Chapter 12: Soph

It happened two days later, just as the viral 'when a hot girl chats up your boyfriend' meme reached peak exposure. Helen, Zola, Ed and I were sitting in the conference room, brainstorming fundraising ideas, when Ed's phone lit up next to him.

That in itself was a rare occurrence—he turned most of his notifications off and few people had his number—so that was probably why his eyes drifted across to the screen, almost absentmindedly. His brow furrowed as he picked up the phone, unlocked it, read a message. Switched to Instagram. Typed something in.

"Fuck!" The phone slipped from his fingers and hit the table with a thud.

We all stared at him, unsure whether to be more surprised at his language or his reaction.

"What is it?" I asked.

His jaw clenched. Silently, he slid the phone across to me.

An Instagram post was open on the screen: Lucia modelling a raunchy set of underwear. Skimpy red lace barely covered her breasts, and the string waistband of her thong was pulled high over her hipbones. Not an ounce of fat on her body. Flat stomach. A tiny waist. Long, tanned legs.

Was this real or edited? It seemed to be taken in her bedroom, in front of a full-length mirror. Hard to edit that without obvious distortion. Besides, I'd seen her in the flesh now. She was probably just as striking under her clothes as she was over them.

"Fuck indeed," I said. "You lucky bastard."

Ed tutted and shot me an unimpressed glare. "Read the caption."

I forced myself to look away from her perfect body to find the caption.

@luciabruno at least he still thinks I'm hot 😏

"Oh." Realisation tightened my stomach. "Fuck."

Helen reached across to snatch the phone from me, and Zola leaned over to look too.

"It's obviously about me," Ed said. "Because of the meme."

"She's just riding the wave for publicity," Zola said, unconcerned. "She'll also want to defend herself. Can't be nice feeling like you're the bad guy."

Sitting back in his seat, Ed shook his head. I settled my hand on his thigh, his muscle tense beneath my palm.

"I thought the NDA was watertight," he said to Helen.

"It is, but she's not explicitly referring to you here."

Ed scoffed. "She's posted it at the same time that a meme of us is going viral. I think we can all infer. So will her followers. Still hot. She's telling everyone I've said it to her before."

"Please." I rolled my eyes. "She is hot. Nobody's going to blame you for thinking it. You're only human."

A sheepish expression clouded Ed's face, and his eyes flitted across to me, swimming with nerves.

"I'm sorry for what I'm about to tell you," he said.

I waited, not too concerned given that he looked apprehensive rather than guilty. He cleared his throat and raked his fingers through his hair.

"This isn't the first time I've seen that photo." He brushed a thumb across his bottom lip and stole another peek at me. "She sent it to me previously via DM."

Anger flared in my veins. "Today?"

"No!" His eyes widened, but then that sheepish look returned, as though the truth wasn't much better. "Before we hooked up last summer. She made a massive deal out of it at the time, said she'd bought it just for me. She wore it the night we... yeah. That's how I know the caption is about me. God, I'm sorry, Soph."

He buried his face in his hands, like he'd just admitted to something far worse than sleeping with an attractive model before we were together.

"You should be sorry. One of your protection officers will have to accompany me to a lingerie store so I can buy something filthier than this for you."

Helen groaned but Ed's head darted up, eyes wide. I couldn't tell if it was relief or hope.

"Do not engage with her, Sophia," Zola warned me.

"Of course I won't." I feigned offence, then remembered that I'd probably started all this with my words to her at the fashion show. "If she's doing it for attention, there's more satisfaction in ignoring her."

Meanwhile, Ed had reverted to nerves. His foot bounced beneath the table as he chewed his gum.

"What if she carries on?" he asked Helen. "Slowly revealing more and more without naming me? Screenshots of messages. Things I've said to her. She's planted the seed now. She could say anything and people will assume it's about me."

Helen's lips pressed together. She glanced sideways at Zola, then across to me. This wasn't my first rodeo. I knew that look. So I put everyone out of their misery.

"Do we need to worry about the messages?" I asked tactfully.

"I'd rather she didn't share them."

"Because of me or you?"

"Well, both. I don't want you to see what I said to her. I don't want the rest of the world seeing it either."

"Pass me that." Helen held out a palm towards Ed. "Nothing will shock me."

In further proof that he was totally used to people invading every aspect of his life, he didn't even hesitate before handing it over.

While Helen scrolled through the DMs, I studied her face. She gave nothing away. Not a single twitch of her brow or narrowing of her eyes. Eventually she clicked to lock the phone and passed it back.

"It'll be fine. I'll send her team a gentle reminder of the NDA terms."

My heart sank. I had no right to care. I'd slept with multiple people in summer. But none of them were premeditated. I couldn't help the jealousy that simmered through me at the thought of Ed lying in bed texting Lucia, sending her dirty messages, getting hard over her photos. Reading them wouldn't be fun, but imagining them would be even worse.

"Can I see?" I asked him outright.

His mouth scrunched as hesitation darkened his face. "I'd rather you didn't."

Tension stabbed at my shoulders. I got it. I really did. He didn't want his girlfriend reading messages he'd sent to another woman. Unfortunately, we both knew there was a chance he didn't have total control over that. If Lucia wanted to stir shit, we had to stay one step ahead.

"Would you prefer I see them on Instagram, then?"

Ed sighed and his eyes fluttered shut for a beat. "We'll talk about it later."

I let it drop. Usually he kept his word, so if he said later, he'd come through on that.

"I know you were all planning on going out for dinner tonight," Helen said slowly. "Did you want to rearrange?"

"No." Ed's fists balled on the table. "No. Dinner tonight is important and long overdue. But, Soph, if you'd rather—"

"No, it's fine. But it's still lowkey, right?" I asked Helen and Zola. "Because I don't want my family all over gossip sites. And I don't want questions about this being fired at Ed in front of them."

Helen nodded. "Yes. Still under wraps. We've got the full security team on it. Nobody will get anywhere near you."

My anxiety settled somewhat, but not completely. This would be Ed's first time meeting my family, and my first time meeting his. Ideally we'd have done it separately, but schedules became difficult to coordinate. To save a huge gap between both family meetings, we'd condensed into the one evening.

Maybe my kind fanbase helped with my jitters, too. At least I'd earned their validation. On the flip side, we both had reactive sisters, and while Ed had reassured me that his parents would be nothing to worry about, he'd confessed that Jenny was a little harder to impress.

Still, I'd won over Faye in the end. How hard could it be?

*

"I feel like I'm at a wedding." Faye tugged out her chair at the circular table and plopped down into it. "You two got something to tell us?"

I narrowed my eyes at her in a silent warning.

"It would explain the sudden urgency to meet Sophia," Jenny said. "What's it been? A year?"

Her lofty tone didn't hide the hostile vibe. Introductions had taken place just inside the entrance, and I'd immediately picked up on her distrust. I couldn't entirely resent her for it. She was protective of her brother. Any girl who entered his life would probably face her wrath, so it wasn't personal.

That was what Ed had told me seven times today anyway.

"A year since we first met," I said. "Only a few months since we got together."

"We're not getting married, guys." Ed draped his arm around the back of my chair. "I do like the circular table, though. Easier to talk to everyone."

"Sorry we haven't had chance to meet beforehand," I said to Jenny. "It's been a whirlwind of a year."

"Hm. Welcome to his life."

It was rhetorical. She was making a point. And since I didn't know how to play it with her, I stayed silent. She didn't even know what I'd done to him last year with the articles—if she did, there'd be no likelihood of winning her over.

Mum and Dad were still chatting to Ed's parents by the door, so I let my eyes drift over there. They seemed to be getting on at least, but then again my dad could talk for Scotland, and my mum always managed to find common ground with people.

Faye had assured me that she'd tested the waters with Mum. Ever since my birthday meal ten months ago when the topic of Teddy Stone came up—and Mum had perused his photos—I'd dreaded the penny drop moment. She hadn't known him back then, and Faye promised me that she'd not made the connection since.

Still, she was a mother, and as soon as she found out her daughter was dating a celebrity, she'd embarked on a thorough Google stalking session—this time via articles rather than photos.

I'd never been more thankful for Teddy Stone's squeaky-clean image.

"How's uni, Faye?" Ed asked.

"Good thanks. My flat was throwing a party tonight, but I blew them off for this."

His lips twitched. "Much appreciated."

"You're welcome. Will Mark be joining us at the table?"

For fuck's sake. No subtlety whatsoever.

"Uh, no," Ed replied. "He's working."

"Ah." Faye smirked. "Can't let the staff mix with us, is that it?"

"Not at all." Ed's reply was smooth and unflustered. "But nice to learn your true motivation for coming here."

I smiled and picked up the menu. Ed had warned me about his sister, but I'd given him free rein with mine: give it back to her just as hard.

"No offence, Ed, but I've met you plenty of times now. You've won my approval."

"How reassuring."

"I'm sorry," Jenny said, "you've met how many times?"

I recognised the fire that glinted in Faye's eyes, but Ed cut in before she could stir the pot even more.

"Only a few times. In person, anyway. Other times over video."

"I didn't realise FaceTime was an option. We could have saved this for later down the line when it's more serious."

"It is serious, Jen." Ed's thumb brushed my shoulder.

"Uhuh."

Before further words could be exchanged, the parents joined us. Conversation mellowed into more mundane, normal chit-chat. Emphasis on the normal.

"So, you're in the music industry, Ed?" my mum asked.

She was trying to be tactful. Her efforts were sweet, if not pointless.

"That's right," he replied, equally tactful.

"How wonderful. Singer or musician?"

"Both, actually. I write, too. Not sure I'm as good as Sophia, though." He tossed me a grin.

"Those number-one tracks say otherwise," I replied.

Julia, his mum, smiled at me. "You're a writer, Sophia?"

"I am. Not lyrics, though. Freelance blogging, mostly."

"I guess you don't need a real job when you're dating a millionaire."

The cutthroat comment came from Jenny, and this time it caught me entirely off-guard. In fact, it seemed to catch everyone off-guard. Almost everyone, anyway.

"Actually it was Soph's blogging that piqued Ed's interest to start with. Right, guys?" Faye's eyes bounced between us.

My mouth dried up, unsure of the appropriate response.

"That's true," Ed said with an easy smile. "Her blog is addictive. I want to organise my next tour around places she's reviewed."

Jenny rolled her eyes. Honestly, she reminded me of Faye 1.0.

"I think you should organise your tour around your management's guidance," she said. "They'll know what's most profitable."

"I thought he was a millionaire," Faye said. "Profits aren't that important, surely?"

"He's still part of a business that needs to pay its staff," Jenny replied.

"I do need to be profitable," Ed said, "but I also want to sing for fans who live in places I've never visited. It's just a balancing act."

So diplomatic. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Mum throw my sister a scowl. Faye pressed her lips together and lowered her gaze to the menu.

Ed's signature charming grin spread across his face. "Shall we order drinks?"

***

Thank you for reading :) xx

***

It's always nerve-wracking meeting the family, and Ed's sister didn't make it easy for Soph!  In the next chapter, they have a one-on-one conversation in the bathroom -- how do you think that will go?