“No. They can’t. I mean, sure, this website needs to be shut down, but you’re right, the only people paying for it are the girls. Guys like this will eat it up. That’s the point, right? Bragging rights. What’s bigger than the school paper?”
“Maybe they will face some sort of academic punishment.” I shrugged. “I’m sure it goes against our code of ethics.”
“C’mon, you and I both know that won’t happen. A slap on the wrist, maybe, expulsion, never happening.”
He stood and banged his fist on the desk. “That son of a bitch. Dammit, Brinley. I can’t just sit around and do nothing.”
“What are you going to do? Fight him? I don’t exactly want you getting your ass kicked over this.”
“Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“I know that you’re mad but I can’t let you get hurt.”
“So he lands a few hits on me. At least I’ll have the first punch.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Mason, but I can’t let you get in trouble.”
He huffed and plopped back onto my bed. “Does he know you found out about the site?”
“I took him a printout, so he knows I’ve seen it.”
“What printout?”
I pulled up the image from the email Fallon forwarded me. “This.”
Mason gritted his teeth as he stared at the screen. He muttered several curses then slammed the laptop shut. “You showed this to him?”
I nodded.
“What did he say?”
“I left before he had a chance to say anything.”
“What did you say to him?”
“ ‘Congratulations, asshole.’ Then I shoved the paper at him.”
Mason’s mouth twitched. “You said that?”
“Yeah.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me against him. “That’s pretty fucking awesome.” With my head tucked under his chin, he said, “I’m sorry. I know you cared about him and I’m sorry he wasn’t the guy you thought he was.”
“But you always knew he wasn’t.”
“Actually, I was scared he would be. I was scared to lose you, but this wasn’t what I wanted. I never wanted you to get hurt. A part of me hoped you wouldn’t fall for him, but I knew you already had.”
There was another knock at the door. I stared at it then glanced at Mason. “Maybe Fallon forgot her keycard?”
His lips thinned as he stood. “I’ll get it.”
When the door swung open, I saw Ryder standing on the other side. His gaze drifted past Mason and locked on me. His green eyes softened. “Brinley,” he said.
Mason stepped out into the hallway and pulled the door partly closed behind him. “Nah-uh, buddy. I don’t think so.”
“I need to talk to her.”
“Well, she doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“Let her tell me that.” Ryder’s voice was strained, but it sounded like he was managing to keep his cool.
“Fine.” Mason turned to me, allowing the door to drift open. “You want to talk to him?”
Ryder stared at me, his expression looked hopeful.
I swallowed the lump rising in my throat and glared at him. “Absolutely not.”
He looked down.
“You heard her.” Mason shifted, blocking me from Ryder’s view again.
“I just wanted to explain—”
“Explain what?” Mason raised his voice then stepped out and shut my door behind him. His voice was muffled but I could still make out what he said. “Why you’re an asshole, or why you humiliated her? You know that when the article goes out, she’ll be the one to pay.”
“Article?” Ryder asked.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Please tell me you know this is going in the school paper.”
“The paper? Wait, what the hell are you talking about? It’s a website. She saw the website. I don’t know anything about the paper.”
“It’s been exposed. The paper is covering it. That picture you saw is a screen shot. She got it from someone at the paper. They are running it Thursday. Your little game is going live and you’re bringing Brinley down with you.”
“No,” Ryder muttered. “Fuck. How? Who? Son of a bitch.” There was a loud bang, like Ryder hit something.
Worried about Mason, I jumped up and threw open the door.
Ryder had stormed off down the hall, never even noticing me.
Mason shrugged. “He just left. He had no idea about the paper.”
“I heard.”
Ryder slammed the metal door leading to the stairs. I felt sorry for anyone who got in his way.
Mason shrugged. “Guess I just leaked the story.”