chapter 5
“NICE,” Gavin snapped the second he saw me. “You break up with me over text and disappear, and now you’re here with him?”
He jabbed a finger toward Logan, who was checking something in the truck bed.
“How long has this been going on? You two messing around behind my back that whole time?”
I stared at him. Then at Leslie. Then back.
“I don’t owe you any explanation,” I said flatly. “And I definitely don’t want to see you. Leave.”
Leslie clutched her tote bag tighter and gave me big, watery eyes.
“I just wanted to talk,” she said softly. “I didn’t know things were this bad for you. I feel horrible. We came all this way so you wouldn’t be alone.”
Given how hot she was online right then, she should’ve been in LA blocking out brand deals, not standing in a gravel driveway in the middle of nowhere.
What was she really here for?
Logan stepped closer to me, wiping his hands on a rag. His grandma came out behind him, apron on, eyebrows drawn together.
“Everything okay out here?” she asked.
“We were just leaving,” I said.
“No, we weren’t,” Gavin snapped. He shoved his suitcase forward, trying to push past. “You’re being ridiculous, Zeph. I came back to give you a way out.”
He lowered his voice like he was being generous. “You go online, admit you let things get out of hand, apologize to Leslie, and promise to stop copying her. You’ll be fine. I’ll even help you draft the apology video.”
“I’m not apologizing for something I didn’t do,” I said, heat rising in my throat. “She copied me.”
Leslie’s lip trembled. “How can you say that? I worked so hard on those concepts.”
“Are we really doing this?” Gavin laughed. “The so-called plagiarist posted before the ‘real’ creator? That’s not how it works, Zeph.”
He stepped closer. “Stop attacking Leslie. She’s still willing to help you.”
“Help me?” I repeated, disbelieving. “You’ve been leaking my ideas to her behind my back for months and she’s been cashing them in. The only thing either of you ever helped was your own career.”
His expression froze for a split second.
Then he recovered with a sneer. “Wow. Paranoid much?”
I’d had enough.
“If you don’t leave right now,” I said, voice shaking, “I’m calling the police and reporting you for trespassing.”