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“Unless he’s drinking,” Tim muttered. “All reason goes out the window the moment he gets drunk enough.”
“I’ve never gotten in a fight before.”
“Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything,” Genna snapped at me, her eyes alight with irritation as they met mine. “And tonight, you propose, so you better not act too hungover at the wedding. Take what you need to deal with it.”
“Yeah, okay.” My eyes fell to the tabletop as Lena stifled a giggle.
She would think this is all funny.
“So, what should the statement from him be?” Tim’s voice picked up. “I think we should use the fact that he was defending poor commentary about his girlfriend. It’ll soften the blow. A lot of his fans will admire the fact that he stood up for her.”
“I agree,” Sam added.
“And the NDA covered that the man he punched cannot release any other statements, correct? It covers us handling the narrative?” Genna’s focus was now on Sam, thankfully.
“Of course. Just like always.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “Then we need to get going with this statement. I think it should come straight from Jackson himself. No videos or anything. We’ll just do a social media post and that should clear the air. It’ll also set the stage for the proposal. I think you should have something about that in your speech.”
I made a face. “What? Why?”
“Because it makes it romantic that you stood up for me.” Lena’s voice was timid as she spoke. “It shows that you really care.”
My stomach flipped and I eyed her. “It was just some dumb comment. I don’t know why I knocked him out.”
“He said, and I quote,” Sam began, suddenly feeling the need to give details, apparently. “I said something about how hot his new girl was and that was as far as I got before he knocked me the fuck out.”
Lena giggled.
Genna let out a heavy sigh.
And Sam met my gaze with pure amusement.
“He must’ve said more than that,” I reasoned, ignoring Lena’s continuous snickering beside me.
“Nope,” Sam chuckled. “Nel, Aaron, and Tyson were able to back the guy up. He told you Lena was hot, and you punched him.”
“What an idiot,” I muttered, mostly talking about myself.
“No sense in continuing to harp on it,” Genna said, frowning. “Let’s get this statement written up. It’s a good thing Lena’s social media presence is just about nonexistent.” She shifted her attention beside me. “Don’t accept any new followers. You never can tell the fans from the haters—or know if they’re media, out to sniff around. You don’t want to accidentally let the wrong person see anything.”
“Okay, no problem.”
“And don’t read anything you see come out,” Tim added. “They’ll spin shit however they want to.”
I eyed Lena, her face showing signs of stress. Damn, I really am bringing her right into the middle of my life—and right under the bullseye of the media. A pang of guilt hit my chest, but then I reminded myself that she’s not without compensation. She was being paid very well.
“I’ll plug in your phone so you can leave the statement.” Sam held out his hand and I gave him my phone, figuring it was time to face whatever had come through anyway.
Thirty minutes and some BC Powder later, I finished typing out the statement and we all stood to leave. My head was still pounding, but at least I could now go home and take a nap.
“You’re going to drop Lena off at her house on the drive back to your place,” Genna instructed me. “It’ll look better if anyone is tailing you.”
“I don’t want people to know where I live.”
“Well, too late for that,” Genna quipped. “I’ll have a bodyguard sent over later.”
“Great,” Lena muttered, her shoulders falling as she followed me out of the room. She didn’t say anything else to me as we made our way out of the building to the Tahoe still parked outside. The driver opened the door, and I let her slide in first, crawling in beside her.
