“I think grossed out is the appropriate sibling response.”
“I’ll go with that,” I say with a smile.
“Ohh!” she whines. “I just hate everything I missed out on with you. I read the interview about your past; we could have had so much fun! Then again, you probably wouldn’t be the Dylan Sexton had Dad actually been in the picture. You’d probably be some boring lawyer or doctor like him.”
I imagine that and laugh. “I suppose there’s the silver lining I was looking for.”
“So, you know all about my love life, such as it is. What’s up with yours?”
A smile instinctively comes to my face as I think about Vanessa. “There may be a little something going on with a woman.”
“Vanessa,” she croons in a suggestive voice, smirking at me. “The one from the article?”
I laugh and nod. “She’s…different from what I’m used to. Genuine, sweet, and she cares about others. She’s managed to make me a different man. I don’t think that article would have come out if it wasn’t for her. I can’t knock that. Plus, she’s sexy as hell.”
“Always a bonus. But so boringly adult! Which means it will probably work out.”
“Thank you, Dr. Ruth.”
She laughs. “So, now that we’re officially blood, you know I’m going to take all kinds of advantage of your name, right?”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, I’ve already started a list. Number one is, I definitely need an invite to the first Spring Fling that happens after my twenty-first birthday.”
I cough out a laugh. “The good news for me is that I doubt there will be any more after this year.”
“Oh my God, don’t tell me one little scandal has you tucking tail and running. That’s not the Dylan Sexton I know.”
“You know me that well already?” I ask, amused.
“I do. You don’t run. If anything, you do something bigger and better.”
The cunning smile on her face makes me think maybe she does know me better than I thought.
“You make a good case,” I say with a smile.
“So, how are you two getting on?” I turn at the falsetto voice of her mother as she walks in, eyes wide in anticipation of finding the worst. Robert is right behind her, slightly more relaxed.
“Dylan was just promising to send me a ticket to the next Sexton Spring Fling…when I’m old enough, of course.”
Julia’s eyes flit to me with mild condemnation.
Her dad just stares at her as though he’s used to her antics.
“Thanks for that,” I mutter.
Layla just laughs.
Yeah, I like her.
Chapter Forty-Three
Dylan
“She sounds like fun…kinda like you,” Vanessa says with an affectionate smile.
“I’m sure she is. And hell if she doesn’t make you laugh.”
We’re on the couch in my apartment, sharing a bottle of wine. It was only three days in Chicago, but I feel like a brand new part of my brain has opened up to accommodate everything I’ve experienced, everything that’s new in my life now.
“So, what about your father?”
Father.
“That’s one I’m still trying to wrap my head around. I don’t know if I’ll ever see him in that role, at least not for me. He’s an okay guy, and I think we’ll get along just fine, mostly because of Layla. Her, I definitely have an instinctive pull toward. I think the hardest party to bring around is going to be her mother. I’m pretty sure she sees me as some sex-crazed pervert out to corrupt her precious daughter.”
Vanessa laughs. “But you’re glad you went?”
I think about it. “Well, of course. Like you said, I was curious, and it would have eaten me up if I didn’t. But, it helped me put my life in perspective.” I look at her with a smile, reaching out my hand to entangle one of her curls around my finger. “And other things too.”
Vanessa bites her bottom lip. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, that’s so.” I lean in, realizing that I missed the taste of her mouth while I was gone. Hell, I missed a lot of things about her while I was gone.
That’s it, I’m officially sprung.
I lean in closer, close enough to smell that intoxicating scent of hers. Her tongue darts out to slide across her full lips, now broadened into a smile. Before we can complete what I’ve started, my phone rings.
I groan. “Hold that pose for a second while I turn that damn thing off.”
Vanessa laughs and leans out to pour us both more wine.
“It’s Gene,” I growl. “Probably still wondering where his letter of resignation is.”
That’s when Vanessa’s phone dings with a message, as well.
“I guess I need to turn mine off too.”
I watch her reach over to her bag at the end of the couch to retrieve it.
“It’s from Georges. Something about Ginny Lawson?”
“What?” I say, turning my head to face her. “What exactly does it say?”
She’s staring down at her phone and reads the message aloud: “Girl, did you see what Ginny Lawson just did? Call me!”
“That’s it? He didn’t mention what she’s done?”
“No,” she replies, looking up at me now with her brow wrinkled in confusion. “Should I call him?”
“Let me check Gene’s message first,” I say, not wanting a gossip session to preempt anything.
Instead of turning my phone off, I hit the button for voicemail, putting it on speakerphone for Vanessa’s benefit.
“Dylan. I’m sure by now you’ve at least heard about Ginny Lawson’s video. Obviously, we need to discuss this. Did you have anything to do with it? At any rate, call me. Sooner rather than later would be preferable.”
“Why the hell can’t anyone just leave a message that isn’t completely vague!” I rant.
“What video is he talking about?”
I’m already on my phone searching the internet. Twitter is where I usually find things hitting first, and most furiously. Sure enough, she’s already trending. I click on the first legitimate news source to find out why.
Ginny Lawson Confesses All!
I read the headline twice. Then Vanessa and I both scan the article. Vanessa is the first to finish.
“Oh my God, she’s admitted that she had the pictures taken at the Sexton Spring Fling! And it was her mother who coerced Kaylee, forcing her to go along or…good grief, her own mother threatened to sue her?”
Now my eyes are practically zig-zagging across the screen as I scroll down.
“There’s a video,” Vanessa points out.
Rather than try to re-read everything from the article, this time with at least some semblance of comprehension, I click on the Play button for the video.
Ginny is sitting at a desk with what looks like a hotel room behind her. The bright, cheerful girl most people probably recognize from Can Do Town or even many of the events she’s attended out of her Go-Girl persona has been replaced by one who looks like she’s aged a few years practically overnight. She isn’t wearing makeup, and her hair is still damp from a shower.
“Hi,” she begins with a wan smile. “It’s Ginny Lawson, in case you don’t recognize me from the many articles and photos that have been posted about me lately.”
She pauses, looking to the side in thought.
“Which gets me to the point of this video. For once, I’d like to speak up and take credit for what others have taken the blame on. I’m going to make this brief and to the point so that there is no misunderstanding.
“One, I was the one to ask Dylan Sexton to invite me to the Sexton Spring Fling. I was also the one who arranged to have the photos of Pete and me taken, sneaking a camera in and getting someone to take our photo. Then I was also the one to send them to the press. That was all me. No one else. For that, I owe an apology to both Dylan Sexton and Vanessa Paige, who was the official photographer that night. Neither of them had anything to do with wh
at happened. Period.
“With regard to a certain Instagram post, claiming that the opposite is true and that Vanessa did have something to do with it, I also have to take the blame there, at least partially. The young woman who posted that video and made those claims made them at the behest of my mother. I know, because I was at the meeting where she was paid ten thousand dollars to do what she did.
“At the time, I should have spoken up, but I was too scared. My own mother threatened to sue me for a number of potentially spurious claims, but it was enough to keep me quiet until now. However, enough people have suffered because of something I need to finally take full credit for. Which is what I’m doing.
“To make this short and to the point, I’d like to end this with another apology. I apologize again to Dylan and Vanessa. They didn’t deserve the vitriol that was thrown at them over all of this. I’d like to apologize to the young woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, who posted the video on Instagram. I’d like to apologize to the people I’ve spent most of my life working with on Can Do Town, the ones who pretty much helped raise me.” She smiles as though there are certain people, in particular, this is aimed at.
“And finally, I’d like to apologize to my fans. I know right now it seems like I’ve let you down. Still, if anything, this should be seen as yet another story with a moral at the end, probably with the most important lesson of all: It’s okay to be you, so long as you take responsibility for everything you do.
“I don’t regret anything I did. I only regret the people it affected in such a negative way.”
She reaches out to turn off the computer, and the video goes blank.
“Well,” Vanessa says, falling back on the couch next to me. She crooks her arm on the back of it and rests her head on her hand.
“Well,” I echo, falling back as well.
“I guess we know what the messages were referring to. So what are you going to do now that you’re off the hook?”
I exhale a soft laugh. “Honestly…I don’t know.”
She sits up straighter to look at me in surprise. “You don’t know? Don’t you want to rush back and give them a good what for? Secure your position as president? You’ve earned it?”
“Yeah,” I say, scratching my chin. I feel that tingle of my scar again. This time feels different, though. “The thing is, I’m not so sure I still want it.”
“What?”
I shrug.
“Is it because of how they treated you? You do have a bit of leverage now, Dylan. You can—”
“I know, but…all this made me realize that I’ve wanted something different for a while. Maybe that’s why I was so quick to take the fall for both you and Ginny in the first place—because I knew I wanted out, and that gave me an excuse.”
Vanessa laughs.
“Seriously. I finally felt like I was untethered for once.”
“If Dylan Sexton, president of Sexton Enterprises, is what you’re like tethered, I shudder to think what you’ll be like without the reins on you.”
I laugh and throw my arm around her to draw her in. “Maybe I’ll just be the real me for once. How’s that for a change?”
Vanessa stares up at me. “Please tell me you aren’t doing this for my sake. I can only handle so much of you symbolically throwing your jacket across the puddle for me…as sexy as it is when you do it.”
“No, it’s perfectly selfish. I want you without having to share you with the world.”
“I can handle it, you know. Heaven knows I’ve already been thrown into the deep end. I wouldn’t want you to give anything up for me, especially with how hard you’ve worked for it all.”
“Which is exactly why I know you’re the one to take this leap with me. You’re one of the few people I’ve had in my life who wanted only the best for me without wanting anything in return. The only question is, is being with me something you want?”
“You know what? I think I wanted it the first time I ever took a photo of you.”
“Seriously?” I wrinkle my brow, thinking of that exact situation.
“Yeah,” she laughs. “You’re so damn photogenic.”
“Ah, so you only want me for my handsome face. I see how it is.”
“And,” she continues with a smirk. “Your charm, sense of humor, very nice body. Also, the fact that it was obvious that whole threesome thing was just for show. Shameless.”
“Don’t lie, you bought it.”
“No way.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Seriously! The thing is, even before I had the benefit of first-hand experience, I knew there was no way either of those women had looks on their faces that come from being personally satisfied by the Dylan Sexton.”
“Well…that I’ll allow.”
“Oh yeah?” She says, poking me in the side.
“Yeah,” I say, pulling her in closer. “So again…the only question is, are you willing to take the leap with me?”
“Just say how high.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Vanessa
“Welcome to the big reveal!”
“Hey, CoCo,” I say, leaning in to hug Simone’s other best friend. I pull away to get a good look at him. “Why am I not surprised to see you went all out?”
He’s in equal parts pink and blue, from the two-tone saddle shoes to the striped bow tie. I’m also pretty sure there are subtle hints of pink and blue eyeshadow on his lids.
I’ve gone with a neutral lavender dress and heels. I know Simone wants a girl, so no sense in jinxing it.
“Never mind me and my clothes, I want to know about you and your beau.” He purses his lips as his attention lands on Dylan. “God bless Simone. Every damn time she throws a party, some new hottie steps through the front door.”
“Well, this one is taken,” I say, grabbing Dylan’s hand. He stares at CoCo with bewildered amusement, typical for anyone who’s never met him before.
The party itself is also something to behold. Simone and Archer have rented out a loft used for events, and the place has been decorated beyond belief. Pink and blue cover nearly every surface from the streamers crossing the ceiling to the confetti sprinkled across the floor.
“Aunt Vanessa!”
I turn at the sound of that voice I’d know anywhere, just in time for Stuart to crash into my legs. He’s the nephew of both Simone and Archer, who have officially adopted him. The same gray eyes and dark curly hair that I once thought were a perfect mix of both his biological parents now seem to mirror the two people now raising him—two people who seemed as unlikely a couple as…well, Dylan and me.
“Oomph!” I exhale. “My God, you’re getting so big? How old are you now, ten?”
He laughs. “Seven! You came to my birthday party.”
“That’s right, I did. But you were so little then!”
“Archer says I’m going to be taller than him when I’m grown up.”
“I’m almost certain of it.”
“Who’s this?” Stuart asks, giving Dylan a curious look. The little boy who barely said a word when I first met him—understandable at the time, of course—is now as vivacious as the average kid his age.
“This is Vanessa’s boyfriend, Dylan Sexton,” Dylan says, wrapping his arm around me possessively.
I laugh and elbow him, but don’t try to escape. I like it when he’s this way. “Yes, this is Vanessa’s boyfriend.”
“So you two are finally official then. It’s about time.”
I look up at the sound of Simone’s voice. She’s approaching us wearing a white dress that perfectly suits her style and figure. I guess she also didn’t want to jinx things by wearing either pink or blue.
“Simone, I guess I should officially introduce you,” I say.
“No need to introduce this one, Everyone knows who Dylan Sexton is. I am Simone Bennett,” she says with a flirtatious smirk, holding out one hand daintily. Dylan, just as daintily, takes it and brings it to his lips to kiss her knuckles, making her giggle
with pleasure.
“Should I be worried?” Archer Bennet, her husband, says coming over to throw his arm possessively around his wife’s shoulders.
“Vanessa was just introducing me to her boyfriend, Dylan Sexton.”
“Like my wife said, you certainly don’t need any introduction,” he says, reaching a hand out for Dylan to shake, all hints of jealous flintiness gone from his dark gray eyes. “Archer Bennett, of Bennett Financial.”
“Oh no, you don’t. No business at our daughter’s reveal party.”
“Daughter? Have you been peeking at the cake?” Archer asks with a grin.
“No, I just know,” she says, smugly rubbing her belly, which is definitely pronounced these days.
“It could be a boy still,” Stuart says, announcing his apparent preference.
“Well, if it isn’t, your Aunt Simone and I could certainly keep trying,” he says, giving him a smirk.
Simone elbows him and rolls her eyes at us. “You two get yourselves a drink. Have one for me while you’re at it. Georges is signaling me, so I’d better see what’s up.”
“Good looking family,” Dylan says, looking after them as they all make their way to Georges. “Almost makes me want to start one of my own.”
“Don’t start getting ideas. We only just became official.”
“Well, it can’t hurt to practice,” he says, going around to hug me from behind.
“Now, that’s an idea I can certainly get behind,” I say, feeling a few butterflies start to kick up a storm in my belly at his suggestion. “Especially since we have so much free time now.”
“I have a few ideas knocking around in my head.”
“Oh?” I ask, perking up.
In the week since he officially gave his letter of resignation to Sexton Enterprises—and the ensuing press storm that overtook our lives—he’s been mum about any hint as to what he has planned. Sexton Enterprises is still going strong, with Gene Peters at the helm.
“But like your friend said. No business at this momentous occasion.”
Dylan: Ex-Bad Boy: An Ex-Club Romance Page 21