“I can’t tell you everything,” Meagan started and then hesitated. How much did she want Abby to know? Abby would keep her secret; she knew that. She sighed and rubbed her head again.

   “You know you’re going to start losing hair if you keep doing that?”

   “Okay, here it is. My brother got into some trouble a long time ago, but no one knew except me. Or at least I thought.” She looked up at Abby. “And now, it seems as if somebody did know. And if word got out, it would hurt my brother and me, and tarnish the reputation of my dad. I promised him on his deathbed I wouldn’t let that happen.”

   Abby was silent for several minutes. Meagan could see her processing the information she had just been given. She was a smart woman, who would sort the pieces out, and put them back together.

   “A naked picture of you. Someone knows something they shouldn’t know. And someone doesn’t want that information to get out.” Understanding dawned in Abby’s eyes and she leaned forward. “Are you seriously telling me that you’re being blackmailed?”

   It was the first time Meagan had heard the words said out loud and she shivered.

   “You don’t even have to confirm it,” Abby said. “I can see it on your face. I’m guessing you haven’t told the police, or else you wouldn’t be talking to me about it. What I don’t understand is how Luke is involved.”

   “Luke has information. Or in this case, pictures.”

   Part of Meagan couldn’t believe she was actually admitting everything, especially to Abby. But she had to tell somebody something or else she’d go crazy.

   “You have to tell the police.”

   In all honesty, Meagan could not have anticipated Abby saying anything else. Perhaps that was why she felt comfortable talking to her about it. Of course, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell she would go to the police. She just needed to share her burden with somebody. However unfair it was to give that burden to Abby without her consent.

   In her heart, Meagan knew she was a selfish, deceitful woman. She had once promised she would never hurt Abby again, and here she was giving her information that would worry her.

   “I am a rotten, awful friend.” Meagan didn’t deserve a friend like Abby. And she most certainly didn’t deserve Luke. “I just don’t know what to do.”

   “Have you talked to your brother?”

   “Do you have any siblings?”

   “No, I’m an only.”

   “Well, I might as well be. My brother is an ass. No, scratch that—ass is too nice of a word for him.” Damn that promise to her dad.

   “Really?”

   “Put it this way: I saw him not long ago, went by his apartment. Now you have to understand, he isn’t working a real job, and he’s mooching off his roommate. So when I wouldn’t give him money, his roommate suggested I work off his debt.”

   Abby’s horrified expression confirmed she understood. “Are you serious? And you’re going through all this turmoil to protect him?”

   “Crazy, isn’t it?” Meagan took a picture from her desk drawer. It had been taken when she and her brother were children. “I still see him like this in my mind. We were young. There was so much promise in him.”

   “But he’s an adult now. You are, too.”

   “My dad . . .” She blinked the tears out of her eyes. “He died protecting Jake. If I let this Taskmaster guy tell what he knows, it’s like he died for nothing. And I can’t stand that.”

   Abby just nodded and squeezed her hand. “I know,” she whispered.

Chapter Ten

   Days after that conversation with Abby, Meagan still didn’t know what to do, but she was down to a week before her deadline was up, so she needed to decide soon. Should she go to the police? Should she talk to her brother first? But as soon as that question popped into her head, she immediately dismissed it. No, she wasn’t going to talk to her brother about anything.

   Maybe she should bring it up with Luke. After all, he had the information The Taskmaster wanted. But just as quickly as she had dismissed talking to her brother, she also dismissed talking to Luke. Because she knew if she talked to Luke, he would think the only reason she did anything with him was because of The Taskmaster. And while that may have been the case in the beginning, it was far from the truth now.

   Maybe . . . Maybe she would tell The Taskmaster that Luke had moved his pictures or that he had deleted them. What if she did that? He couldn’t very well retaliate if there wasn’t anything to give him, right?

   She pulled up to Luke’s house Friday night still undecided about what she was going to do. She knocked on the door and, while she waited for him to open it, decided not to think about it for the next few hours. Tonight was just her and Luke. They weren’t even going to take pictures. Luke had called her earlier in the week and asked her to come over for dinner.

   “Just you and me,” he’d said. “Dinner and whatever else we want to do. We can worry about the pictures later.”

   Meagan knew they had just about finished the shoot for the book anyway. She thought they might have one or two more sessions to do. The one thing she knew, however, was that she didn’t want to stop seeing Luke when they finished. And she had a feeling Luke felt the same.

   So there was no way she would mess that up by admitting her initial contact with him was because of The Taskmaster.

   “Meagan, sweetheart,” Luke said, as he opened the door. He reached over and kissed her cheek softly. “Come on in. How are you?”

   “Better now,” she said. Which was the truth. Why did everything always seem much better when she was with him?

   He gave her a big smile and held out his hand. “You look fabulous tonight.”

   Her heart fluttered at his words. The truth was she had spent an inordinate amount of time in her closet trying to decide what to wear tonight. She had finally decided on a simple off-white sheath dress. She took a second to look him up and down. He had on khaki pants and a light blue polo shirt. “You don’t look too bad yourself, handsome.”