Page 51 of Cocky Brutal Sinner

17

BEAU

“Ican’t believe my son went to Italy without telling me!” Mama’s voice echoes her disappointment into my voicemail. “Giulia could have met you and shown you her town. Call me back, tesoro. We need to schedule another dinner.”

Sighing, I press “delete.” I can’t avoid Mama forever, but I can move her to the back burner for now.

I have more important things to deal with.

Coming home from Italy was brutal. After those days of total freedom, coming home felt like a cage snapping shut. I had to go back to pretending, back to hiding things from my family and my friends, back to pretending I didn’t say I love you.

The last one has been the hardest. How do you act like your heart isn’t cracked down the middle? How do you text with your friends and joke around when you said I love you and she didn’t say it back?

I allowed myself one night to crawl under the covers and mope. One night to eat ice cream in bed, avoid every message on my phone, and watch The Notebook so I can pretend that’s the reason I’m crying.

Now, it’s the morning, and it’s time to face the music. With trepidation burning a hole in my chest, I open my group chat with the guys. I’ve missed hundreds of messages, and to my horror, most of them are about Peppermint.

Nate

My security team just finished the metadata they were able to gather from the Peppermint’s posts and photos. Peppermint managed to scrub most of it, but there were enough data that they missed that we were able to get a general idea.

Ryan

Is Peppermint in the house with me right now? Is this a Ghostface scenario?

Nate

Not to scare you, but possibly. Peppermint publishes from somewhere in a thirty-block radius around the House of Cards.

Luke

Well, that doesn’t narrow it down much.

Nate

It’s enough to rule out people in most of the suburbs.

James

If the metadata is even accurate.

Ryan

Don’t be such a party pooper. It confirms what I’ve been working on.

Nate

That song you’ve been writing about the handsomeness of your own face?

Ryan

I mean the OTHER thing I’ve been working on. I’ve been cross-referencing Peppermint’s posts with the actual events, what time they were posted, and any people who knew about our secrets. I’ve concluded that it’s got to be someone with contacts in our inner circle. It’s also someone who’s had more access to us in the past few years. A lot of the early posts about us were tips from readers. The ones about our relationships—about me and Pippa, especially—it would have to be someone we know very well.

Nate

Who does Pippa spill her secrets to?

Ryan