“It was a delightful evening. Everyone loved my beef stroganoff.”

He tilted his head.

“You assigned seats with place cards.”

“So?”

“Think you went a little too far with that one.”

“They sat next to each other, didn’t they?” I reminded him. “And it forced conversation. They talked a lot.”

“They argued a lot,” he corrected.

I leaned forward.

“That’s still conversation, Brian.”

He breathed a laugh, shaking his head at me just as my cell started ringing on the island.

It was Tori. Taylor Swift was singing to me.

I made a face at him before spinning around and snatching up my phone. “Hey, what’s up?” I answered.

“Syd, you need to come over here right now, okay? Right now. Don’t say anything to Brian, just get in your car and get over here. Tell me you’re gonna do what I’m asking.”

Tori was panicked, her words were running together she was speaking so fast, and her breathing was tense, quickened as if she was pacing the floor.

“Okay, um,” I stammered, looking up at Brian, who was watching me. I started twirling a lock of my hair. “Can you tell me what’s going on first?”

“No!” she shrieked. “I need you to get over here like I asked!”

“Tori …”

“Please, Syd, okay? Please! Get over here now! This is urgent!”

Wes. His name flashed in my mind.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” I told her. “I’ll be right there.”

“Alone! Come alone!”

“All right!” I hollered.

She disconnected the call.

I stopped twirling my hair and stuck my phone into my back pocket.

“What’s up?” Brian asked.

“No idea, but I gotta go over to Tori’s. She’s flipping out about something.”

His brow furrowed.

“She didn’t say what?” he questioned.

I shook my head. Then I pointed behind him at the stove.

“When the timer goes off, can you put the Doritos on top and then bake it for another ten? I’ll be back as soon as I get her settled. Hopefully it won’t be too long. I don’t want to be cutting into what we have planned this afternoon.”

“Do what you gotta do,” he said, stepping closer, grabbing my face and kissing me. “We got time.”

“Okay.” I kissed him back.

Then I grabbed my keys, met Sir at the front door and told him he was staying home, stepped out onto the porch, and jogged to my car.

* * *

Tori had the front door swinging open before I even reached it, waving at me to hurry up.

“What’s going on?” I asked when I got inside. “You are officially freaking me out.”

She shut the door, grabbed my hand, and tugged me through the house.

“To preface what I’m about to show you, I need you to know why I was browsing a site like this. You keep forcing me to participate in family dinners and if I have to be around Jamie and his stupidly hot face, I can’t be doing it all worked up. It makes ignoring him a challenge,” she said, pulling me up the stairs.

I stared at the back of her head as we climbed higher.

“What in the world are you talking about?” I questioned, officially confused.

We reached the top of the stairs and Tori directed me down the hall to her bedroom, pushed the door open, released my hand, and moved to stand beside the bed.

Her sheets were messy and she had her laptop opened on it, facing the pillows so I couldn’t see the screen.

“Syd,” she began gently, reaching across her body to grip her elbow. “How well do you know Brian?”

I frowned at her question. This wasn’t about Wes?

“Pretty well, I think,” I replied. “Tori, what’s going on?”

She sat on the edge of the bed and spun the laptop around so it was facing me.

“Did you know he did this?” she asked, hitting a key and waking it up.

I moved closer so I could see what she was trying to show me.

A video was playing with the volume turned down so I couldn’t hear, but I didn’t need sound. I could tell exactly what type of video this was.

A man was thrusting into the woman lying beneath him on a bed, really going at her with vigor by the looks of it. The camera was angled behind them so I could only see his naked back and her limbs and her dark hair fanning out on the white sheet over his shoulder.

I gasped, looking to Tori. “Why are you showing me this?”

“Keep watching,” she said, her expression one of concern and worry.

I did as I was told because of that expression and looked back at the screen.

The man kept thrusting. The woman moved her hands to his shoulders and hitched her legs up higher on his back, her knee-high socks appearing to be the only clothing she’d left on.

Then the camera panned to the side to catch their profiles.

“Oh, my God!” I slapped my hand over my mouth and watched my boy move in and out of the girl he was fucking. Drawn to it because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I climbed on the bed and hovered over the laptop. “Oh, my God! What is this? Why is Brian on the Internet?” I shrieked, looking to Tori and gripping the sides of the screen.

“It’s a porn site. He’s all over it,” she answered.

Air raced in and out of my lungs. My nose started stinging.

“What do you mean, he’s all over it?” I asked weakly.

“He’s on the home page. Look.”

She reached around the screen, forcing me to let go of one side, and hit the Back button. The video vanished and a website appeared in its place. Xstasy scrawled in scripted red font across the top against a black background, and in the center of the screen, there was a still image of Brian taking some girl from behind.

Get Done by Dash flashed below the image.

“Oh, my God,” I whispered, covering my mouth again.

“Dash. That’s what Jamie calls him, isn’t it?” Tori questioned, pulling my eyes up to hers.

I nodded on the verge of tears while I stared at his hands on her hips and his mouth, opened on her neck and sucking.

My stomach rolled and twisted into a knot.

“He’s got his own channel, Syd. I looked. It’s him and the same three girls, it looks like, plus some of just him, you know, going solo. They’re dated. They’re all from this year. Some of them are from just a couple of months ago. Did he say anything to you about this?”

I cut my eyes to her.

She quickly shook her head through a frown.

“I’m sorry. Stupid question. I just …” She swallowed. “I can’t believe he’d keep this from you. He must’ve known you’d eventually find out.”

I looked back at the screen.

I was trembling. My entire body shuddered as I stared at that image.

“Why,” I whispered, my voice shaking. Tears fell to my cheeks. “Why was he doing this? Why? This isn’t who he is. He’s not a porn star. He’s not. He would never do something like this.” I lifted my eyes again. “It wasn’t him. It’s not him.”

“Hon.” Tori reached for my hand. There were tears in her eyes, too.