Page 103 of You and Me, For Real
Luke
Probably best if you don’t say anything to her yet until we get a game plan.
I type a response.
Griffin
Too late.
Luke
Okay. Great. Tell her not to freak out. I’ll get it under control.
“What’s he talking about?”
“I have no idea. Somebody stole my phone before I could look.”
Three dots appear on the text thread.
Luke
Actually, you guys should probably come home so we can decide how to do damage control.
My pulse races. I look at Griffin. He shrugs. I shove the phone back at Griffin and pull mine from my purse, opening Google. I type in his name. I gasp when the page floods with images and videos of the two of us leaving the Rhodes mansion last night. Multiple versions appear. Memes have already been created about the two of us. People are sharing it all over social media.
“Who took these? I don’t even remember any cameras being there!”
Griffin sighs. “The paps can be pretty sneaky when they want to be.”
“But it was a private party.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
My hands are shaking.
Griffin wraps his hand around mine, pulling the phone from my grasp. “Let’s wait to freak out until we get home and get a better idea of the situation.”
My face shoots upwards. “Do people know who I am now?”
Nausea roils in my gut.
People will connect me to my past. All the hard work I put into separating myself fromthatlife—now my nightmare is becoming my reality. No one is going to want to support a rescue if they think I’m some kind of cheating liar.
Griffin clutches my shoulders, shaking me a little. “Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay. You’re going to be fine. I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad? Not that bad! We scream being a couple in these photos. I look like the other woman, yet again.” I’m the homewrecker to America’s most precious couple.
He pulls me into a hug. “Hey, we’ll fix this. We’ll get it figured out. Okay?”
His words bring little comfort. All I can think about is the fact that this is the very reason I didn’t want to have social media. I’ve avoided anything that puts me in the spotlight again for years. And in just two days—two days—after making my first post, this happens.
The media does nothing but tear a person apart.
Five years ago, it broke me. I don’t know if I can bear to put myself back together again.
29
GRIFFIN
