CHAPTER 227: TELL ME YOU DIDN’T ACCIDENTALLY POST OUR SEX NOISES TO YOUR STORY[JUNE’S POV]

I slammed the door behind me and just... stood there.

My heart started racing. My face was still hot.

"June. June, June, June," I muttered to myself, pacing around the room. "Are you this stupid? Are you actually....this stupid?"

I groaned into my hands.

"You were really gonna let Ian take advantage of you last night."

Then I paused, whispering, "Except he didn’t. He literally stopped. And somehow still gave me one of the best nights of my life. Ughhh!"

I threw myself on the bed, face first into the pillow.

"He said all those soft, perfect words that made my heart do that thing. Ugh. like...why is he like that?"

I rolled over, staring at the ceiling.

"I still hate myself though. For moaning so loud. Why couldn’t I shut up? Everyone heard me. Oh my God, Ren definitely heard.."

My voice cracked halfway.

"He’s never gonna look at me again. He’s gonna think I’m just one of Ian’s... ugh. No no no."

I sat up, clutching my blanket.

"But Ian is so sweet. Sure, he’s cocky and makes me want to throw him off a cliff sometimes, but then he says things that make me feel... loved?"

I exhaled shakily.

"Still, Ren keeps saying those things too....those quiet, deep, emotional things. Like he’s trying to tell me something but never says it out loud. And I’m just... caught in between."

I sighed.

Maybe Google can fix my dumbass heart.

So I grabbed my phone and typed in the most desperate thing ever.

"How to know which guy you love more out of two."

Because apparently I’m that girl now.

Imagine my ancestors watching me Google this. They fought world wars and here I am fighting for emotional clarity.

The first result popped up:

"Ten Signs You’re With the Right One 💕"

"Does he make you laugh?"

Both.

"Does he make you feel safe?"

Both again.

"Does he respect you?"

Ian does... now. Ren always did.

I was mid scroll, ready to cry into my pillow for the fourth time this morning, when my phone buzzed with a notification.

Breaking News: ’Billionaire’s Heir Dominic Vale DISRESPECTS the Mayor’s Daughter of Phillis at His Father’s Mayor Candidacy Reveal Ceremony.’

I blinked.

"Wait! What?" I gasped, tapping it so fast my phone almost flew out of my hand.

"’Mayor candidacy reveal ceremony?’

Bro, it was his birthday party, not his dad’s political circus. What the actual hell..."

The article was loaded, full of red headlines and blurry screenshots.

Some other clickbait title like ’The Spoiled Heir Melts Down.’

Apparently, Dominic had "verbally attacked" everyone last night, and someone caught the entire thing on video.

Comments were brutal.

People calling him "arrogant," "entitled," "the downfall of old money."

Then I opened TikTok.

And there it was.

A meme of Dominic pointing at the crowd, captioned:

"When the waiter says your card declined 💀💳"

Another person captioned:

"When your rich friend forgets poor people have phones 💀📱."

"Shit. Oh no, no, no," I muttered, still scrolling down.

Instagram...same.

TikTok...ten times worse.

X? Definitively not checking that.

He was trending.

And not in a fun, ’look how hot he is’ way.

They were ripping him apart.

Half of Estrella was making memes about him. Laughing so hard. It so mean.

Reposting it on every blog."

Another headline:

’Dominic Vale’s downfall: From fan-favorite to public enemy.’

I peeked toward the door. The boys were still downstairs, laughing, being all "bro life."

"How do I even tell them?" I whispered. "They’re all so happy. If they see this...Dominic’s gonna lose it."

I was halfway to the door, ready to yell for Ash, when someone knocked.

I froze.

Then opened it...

And there he was.

Ian.

Barefoot, shirtless, with that smirk.

"Hey, baby," he smirked, leaning on the doorframe. "How was your night?"

He grinned wider, lifting something in his hand. "Brought you this."

He handed me an apple.

I blinked. "...an apple?"

He shrugged, biting into his Apple. "You screamed so loud last night, figured you needed to replenish your vitamins."

"IAN."

He winked. "What? Keeps the doctor away, princess."

"You’re so unserious." I turned towards the bed, and threw a pillow at him.

He caught it one-handed like some smug suoerhero. "Damn, got good aim for someone who was literally begging me to..."

"Finish that sentence and I will actually murder you," I snapped, crossing my arms.

He laughed. "Relax, Juney. I’m just teasing. You look cute when you’re mad."

"Oh my God." I groaned, dragging a hand down my face. "Do you ever shut up?"

He took another bite of the apple, still looking way too pleased with himself. "Not when you look this adorable trying to be mean."

I scoffed. "I actually hate you. Like, deeply. From my soul."

He chuckled, sitting on the edge of the bed. "No, you don’t. You love me. You just haven’t admitted it yet."

"Stop."

"Make me."

I turned away, pretending to fix my hair in the mirror, mostly so I wouldn’t die of embarrassment.

My heart was doing backflips.

Focus, June. Focus. There’s a literal PR apocalypse happening right now.

I cleared my throat. "Sooo... random question."

He squinted. "That’s never a good start."

"Have you, uh, been online this morning?"

Ian leaned against the dresser. "Nope. Why?"

I shrugged, way too fast. "No reason."

His brows went up. "That sounded like a reason."

"It’s not."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Liar," he said instantly, still chewing. "You’ve got that weird voice you get when you’re hiding something."

"I don’t have a weird voice."

"You do. You sound like you just committed a crime."

"I didn’t commit anything!"

He tilted his head, grinning. "Then why are you yelling?"

"I’m not yelling!"

He laughed. "You’re definitely yelling."

I sighed, pressing my phone to my chest. "Okay fine, but you cannot freak out."

He tilted his head. "What did you do, Juney?"

"Nothing! Stop saying that! I’m serious!"

He shrugged. "Then tell me before I start making up scenarios. ’Cause right now, my top guess is you accidentally posted our sex noises to your story."

I widened ny eyes. "What?! No!"

He smirked. "Then it can’t be that bad."

I groaned, shoving my phone at him. "It’s Dominic."

That wiped the grin off his face. "What about him?"

"Just...look."

He stared at the screen.

BREAKING NEWS: ’Billionaire’s Heir Dominic Vale DISRESPECTS the Mayor’s Daughter of Phillis at His Father’s Mayor Candidacy Reveal Ceremony.’

Ian blinked. "Mayor candidacy reveal ceremony?"

"BRO, it was literally his birthday party!" I yelled, throwing my hands up. "Who even writes this crap?"

His smirk faltered. For the first time since I met him, Ian actually looked... worried. "This is.....this is actual bullshit."

"I know! Look at this...someone even edited the video to make it look worse!"

"Who posted it first?"

"I don’t know! Everyone’s reposting... Insta, TikTok, those gossip blogs that post fake celebrity deaths, even meme accounts are clowning him."

Ian groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. "Shit. Ash and Dom don’t even know, do they?"

"No," I said quietly. "And they’re downstairs

thinking everything’s perfect."

He sighed. "Damn."

I turned to him. "What do we do?"

Ian looked up, softening his eyes a little. "First, you stop shaking June."

"I’m not shaking! I’m fine."

He raised a brow. "You’re not fine."

"Okay, fine. I’m just stressed..."

"About Dom," he said, cutting in. "Not me, right?"

I blinked. "What? No, you...ugh, Ian, this isn’t the time!"

He chuckled, reaching out to brush a strand of hair off my face. "You worry too much, Juney."

"Because someone has to," I muttered.

He smiled faintly, but it didn’t reach his eyes this time. "Sure, baby. But first, let’s go stop your bestie’s boyfriend from going viral for all the wrong reasons."

I groaned, snatching my phone off the bed and following him out. "Why are you like this?"

"Hot, charming, mildly unhinged?" he said, glancing back. "I was born this way."

—-

Ian and I crept down the stairs, every step kept making my heart beat faster.

I could literally feel the anxiety buzzing in my chest.

Halfway down, I saw them....Ash and Dominic, hugging by the counter.

Ash had his hands tangled in Dominic’s hair, whispering something soft, and Dominic had that tired, peaceful look....the kind you get right before the universe decides to wreck your whole life.

Ian slowed down beside me.

He leaned close. "Are we really about to ruin that moment?"

I sighed, whispering back, "I don’t want to, but we don’t have a choice."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Damn. This sucks."

"Yeah."

We both stood there for a second... watching.

It was such a sweet scene, honestly.

Knowing in like two minutes, it was about to go straight to hell.

I glanced at Ian.

"Should we... like, ease into it?"

He shrugged. "How do you ’easeinto’ a PR nightmare?"

"Good point."

We finally walked into the kitchen.

Ash was the first to notice. He smiled. "Hey, guys."

I smiled back awkwardly. "You guys look, uh, cozy. You should get a room, ugh."

Dominic turned, still looking all soft and sleepy. "We were just talking about heading o"

"Yeah, about that..." Ian started carefully. "You might wanna hold off on leaving for a sec."

Ash frowned. "Why?"

I exchanged a look with Ian.

Then I took a breath and held out my phone. "There’s something you should see."

Dominic’s brows furrowed. "What’s going on?"