the room, shocked. “This for real?”
“Apparently.” I throw the paper on the table. My fingers scrub at my scalp relentlessly.
“How could you be so fuckin’ stupid?” He storms across the room and stops right in front of me, squaring up to me. “Again, Tate? Really? Are you fuckin’ fifteen? Do you have a goddamn brain cell in your brain or is it full of air?”
“Fuck off.” My jaw tenses.
“Y’know what? No. You spent so long tellin’ me that Mila bein’ public knowledge would fuck everything up. Turns out that’s your job, brother. ”
“You think I like this shit, huh? You think I like these chicks coming out with this stuff?”
“Obviously you do.”
“You want me to sit them down with an NDA before I ask them to pull off their panties? That it?”
“Yeah!” Conner yells. “Because we should be more fuckin’ important than getting your rocks off! We should matter more than those easy girls you drag back to your hotel room, because we’re your fuckin’ family, Tate! We’re the ones who got here, and we did it together!”
“What are you sayin’, little guy? If I wanna go down I’m doin’ it alone, huh?”
“That’s exactly fuckin’ it!”
“Enough!” Ella’s voice cracks and she slips in between us. “Stop. Now. Please.” The last word is quieter, but it seems louder than every yell we just gave.
“Ella,” Conner warns, “this is between us.”
“No. It isn’t. It affects everyone. You, Tate, Kye, Ads, Sofie, Mila. Hell, even me. Everyone, Conner. And yelling at each other isn’t going to make it better. It’ll just make it worse.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you won’t get through this alone,” she says softly. “The only way you are all coming out of this is if you stick together.”
“She’s right,” Sofie agrees, stepping up and taking Conner’s hand.
“Yelling at each other won’t fix this. Calling your manager and your lawyers will,” Ella continues. She swallows and steps to the side. To the table to be precise. She collects the papers and sits down, flicking through each one.
“What’s she doin’?” Aidan asks.
“I’ve done a few summer internships at law firms. Learned enough,” Ella replies, reading.
“And she went to Harvard,” I add.
Ads shakes his head and looks at her. “Shit! What’re you doin’ here?”
“Saving your brother’s behind, apparently.” She looks at me for the first time today. “There’s no proof here. If she really, really had one and she wanted to exploit you for it, she’d post an image that would put you in a compromising position, or she’d post the whole video. It’s a stunt for fifteen minutes of fame.”
Conner relaxes. The others do, too.
“So what do we do?”
Ella rolls her eyes. “I just told you. Call Marc and your lawyers. They can enforce a gag order and possibly a defamation of character, depending on what she’s actually said. The media will have been careful not to post any quotes that could damage your image, but they’ll have the full transcripts of the conversations.” She comes to me and slaps the papers on my chest. “Get them. It’ll cost you, but it’ll help. Somewhere she’ll have said something incriminating. And in the unlikely event that the video exists and she posts it, you can sue her for damages.”
I stare at her. We all do. Because, fuck. In the space of one minute she’s taken us from angry to calm, from flailing to planned.
“You, Els,” I murmur. “Are a motherfuckin’ gem.”
She raises her eyebrows. “And if I’m gonna have to give you all legal advice regularly, I need a pay raise.”
With that, she turns on her heel and walks away from me.
“Wait,” I call after her. “You gonna get Marc on the phone or what?”
She glances over her shoulder at me, then pulls something out of her pocket. She turns, clicks on the phone, then throws it to me. “I’m sure you can tap the little green button to call him.”
She
“Apparently.” I throw the paper on the table. My fingers scrub at my scalp relentlessly.
“How could you be so fuckin’ stupid?” He storms across the room and stops right in front of me, squaring up to me. “Again, Tate? Really? Are you fuckin’ fifteen? Do you have a goddamn brain cell in your brain or is it full of air?”
“Fuck off.” My jaw tenses.
“Y’know what? No. You spent so long tellin’ me that Mila bein’ public knowledge would fuck everything up. Turns out that’s your job, brother. ”
“You think I like this shit, huh? You think I like these chicks coming out with this stuff?”
“Obviously you do.”
“You want me to sit them down with an NDA before I ask them to pull off their panties? That it?”
“Yeah!” Conner yells. “Because we should be more fuckin’ important than getting your rocks off! We should matter more than those easy girls you drag back to your hotel room, because we’re your fuckin’ family, Tate! We’re the ones who got here, and we did it together!”
“What are you sayin’, little guy? If I wanna go down I’m doin’ it alone, huh?”
“That’s exactly fuckin’ it!”
“Enough!” Ella’s voice cracks and she slips in between us. “Stop. Now. Please.” The last word is quieter, but it seems louder than every yell we just gave.
“Ella,” Conner warns, “this is between us.”
“No. It isn’t. It affects everyone. You, Tate, Kye, Ads, Sofie, Mila. Hell, even me. Everyone, Conner. And yelling at each other isn’t going to make it better. It’ll just make it worse.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you won’t get through this alone,” she says softly. “The only way you are all coming out of this is if you stick together.”
“She’s right,” Sofie agrees, stepping up and taking Conner’s hand.
“Yelling at each other won’t fix this. Calling your manager and your lawyers will,” Ella continues. She swallows and steps to the side. To the table to be precise. She collects the papers and sits down, flicking through each one.
“What’s she doin’?” Aidan asks.
“I’ve done a few summer internships at law firms. Learned enough,” Ella replies, reading.
“And she went to Harvard,” I add.
Ads shakes his head and looks at her. “Shit! What’re you doin’ here?”
“Saving your brother’s behind, apparently.” She looks at me for the first time today. “There’s no proof here. If she really, really had one and she wanted to exploit you for it, she’d post an image that would put you in a compromising position, or she’d post the whole video. It’s a stunt for fifteen minutes of fame.”
Conner relaxes. The others do, too.
“So what do we do?”
Ella rolls her eyes. “I just told you. Call Marc and your lawyers. They can enforce a gag order and possibly a defamation of character, depending on what she’s actually said. The media will have been careful not to post any quotes that could damage your image, but they’ll have the full transcripts of the conversations.” She comes to me and slaps the papers on my chest. “Get them. It’ll cost you, but it’ll help. Somewhere she’ll have said something incriminating. And in the unlikely event that the video exists and she posts it, you can sue her for damages.”
I stare at her. We all do. Because, fuck. In the space of one minute she’s taken us from angry to calm, from flailing to planned.
“You, Els,” I murmur. “Are a motherfuckin’ gem.”
She raises her eyebrows. “And if I’m gonna have to give you all legal advice regularly, I need a pay raise.”
With that, she turns on her heel and walks away from me.
“Wait,” I call after her. “You gonna get Marc on the phone or what?”
She glances over her shoulder at me, then pulls something out of her pocket. She turns, clicks on the phone, then throws it to me. “I’m sure you can tap the little green button to call him.”
She
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