Page 21 of The Master

“If you’ve never seen a teenage boy eat, you miss out on trying to figure out where he can possibly put so much.”

We were both still laughing when my phone rang. A glance at the screen said it was Finley calling, and since he knew Ashlee and I had gone away for the weekend, I knew whatever he needed had to be important. He wouldn’t have interrupted otherwise.

I’d barely greeted him before he started talking, his urgency processing even before the words did.

“They went to a reporter, all three of them. Some of it’s true, but some of it’s just plain vindictive, but I don’t know which parts people will believe. There’s a lot of shit out there now, and it’s going viral.”

“Wait. Hold on a minute. Who’sthey?” I suspected what his answer would be, but on the off chance I was wrong, I had to ask.

“Flora, Roma, and Calah.”

“Fuck.”

“Indeed.”

Ashlee reached over and touched my hand, her face showing her concern. I held up a finger, and she nodded, settling back in her chair to wait for me to finish gathering the information I needed.

“Have you talked to Jailene?”

“Not yet,” he said. “I wanted you to hear it from me before the two of you stumbled across it. And…” His voice trailed off.

Shit. Finley never hesitated to tell me anything when it came to what he thought I needed to know.

“It’s bad, Nate. They’re making accusations that could ruin you personally, let alone what it’ll do to you professionally. We’re talking legal ramifications.”

I closed my eyes and put my elbow on the table, resting my forehead on my hand. I didn’t need him to expound on that at all. I could guess the sorts of things they were spreading. A lot of the sexual things I was into could be spun into something depraved with little effort.

All they had to do was hint that I’d coerced them into a host of various kinks, and I could find myself on the losing end of three nasty civil suits. And that’d be the best-case scenario. Criminal charges wouldn’t be out of the question, not to mention the women who’d try to take advantage of the situation.

What really pissed me off was that their vendetta would take away resources from real cases of discrimination, harassment, and assault. Even when I was being the biggest asshole in the world, I’d supported the MeToo movement and spoke out against people who used their power and wealth to take advantage of others. The fact that I could end up being called out as one of those men made my stomach turn to ice. I was far from perfect, but they would make me out to be a monster.

“Call Jailene and fill her in,” I said with a sigh. “Let her know I’ll call her this afternoon to start talking strategy. Ashlee and I will come straight back tomorrow morning.”

“That’s the other reason I called,” Finley said. “I assume you were already planning on telling her.”

“I was.” I wanted to hang up before he could tell me how I’d fucked up his daughter’s life. “You aren’t saying I shouldn’t?”

“No. It’s just…she needs to call Roberta and warn her. Sooner is better than later.”

“I’ve known you long enough to know that you’re hedging. Spit it out.”

It was his turn to sigh. “Flora named Ashlee in some of her accusations.”

I let out a string of expletives that had Ashlee reaching for my hand. “How bad is it?”

“Bad. Flora said that you called them both into your office and demanded they perform all sorts of sexual acts with each other and with you, or you’d fire them. Roma put in her two cents, saying Ashlee had thrown herself at Zed Hipwood first. I guess that was how they figured they could make it so that Ashlee wouldn’t be considered a victim too. They’re not just after you.”

I wanted to punch something or someone. I’d never even been tempted to hit a woman before, but those three were seriously testing me.

“Should I call Stu and Suzie? Technically, with Ashlee being a freelancer, they’d have to be the ones going to Jailene on Ashlee’s behalf.”

Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. I should’ve just left Ashlee’s job the way it was and told everyone who didn’t like it to fuck off.

“Give them a head’s up before you talk to Jailene so everyone’s on the same page when she calls them.”

There was a moment of silence before Finley spoke again. “This isn’t your fault, Nate. You aren’t the man they’re making you out to be.”

“Maybe not,” I pressed the heel of my hand into my eye, “but I’ve never been the man you thought I was.”

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