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Without a thought, I crossed the deck, sat next to her on the chaise, and pulled her into my lap. My arms wrapped tight around her, I murmured, “I’m so sorry, baby.”
Briar’s breath wheezed. “Everyone saw us.Everyone. The whole world!”
“I know. I’m going to do everything I can to get them taken down. The initial websites have already removed them. And we’re going to sue their asses off.”
“You can’t put the genie back in the bottle! This is going to follow me for the rest of my life. Morality clauses are still a thing in private education. Pretty sure it was in my contract with the nanny firm too. I might not be able to work with kids again. I just…I don’t…” Whatever else she said was lost in the sobs shaking her body.
I hadn’t felt so powerless since Zoe was born. I wanted to fix it, but I couldn’t.
I just held her tight in my lap and wished like hell this wasn’t happening. That someone I’d believed in hadn’t violated that trust. I really wanted to fuck up that son of a bitch. But I couldn’t. I was too busy trying to hold Briar together.
After a few minutes, her sobs quieted into shuddering sighs. I kept rubbing a hand along her back. Things might be beyond fucked up, but somehow having Briar in my arms helped me feel a tiny bit better. Though even that was fleeting. I had to be on set soon.
“I, uh, I hate to say this, but I need to go into the studio. It’s my last day of filming. But after today, I’ll be here. We’ll figure it out, Briar. I promise.”
She gave a sad smile. “Yeah, okay.”
“But, um, as far as today goes, I don’t think you or Zoe should leave the house. You two should stay home and keep Mak close by. I’d feel better knowing my girls are safe.”
Briar snorted. “I’m not exactly eager to face the leeches right now anyway.”
“Good.” I pressed a quick kiss to her sweet lips. “You and Zoe have fun today. Maybe have her draw a picture for me? I need some new art on my office walls.”
Briar laughed softly. “I think she’d be thrilled to do that.”
Despite her laughter, shadows still lurked in her eyes.
I gave her another quick kiss, and then did the last thing I wanted to do.
I left her on the chaise chair and walked away.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Briar
You know that dream where you walk into class, and everyone is staring at you? And you look down to see you’re naked?
This was a million times worse.
For one, this was real life and not a dream. And two, not only did everyone see me naked, they saw pictures of me having sex. I didn’t know how I was going to get through today. All I wanted to do was dive into my bed, pull the covers over my head, and hide until all this was over and everyone forgot about little ole me.
But that wasn’t life. I still had a job to do and a little girl counting on me.
I stood up from the chaise lounge on the back deck where King had left me. Grabbing my cell phone on the end of the bench, I looked at the time. I had about thirty minutes before Zoe would be up.
I tried like hell to ignore the text and phone calls blowing up my phone, but a few leaked into my consciousness.
Amber Adams: Cannot believe you hooked up with Kingston Grier! How the hell did that happen? Call me! I want details!!
Chantal Stephenson: You’re with Kingston Grier? Wow! Lucky bitch. Call me! Haven’t talked to you in forever.
I couldn’t even remember who Chantal was. And as for Amber, I don’t think I’d talked to her since high school.
Thank god I’d deleted all my social media. I couldn’t imagine what the comments were like on social media and the sites that’d posted the pictures. I didn’t want to even think about it. I already felt like crap anyway. Doubtful they could make me feel any worse, but I wasn’t going to search them out. At least I wasn’t getting notifications with all that ugliness in my face.
Resolved, I turned and headed for the back door when my phone vibrated in my hand. I couldn’t deal with this anymore. Holding up my phone to power it off, I saw on the display who was calling.
Lyla Armstrong
