“Ugh. What the fuck? ‘Alex Chase’s Dominatrix Girlfriend Goes On Bender’,” she read. She told me the other headlines as she scrolled through everything we’d missed while we’d been away. I felt guilty I’d brought her into this messy world even though she’d chosen it.
I smiled wryly and shook my head. “I warned you not to do that.”
“Yeah, well. I’m apparently not good at following instructions.”
I fed her a bite of omelet. “I wouldn’t say that. You followed instructions perfectly last night.” The look she gave me was pure lust. “And Asha has it under control. Look.”
I turned my phone towards her and hit play on a video that showed us emerging into the crush of photographers. I looked relaxed even though I hadn’t been, patiently working my way through the crowd behind security. In the video, Elena froze like the proverbial deer in the headlights, immediately getting surrounded and overwhelmed.
It was a rookie mistake to get separated from security like that, but she was in fact a rookie, which was easy to forget because she always seemed to know what she was doing. I should’ve insisted on another exit or been more focused on staying with her. I’d thought the brunt of it would be directed at me, but they’d wanted a reaction out of her.
It was hard to watch when they got in her face and she fell, looking scared. In the video, you could see the second I realized she wasn’t behind me anymore. I charged back through the crowd, bodily moving anyone who didn’t get out of the way, still looking deathly calm, but in reality I’d been frantic to get to her.
She groaned. “I look like a dipshit and you look like some kind of fucking action hero. Holy hell, it’s so swoony when you scoop me into your arms that if I hadn’t lived it, I would’ve said it was staged. Maybe tone it down a little next time, Fabio.”
She was giving me shit, but she nuzzled into me adorably as she said it, so I didn’t mind one bit.
Asha had bookedus as guests onThe Zuri Show, the most popular daytime talk show, which was hosted by Zuri Michaels, a woman I deeply respected and knew would be on our side. It was the best-case scenario for setting the record straight and taking back control of the message that was reaching the public.
I was hyper conscious of the way people were reacting to me when we got to the studio lot and were escorted back to a dressing room where we could hang out while they were getting ready for us. I usually tried to ignore the deference and stares, but I could see Elena watching people closely and it made me feel kind of weird about it all. She’d gotten to see how normal things could be between us when we were camping and I didn’t want her to lose sight of that again.
While we sat there waiting for a producer to check in, we could hear what sounded like a reality TV starlet through the wall bitching to someone on the phone about everything under the sun.
It reminded me to mention, “Watch what you say when we’re here. The walls are paper thin between dressing rooms, and you never know who’s sitting next door listening. Once you’re micced, it could be live without you realizing it, so anything can be picked up.”
“Noted.” She smirked. “So what you’re saying is I shouldn’t mention your fetish for slugs until we get back home?”
“Letting you go on TV is a bad plan, isn’t it? At least it isn’t live,” I mumbled.
Hair and makeup came in, the sound guy got us set up with mics, and a producer came to run through what we would be talking about and to make sure we knew what to expect. They were staying away from discussion of the VP video, but we’d address everything else head-on.
I’d gone through this song and dance so many times now promoting films, but it was the first time I’d been addressing something this intensely personal. Elena looked as in her element as she always did, but she was tense.
When we were finally alone again, she spun in a circle, making her dress flare out. “Am I camera ready?”
“You look stunning.”
She did look great, but my attraction to her went so far beyond that. I was addicted to that playful look in her eyes and the way she tilted her chin when she wanted to challenge me. The intense expression she got when she was studying people and the unselfconscious way she demanded pleasure. It had taken weeks just to feel like she was giving me a glimpse of who she really was and I wanted the rest, dammit.
She brushed off my compliment like I’d known she would. “I really need to convince V that we should hire hair and makeup for the dungeon dressing room because I could get used to this.”
“It’s not the hair and makeup that makes you stunning.” I reached for her, but she evaded my grasp, waving her hands at her hair and lapel mic.
We were escorted down to the green room to sit until they were ready for us. Elena looked pale, and it was the first time I’d ever seen her fidgeting while we sat and listened to the faint sounds of them warming the audience up.
“Don’t tell me the unflappable Lady Elena isnervous…” I said.
“Fuck off.”
“Do I need to clean your mouth out before we go on camera? I don’t have any soap, but I can think of something else I could shove in there.” Her eyes flared with interest when I stroked my thumb along her bottom lip, but she quickly pushed my hand away. I was trying to distract her, but it wasn’t working.
She said, “Forgive me for being less than excited about going on national television to replay my humiliation for all the world to see.”
I tried to think back to my first national TV appearance, but I’d been too excited to be nervous. I thrived in front of an audience. Entertaining people was fundamental to who I was. That story wasn’t going to help since it was so different, but maybe I could make her laugh.
“See, now you’re framing it wrong.” I took her hand. It had been an instinctive move, but once I’d done it, I waited for her to pull away. Instead, she gripped my hand tighter. “We’re not going to replay your humiliation. We’re replaying my heroism. It’s not about you.”
She exhaled a laugh, and it wasn’t much, but she smiled up at me. “How do you deal with this all the time?”
