Page 133 of The Blame Game

Her eyebrows rose to her hairline. “Dom is the only person you’re seeing?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t hide the surprise on her face but she merely nodded. “Well, that does make some things easier. You should probably ask them if they want you to continue to work as Dom’s stylist or not. I would lean toward yes but I’m sure they have contingency plans for these situations.”

Shea nodded, his expression still a little blank and dazed.

Dom studied his face, heart aching.

God, he hated that Shea was in this situation because of him. Shea had given him so much and what had Dom done? Exposed him to scandal. Threatened his job and his relationship with his family.

Once they found out who the leak was, Dom was going to make them regret it. How could anyone be so fucking selfish?

He hated the loss of privacy but he had to acknowledge that it was part of the price he had to pay as a public figure.

But Shea and Audra weren’t public figures. They hadn’t signed up for this. They didn’t deserve to get dragged into it too.

“So, do we know how they got the photo of Audra and Mark?” Shea asked.

Kate shook her head. “Not really. I mean, we know where it was taken and approximately when, but all that means is that it was either someone who attended the event or worked at it.”

“True,” Shea said. “But that narrows it down from all of the greater Toronto area to a few hundred people, right?”

“Yes,” Kate agreed. “I’ll certainly sift through the guest list and—”

“Hey,” Dom said, frowning when he remembered something. “Sorry to interrupt but I almost forgot to tell you about what happened last night before we left the hotel.”

He told them about the conversation with Birdie, Mitchell, and the guy he’d been with. “His name was Joe. Shit, I can’t remember his last name. Audra, do you remember?”

“It started with a G,” she said, her brow furrowing. “Griffin? Griffith, maybe?”

“That sounds right,” Dom agreed. “Maybe we can start digging into that? See if we can learn anything about him?”

“I will,” Kate said, but she frowned. “Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that he gave you a name whose initials are J-G though? As in, Jock Gossip.”

“Fuck!” Dom hadn’t even considered that it could be an assumed name. He’d been thinking about the situation with Mark Goodwin and making sure Audra was okay, and there was the goddamn pain in his back that was always fucking there. “I didn’t even notice that.”

“Me either,” Audra admitted.

“I mean, it’s still worth looking into,” Kate said. “Can you describe what he looked like?”

Dom did and Audra added a few things, but that didn’t help much either. “He was pretty generic,” he admitted.

Audra nodded. “He was. And if he is the kind of guy who is getting people’s info, that’s gotta be helpful, right? Everyone would look right past him.”

Kate nodded. “Exactly. Though I do wonder if he’s the guy I saw Mitchell with before. I need some time to consider if it would be wise to ask him about this Joe Griffin or Griffiths or if that would be tipping our hand.”

“What about the fact that I gave Joe, Mitchell, and Birdie info about my back problems and that didn’t get published?” Dom asked. “Does that clear any of them?”

“No,” Kate said. “It only means they found something juicier.”

“Damn.”

They segued into another topic and while Audra and Kate were discussing something that Dom should probably be paying better attention to, he glanced over at Shea.

He looked … defeated.

Like the weight of the world was resting on his broad shoulders. Under the table, Dom nudged him with his foot and he glanced up and gave Dom a weak smile.

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