Page 185 of Lucky Mother Pucker

As Zoey starts to talk to her mom, I head out the back door of the restaurant to give them some privacy and to look for Leo.

I don’t see him in the alley. It’s just a small group of people gathered on the street talking to each other and looking at their phones.

I walk over to the street and look around for Leo, but he’s nowhere around.

I turn to them. “Hey, did you see a tall guy with dark hair in a gray suit?”

“Yeah, he walked off like ten minutes ago,” some older guy says. “Right after he beat the crap out of some other guy.”

They must be talking about Jeff.

“Where did that guy go?” I ask. I don’t see him around either.

“He left in a rideshare,” a woman says.

I huff out a breath, my head spinning. I’m glad Jeff is gone, but I need to find Leo.

I walk back down the alley toward the restaurant and grab my phone to call him, but then I see a bunch of texts from the group chat I’m in with Poppy, Anna, and Briar.

I stop walking and skim the messages.

Poppy: Lucy, is everything okay with Leo? Nick just said he saw a video online of Leo beating up some guy.

Anna: Wait, what?

Briar: No way. That can’t be true.

Briar: Crap, wait, maybe it’s true. Blake just showed me the video.

Anna: We just saw it too.

Anna: Wait, is he beating up Jeff? His sister’s boyfriend?

Poppy: Oh my god…what is going on?

My head spins. I pull up social media on my phone and search for the video. So many people are posting it and sharing it.

I skim the comments.

WTF why is the Hollis U star defenseman kicking the shit out of some random guy?

Dude needs to go to anger management lol

Holy shit, Rocco Peretti’s son is a loose cannon

Guy’s a violent psychopath

My stomach drops. None of this is true. Leo isn’t a violent psycho. He was defending his sister from her abusive boyfriend.

My head spins when I think about just how many people are watching and sharing this video, posting comments, making assumptions and accusations.

I reply to the group text.

Me: Hey, so we just found out that Leo’s sister’s boyfriend has been abusing her. That’s why Leo beat him up, he walked in on Jeff putting his hands on her.

Poppy: What? Oh my god, what a monster.

Briar: Holy crap. Is she okay?