Page 84 of Hung Up
“I can quit.” His words have my eyes widening. “I can quit bull-riding. I’d do it for you. Please, Faith. Just tell me you feel as intensely as I do, and I’ll do whatever I can to be with you.”
“I—”
Footsteps racing down the hall cut off what I was about to say, drawing both of our attention. Rylie comes running toward us, stopping a couple of feet away as she tries to catch her breath. I slip my hands out of Jesse’s and turn my body toward hers, taking a cautious step forward.
“Rylie? What’s wrong?”
She wordlessly hands her phone to me, and my brows furrow before I reach for it. But my entire face falls when I see what’s on her screen.
There’s a video on someone’s Instagram story of Jesse and I kissing in this very hallway.
And he’s tagged.
And it’s already going viral.
My phone begins to frantically vibrate in my pocket, and my hand shakes as I reach for it. Sure enough, my social media is blowing up with comments. I glance between the two of them before I take off, running down the hallway and heading for the exit, not looking back as they call after me.
This is exactly what I had been afraid of.
And it came true.
32JESSE
TACOMA
none of it matters if she’s not here
BREAKING NEWS:
Professional Bull Rider, Jesse Hayes,
Spotted Smooching Sports Reporter From All In Sports News.
Me
I’m working with my PR group to try and squash this.
Me
They’re working on it.
Me
I’m sorry, Sweetheart.
Me
Faith?
I’ve been tryingto reach Faith for five days now, but she’s gone radio silent. Every text, phone call, and FaceTime was ignored, her social media shows she hasn’t been active since Monday, and I learned after calling into her office on Wednesday—which I’m not entirely proud to admit I did—that she hasn’t been in the office since Monday.
I had half the mind to fly out and see her this week, to show up at her apartment and demand to see her, but so much was happening on the ranch this week that I couldn’t abandon the family. One of the ranch hands got injured trying to break a horse, Stevie was still in a panic over Finley, and my sister's godson—who she obtained custody of after his parents died—ran away and got into some trouble. My mother was overwhelmed and my siblings needed me, so I didn’t see any other way.
But now I’m at the arena, hovering at the back entrance, praying each time the door opens that it will be Faith walking through it. But time after time, person after person, I just grow more disappointed.
It’s foolish of me to think she’d show after falling off the grid like she has. Of course she’s not going to show up when she’s been made a spectacle of. If there’s one thing that bothers me the most about this whole thing, it’s that.
The articles that have come out and the comments that have been made on her socials have been disgusting and vile. People are berating her for going after me, saying how unprofessional she is. Others calling her a slut and a whore for reasons I can’t understand. The press has been building me up, talking about my season, and then tearing her down and using this to streamline an attack against the company she works for.
