Page 82 of Pucking the Team

“Oh shit.” I rubbed my forehead and leaned harder on Ben. Me and Eduardo. It was a damning photograph that was for sure. Trevor obviously hadn’t managed to keep the tight lid on it he’d hoped he could.

“So how long? Three months? Six months? Longer? You meet him on a shoot?” Steven was saying.

“Where did you see that picture? Trevor had it shut down.”

“Trevor might pretend to be your fairy godmother, Pippa, but he’s not a magician. Once something is on the internet, it’s there.”

Ben frowned, and his jaw tensed. A flush of color had risen on his cheeks.

“And,” Steven went on, “if you don’t apologize to Cheryl for being a bitch to her, I’m going to change myOKAYinterview so they know that you didn’t just leave me at the altar, you left me for another man that you were having an affair with and—”

“Are you crazy? That’s the pot calling the kettle black. And don’t you dare even mention me in anOKAYinterview, we’re done, over before we ever started as far at the masses are concerned.”

“We have, or rather I have, an obligation to giveOKAYa story. Luckily, you’re helping me make it juicier with all your carrying on. So if you don’t apologize nicely to Cheryl, I’ll pad out the details I don’t know and I have a very good imagination so—”

“Are you threatening Pippa?” Ben hunched forward, fist clenched on the work surface like a gorilla. “’Cause I’m fucking all ears if you are.” He glared at the phone as though he could see Steven through it. “In fact, it would make my damn day.”

“Ah, so he is there with you.” There was a note of triumph in Steven’s voice. He was pleased he’d been proven right.

“You have no damn clue who I am,” Ben said through gritted teeth. “Or how much I can fuck you up with just my little finger.”

Steven huffed. “I’m not scared of Pippa’s new boyfriend, put her back on the phone.”

“You should be scared, really fucking scared, and she won’t be speaking to you again…ever.” Ben kind of snarled the last word.

“You can’t speak for her.”

Ben looked at me.

I nodded.

“I can, and I damn well will, moron, because she’s finished with this, with you. But for the record, I also have the photographs of you and this Cheryl woman, and unlike Pippa, I couldn’t give a flying fuck if they hit the public domain. No skin off my nose. So if you think it’s okay to call this number again, think twice.”

“What? I was told they—?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, now go fuck yourself and have a happy fucking life, douchebag.” Ben hit end on the call.

Chapter Nineteen

Ben scooped me close, and I caught my breath and let my heart rate settle. Steven’s sudden, nasty presence in the kitchen had knocked me off balance. Cheryl too, she’d been there, listening in. That made my skin crawl, her deceit stabbing me anew.

“What’s going on?” Eduardo appeared eating an apple. He dropped a kit bag on the tiled floor beside the door.

“The asshole ex just called.” Ben ran his hand down my back, a soothing gesture.

“Why’d you pick up,ma choue?”

I stepped back from Ben and reached for my tea. “He used a different number.”

“Merde, he’s a pain in the ass.”

“He sure is,” Ben said, grabbing a frying pan. “We’re having pancakes, want some?”

“Oui, that would be good.” Eduardo stepped up to me and hooked his finger under my chin. “Your beautiful face is as white as a ghost, do not let him haunt you like this.”

“I’m not, or I’m trying not to, but just when I was starting a new day, not thinking about him, there he was.”

“And now he has gone.” Eduardo, very gently for such a big man, kissed the tip of my nose. “And you will forget about him. We will eat and laugh and not let toxic assholes spoil our day.”