Playing With the Rich Boys | ✓

Chapter Forty - Everybody Knows

Summary

Parker's intervention works and Allie manages to convince Holden to listen to what Daisy has to say about the truth. While Allie is talking to Holden, Daisy learns more about Holden's family from Parker.

This chapter opens with a continuation of the family issues between Holden and Logan, but also the suspected affair between Daisy's mum and Courtney's dad.

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"ARE YOU OKAY?" ELAINE ASKED. The screen was lagging so her mouth was still moving even after the audio finished. Her trip had been extended by a week because of some issues with the business deal.

"I'm okay," I replied. My laptop was sat up on my pillow and I was lying on my stomach in front of it. There were huge glass windows behind Elaine, and I could see the snow falling outside. She was wearing a red wool beanie with a huge pom-pom on top. We'd been talking for half an hour about everything that'd happened, omitting what I knew about Holden and Logan of course. I didn't feel it was right to be telling anyone else their family secrets.

"There's a family dinner. I have to go," Elaine said, looking over her shoulder. "Sorry!"

"Go! I don't want your parents freaking out," I laughed. "Talk to you later."

"You can get through this Daisy! I'll message you!" She hung up and I shut my laptop.

The next day things were a little quieter. No one knew who the DNA match was, so that was a little bit of a relief. The news had been pushed from the headlines and was instead at least a couple of pages into the newspaper.

Logan was standing outside the gate when my bus arrived. He ended a call just as I spotted him. "Hey," I said.

"Morning," he replied.

"Are you okay?" I repeated the words Elaine had said to me just the night before. He nodded.

"My parents are still separating. It wasn't a huge surprise," his voice trailed off. "This is all my fault. Fuck."

"This is going to go away. The press has no idea who it's a match to, and everyone knows a lot of this gossip tabloid stuff is garbage."

My heart almost stopped when I saw Holden approach. He'd seemed okay after I talked to him the day before, but I was worried about another fistfight.

"We need to talk," Holden said.

"About what?" I replied, assuming he meant me.

"I meant Logan," he clarified. I looked at Logan and he looked back at me, nodding, as though letting me that he would be fine, that I could hang back. "Relax, I'm not going to murder him and hide the body," he joked.

"I'll catch up with you later," Logan said. I waved them both off and headed for my locker.

Again, I felt eyes on me as I walked down the hallway. "That's her," came the whispers. What was it now? Had people found out I'd been fake dating Holden. Or was it because someone'd seen Logan kiss me? I was tired. Exhausted. Everything about this crowd was draining me.

Without Elaine there, I wasn't sure what I was going to do during break. Something was definitely off. I somehow wound up in the only desk left in chemistry, right next to Wes. I'd rather have been shot. I didn't think I'd ever live down that ordeal.

Dating me was so awful that it'd been the butt of a joke. "That's what I heard," someone whispered. "It doesn't surprise me. She seems like the sort."

"We haven't spoken in a while," Wes began. Probably on account of you being a first class prick, I thought. "So, Logan, huh?" He continued.