“I know it wasn’t anything. I know you.” His certainty cuts through the panic slightly. “I’m not calling because I’m jealous. I’m calling because you’re getting destroyed online and I’m in St. Louis and I can’t fix it.”
The frustration in his voice does something to me.
“Have you read the comments?”
“Some.”
“Don’t read any more. Promise me.”
“Is this what people actually think of me?”
“Marnie.” His voice softens. “They’re brutal and you don’t need that on top of everything else. Promise me you’ll stop looking.”
“Okay. I promise.” My voice cracks. “Are you sure you’re not mad?”
“About Rodriguez? No. He’s no Romeo.” There’s humor in his voice. “I’m just sorry I’m not there.”
“One more day.”
“Feels like too long.” He pauses. “You know none of this matters, right? The photos, the comments, what strangers think. I know what happened. The team knows. That’s what matters.”
“What if Winters sees it?”
He’s quiet. Long enough that I know he’s thinking the same thing I am.
That this is ammunition. That Winters has been waiting for something exactly like this.
“Then we deal with it,” Roman says finally.
“He’s going to use this against me.”
“Probably.” His voice is careful. “But I don’t want you to worry about that right now.”
“Roman, what are you?—”
“Get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“What are you planning?”
“Just trust me. Okay?” His voice gentles. “And Marnie? Rodriguez said you were actually laughing tonight. Really laughing, not polite laughing. I’m glad. Even if someone ruined it.”
After we hang up, I sit in my parked car staring at my phone.
At the photo that’s everywhere now.
At the comments calling me unprofessional, a distraction, all the things Winters has been implying since I started.
And I know—with absolute certainty—that this isn’t over.
This is just giving Winters exactly what he needs to destroy me.
27
ROMAN
The photo’sbeen up for three hours and I’m still staring at it.
Marnie leaning back, mouth open, laughing. Rodriguez leaning toward her with that stupid grin, both of them looking relaxed and happy and intimate and suddenly I’m irrationally jealous even though I know logically that nothing happened.
