Page 32 of Wild Card
I’ll lose my job. Lose everything. I’m having enough trouble trying to find work. If there’s a sex tape like that out there? I’ll never get another job working at a museum again. They’ll be too afraid I’ll tarnish their reputation.
I probably won’t be able to get a job anywhere. At least not anywhere that sex isn’t part of the brand. They might want me at a sex shop. Or as a cam girl… I might not have a choice about being shy anymore. Tobias kneels down in front of me and runs his hand over my knee in a reassuring gesture.
“I have everyone working on it. PR, agent, lawyers. They’re doing everything they can to validate whether it's real or not and shut it down if it is. Okay? I just wanted you to hear it from me first.”
“Okay.” I nod because I don’t have other words. What else can I ask him to do about it? He’s been hacked. It wasn’t like he leaked the video or had control over it. I doubt he wants this out any more than I do.
“If it gets out, we’ll figure something out, Scarlett. Don’t worry too much, okay?”
“Kind of hard not to worry. It’ll mean my whole career is over.”
I take a deep breath. Doing my best not to panic or cry. It’s not like it’ll change anything. My fate’s in the hands of his lawyers apparently.
“I’ll do everything I can. I’m really sorry. You don’t deserve any of this, and I fucking hope they can take care of it in time.”
“Well, I guess that’s what we get for thinking we could get out of this without consequences, right?” I force a small laugh and try to crack a smile.
He looks at me doubtfully, half a smile fading as quickly as it appears. He starts to say something, but I can’t take any more of this awkward ”are we about to be porn stars” conversation.
“Dinner’s going to get cold.” I stand abruptly, and he follows. “If you want to stay. Or maybe you have somewhere to be. I guess I misread the situation. Do you want a to-go box?”
So much for not being awkward. I’m hoping he leaves because I’m internally freaking out and I don’t want to melt down in front of him.
“Um. Sure if you don’t want to…”
“I don’t have much of an appetite anymore. But I don’t want it to go to waste. Just give me a sec, and I’ll get a bag for you.” I start putting a few portions in plastic tubs before he even has a moment to respond, quickly sliding them in a reusable grocery bag I’ve stuffed under the sink and handing it to him.
He stares at it and then at the door before he looks up at me. He looks as untethered as I feel right now, but I don’t know how to fix it for either of us.
“I’ll keep you posted on anything I know.”
“Okay. Thank you.” I open the door, and he walks out. A part of me wondering if it’s for good.
I can’t imagine his publicist will want us around each other stirring up speculation and gossip. It’s going to make it hard for me to even see Harper if this goes down like this given how often Tobias is part of the Harper and Xander package deal. We’ll have to timeshare our own best friends. This is why this was all a massive mistake in the first place. Why I should have never invited him up.
Once he’s gone, I let out the sob that I’ve been holding back, and release the tears. I’m already in danger of not having a job. All the financial cuts that had to be made meant that most of the positions were reduced already and they’re trying to decide who’s going to replace Harper. Which means my position is likely to go in favor of that one, but no way am I getting promoted to head curator if there’s a sex tape of me floating around. One that’ll be in the tabloids because I decided to fuck a guy who can’t stay out of the limelight.
I had a few thousand subscribers on my video channel, which is also likely going to turn into a cesspool of trolls once they put two and two together and realize I’m the woman getting fucked by Tobias Westfield on camera. This ismycosmic punishment apparently for trying to act like I’m not the quiet good girl. Trying on this other version with someone whose celebrity could destroy me.
Pretending like I can live the kind of life the rest of my friends do when I have none of the same advantages. No NFL contract, no wealthy boyfriend with a host of lawyers, not the kind of job that can withstand this sort of scandal or maybe be improved by it. Because I have no doubt if Joss and Colt suddenly had a sex tape, or Harper and Xander, that it would only make them more loved because of it. The public would probably rally around in their defense. But Tobias and some no-name acquaintance of his? I’m going to take the brunt of that humiliation, but he probably won’t escape it either.
I knew things had been going too well. That something bad was due any day. And now it’s here, or almost here. The worst torture of all is I just have to sit around waiting for it.
NINETEEN
Tobias
That afternoonafter the end of an early practice I’m at the house getting stuff together for my costume. Ben and Violet, my fellow wide receiver on the Seattle Phantom team and his wife, are hosting an engagement party for Colt and Joss, my quarterback and his fiancée. It’s Halloween themed because of Joss’s obsession with the holiday, and we’re all required to dress up.
I’m pulling things out of the closet and grabbing some of the bits my assistant brought over for me that I’d asked him to find when my phone dings with a text message. It’s my publicist and my heart sinks when I see there’s a link attached. One that goes to a tabloid website.
I drop down on my bed and click it. There’s a blurred-out photo over the play button and an NSFW warning, but enough of my tattoos are on display that everyone will know it’s me the second they see it. My gut churns when I hit play, but I need to see it for myself.
It only takes half a second for me to realize it’s both better and worse than I’d imagined. Because while I watch the view count multiply at an astronomical rate and it’s most definitely my bare ass on display, it’s not Scarlett on the couch with me in the video. It’s another woman I’d met at a party. She’d been sweet and we’d been mutuals before she’d asked me over one night. I can’t even remember her name, and I have to scroll down for the reminder. Grunting when I see the name Alexis and her screen name underlined in the article, some of it coming back to me.
She’d asked to take a few shots while we were fucking. Said she wanted them for personal use later, and I’d been stupid enough to agree. I’d filmed them on my phone, but I’d sent one to her. This one. So now I don’t even know which one of us was hacked.
I fire off that information to my publicist and lawyers before I open the video back up and finish watching it. I’m an exhibitionist to my core. I love fucking, and I’m not remotely ashamed of it. But I only enjoy it when everyone involved is consenting to watch and being watched. And having this video shipped out to hundreds of thousands of thirsty assholes who just want to tear the two of us apart and try to shame us? Not something I signed up for.
