“What is celebxchange?” Myrna asked. She’d never heard of such a thing.
“It’s where people buy and sell pictures of celebrities. Mostly regular people selling celeb photos to tabloids.”
“Weird,” Myrna said, unable to wrap her head around the idea that people actually cared enough about someone’s private life to buy pictures of it. She wasn’t one to follow tabloids or even care what celebrities did in their free time. She was too busy living her own life to be obsessed with someone else’s business. So to her, having pictures taken of her and sold to a complete stranger was totally bizarre. It felt like it must be happening to someone else, because why would it be happening to her? She wasn’t a celebrity. She was just Myrna and when Brian wasn’t onstage, he wasn’t a celebrity either. At least she never thought of him that way.
“So you not only took pictures of us, you sold them?” Brian said, his voice low and hard with anger.
“Some of them. The buyer only wanted the ones with you two kissing or touching or having sex. He didn’t want any of those pictures you posed for on the beach. He paid us a thousand dollars apiece for the sexy ones, though. And the one Gail got of your wife sucking your cock this morning? For that one he gave us five grand. Five grand, dude. That’s a lot of cash.”
“Can I kill him now?” Brian asked, shifting his gaze to Myrna for a fleeting moment.
She was still puzzling over why this had even happened. “Who would pay that kind of money for compromising pictures of us? It’s not like we’re superstars. And we’re married, so catching us making love can’t be used as blackmail.”
Brian shrugged, and then his brows drew together. “I can’t think of anyone who’d want to see us have sex, much less pay cash for it.”
“Eric isn’t that desperate, is he?” Myrna asked.
Brian laughed. “Uh, no. I highly doubt it.”
To Kev she said, “Do you know who the buyer is?”
Kev shook his head. “No. They used a screen name.”
“Which was?” Myrna pressed.
“Um, something weird.” Kev scrunched his face into a mask of concentration, and then his eyes widened. “I remember—1724 Beechnut. Not like the ocean beach, but like the beech tree.”
Myrna’s blood turned cold, and her knees went weak. Brian grabbed her as she swayed.
“You know who it is?” Brian asked.
“Jeremy,” she whispered through the knot of fear in her throat. “I’m sure of it. That was our address when we were married.”
Brian wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. “I thought he was in jail.”
“I thought so too.” They’d never been able to keep him in jail long. He had too many connections in high places and too much money to be treated like an ordinary criminal.
Brian’s arm shot out and with a resounding crack, his fist connected with Kev’s mouth. “You sold pictures to her fucking psycho-abusive ex-husband, you idiot!”
Kev covered his bleeding lip with one hand. “I didn’t know.” He glanced down at his blood-streaked fingers. “Oh my God, Brian Sinclair punched me in the mouth. The guys back home are never going to believe this.”
He actually sounded proud of his split lip.
“Why would Jeremy want pictures of us together?” Myrna asked, but she knew the answer. Jeremy was still fixated on her. He still thought she belonged to him. He wanted proof that she was the whore he claimed her to be. It wouldn’t matter to Jeremy that she was married to Brian—she was fucking someone else, which in his twisted mind meant she was cheating on him. Jeremy had falsely accused her of infidelity for the majority of their marriage. He’d been obsessed with the idea, always trying to catch her at it, looking for proof of her whorish adultery. He’d never managed to get proof because she hadn’t cheated on him. However, the way Jeremy’s mind worked, he probably thought these pictures validated his suspicions.
“We need to call the States and see if anything can be done about Jeremy getting those pictures,” Brian said.
“So sorry about this,” Kev said to Brian. “I really do idolize you.”
Brian continued to speak to Myrna, his hand gentle and soothing against the tension in the back of her neck. “First we’re calling the hotel manager to have this fucking asshole thrown off the property. I don’t know if there are laws against spying in this country, but if there are, we’re pressing charges.”
“But I’m supposed to get married in two days,” Kev said.
“You should have thought about that before you invaded our privacy,” Brian said.
“Gail is so going to kill me for getting caught.”
Brian urged Myrna back inside and had her sit in a chair while he figured out who to call and how to deal with both situations. She was too shaken to be any help. It was more than fear of Jeremy that had her rattled—she felt completely violated. Now she knew Jeremy didn’t have to be standing over her with clenched fists, yelling angry words to make her feel that way. He could pay other people to make her feel as if no part of her life—or even her own body—truly belonged to her.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Brian urged her to her feet and then sat in her vacated chair so he could hold her in his lap. He didn’t say anything at first, merely stroked her hair and placed consoling kisses at her temple and cheek. He soothed her as well as he excited her, and soon most of the tension had faded from her muscles. She actually felt like she could function again. Like she didn’t have to lock herself inside her own mind to get through this latest upset in her life. Brian did that for her. No one else had ever been able to reach her the way he could with just a touch.
“Jeremy is out of jail on house arrest again,” Brian said.
Well, that would explain how Jeremy had Internet access. Prisoners had access to multiple amenities while in jail, but the Internet wasn’t one of them.
“We both know how well that went last time,” she said.
“His parole officer was not pleased to learn that he attempted to have contact with you, even if it was indirect. So he’s petitioning for a warrant for Jeremy’s arrest.”
“Are they going to keep him locked up this time?”
“That’s for the judge to decide. Jeremy didn’t contact you directly, so I’m not sure he broke any laws. But it sure feels like he did something illegal.”