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“Yeah. So you get why we’re freaking out.” Rome reached for his coffee cup and gulped. “I can’t be a fucking punchline. We gotta fix this. I swear to god the next time I see my brother I’m punching him right in the middle of his arrogant fucking face.”
I chewed on my lip for a second, debating whether or not to say anything to make Rome’s morning even worse. “Um, not to throw gasoline on the fire or anything, but I’m getting texts and phone calls from people who definitely aren’t fans.”
“You’ve been doxxed?” Hope asked with a frown.
“What’s doxxed?” I asked.
Hope gestured with her cell. “Someone posted your contact info online for all the trolls to bombard with ugly messages and phone calls. Maybe even go by your apartment and terrorize your roommate.”
“Oh no.” I picked up my cell. “I should warn Molly.”
Daniel scoffed. “I imagine she already knows.”
“Great.” Rome buried his face in his hands and groaned before turning to Daniel. “See? This is what I’m talking about. This is a clusterfuck. I’ll be lucky if I get hired to make popcorn at the theaters at this point.”
“Let’s not freak out.” Hope raised her hands in a placating gesture. “This is fixable. Although I’d like to point out this is exactly what I’d been hoping to avoid when I told you not to do this.”
“How about we save the I told you so’s forafterthe crisis is over?” Rome sneered.
“Okay. It’s easy.” Hope nodded. “We just need to get the two of you out in public looking in love and happy.”
I licked my dry lips. “Uh…”
“No, I don’t think it’s as simple as that.” Rome crossed his arms over his chest. “If they follow us from the house, no one will believe it’s real.”
“I thought it was real,” I muttered, apparently to myself for all the attention anyone in the room gave me.
“It’ll look staged, and that’s the last thing we need right now. People have to believe that we’re really into each other and not just playing to the cameras.”
‘Playing to the cameras?’I thought we were done doing that. And why hadn’t he woken me up this morning? I thought we’d agreed to include me in these kinds of decisions.
Hope nodded slowly, deep in thought, then snapped her fingers. “Okay. Easy. We get a few decoy cars, lose the trailing paps, and then have one or two pop up and spoil an intimate picnic or something. Let me make a few phone calls.”
“Don’t use any of our contacts at The Babbler.” Rome snorted. “I don’t want to give those assholes a leg up after they did me so fucking dirty.”
“Wait, you have paparazzi on standby?” I blinked. “You call them yourselves?”
Rome froze, but it was Hope who answered me. “Sometimes. If we need to control the narrative.”
“’Control the narrative.’ Right.” I scoffed. “Did you call them on me? Did my entire life implode because you had to ‘control the narrative’?”
Everyone in the kitchen froze, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Rome. And the guilty expression that flitted across his face. It was there and gone. But I saw it.
Rome sighed heavily. “It didn’t go like that, exactly.”
“Fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Tell me howexactlyit went then.”
Jeff cleared his throat. “I’m just gonna—”
“I’ve got some calls to make.” Hope cut in before everyone cleared out of the kitchen.
Leaving me facing Rome.
Even Pongo was cowering under the table in the next room.
Rome took a step toward me. “Baby, I didn’t—”
“Don’t youbabyme, Rome.” I held up a hand, my whole body vibrating with my suppressed anger. “Tell me the truth. I deserve that much at least, don’t I? Have you been manipulating me since day one?”
