O Come, All Ye Kellys (Love & Luck #7) - Isla Olsen Page 0,38

my god!”

“What? What is it?” I ask, rushing back into the bedroom, concerned by how freaked out Aidan just sounded. I find him standing just near the nightstand, naked except for the towel wrapped around his waist, and staring at his phone with a horrified expression on his face. “Is something wrong? Is it your family.”

Mutely, he shakes his head and hands me the phone. I’m really worried now. Aidan’s rarely lost for words, but right now he looks like he can barely think, let alone talk. He’s clearly agitated and all I want is to make whatever it is that’s upset him go away.

Glancing at the phone screen, I see it’s a news article and as I read the heading the bottom drops out of my stomach. It reads: ELLIE FOX’S SEX TAPE HACK

Ellie Fox, former co-host of The Discovery Channel’s Extreme Trekkers and executive producer and co-host of Netflix’s much-anticipated Queermerica has been caught on camera engaging in explicit sex acts. Fox recently came out as transgender, earning much sympathy and support after speaking out about the discrimination she was subjected to from the Extreme Trekkers production team and her former agent. Her co-star, Aidan Kelly, who also recently came out as pansexual, has been one of Fox’s most vocal supporters; however, this latest incident could be a setback for the pair and for their new show, which had been gaining momentum in the lead up to its launch early this year.

Unable to read any more, I glance up at Aidan, who looks worryingly pale. “What the hell?”

He shakes his head slowly, as if coming out of a fog. “I need to call Ellie. She might not have seen this yet—I need to warn her.”

I hand Aidan his phone back so he can call Ellie, but before he can bring up her contact, the phone starts buzzing with an incoming call. Ellie. Aidan answers and puts her on speaker.

“Did you see?” she asks in a quiet voice I’ve never heard her use before.

Aidan sighs; his expression looks completely broken. “Yeah, honey. I saw.”

“Aidan, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how this happened,” she sobs. “I guess someone hacked our Zoom hook-up.”

“Hey, listen to me—you don’t need to be sorry, okay? This isn’t your fault, El. Some asshole did this to you.” As bad as the situation is, I’m relieved to see Aidan no longer looks as though he’s about to throw up; it seems the protectiveness he feels toward Ellie has worked to clear his head somewhat.

“Hey, Ellie, it’s Ben,” I say into the phone. “Um, not to be a downer, but the person you were with on Zoom…any chance—”

“People,” she clarifies, cutting me off. “And no, of course it wasn’t them.” She lets out a groan of realization before she says, “Oh my god—Finn and Cass. Aidan, they’re teachers. They could get fired for this!”

“It won’t come to that,” Aidan reassures her. “I’m going to call Cole MacCaffrey—”

“The guy who helped us get out of our contracts?” Ellie asks.

“Yeah. He deals with this kind of thing all the time. It’ll be okay, honey. And I’ll make sure Finn and Cass’s names stay out of it.”

“Okay, thank you,” she says, sounding a lot more like herself.

They end the call and Aidan turns to me with a quizzical expression. “Who is Cass?”

I shrug, offering a wry grin. “And here I thought Ellie told you everything.”

He shakes his head, clearly bewildered. “I thought she and Finn were still having their stand off. So obviously I don’t know everything.”

21

Shay

* * *

“How’s Jamie’s granddad?” Jake asks over FaceTime when I call to check in.

“A lot better,” I say with a smile. “He’s coming home tomorrow, but it was a major surgery so he’s got a long recovery ahead of him. And he has to completely change his diet, which he’s not remotely thrilled about.”

Jake nods. “And how long do you think you guys will be over there for?”

I cringe. “We’re thinking at least another week. Jamie wants to help Edward get settled in at home and make sure his mom’s got a good routine going before we leave so Sara and Edward don’t kill each other. I know Finn has to go back to school, so I’m going to call Mom to see if she can come stay with you for a few days.”

Jake groans, his whole face screwing up in agitation. The exact reaction I was expecting. “Seriously? Come on, Shay, I’m seventeen. I don’t need a babysitter!”

“Well, all the legal