“Pot-ay-to, pot-ah-to.” Jason smirks.
Goddamn it. I’m too old for this middle-school bickering.
“Are you questioning my expertise? My ability to do my job,” Anna accuses, her eyes laser-focused on Jason.
“If the shoe fits,” he replies smugly.
For fuck’s sake.
“Knock it off, Jason. You know Anna’s the best in the business. Stop being an asshole,” I demand, unwilling to let Jason talk to Anna in this manner anymore. At some point, things between them need to get better, or something’s gotta give. I don’t want to lose either of them, but I can’t handle their constant arguing.
“Fine,” he mutters, staring at his phone once more.
“The post will go live at 3 p.m. Although we’re only releasing Kate’s first name, it won’t take the media very long until everything about her becomes public.” Anna focuses on Kate. “I recommend you stay off social media for a while. The first few days are always the most brutal. You don’t need to see that.”
Kate nods silently. Her entire body tenses; her panic rising. Anxiety about what will happen once this news is out. Comments that will be made. Anna and I have prepared her as much as possible for the onslaught, but you can’t really understand it until you live through it. And we’re t-minus five hours until the world knows I’m officially off the market.For good.
As soon as I climb onto the bus after soundcheck, I know something is wrong. Kate has a cream blanket around her shoulders, and she’s staring blankly at her phone like she’s shocked by what she’s seen or has received the worst news of her life.
“What’s going on, sweetheart?” I ask cautiously, unsure how to proceed and what exactly I’ve walked into.
“The post went live,” Kate whispers, her eyes still on her phone.
“Okay. Did something happen?” I glance at my phone to confirm I don’t have a missed call or text from Anna. Nope. What could be bothering her so much to warrant this reaction? She knew the post was going out, even approved the photos and the language.
Fuck. Is she having second thoughts about going public already?
I cross the small space, taking a seat on the couch next to her and wrapping my arm around her. She lets out a choked sob, leaning her body against mine as she cries. Panic rises within my chest, not knowing what is causing such turmoil. Worried I can’t do anything to stop it. Hearing her cry is the worst sound in the world. Every tear shatters my heart.
“I know what Anna said… She said not to do it, but I looked anyway.” Kate shakes against me.
“Looked at what, sweetheart?”
“The comments. Theyhateme, Jake.” She buries her face into my chest. “No one thinks I’m good enough for you.”
Oh fuck.
This is exactly why Anna didn’t want her on social media for the next few days. Anna’s team is usually on top of deleting the worst comments from my posts. But it can take time to weed through them, especially after an announcement like this one. There’s a fine line between allowing people to share their opinions and personal attacks. Anna has a zero-tolerance policy for the latter—blocking anyone who is a repeat offender. She’s always preaching that people can say whatever they want on their own page; however, when it comes to mine, that’s a different story. Something about how if you come into someone else’s house and shit on the floor, your ass gets kicked out.
I sigh, kissing the top of her head and pulling her closer. “First rule of this business: don’t read the comments.” I slowly stroke my fingers through her hair.
“Too late,” she replies.
“I can’t change what you saw, butwecan stop looking at them. People on the internet love to tear others down. For some reason, they think it’s okay to spew hate because they’re behind a screen. They would never say that to someone’s face,” I explain calmly, forcing my frustration about internet trolls into a box and throwing away the key, at least for today. “Nothing they say is true because none of them know you. Not the way I do. If anyone’s unworthy, it’s me.”
Kate exhales deeply, her trembling slowly subsiding as she tilts her head to look at me. “Don’t say that. You’re definitely worthy of me. No one has ever loved me the way you do.” Tears silently fall down her face.
Using my thumb, I wipe away her tears. “How about we agree we’rebothworthy ofeach other. Screw what anyone else has to say about it.”
Kate nods, curling closer to me and relaxing slightly.
While I may appear calm on the outside; I’m raging, aching to fight anyone who speaks negatively about Kate. Desperateto protect her from the hate. Terrified she’ll wake up one day and realize she can’t live this life. That our love isn’t worth the microscope she’s under by being with me.
And I’ll do everything in my power to prevent that from happening. No matter the cost.
CHAPTER TEN
kate
