancel the behavioral hearing?—”

Bear moved to the door. “This isn’t going anywhere. We’re taking him to the police.”

“With my lawyers involved?” Warren interjected. “Is that meant to be funny? June, this will be a costly, drawn-out legal battle. Think ahead to what this will do to both of you. Your family, our family.”

“My son isn’t going to some behavioral whatever and he certainly isn’t going to the police—” Shawna rifled through her nightstand. “You haven’t helped the situation, June. I’ll write you a check, we’ll put this behind us.”

“A check?” I sputtered.

“You’ve made mistakes too, you’re not blameless.” She slipped on her glasses. “How much do you want?”

“Are you fucking kidding?” Bear asked, dumbfounded.

“Be smart,” Warren warned. “Police are out of the question. Take the check.”

My heart sank. I didn’t want to admit it, but Warren was right. Ultimately, whatever happened to Xavier would fall on me, not him. It didn’t matter about my family’s connections or wealth, I wouldn’t win if this went public.

But…in front of my college's housing leaders…

“I’m going to the behavioral hearing,” I decided.

Xavier tried to say something angrily but the cashmere stopped him, and Bear gave him a little shake for good measure. Shawna told me in a thousand different ways that I couldn’t and shouldn’t but my ears rang, tuning them out.

“ Fine, ” Warren interrupted, loud enough to quiet them.

Shawna ripped off her glasses. “Not fine!”

“There’s nothing we can do to stop her—your idiot son got himself into this! Do you know how expensive his NDA is?”

“Give me a number!” Shawna told me. “Whatever number, I’ll write the check!”

That was all this was to her. A check to write this away, something to laugh about at the party tomorrow. Her son had been systematically ruining my life and it didn’t matter to her. This wasn’t just his fault—it was his parents’ too.

I didn’t just want to make Xavier pay.

I wanted his parents to remember what their son did.

“How much, June?” Shawna pressed.

“Your son took so much away from me,” I said slowly, my muscles twitching in anger. “He took my house . So now, I want yours.”

Everyone in the room froze. You could’ve heard a pin drop, it was so quiet. Disbelief touched Shawna’s eyes and she jerked to look at her husband who just stared warily back at me. Shawna blinked, stunned. “The—what? You mean, you want…a check large enough for a house?”

“No. I want this house. And everything in it.”

“That’s absurd! You can’t expect me to offer up our house. ” She scoffed. “Give me a number!”

I glanced down at Xavier’s phone. It was top of the line, the latest edition. An expectation for him, nothing but the best. I tightened my grip. With a deep breath, I drew my arm back and slammed the phone against the bedpost.

“Oh my god!” Shawna yelped.

I didn’t stop until cracked glass sprinkled down, and even then, that wasn’t good enough. Not even close. What was one cracked phone to Xavier and his parents? Nothing .

I abandoned them for Xavier’s bedroom, and I could hear the family behind me, Shawna panicking while she tore away Xavier’s ties, Bear on my heels, stopping at the door frame. I picked up Xavier’s laptop.

“June!” Xavier yelled. “ No! ”

I bashed it against the corner of the desk. There was a scuffle at the door, Bear holding Xavier back, but I focused on shattering the screen and the hard drive into a mess of wires. I toppled the desk over and yanked clothes off their hangers, ripping down the heavy curtain rod.

My eyes landed on the trophy cabinet.

“June, no! NO! ”

I readied my stance, curtain rod out, and swished it through the air, breaking one of the glass awards. A laugh exploded out of me. The curtain rod sailed again, smashing the awards to pieces.