Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(85)

Bryna pursed her lips and looked down. Her eyes fluttered back to Trihn’s, but they didn’t exactly meet hers when she said, “You’re right. None.”




The entire thing did not blow over like Trihn had wanted.

She was stuck in Vegas, working on her fashion line and getting ready for the big show in New York, which meant there were no more pictures of her and Damon out in public together. But there were enough photos of the two of them on their social media accounts, and those were now crawling all over the Internet. Trihn had to make all her accounts private to keep people from commenting on her shit. It was annoying for all of a couple of hours before she shut it all down and went back to work.

Chloe and Damon were both asked questions about their love lives, but their answers were usually, “No comment,” or “It’s personal.”

Trihn was fine with that. She didn’t exactly want to be out in the spotlight or have paparazzi to deal with while she still had so much on her plate. But part of her also kind of wished that she could just come out and say that she and Damon were together. Trihn knew it was business, but it seemed stupid to just ignore it.

She had just finished up another day locked away in the studio and was on her way to meet her friends at Posse when her phone chimed.

I’ll call you when I can. It’s not true.

Trihn had been so out of the loop while working that she didn’t even know what the hell Damon was talking about.

She pulled up Facebook to see a slew of posts about an anonymous hacker posting nude photos of celebrities stolen from their phones.

Trihn groaned. “Disgusting.”

Don’t these creeps know that celebrities are people, too?

No one should have access to personal information, let alone to very personal images meant for a significant other. Trihn clicked through the list of hacked celebrities’ phones, and she froze. It was a relatively long list, but two names popped out at her.

Chloe Avana.

Damon Stone.

Shit! She didn’t know what that meant, but she had a feeling it wasn’t good.

Trihn pulled into Posse’s parking lot and searched for their names, as related to the scandal. About a hundred different sites appeared at once.

She clicked on the first one.

CHLOE AVANA NUDE!

Anonymous hacker group strikes at celebrities once more. This time, Chloe Avana, former Disney star and platinum-recording artist, is revealed in a series of naked photographs. These photographs were allegedly extracted from her phone as well as from the phone of her current fling, DJ Damon Stone, whom she recently recorded with on her latest number one hit, “We Never Met.”

These photographs come on the wave of another breach of security for celebrities and bring up a call for increased…

Trihn stopped reading as she tried to process what the article was saying. It was obvious, of course. She knew what they were saying. But…she couldn’t comprehend the other part.

Why would Damon have those photographs on his phone?

She knew he had immediately texted her to let her know that it wasn’t true. So…it must not be true. That didn’t seem like Damon at all. It didn’t make sense.

She leaned her head against the steering wheel and tried to make all of the puzzle pieces fit together. The hacking group had no reason to lie about where the images had come from—or at least she didn’t think so. She really knew nothing about them.

But if Damon didn’t even ask for nude pictures from me, why would he want them from Chloe?

The only way it could be possible, in her mind, was if Chloe had sent them to Damon, unprompted.

Or Damon was a liar.

Trihn squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head at the ludicrous thoughts. It was a mistake. It wasn’t true. The press was manipulating her, and she needed to wait to hear from Damon before freaking out about this. She needed to trust him and believe in him, as he had done for her all those times. They were a team. That was all that mattered.

Taking a calming deep breath, she exited her car and entered Posse.

Her friends were hanging out at the bar. Maya was pouring drinks and laughing with Drayton and Pace. Eric planted a kiss on Bryna’s forehead while Stacia was dancing around in a too-short skirt. When they saw her, their faces fell, and they all looked stricken.

Great.

“Hey,” Trihn said. “We have to quit meeting like this.”

“Have you not heard?” Bryna asked.

“I saw. But it’s not true. Damon said it wasn’t true.”

Trihn realized how ridiculous she’d sounded when a bunch of them winced. Have I become that girl again? Am I making excuses for Damon when he could be doing whatever he wants behind my back?

God, insecurities on red alert.

She needed to pull herself back together. Damon was not cheating on her. He would never have flown her to Atlanta or texted her reassurances or totally fallen in love with her if he wanted someone else. She would not let this stress her out. There was an explanation for it all.

“Can I talk to you?” Bryna asked.

She looked nervous. That was not a good sign.

“Sure,” Trihn said hesitantly.

Trihn glanced over at Eric, and he looked worried. She didn’t know if it was about the stuff that had come out in the press or if it was about what Bryna was going to say. Either way, it was not good.