Breaking Stars - J. Sterling Page 0,86

pushed back into the couch, wishing that it would swallow me whole as the weight of her words hit me like a baseball bat to the chest.

“Did you learn nothing by being away?” Quinn insisted, then raised her voice. “Seriously?”

I flinched. “Don’t yell at me.” If Quinn didn’t back off a little, I was afraid I’d have another meltdown of a different kind. I was doing extremely well in my attempts to hold it together, but her pushing me so hard wasn’t helping.

“I’m sorry, but come on. You were a changed person while you were gone. You were stronger and free and brave. I need you to be that person here. You need you to be fearless here too, Paige, or you’ll never survive this.”

Quinn was right. I had finally developed a backbone while I was away, and I couldn’t pretend that strength wasn’t still somewhere inside me, even though it felt buried since returning home. I wasn’t only a different person because I had been out of Los Angeles; I had dug deep and found the courage that existed within me. It had apparently been dormant all my life because I’d never needed it before. And I definitely needed it now.

“I hate when you’re right,” I said with a sigh.

Holding back a smile, she said, “You must hate me a lot then.”

“You know what sucks the most?”

“What?”

“It’s that I felt the difference while I was gone. Lighter, you know? Less burdened. But the second I got back here I could literally sense that feeling leaving my body. The heaviness returned with every breath I took and settled on my shoulders, pressing me down. It was the most depressing feeling,” I said with a shudder.

“Shit, Paige, I’m sorry. I know I’m too hard on you sometimes, it’s just that I hate the people you have working for you. They aren’t on your side at all.” She set her water glass on the coffee table, then spun back to face me. “Tell you what. Call them right now. See what they say. Give them a chance to prove me wrong.”

Quinn’s agency had a built-in publicity department, so she didn’t have to hire someone separately. It was times like this that I wished I had a well-oiled machine working for me too.

I reached for my phone and dialed Corryn’s number first. She was my publicist, after all, and this was her department.

When the call connected, Corryn’s voice rang out. “Paige! Finally!”

“Hi, Corryn. I just wanted to check in and find out how you think I should handle this mess.” I eyed Quinn, who leaned her head toward mine as she tried to hear Corryn’s response.

“Now that you’re back in town, the rumor mill will most likely die down. I mean, at some point it will. It will probably get worse before it gets better. But you should use this to your advantage. Strike while the iron’s hot, and people will talk about you in ways they never have before. You know what we always say, bad publicity is still publicity.”

I hated when she said that; it didn’t make any sense. What the hell was she even talking about?

I growled with frustration, feeling myself coming unglued. “Don’t say that! I hate when you and Jayson say that about bad publicity. This is my life, my career. I’ve worked hard to not have any bad publicity—ever—and I’m not going to start now. Figure out how I can fix this, Corryn. That’s what I pay you for!” I pressed the End button and slammed down my phone, releasing a quick huff of indignation.

“My hero.” Quinn raised her hand in the air for a high five.

“Holy cow, that was terrifying and exhilarating,” I admitted with a small smile. “I’m not sure she deserved that.”

“Oh, she deserved that, all right. It’s been a long time coming.”

“Now what?” I asked my best friend, hoping her advice would be worth taking.

Quinn leaned against the cushions and stared at me for a moment before speaking, obviously collecting her thoughts. “I think that there’s a time to stay quiet and a time to stand up for yourself. For example, when Colin cheated and the press went crazy, you stayed quiet. Which was fine because it wasn’t your issue to address publicly. You didn’t do anything wrong, and there really was nothing you needed to say. You know what I mean?” She looked at me as I nodded along with her assessment.

“But this is a direct attack on your character and on