Playing His Game (The Reynolds Brothers) (23 page)

Chapter Twenty

It's early morning
when my life shatters and everything changes. I'm woken up by several noises in
Scott's master bedroom. I hear my phone ringing, Scott's phone ringing and the
house phone ringing all at the same time.

What the hell?

I look over to the
clock on his nightstand and it's barely three in the morning. The ringing on my
cell stops, just to start back up a moment later. Scott's cell does the same
and I can't recognize the voice yelling on Scott's answering machine in the
other room.

I sit up in bed
and rub my eyes, trying to clear the fogginess in them from lack of sleep.
Scott's still lying next to me passed out to the world.

He wasn’t kidding
when he told me he sleeps like the dead.

I move over him
and shake his body.

"Scott. Wake
up, Scott! Wake up!" I yell at him over the noise of what feels like every
electronic device going off in his home.

"Hmm,"
he moans, squinting his eyes to look up at me.

"Your cell
and your house phone are ringing off the hook."

I move off the bed
and over to the chair in the corner of his room to grab my purse. I’m pretty
sure I left my cell phone in there last night. The ringing stops and I sigh in
relief but then I hear my text chime go off repeatedly. Who the hell would
serial text me at this hour?

Shit. What if
something's wrong?

I start digging
through my purse frantically, trying to find my phone. I find it in the pocket
of my change purse and pull it out. Sixteen missed calls and seven text
messages. All from Jared and Autumn. I click on my text app to read those
first. I figure that's faster than listening to the voicemails.

Autumn: I'm
going to kill Scott.

Autumn: Pick up
your FUCKING PHONE!!!

Autumn: What on
earth possessed you to do this.

Autumn: Jared
is freaking out please call me back so we can try to figure out what you were
thinking.

Autumn: Scott's
going to wish he were dead when Jared's done with him. Call me back so I can do
some damage control.

Autumn: Why the
hell aren't you picking up your phone?

And the last one
is from Jared. His calm text is what scares me the most.

Jared: I don't
know why you both did it and frankly it's not my business but I need to talk to
you both before the press gets a hold of this. I'll need to do damage control
in the media and I can't do that if I don't have the facts. This affects my
image so PLEASE call me back.

I'm not stupid. I
know this has everything to do with the video we shot two weeks ago but I have
no idea how they've found out yet. I look up from my phone and Scott's sitting
on the bed. His fingers are moving at a fast speed as he texts someone on his
phone.

"Scott,"
I call to him timidly. He finishes typing and then looks up at me. "They
know, Scott. How do they already know?"

"I'm still
going through my texts, Winn, but it looks like Don released the video at
midnight. It's already got over five hundred thousand downloads on his site,
babe."

He sounds excited
as he continues to read the messages on his phone, but I just want to curl up
in a ball in the corner and die. I thought I would have more time than this. I
wanted to sit Autumn down and tell her before it was released. It wasn't
supposed to happen this way.

"Scott, I
think we should talk."

"One minute,
babe. My phone is blowing up." He doesn't even look at me as he speaks. He
just smiles down at his phone and continues to read messages and type away. I
tighten the grip on my phone, grab a t-shirt and boxers and walk out of the
room. I head down the hallway and into his living room where I pull the shirt
over my head and slip the boxers on before sitting down next to Sinatra on the
couch. She's wide-awake from all of the commotion and when I fold my legs over
she rests her head on my thigh.

I swipe the screen
on my phone and tap on my internet browser. How would I even go about searching
this? I search for Don's website and then click on the link. Sure enough, on
the home page of his website is a picture of our DVD cover. Written underneath
is a brief description.

Are you a huge
fan of Brandon Boner? Are you looking for your next Boner fix since he left the
limelight? Well, we have just the movie for you. We've uncovered the hidden sex
tape of Brandon's twin brother, Brayden Boner. Watch Brayden as he plays, fucks
and sucks his brother's sister-in-law in every place imaginable. Watch all your
fantasies come true in... Brayden Boner: The Hidden Sex Tape No One Wants You
To See.

This is not good.

I click on the
link and it brings me to another page asking for my personal information and
credit card number. I'm not subscribing to his website just to see a preview of
the video. I go back on my search engine and type in Brayden Boner Sex Tape.
Several articles pop up; all released in the last few hours and my head spins.

After reading
through several of the articles I sigh in relief. Maybe I'll get lucky. It
doesn't look like my name has been released so I still might be able to save
face.

I hear another
ringing and this time it's the doorbell. There's no way I'll want to know who
is behind that door so I wait impatiently for Scott to come out of the master
bedroom to answer it. When the doorbell rings again, followed by intense
banging, I get up off the couch and walk over to the door. Closing my eyes, I take
a deep breath and look through the peephole.

It's Jared and
Autumn. The fact that he hasn’t just walked in here himself must mean that he's
forgotten his key.

Everything will be
okay. You're an adult. You're a strong woman. Don't let anything that's said
change the way you look at yourself. Everything will be fine.

I keep repeating
these words of affirmation in my head as I unlock the front door and open it.
Autumn storms through the door leaving her husband in her dust. He smiles down
at me and then walks in to follow her and I close the door behind them.

Autumn paces back
and forth in the entryway. Her anger is seeping out of her skin and I've never
been more afraid of her than I am right now.

"Where is
he?" she asks, her voice uncharacteristically low.

I look back and
forth between her and Jared, not knowing what to do.

"Scott,"
I call out, loud enough that he can hear it in the bedroom. "I think you
should get in here. You have company."

Scott walks into
the open space without a care in the world. When his eyes fixate on Autumn and
Jared he smiles and says, "What's up, guys."

"What's up?
WHAT'S UP? You fucking prick! You defiled my sister for the whole world to see
and that's all you can say?" I've never seen Autumn this mad before. She's
usually so calm and understanding.

Scott's smile
falters but he still stands tall and arrogant. "That's none of your
business, Autumn. That's between me and Winnie."

"You use your
brother's name and fuck my sister on camera and you think it's none of my
business? You've got some screws loose, Scott. This is every bit my
business." Her long blond hair is pulled back in a knot; her pale skin is
make-up free and her green eyes glow, like something straight out of a horror
movie. She's in sweats and a t-shirt and I feel bad that this has disturbed her
good night sleep. With the pregnancy she needs to be getting rest.

"Let's all
calm down and have a seat before we all start saying things we regret,"
Jared chimes in. He's wearing sweats and a t-shirt too. His tattoos stand out
in the light from the entryway and even as everything is falling apart before
my eyes, I can't help but admire his good looks. Even at three in the morning
he looks fantastic. It's unfair. It's no wonder why he's such a hard person to
replace in the porn industry. Looking as good as he looks, he should have never
been in porn to begin with.

I walk back over
to the couch next to Sinatra and we resume the same position we were in before.
Scott sits down on the other side of me and Jared and Autumn take the loveseat.
Jared starts the conversation off.

"Can one of
you tell me why I had to receive a call from Kelly at this ungodly hour telling
me that a sex tape has been released of you two on Don's website?"

I stay where I am
and don't move. I have no intention on answering that question because I have
no idea where to begin. Luckily, Scott speaks for us.

"Not that
it's any of your business, Jared, but this was a mutual decision we both made
two weeks ago. I didn’t think I needed to come to you about every decision I
make."

"When you're
using my name to sell copies, then you have to come to me. Jesus, Scott. I
could sue you over this bullshit."

"But you
won’t because I'm your brother."

"You're
right, I won't because I obviously have more thought and consideration about
you than you have about me."

"Maybe
everyone should take a breather before we continue," I whisper, unsure of
my own voice.

"Winnie?"
Autumn asks me hesitantly. "I know you, Winnie. You're impulsive and crazy
and that's what I love about you, but I also know you would never do something
like this unless there was a reason. Why did you do this?"

I look up into my
sister's green eyes and then quickly look away. We know each other too well and
I can’t lie to her about something like this, which means I can’t answer her
either.

"Maybe you
don't know Winnie as well as you think you do," Scott interrupts.
"She's a grown woman who can make her own decisions. She doesn't need to
explain those decisions to you."

I'm not sure if
Scott is trying to defend me or if he's trying to be an asshole, but I'm not
liking the Scott I see right now. His cocky arrogance is pissing me off. I'm a
grown woman but I did this for him and only for him, so he needs to shut the
fuck up while I still have my emotions under control.

"Don’t you
care about anyone but yourself, Scott? Didn't you even consider what this could
do to Winnie's reputation?" Autumn asks him.

His face pales
slightly, but other than that he has the perfect poker face on. How ironic.

"And what
about me, Scott? Did you ever think of the repercussions this could have for my
business? My livelihood? The fact that another production company released the
exclusive sex tape of my brother could look bad for business. This could affect
everything I've worked so hard to build."

Jared's right. I
never even thought about what this could mean for him. I was only thinking
about Scott and how to get him out of the predicament he was in. He needed my
help and in the end I only thought about him in the decision-making. I didn't think
about Jared or his company, I didn't think about Autumn and my family, and I
didn't think about myself.

It shocks me a
little that all of the blame for this video seems to be falling on Scott's
shoulders when I was just as big a part of it as he was. Sure, the only reason
we did the video was to save Scott's ass, but Autumn and Jared don’t know that.

"Is this
going to affect your company?" Scott asks Jared.

"It already
has. In the last few hours alone subscriptions to Don's website has grown by
the thousands and I've lost a few subscribers. Nothing major, but if this
continues it could make a significant dent. Are there more videos? Is this
going to be a series or something?"

"It was a
one-time thing," Scott replies.

"Why? If this
was a one-time thing then tell me why, because it makes no fucking sense to me.
If neither of you have aspirations to be in the porn industry then why risk
your reputation for one video?"

His question is a
valid one, but I know Scott will never answer it truthfully. He turns his head
to glance over at me and smiles. "If you were with someone as beautiful as
Winnie, wouldn't you want to document it?"

Is he trying to be
a douche bag? God, I'm going to be sick. My hand comes up before I can even
think and I smack Scott across the face. I stand up and in fear I won't make it
to the bathroom, I run into the kitchen and puke out the contents of last
night's dinner into the chrome sink. Autumn comes up behind me to pull back my
hair as I continue to puke and when my stomach empties it turns into dry
heaves.

"What the
fuck?" Jared asks from somewhere behind me.

"Is she
okay?" Scott asks, and I hear his footsteps getting closer.

"Back the
hell up, Scott. Don't come near her." My sister's voice is hard and low
and if I were Scott I wouldn’t mess with her at a time like this.

"Someone is
going to tell me what is going on here because my sister wouldn't have just
slapped you and started puking for nothing. There's more to this story and I
want the fucking truth... NOW!"

I want to say
something but every time I attempt to stand up my stomach protests and I'm back
to dry heaving in the sink. Scott's quiet and I can feel the tension in the
room escalate.

"Scott, you
need to tell us the truth. Does Donnie have something on you guys? Is that why
you agreed to do the video? It wouldn’t be the first time he turned dirty to
get what he wanted," Jared says.

"God, no. We
weren't blackmailed into doing anything. It was... It was... Jesus, Winnie. Are
you okay?" His voice breaks at the end as he tries to get closer to me but
my sister stops him in his tracks.

"It was just
what, Scott?" she asks.

"If I didn't
know any better I'd think you and my brother were jealous. Is it because it's
selling so well? Are you scared our video will start outselling the infamous
Brandon Boner?"