Bend (A Stepbrother Romance) (23 page)

“This isn’t about charity,” I said, “I wanted to know my family.”

Finally, her face softened. “I’ve always been curious about you, too. I’ve been at so many of your concerts…” She shook her head. “I wonder sometimes if there’s more of us. If she left behind a trail of kids wherever she went.”

“I’ll bet Cadence could find out.”

Lorna grinned. “Your stepsister? Still with her?”

“No,” I grumbled. “I’m sure you saw that I got myself arrested.”

Lorna shrugged. “That guy was a dick. Some people deserve a punch to the face.”

I laughed, and I knew then that I could win her over with time.

I called Cadence in the car later that night on my way home. “Are you okay?” she asked when she heard my voice. “What’s wrong?”

“Just met my grandparents,” I said. “I have his eyes…” Fuck, why was I so worked up over it?
They’re a connection to Mom, that’s why. They’re what’s left, them and Lorna.
The ache I felt whenever I thought of Mom would probably never go away, but now that I knew the rest of the family, I felt like less of a mystery myself. Like I knew who I was. Like I was almost whole.

“I miss you, baby,” I said.

“Yeah. Waiting sucks,” she chuckled. “I wish I could have been there with you.”

“One day,” I whispered, “Soon, I hope.”

I could hear the smile in her voice when she said, “I can’t wait. Is that bad? I can’t wait for my mother to get her fifth divorce. Or fourth. I’ve lost count. It feels selfish.”

“She was selfish when she did what she did,” I said, “You’re allowed to be a little selfish right back. Besides, it’s not like you’re sabotaging her. You’re just waiting for the inevitable.”

“I hate to think of it like that, but you’re right. Call me when you land in Boston?”

“I will. Promise.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Cadence

STEP SEX-TAPE! The Steamy Taboo Video That the Sonders Don’t Want You To See!

I spit my coffee all over the kitchen table when I checked
Snap Sparkle Pop
’s headlines that morning. It had been a week since I’d seen Keir, and while it hurt to be apart, hope had made a permanent home in my chest.
Idiot. Idiot!

I called Zach immediately. “Hello?” He sounded groggy; it was Saturday so I must have woken him up.

“Why didn’t I know about this?” I shrieked.

“Fuck,” he mumbled. I heard shuffling, as if he were sitting up. “I didn’t know she was releasing that today.”

“What the fuck, Zach?!” I screamed, jumping to my feet. “You knew about this? How did this happen?!”

“Sorry, Cade,” he said. He didn’t sound sorry. “The opportunity was too good.”

My blood ran cold. “You? You did this? How?”

“Can’t say.”

“Right, because covering your ass is more important than our friendship?” I realized then that we weren’t friends. We weren’t ever friends. He was only interested in using me for the blog. “You bastard. You utter fucking bastard.”

“See you at work,” he said, then he hung up.

No, no, no!
I’d never be able to show my face outdoors again! Glenn would be furious! And Keir… my heart pounded in my ears. I quickly clicked the links that led the video—and there we were. Keir and I, making out in the bedroom in Glenn’s home. You could clearly see both of our faces as we made our way from the couch to the bed.

I closed the video after that. I didn’t need to see more.

I heard shouting from upstairs. Glenn and my mother. They must have seen the headlines themselves. The news would spread like wildfire.

“Cadence!” Glenn bellowed.

I couldn’t face him. I snatched up my purse and ran out the front door, barefoot, wearing a loose t-shirt and the tiny pair of shorts I’d slept in.

“Stop!” he shouted after me as I bolted down the driveway, no plan, no destination in mind.

“Cadence, wait!” my mother called. “Glenn, go back inside!” I slowed. I’d never heard her talk to him like that. Hell, half the time she spoke to him in simpers and giggles. I paused halfway down the blacktop and listened to the sound of her bare feet slapping the ground as she ran for me.

“Don’t run off like this,” she said when she reached me. She wrapped me in a motherly hug.

I sank to the ground with a sob tearing from my throat. Of all the indignities I’d suffered—the step-sibling jokes, the probing job assignments, getting called “brother-fucker” on the street—this was by far the worst. This was downright unimaginable.

Mom sank next to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “I can’t face him,” I choked out.

“I’ll send Glenn to his room,” she said.

My phone buzzed in my purse. Zach? Wendi? Keir? My heart stuttered, and ached, and I wondered if I’d be sick. “I need to sit down,” I said, allowing her to pull me back to my feet.

She brought me back inside and up to my bedroom, where we sank to the couch together. My room, where the video took place… my eyes rested on my laptop. I usually left the lid sitting open, and there it was—the webcam built into the top of the monitor was pointing at a spot between the couch in the bed, aimed to take in the whole room.

“That sneaky fucking bastard!” I leapt from the cushions and slammed the laptop closed; then I picked up the whole machine and slammed it to the floor. Mom gasped.

That’s how Zach must have done it.
He must have been watching and recording through my own webcam.

That would get him off the hook. It would look like
I
made the recording, like
I
submitted it to the paper. I hadn’t read the article. I opened it back up as I sat back down next to my mother.

My hand covered my mouth. “I was right,” I breathed.

“About what?” Mom asked, leaning over to look at what I was reading. “Honey, put it away, don’t torture yourself with it.”

“They think I did this,” I said, “They’re saying I made the video and I’m trying to get myself famous like…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Exactly like the sort of woman Keir accused me of being. Fame-hungry, gold-digging, selfish self-serving vulture… I pulled out my phone and read the text he’d sent.

Did you fucking set me up? [Sat 09:10]

“What am I going to do?” I gasped, “I’m so humiliated.” I couldn’t go back to work, that was for damn sure. If I ever saw Zach or Wendi Whitford again, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from trying to claw their faces off. I was supposed to be part of the team, part of the
Snap Sparkle Pop
family—how could they turn on me like this? The stupid photos back in Dallas were one thing, but this? It was unfathomably shitty.
I really never was cut out for the gossip world
.

“What do you think, honey?” Mom asked as Glenn approached the room. “Can you make this go away?”

He shook his head. “Too late for that. Once something is out there online…”

“I should go,” I managed to say, though I felt like I could barely breathe. “I don’t want to see… him. I don’t want to see anyone.”

“Keir will be home in two weeks,” Glenn said, leaning in the doorway. “It is probably best if you aren’t here.”

My phone chose that moment to buzz with another text from Keir. I ignored it.

“You aren’t kicking my daughter out,” Mom snapped, but I put my hand over hers.

“You’re right,” I said to him. Then to her, “He’s right.” My voice cracked again. “I don’t want to be here. I want to get out of here. I can’t show my face at work, I can’t—” I choked on my words. Mom rubbed my back.

“Glenn?” she asked. “What can we do?”

“I have an apartment in New York she can use for as long as she likes,” he said. “I’ll have my assistant make the arrangements.”

“Just until I find a job,” I said, looking up at him while tears continued to fall.

“Whatever you want,” he said, already punching a message into his phone. His voice was sympathetic, but firm. I was grateful for that much. A less decent person would have gone after me with anger and insults.
I’ll get enough name-calling from strangers, I’m sure
.

“What about Keir?” Mom whispered to me.

“What about him?” I asked. I held up my phone and showed her the message that I’d received, and the new one that had followed.

Did you fucking set me up? [Sat 09:10]

What kind of person does this? I fucking loved you, you bitch! [Sat 09:33]

He’s never really trusted me.

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry,” she said, squeezing me tight. “I know that you loved him, too.”

“I didn’t,” I choked, knowing it for a lie as soon as it was out of my mouth. What did it matter, now?

“Get me a plane ticket, too, Glenn,” Mom said. “I’m spending a little time with my daughter.”

Part of me wanted to protest. But part of me was glad. At least I wouldn’t be completely alone while I made my escape.

But I will be when the dust settles
. Was this an escape, or was it a banishment?

I was glad Keir wasn’t there. I could rip him away like a band-aid and not have to see his accusing eyes, not have to face his anger and his hatred. Not have to see that look of betrayal on his face when I felt so much for him.
Love
.

I’d come so close to having it. But now it was over. It was all over.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Cadence

FIVE MONTHS LATER

“A little to the left. Thank you, Cadence.” Life in New York had become surreal. I was working for my idol, I had my own tiny studio apartment, and I’d made friends, somehow.

The sex tape scandal was in full frenzy when I arrived in the city. I was getting all sorts of phone calls and e-mails from people looking for interviews, comments, more sex tapes, even a couple porn studios reached out. It was an utter whirlwind of bullshit, a never-ending tornado of humiliation. I deleted everything and changed my number.

Luckily, interest died out as quickly as it had ramped up. People were on to the next celebrity scandal in a matter of weeks.

The camera’s shutter clicked, but I couldn’t see the setup from the intended angle—I was holding up a scrim, directing light for Justine Gunn herself.

I’d clung to my collection of business cards on my way out of LA and didn’t put them down until I’d called every single one of the numbers and attempted to set up a meeting or an interview or anything at all. Most had ignored my call completely—but Justine was looking for an assistant and remembered our meeting.

That and she soon received a glowing letter of recommendation from none other than Wendi Whitford herself. I never did speak to my former boss after the video hit the Internet, but when Justine told me what she’d done, I could at least begin to let go of all the anger I carried. Wendi was still a rotten person in my eyes, but she was smart and savvy, and her advice had never steered me wrong. I could hold onto that much; I had to find something positive in the whole mess.

And now that I was working with my idol it was almost all worth it.

Almost.

I still hadn’t spoken to Keir since his texts. He spent the Christmas holidays with his newly discovered family, so I didn’t even get to see him then.

It’s for the best
, I’d reminded myself.
I shouldn’t want to run into him. He hates me
. I did wonder if never seeing him or confronting him was a mistake, though. I’d said no goodbyes, had no closure at all—just a giant aching hole in my heart.

“Very good, everyone, that will be all,” Justine announced, dismissing the room. I’d stick around the big warehouse and help tear down the set—lights and streamers hanging from the ceiling, pedestals and vases of white feathers, plus whatever litter the models left behind. Justine didn’t love doing fashion spreads, but they’d fund the artistic sort of photo shoots that she was more passionate about.

I began gathering up the feathers while some of the other crew started dismantling the lights. I didn’t even mind the manual labor part of the job. It kept my hands and my mind busy, and wore me out so I would sleep easier at night.

“Any new work for me to look at?” Justine asked me later when we were both on our way out. Her car was coming for her. I’d have to walk to the train a few blocks away. I’d shed all of Glenn’s assistance as quickly as I was able, opting to live in my own apartment, pay my own bills, manage my own transportation. I hoped it didn’t seem ungrateful of me, but I had to make it on my own. And I didn’t want to give Keir any more fuel to curse my name.

“I have some photos I took in the park over the weekend,” I said, still shy around Justine even after working with her so closely for five months. “Nothing too special, but they gave me some ideas I’d like to talk about, maybe?”

“Sure,” she said. “Come by early tomorrow, I’ll take a look before my meetings. And I’ve got a boy I’d like you to meet.” She winked.