“Google the Gazette. There’s an image on the front page of me kissing Jake, and it says we are having an affair.”
“What?”
“Somebody must have been following me, or . . .” I shake my head as I try and think of a logical explanation. “What the fucking hell is going on?” I whisper angrily.
“Holy shit.” She pauses. “I see it. Wait . . . when the fuck did you kiss Jake?”
“He kissed me last night,” I stammer. “I didn’t kiss him back, for fuck’s sake. Do you—”
“Hang on; I’m reading,” she interrupts me.
I put my hand over my face as I wait for her to read.
“Oh my God,” she whispers.
“Alan brought me back to my apartment and told me not to come into work today.”
“What?”
“He said that Mr. Miles will contact me later.”
“Well, what did Jameson say?” she asks.
“He won’t answer his phone. I called Tristan, but he said they are in meetings, and he’ll call me later.”
“Holy . . . fucking . . . shit. This is bad.”
“You think?” I cry.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. What do I do?”
“Well, if Jameson told you to stay home, maybe you should.”
“Why?”
“Because he doesn’t need more attention; it says here he’s been accused of theft.”
My eyes widen as I imagine the media storm that’s going to come from this.
“But what if he believes this?” I stammer. “I’ve never been with Jake. This is complete bullshit. I love him.”
“He said he will be in touch . . . he will be.”
I listen as my mind runs at a million miles an hour.
“You’re just going to have to wait.”
I screw up my face in tears. “You don’t think I should come in?”
“God, no. He doesn’t have time to worry about you too.”
“But I didn’t do this,” I whisper.
“I know. I’ll go up and see him in his office and tell him everything.”
“You will?” I whisper hopefully.
“If you come in, Em, the whole building is going to attack you.”
I put my hands over my face in horror as I imagine everyone waking up to this story this morning. I’m going to be Miles Media’s public enemy number one.
“I’m going to get into work and find out what the hell is going on, and I’ll call you back, okay?” she says.
I nod, my eyes filled with tears. I can’t believe this is happening. “Okay.”
“Go back to your apartment and wait. I’ll be in touch.”
“Thank you,” I whisper as I wait on the line. “Wait, what are you going to say to Jameson?”
“I’m just going to tell him the truth. I’ll call you back in half an hour.”
My shoulders slump. “Okay, thanks.” I hang up.
I walk from my kitchen and back to the living area. I turn and walk back the same route. It’s been forty minutes.
Jameson still isn’t answering his phone, and Molly hasn’t called me back.
What the fucking hell is going on over there?
I text Jameson a message.
Jay
I don’t know what the hell is going on.
That photo is a setup.
You know I love you and would
never do that.
Call me back, please.
I’m freaking out!!!
I throw my phone onto the lounge and continue my pacing. Why isn’t anyone calling me back?
I wait twenty minutes and then text Jameson again. My phone rings, and I scramble to answer it. It’s Molly.
“Hello.”
“Hi.”
“What happened?”
“I couldn’t get in to see him; he was in a meeting with the solicitors,” she whispers. “He’s got bigger things to worry about at the moment, Em. He could go to prison.”
I frown. What? “Oh my God.”
“Management is going nuts down here. I have to get off the phone before I get fired.”
“What?” My eyes fill with tears . . . I didn’t do this. “I could give a rat’s ass about the company right now. I need him to know that I didn’t do anything with Jake. That whole story is bogus.”
“I know. I’ll go back up in my lunch break. But for now, hang tight.”
I put my hand over my mouth as a roll of nausea fills my stomach.
“I’ll call you back as soon as I speak to him.”
I wait on the line, hoping for a miracle answer to come to us.
“Okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, okay,” I whisper before hanging up the call.
I begin to pace once more with a new sense of urgency. What if he believes this?
What if the board believes that he stole the money?
What if he’s charged . . . and goes to prison?
Oh my God. I text him again.
I’m serious.
Call me back NOW!!
I’m losing my mind over