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“I don’t know. I made her turn her phone off last night but… shit.”
Chase winced. “We’ve been following this story closely to make sure Black Light hasn’t actually been identified by the public and there are some, well, some downright shitty things being said about your woman.”
“Goddammit. Why didn’t she just talk to me?”
“Normally I would suggest tracking her down and making her talk, but unfortunately we’re up against the wall here, Austin.” Glancing down at his watch, Jaxson grimaced. “We need to talk strategy before your press conference. We’ll be there, of course, in case one of those vultures has managed to dig up anything about Black Light.”
As much as he wanted to do exactly as Jaxson had said and drive straight over to Kit’s house to force her to talk to him, damage control was the more pressing need.
“All right. What do you need from me?”
Chapter 28
Katherine
She didn’t go home. Couldn’t bring herself to sit on the couch where Austin had first spanked her, sleep in the bed where they’d first made love.
The front door of her childhood home opened before she’d even parked her car, which meant he’d been waiting for her. And the second his arms wrapped around her, she broke.
Without a word, her dad ushered her inside to the living room where he gently nudged her into her chair. “I’ll be right back, pumpkin.”
A few moments later, a wad of tissues was pressed into her hand and his arm was around her shoulder again. They sat in silence, with him rocking her gently side to side until her sobs quieted. Kit let out a deep, shuddering breath and blew her nose loudly before looking up at him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall apart like that.”
“Figure you needed it. When Austin called last night, I —”
“Austin called you?” she interrupted, guilt making her stomach churn all over again. She should have called, should have been the one to talk to her dad, but she’d been too busy wallowing in her own feelings to even consider it.
“Yeah. He wanted to give me a heads up about the interview.”
“Oh, god.” Groaning, she dropped her head into her hands. “This couldn’t possibly get any worse.”
“Sure it could. They coulda caught you two in the act.”
“Dad!” A laugh burst out of her, surprising her. Maybe it was dramatic, but it seemed wrong to be laughing when her entire life was falling apart.
“I’m just saying. Gossip will eventually go away but pictures are forever.”
“You’re being surprisingly cool about this. Shouldn’t you be threatening to string Austin up by his balls or something?”
“Got that out of my system last night.” His mouth twisted up in a pained grimace, as though the conversation had left a bad taste in his mouth. “Can’t say I was excited to learn so much about your, uh, personal life but that’s between you and him. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. And that’s really as much as I want to say about it.”
“Iwashappy.” The tears started over again and she pressed her face against his side.
“This will all blow over soon, pumpkin. And then everything will get back to normal.”
“No, it won’t. I broke up with Austin.”
“Well why would you go and do a thing like that?”
“Because I can’t do this, dad. I’m not strong enough.”
“Well that’s a load of bullshit.”
The ferocity of his tone surprised her and she pulled away enough to glare up at him. “You didn’t read the things people are saying about me.”
“People are always gonna say shit, pumpkin. You really gonna let that steal your happiness?”
Sighing, she scrubbed a hand over her face. “It’s not that simple. Can I stay here for a few days, until this starts to blow over? I don’t want to go back to my place just yet.”
