Reckless (Thoughtless, #3)(22)

“If she gave it back before he paid her . . . then it wasn’t her only copy. You’ll hear from her again,” he said.

My eyes shot up to his. I hadn’t considered that. I knew that other sex tapes were out there, but I hadn’t thought about Joey duping Kellan. She’d brought it to the house to return it before she’d known about me. She’d acted like it was the only copy she’d had, and that she despised Kellan so much that she didn’t want it near her anymore. Of course, maybe that was an act, her way of showing Kellan that she didn’t need him, that he was beneath her. She seemed like the type to hold on to trophies of her conquests, and what greater trophy could she have than video footage? Denny was right; she had multiple copies. She hadn’t ever intended to give Kellan the only recording.

Denny looked apologetic and sympathetic. “I don’t know her so I can’t say for sure, but if he does make it big, I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to make some money off of it. It could be everywhere someday, Kiera. Sorry.”

Sighing away those future troubles, I told him, “It’s okay. It doesn’t matter, not really.” Denny raised an eyebrow at me, and I laughed. The release felt good and lifted a bit of the apprehension from the air. “She doesn’t have the only movie of him like that, so she won’t get a very good price. Oversaturation and all.” I wanted to grimace over the thought of multiple sex tapes on the market, but the look on Denny’s face was priceless, and I laughed again.

Denny shook his head. “You have changed.”

I smiled and shrugged, trying to be as okay with this as I could be. Kellan’s life wasn’t private anymore, and parts of it were going to be uncomfortable for both of us. But I knew his heart, and he knew mine, and together we would work through the rough patches.

As I pushed away the bad and focused on the good, Denny rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe he filmed himself.” Closing his eyes, he added, “Actually, yeah, I can.” Denny’s cheeks suddenly flushed with color, and his eyes shot open. There was a clear question in the dark depths, one he didn’t want to ask. But the curiosity was eating at him.

Knowing where his head was at, I smacked his shoulder. “No! I didn’t let him . . . we didn’t . . . No!” I stammered, not able to put into words that I didn’t—and wouldn’t—make a sex tape with Kellan.

Denny chuckled and backed away from me. “Sorry, it slipped into my head before I could stop it.”

Anna came up to us while Denny laughed even harder. “What’s going on?”

Anna gave Denny a cool glance, not unfriendly, but not warm either. She still hadn’t gotten over Denny’s vicious attack on Kellan, and, inadvertently, me. Denny straightened, his laughter stopping. “Nothing. Just catching up.”

Anna narrowed her eyes, like she thought Denny was going to try and woo me away from Kellan or something. I don’t know how many times I’d told her that nothing but friendship was between us, but I don’t think she would ever really believe me. “I’m going to go, Kiera. I need a nap.” Her eyes focused solely on me. “The girls and I are sore.”

I twisted my lip, knowing she was not referring to the child in her belly. “Yeah, okay.”

As she waddled over to Griffin’s van, Mom and Dad ended their conversation with Jenny and started heading toward me. By the look on Dad’s face, I was sure he wanted to talk to me about my plan to join Kellan.

I sighed, and Denny looked at me. “You ready for them to head home yet?”

I grinned. “Yeah.” As I waited for my parents, I pondered telling Denny that I was leaving. I suppose that should be an easier thing to tell him than confessing about Kellan’s sex tape, but somehow, it felt harder.

Mom got distracted on her way over to me by a coin on the ground. Mom gathered every coin she could, even pennies. She kept any coin she found that was dated earlier than the seventies. She had dozens of containers at home, full of old currency.

While Dad groaned at Mom to let it go, I quickly blurted out what I didn’t really want to say. “I’m joining Kellan in Los Angeles soon, and then I’m going on tour with him. I’m leaving Seattle.”

Denny’s mouth opened and his face paled. He looked like I’d just socked him in the gut. A ripping pain went through me. I had never left Denny before. He’d always been the one leaving me. As part of my soul ached, I reconsidered my belief that leaving was easier than being left. This didn’t feel easy, and I wasn’t even gone yet.

Denny averted his eyes and composed himself. Once he was more or less put back together, he shifted his attention to my parents. A sly grin lightened his face, but not his eyes. “I remember when we told your dad we were leaving Ohio.” He looked back at me. “Good luck. You’ll need it.”

I nodded and rubbed Denny’s shoulder. A moment of grief passed between us. Grief over what we’d had together. Grief over what we’d lost. We were both in a good place now, relationship-wise, but that didn’t mean we’d forgotten, and sometimes missed, what we’d once been.

Denny gave me a small, understanding smile that broke my heart a little. As much as I was going to miss Jenny and Anna, I think I was going to miss Denny even more. Not sure if I should confess that to him or not, I gave him as convincing of a smile as I could. “But I’ll be coming back a lot, to check on Anna, to make sure she’s okay.”