During the day, there would be dogs running freely in the chained grassy area. Now, however, they were alone and sat on the bench and ate their cold food in silence.
“I know you don’t want to hear an apology,” he said once his stomach stopped growling angrily. “But I’m going to give you one. It’ll make this weight on my chest feel lighter.”
She set her chopsticks down and turned to him slightly. “Okay, but it’s not necessary.”
He moved his container of food aside, then took her hand. The truth was, he’d been thinking about this since the moment he’d seen her standing in her doorway, looking worried and concerned.
He should have prepped her. Prepared her for what it was going to be like being in a relationship with a black man in the south.
“I should have warned you,” he started.
She stopped him by lifting her hand in the air. “First off, if you start the whole bullshit that this happened because you’re black, you can stop right there. This had nothing—nothing—to do with the color of your skin. This was because you were a man who stood up for himself. Lisa Tribberton didn’t hit on you because you were black. She hit on you because she looks at men as toys that she can buy with her husband’s money. And when she can’t get her hands on what she wants, she lashes out like a child. Her videos are proof of that,” Jules said firmly. “The police would have raided anyone’s apartment with the tip they received.”
Damion thought back to the maintenance guy’s story. Sure, he was Hispanic, but yeah, Jules was right. This wasn’t about the color of his skin. At least not this time.
“Fair enough.” He nodded. “So then I’ll just apologize for being so damn sexy that crazy women end up starting shit over me.” He smiled and relaxed when she smiled back at him. “If you want, we can move into River Cabin.”
She shook her head. “No, this is our home for now. I won’t be run off like we did anything wrong.” She squeezed his hand. “But I am going to do some posting of my own.” She pulled out her camera. “The good kind that will drive Lisa Tribberton nuts. We’re going to show her that we are stronger than her tricks. We’re going to prove to her that nothing she says or does can get us down.” She held up her phone and after finding the latest funny filter trending on social media, filmed them laughing and joking as their faces turned into animals. At the end of the clip, Jules added:
“This one goes out to our friend, Lisa, whom we want to thank for an entertaining evening. Bite me, bitch.” Jules shut the camera off.
“Damn, girl. Remind me to never cross you.” He kissed her.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
The following day, Damion talked Jules into going into work while he cleaned the apartment. He had the day scheduled off, and she had a full day’s work planned. She was working that evening’s themed dinner party for extra tips. Besides, the theme was an evening under the sea, which was her favorite.
She tucked her outfit for dinner in her bag and headed out to work, leaving Damion to clean up the mess the police had made. They had cleaned their bedroom and bathroom last night since she wasn’t able to sleep in such a mess.
She worried about leaving him home alone after the previous night. What other tricks did Lisa have up her sleeve? She knew she probably shouldn’t have antagonized her with the video, but hell, she had to do something.
When she checked her phone after arriving at work, her video had more than a million views and she had a million new followers. Most had even gone through her old videos of the camp, the funny videos she made with Beth or one of the other employees, her parents, Tutu, and even the videos she and Damion had made during their relationship, starting back with that first weekend sail.
Most of the comments were nice, friendly, fun. There were a handful of hateful ones that she didn’t even bother reading. She either deleted or reported those comments.
“Girl, you’re kicking it,” Beth said when she came in. “Have you seen all those comments?” Beth set her stuff down and then walked over to hug her. “Sorry about the raid. Do you need anything?”
“No, we’re good.” Jules smiled.
“Posting that video of you and Damion was wicked. Nice slap in Lisa’s face. If she’s the one behind all this.”
“Oh, I’m sure she is.”
“Did you see what she posted this morning?” Jules took out her phone and showed Beth the short video that Lisa had made with her husband. It appeared to be an older video, since her hair was a lot longer and darker colored. Her husband appeared to be younger too. The happy couple was lounging in Italy on a private island resort and looking very much in love. Lisa did a voice-over explaining how strong her and Joe’s relationship was. How they didn’t need other people in their lives to be happy.
“A weak attempt if I’ve ever seen one.” Beth shook her head. “My ex played games like that with me for a while.”
Beth didn’t normally talk about her ex. Jules didn’t even know his name. She’d asked once, but Beth just said it was “he who shall not be named,” so she’d left it alone after that.
For most of the day, the gossip carried on. She sat with Elle, Hannah, and Aubrey during lunch, and they all scrolled through social media or articles that had been released about the camp. Only one article from all of the press visits came back with any hint of negativity.
It was the blond woman who had asked Zoey about her miscarriage. The article went into a crazy conspiracy about how the camp provides not only drugs to its guests but morning-after pills. The author of the article, a Nikki Fields, went on to claim that was the real cause of Zoey’s miscarriage on the infamous video.
“It’s one article,” Elle started to say but then Aubrey gasped.
“Nikki Fields is Lisa Tribberton’s sister. I thought she looked familiar.” Aubrey showed them a picture of the two women hugging with identical smiles. “No wonder she was a bitch.”
“That totally makes sense,” Jules said. “Can we use this to expose her article as a fraud?”