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That was so not her concern right now because William moved behind Reid, and every muscle in Lucy’s body went rigid.
His gaze went to the screen behind her.
He told her to assign the stories, not do them herself. She got that. But this wasn’t exactly a situation that could wait.
Still, his eyes flared. A little vein in his forehead throbbed.
She didn’t need to look to know her image was still there, where she’d paused it on the screen, the alligator smiling like a maniac in the background.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The blood in Lucy’s head thrummed. At that moment she wanted to run. Wanted to hide. Wanted to scream into the nearest pillow. Deep breaths. This was work. Only work, even if it hurt like a million needles under her fingernails.
The wheels on her chair squeaked as she shoved away from the desk.
“Reid, give us a minute.” Will jerked his head toward the hallway.
Reid, not an idiot, excused himself with a questioning glance at Lucy.
The heavy soundproofing on the walls of the editing bay seemed to close in on her. His voice and the word caterpillar echoed in her head. She shook it off. This was work. Not home. This was work and she’d done a damn good job for the station that afternoon.
She rallied her courage. “We got a tip and didn’t want the other stations or the newspaper to get the scoop. If I called a reporter from upstairs, they would’ve noticed. Reid and I got the story. The end.”
Kind of.
He pressed his lips together and gestured to the monitor. “Show me.”
Lucy scooted her chair closer, pushed a few buttons, and played the video for him. He didn’t relax, didn’t show any expression. Exactly one minute later, the story finished on the alligator’s funky smile.
Sheesh, not even a lip twitch.
“You had no alternative but to go behind my back?” he asked without expression.
Well, sure, of course she had other options. None of them were good ones. “This was the best choice.”
He remained silent.
She should probably lay it all out. Break all the news at once. Tear off the bandage in a single sweep. “There’s more.”
“You said ‘the end’ before. I’m understanding ‘the end’ is not ‘the end’?”
“Reid posted some of the video online, and it’s gone viral.” She spit the words out as fast as she could.
He rubbed at his forehead. “How viral?”
“I’m not sure there are levels of viral. I found out right before you came in. That’s all I know.” She nearly added, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.” She wasn’t particularly religious, but right now, a bit of divine intervention would be good.
“To be clear, I said not to do this exact thing because I don’t want anything to happen to you. And the video is now being viewed all over the world?”
She gnawed at her lip. “It would seem so.”
Eyes fixed on the monitor, William didn’t say a word. Like he was on the precipice of deciding if he was angry because she hadn’t listened, or pleased because his station got the scoop on a big story.
She continued, “Look, things happened today that ended up with me reporting a story. The video and the reporting, they’re good. I’m not saying that because I was involved. I’m saying it because the end result is amazing. I didn’t mean for my face to be all over the internet. I didn’t mean to upset you. I didn’t mean to have my picture turned into a meme.”
“What kind of meme?” Will broke his stare from the monitor back to her.
She grabbed her phone and brought up a browser. A few keywords entered into the search engine and yup— reporter Lucy, standing in front of the smiling Arnold Schwarzenegger alligator. This one said, “They told me I could be anything, so I became an… Investigator.” She handed the phone to him.
