Shep Rose Blasts Austen Kroll, Taylor Ann Green for “Reprehensible” Hookup that (Probably) Never Happened

After last week’s unsettling questions about Taylor Ann Green and Austen Kroll, Olivia Flowers was in turmoil.

On this week’s Southern Charm, that’s exactly where we picked up.

Taylor and Olivia were both in tears, after the same conversation but for different reasons.

When word of things got back to Shep, he called the whole thing downright “despicable.” But … what really happened?

It’s never easy when besties are at odds. Taylor and Olivia have a real, authentic friendship.

So we didn’t get a drunken screaming match — the sort of thing that reality TV has trained us all to expect.

Instead, we got the real thing. They had a polite, difficult conversation. Then they left separately … and each broke down into tears.

Olivia Flowers called Leva Bonaparte to share that Taylor had told her. That she had, at one point, considered turning her (very good) friendship with Austen into something romantic, just to see.

Taylor called Austen, first and foremost to give him a heads up about her conversation. It did, obviously, involve him.

Meanwhile, Taylor felt taken aback. She’d hoped that Olivia would appreciate her honesty … and didn’t feel that she’d done anything wrong.

She called the timeline of Olivia and Austen’s relationship “confusing.” Were they even together when she contemplated this?

“During this time she’s saying that they had a conversation, I was in California for three days,” Olivia explained to the camera.

“And the entire time I was gone, Austen was reaching out to me to give him another chance,” she recalled.

“And Taylor was a huge reason why I chose to forgive him,” Olivia explained.

She recalled: “And then a week later, he suddenly has a change of heart.”

Meanwhile, Austen reassured Taylor that “there was no good time to tell” Olivia, because she would never have liked hearing it.

Taylor was suddenly feeling like she’d hurt a friend. But Austen was getting fed up with the insinuations.

“I am sick and tired of apologizing to everyone for not doing anything wrong,” he admitted over the phone.

He felt that he was walking on eggshells when, lest we forget, he and Taylor haven’t done anything wrong.

Taylor had other things on her mind. At least, she should have.

She threw a big Day Chaser event.

Despite the presence of some major hotties and of course the attendance of reality stars, this was a business event. It’s a big deal!

But one of her closest friends was not coming.

No, not Olivia. Olivia came.

Austen did not. Considering everything that was going on — at least, the conversations among their castmates — he stayed away.

Over the phone, Shep Rose asked Austen why he wasn’t coming.

Austen explained. Obviously, Shep is also a very relevant person to that conversation.

“Nothing f–king happened,” Austen promised Shep. “Hand on Bible.”

As Taylor set up for the event, Leva Bonaparte stopped by. She admitted that Olivia had called her immediately.

“You owe her all of the truth,” she told Taylor. But … is there something that Taylor hasn’t shared with her?

Leva told the confessional camera that she believed that “there was more to it.” She quipped that “no one falls on a d–k” and that “no one falls into a relationship.” True, but … there was no dong or relationship involved, right?

When Olivia learned that Austen wasn’t attending, she felt disgust.

She called it “Exhibit A of who Austen is.”

Yikes!

Olivia did not go alone, however. She and Shep carpooled so that they could catch up and discuss the matter at hand.

“Running it by people means that there was more than just a friendship,” Shep claimed. He is referring to how Austen and Taylor both floated the idea of dating each other with family members.

“Maybe she just needed some arms to run into,” Shep speculated. “But like, for him to be those arms, considering you and me, is f–king reprehensible.”

At the event, however, Olivia and Taylor spoke.

We wouldn’t say that everything is resolved. But Olivia was there for her for the event.

The two hugged it out. It’s awful to see besties at odds, especially over a man. So not worth it.

Shep doesn’t think that Austen made a move on Taylor … or does he? “I’m kind of smelling a rat here,” he insisted.

“I was just surprised to hear that you guys actually talked about whether you should see each other so quickly after,” Shep told Taylor directly. “That’s wild. That’s crazy.”

“I’ve never been close to hooking up with Austen,” Taylor affirmed.

Austen wasn’t at the event, but he was hanging around with some of the guys later.

“I had always thought that her and I were just super tight and super close,” he reasoned with Shep.

He admitted: “And I didn’t think that it was ever going to become a point of contention kind of thing.”

Shep bluntly asked Austen, “If y’all hooked up, would you tell me?”

“Define ‘hooked up,’” Austen replied. And that is where the episode ended.

Austen, why are you asking for clarification? You can just say “yes” and move on, unless you’re stirring up drama on purpose. Which, considering how annoyed he feels, could be what’s happening.