10
“No. No, no, no, no.” I clasp a hand over my mouth as I stare at the recording in horror. When I find out who did this, they are going to wish they had never been born. It looks so bad, because it’s been edited to just show the kiss, so you can’t tell that I’m trashed and completely ignorant of what’s going on. It’s also recorded in slow motion so it looks like the kiss lasts way longer than it did. Audrey saw it go down, and she says it lasted about five seconds, max, yet this makes it look like we shared a long, lingering kiss.
What’s worse is they tagged Reeve on the post, and the barrage of angry comments and vile insults pours more salt on the ugly wound. I look up at Alex. “Please tell me he hasn’t seen this?”
His lips pull into a grimace, and his eyes shine with sympathy.
Oh my God. What must Reeve be thinking? My stomach heaves, and I race into the bathroom, reaching the toilet in the nick of time. I dry retch, my empty stomach contorting painfully as I try to expunge my fear.
“Come on, babe.” Audrey helps me up after I slump over the toilet bowl. “Rinse your mouth out, and come back to the bedroom. You’re going to call Reeve and fix everything.”
Like a zombie, I brush my teeth, staring at my washed-out complexion in the mirror. I look like death warmed over. My hair is a knotty, damp mess on top of my head. I have dark circles under my eyes, my lips are cracked, and my hazel eyes have lost all their sparkle. I look as hollow as I feel.
I trudge out to my bedroom, silently accepting the bottle of water from Audrey. “Do you want us to stay here while you call Reeve?” she asks, and I notice she found my cell and has plugged it in. It vibrates with a succession of notifications.
“He probably won’t be able to take the call,” I say, noticing it’s after noon which means it’s three in Boston. “He’ll be in the middle of filming.”
She gets up to leave. “Stay.” I grab her arm.
“I’m going to see about breakfast.” Alex rocks back on his heels.
Audrey nods, and he exits my bedroom as I pull my big-girl pants on and scroll through my notifications. I have thousands of tags on social media, and I’m not even going to look at them. “Wow. You have a million new followers,” Audrey says, looking over my shoulder.
“It’s not anything good, I assure you.” I open my inbox, looking at all the missed calls from Reeve. They start from three a.m. my time, which means he must have seen the recording first thing when he woke up. I’m too chicken to listen to all the messages, but I need to know what I’m dealing with, so I open his last one, left at eight a.m. my time, putting it on speaker. I have no secrets from Audrey, and, frankly, I need her support to listen to this. She puts her arms around me, and I rest my head on her shoulder.
“For fuck’s sake, Vivien, answer your damn phone!” Reeve’s frustration bleeds into his tone. “I can’t believe you did this. You didn’t even give me a chance to explain before you sought comfort from Nate of all fucking people! Do you know how stupid you made me look?! I look like a fucking idiot pining for you, posting how much I love you, and a few hours later, everyone sees you kissing that asshole. You have made me look like a damn fool!” he yells, and I flinch. “I’m so fucking disappointed in you.” There’s a pregnant pause, and his rapid breathing is the only sound. It’s unlike Reeve to curse so much, and it’s an indication of how angry and upset he is. I hate that I’ve done this to him, but he’s not entirely blameless either. “Do I even know you at all?” His voice cracks a little, and while it’s a relief, I’m also consumed with guilt that I’ve made a bad situation worse. I shouldn’t have gotten drunk and lost control like that. I should have waited until today and called Reeve to talk about what he did. Now, it’s a million times worse, and not only have I made him look foolish, I’ve just garnered a whole army of angry Reeve fans. “I’ve got to get back, and I don’t have another break. Call me tonight.” Air whooshes out of his mouth. “Or don’t. I…I…I can’t deal with this right now.”
The message ends abruptly, and I toss my cell aside, folding my arms around Audrey, needing her comfort.
“He’s angry.”
“No shit, Captain Obvious,” I deadpan. “I’m angry too. At him. At Nate. At me.”
“Nope.” She grabs my arms, and I straighten up. “You have done nothing wrong.Nothing. You hear me?”
“I shouldn’t have gotten trashed.”
She cocks her head to one side. “It didn’t help, but he hurt you. I get wanting to drown your sorrows, and if you hadn’t been drunk, Nate’s lips wouldn’t have come even close to yours. But it’s not your fault that he took advantage of you. And it’s not your fault some asshole recorded it and tried to stir shit. Just like it’s not your fault Reeve got that bitch to choose your birthday gifts or hung up on you.”
“This is such a mess.” I wrap my arms around my middle. “What am I going to do?”
“We’re going to get dressed, have breakfast, send Alex over to beat the shit out of Nate, and then we’re going to make calls and find out what little idiot posted that recording and get them to take it down.”
“I have a better idea,” I say, standing. “I’m going to talk to Mom. Her publicist has a guy they use to remove stuff from the internet. I bet he can help, and it’ll be quicker than us playing Holmes and Watson.”
“Okay. You go talk to your mom and I’ll find Alex and get breakfast on the table.”
* * *
“I’m sorry this has happened to you, honey, and of course I’ll help, but you’ll need to toughen up.” Mom wipes at the moisture on my cheeks. “I don’t mean that to sound cold. I know you feel things deeply. Reeve does too. But you must develop a thicker skin, because it’s only going to get worse. There will be haters and people who would love nothing more than to take you down and break you two up. You can’t give them that power.”
“How do you do it?” I ask.
“I don’t look at the nasty comments or read any of the rumors on those horrid gossip sites. When I’m confronted with it face to face, I kill the person with kindness. It usually throws them off sufficiently to silence them. But most importantly, I trust your father and let our love build a protective wall around me that no one can tear down. I know we’ve been doing this a lot longer, and we’re rock solid now, but we have been where you are now, and it’s not easy.” She clasps my hands in hers. “Open communication is key. You need to get a hold of Reeve as soon as you can and talk to him about it. Get it all off your chests, and you’ll both feel better.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I let her envelop me in her arms.
“I hate seeing you so upset, and do we need to have a talk about alcohol consumption?”