Wrapped Around My Finger (18 page)

We didn’t have to wait long for our story; the show I chose led off the broadcast with it. It even got tagged as breaking news. “That wasn’t so bad.” I looked back at Jagger. The segment included us on TV this morning, and what I presumed to be the building where Barry had his office. “It’s pissing me off, that it’s
so scandalous
that I hired a date. Not even that they’re insinuating I’m pathetic, that I’d have to pay. Men do this, right out in the open. No one cares.”

Jagger picked his phone up again. “The stories online go much deeper. They do speculate why you used the service, but they want to know who else has, too.” He handed me the phone. “Don’t read the comments.”

“I never do.” It didn’t matter how thick my skin was, internet trolls would have no problem splitting it open and pouring vinegar in the wound. “That’s what Kari’s flipping out about. What I want to know is how they planned it so perfectly. This isn’t a coincidence that the story broke today. Beth isn’t smart enough to be this lucky.”

“Who would’ve tipped them off?”

I groaned, leaning back against Jagger. “Raven. I bet they pumped her for info, and she wouldn’t have seen any harm in telling them you’d be on the show since it was going to be on TV anyway. She’s got no idea about the lawsuit.”

“Or she does, and this is her way of getting rid of me.” Jagger pulled me in closer.

I broke away. “No. Don’t say that about Raven.” I hated that he thought it, and even more that he could be right. No. She wouldn’t side with Rich on anything. My world was spinning out of control. “She doesn’t hate me that much.”

“No, she doesn’t. She couldn’t understand the scope of this. She never would’ve said anything if she had any idea what the consequences were.” Jagger got up from the bed and stood by the window. It was dark out, but there was peace on the other side of the window. Tranquility. And it had never seemed further away.

“We better read every story we can find. When we get back to Washington tomorrow, there won’t be any place to hide. Both the production office and my home office addresses are listed on the internet. I don’t want any more surprises.” I hated that we had to waste the night looking for information on this bullshit lawsuit instead of researching the farm.

I had a sinking feeling that once we left Vermont in the morning, we’d never see this farm again.

L
eah

I thought I’d prepared myself for finding reporters outside my house. The reality of it was a sucker punch in the gut. We had to weave through a hungry wall of humanity to get to the front door—the pack was even more ravenous because Jagger was with me. Our arrival breathed new life into the story. Now they could confirm we were a couple on top of everything else. If we’d been smart, we would’ve split up. But let’s face it, we weren’t that smart. And I couldn’t do this without him.

“What are you doing home?” Raven never skipped school, and she never hung out in the living room. She hugged her knees and did something else she never did—watched TV. I didn’t have to look to know what she was watching.

“I’m not going out in that.” Raven glared at me, and I realized she’d made a very good decision. I hated myself for being in another state while she was home alone with an angry crowd outside. Like I had any idea all hell would break loose. She’d just turned eighteen, and she didn’t need a babysitter anymore. She probably
did
need someone to protect her from me. “And there’s no way I’m going to school. Ever again. Since you probably don’t have a job anymore, you’ll have plenty of time to homeschool me. Good thing we don’t have the same last name.”

“Raven Leigh. You’re an adult now. I expect you to act like it.” We were locked in a staring contest. I had no idea my daughter could be so cruel. She’d learned it from her father.

Jagger stood next to me, clutching his bag. I didn’t blame him, I hadn’t felt so uncomfortable in my own home since the last time my world came crashing down around me. This time, I wouldn’t run.

“What about you?” She got off the couch, walking quickly toward the stairs without ever breaking her death glare. “I’m not the one all over TV because I was too pathetic to find a boyfriend without paying for him!”

She stormed upstairs and slammed her door closed. If I closed my eyes, I could pretend that didn’t happen.

Jagger put his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. “I’m sorry I did this to you.”

“You didn’t do anything to me.” I turned into him, needing everything he had to give. His pounding heart drowned out the chaos outside. The reporters would wait forever, hoping they got the story that made their careers, not caring for a second that it would ruin mine. And so many other people’s. “If it wasn’t this, Rich, Shelley and Beth would’ve found another way to tear me down. I wish they’d get a hobby. Like those wine and painting nights. That would be perfect for them.”

“Me, too.” Jagger chuckled softly. He tipped my chin up to meet his gaze. I didn’t think there was anything left of my heart to break after that run-in with Raven, but the sadness in his eyes proved otherwise. “Why are they doing this to you? I’ve never met people so intent on being evil for absolutely no reason. They have nothing to gain from this.”

“In high school, I could understand it. They needed to knock other people down to give themselves a sense of self-worth. I could even understand why Rich cheated on me. I didn’t have the balls to leave him, either. But this...I don’t understand it at all. I’d forget about them if I could. There are so many good things in the future, I don’t have time to waste by looking back. But they force me to, every day.”

“We can only look at the future now. Once Kari sends us the actual complaint, we’ll know what to ask her, and how to move forward. What we can do to protect ourselves. Besides being an escort, and the porn, my past is pretty clean. All my shit’s on record.” Jagger attempted a smile.

The problem with this kind of attack sustained over a lifetime was I actually considered that I could be at fault. Impossible. “I’ve spent the last eighteen years momming, which isn’t exactly scandalous. The guys I dated before I met you seemed pretty ordinary. You’re the only skeleton in my closet.”

Jagger deflated. “There’s a chance it blows over. I know it’s wishful thinking. But things were just starting to get good. That guy we talked to yesterday was great. He had me so excited about the show. Now I hope he didn’t get in touch with the family of the original owners. I’d hate to tell them it’s not happening after all.”

Another victim. When did it end? Everything I worked so hard for was slipping through my fingers. My whole team could suffer. People like Shannon, who’d invested everything they had in me. And now they’d hate me, not because I hired an escort, but because they’d think I screwed them over. I sat on the couch just in time to see yesterday’s segment flash in the background of a news story. The headline at the bottom of the screen read
GST Co-host Escort Scandal.
“You wouldn’t be the bearer of bad news—the production company would be. If it exists anymore. Or the network. But we’ll be the ones they blame,” I said.

We jumped when my phone rang. With the crowd still thick outside the window, it was like one of them got inside. I picked up my phone like I would a bug and was relieved to see it was Kari.

“Please tell me you have good news.” It was a long shot, but a girl could still dream.

She scoffed. “Don’t I wish. The escort service’s site got hacked. We’re pretty sure they have the client list.”

I fell back on the cushion. “I’m putting you on speaker so I don’t have to repeat all of this to Jagger. Now what happens?”

“One of two things. The obvious conclusion is they go public with it. There’s not anything to gain from that, depending on who’s behind the hack. I think they’ll be a little more subversive. They’ll contact people one by one and see what they’re willing to give them to keep their names quiet. This will destroy careers. Rip apart families. Good people.” Kari sighed, and my heart plummeted further. “Either way, it’s getting ugly. You only think it’s ugly now. You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Who do you think is on the list?”

“A lot of people you wouldn’t expect,” Jagger said, rubbing his face hard. “A lot of celebrities come through Miami, some of them just for us. I won’t name names because I’d still like to respect their privacy. But it would be devastating to a lot of people’s careers if that list was made public.”

Jagger was a class act. Now would’ve been the perfect time to kiss and tell, but he wouldn’t. I leaned over and kissed him. He’d simply been doing his job, and he didn’t deserve to be caught up in the shitstorm of my life.

Kari groaned on the other end of the phone. “I just got a message from my boss. He wants to see me in his office. Now.”

J
agger

Leah wasn’t even a part of this lawsuit. It was between me, Beth, and Barry. But the swarm of reporters didn’t get that memo. More joined the fray as details emerged, or maybe it was because they knew they held us captive inside the house. All the stories online and on TV centered around Leah. That she’d hired an escort and made him her co-host. I was the one that accepted the paycheck, but she was the one they were determined to ruin.

I’d do anything to make it better for her, but there was no stopping this freefall.

“We may starve to death.” Leah smiled, but there was no light in her eyes. She’d kept a quiet calm through the entire crisis. “I don’t know how my mother does it. During Snowpocalypse, that place was fully stocked. We would’ve made it another month before we ran out of the good snacks. I never mastered that art. One of my many failures as a mom.”

I caught her arm before she had a chance to turn away from me. “You’re an amazing mother.”

Now her eyes shined with unshed tears. “My daughter hates me,” she whispered. Raven had been holed up in her room since we got back, which wasn’t unusual. Every time she came downstairs she’d glare at us, grunting and rolling her eyes at each attempt Leah made to talk to her. She’d disappear, slamming the bedroom door before Leah had a chance to finish what she was saying. It wasn’t the lawsuit, the reporters, or even losing her job that would ruin Leah—it was Raven.

That was it. I couldn’t let Leah blame herself for this anymore. All Leah had wanted was someone to see her for the amazing woman she was. To love her back. Beth Barnes didn’t have much to offer, but I wanted all of it. Just so she could feel a fraction of the loss she’d made Leah experience time and time again.

I took the stairs two at a time, knocking on Raven’s door before Leah had a chance to stop me.

She didn’t expect to see me on the other side. “What?”

“I want to talk to you.” I was overstepping my bounds with this one, but this was the only thing I could hope to fix. The way things were going lately, I braced myself for the possibility of it blowing up in my face.

Raven shrugged, opening the door wider and going back to her desk.

I didn’t move. “Downstairs. I’m not coming into your bedroom.” The last thing I needed was to be accused of anything happening in an eighteen-year-old’s room.

She considered her options but decided to follow me. Leah’s mouth dropped when her daughter came downstairs behind me.

“I want you to apologize to your mother,” I said once she sat down. “Unless you can honestly tell me you meant any of the awful things you’ve said to her lately.”

Raven looked between the two of us, wide-eyed and shook her head. “I didn’t.”

“Tell her.”

She knotted her hands in her lap and bowed her faded purple head. “I’m sorry, Ma.” She looked up at Leah after she said it like a weight had been lifted. “Dad said so many awful things about you and Jagger, and I stuck up for you as long as I could. But when this lawsuit came out, and everything went nuts, I thought for a minute they were right—it was you who’d been lying to me all along. Like you’d set out to do this awful thing.”

Leah sat beside Raven and took her hand. “Everything I’ve ever done has been so you know that you can have whatever you want. But Jagger is for me. I won’t apologize for that. People—who I don’t even know—will have their lives ruined because of this. It sucks—for you, for me, and for them. But it sucks more to go through life not having what you want. Don’t let this change any of that for you. It’s not always the easy thing. Sometimes, like now, it’s really frigging hard, but it makes it that much sweeter when it all falls into place. I was scared out of my mind when I moved here, but look what I accomplished. Put this into perspective. There are reporters outside because they think the world cares about something I did. I don’t know what happens next. But I need you, Raven. Now more than ever.”

Raven slipped her arms around her mother, needing her, too. I couldn’t imagine what was going through her head. She’d been raised in a place where deceit and lies were rewarded and happiness was squashed. Raven was more like her mother than she’d ever admit. She couldn’t see what a gift that was.

“Thank you.” Leah gave me a kiss after Raven went back upstairs. “You have no idea how much I needed that.”

“I’d fix it all if I could.”

“We have to get to the production office somehow.” Leah sighed, separating the closed window blinds. A bulb flashed from outside, the storm still on top of us. “If we call into the meeting, the terrorists win. This is ridiculous. We can’t stay trapped in the house forever.”

The police wouldn’t tell the reporters to leave. As long as they stayed on the sidewalk, they were on public property. “They can’t come into the driveway. And they don’t want to get run over. All we have to do is get in and out of both buildings. It will suck, but we can do it.”

I managed to maneuver her car past the crowd. I was tempted to drive as far away from there as possible, to some place no one would care who we were or how we met. If it existed. I’d walked away from every one of my problems in the past. Started over somewhere else.

I’d never been in love before. That was the difference.

Another swarm awaited us at the production office. We were getting better at moving through the crowd—hand in hand, eyes straight ahead, saying nothing.