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“Oh, I can’t? Maybe it would bugyouif you were the one being made out to be a whore.”
“What?”
“Did you not see the pictures?”
Mack shook his head.
“Scroll down.”
He obeyed and the pictures started popping up. Somebody had been following them the past couple of days. Crested Butte was a great vacation spot, there were probably other famous people here and these scummy paparazzi had followed them and found Mack and Sariah. Mack didn’t think he was notorious enough to have someone tailing him, but his family was. Had he brought this on Sariah? His stomach filled with dread.
There were pictures of them at dinner, walking hand in hand along the quaint main street of town, and several pictures of them walking into their room, one with Sariah tugging on his arm, grinning up at him, with a caption, “Sariah Udy obviously can’t wait to sleep her way out of poverty.” Then there were the pics of them in the hot tub. Mack’s arm was around her shoulder, but her neck and right ear were clearly visible. Below the picture was a caption, “Maybe Mack Quinn doesn’t mind a deformed girlfriend, as long as she puts out.” He winced. Why were these magazines so harsh and crude? Probably to bring attention and sell ads.
He handed the phone back to Sariah. “I’m sorry that happened. I’ll have my agent contact the magazine and take the article down. It’s obvious slander.”
She glowered at him. “It’s all over the internet, Mack. Are you going to fight them all for me? Are you going to protect me from other pictures being taken?”
“Of course, I will.” He caught her hand. “Sariah, I’m serious about how much I love you. These lying articles don’t matter to me.”
“Well, they matter to me.” She pulled her hand back. “And I want the truth from you right now.”
“Okay.” What truth?
“I couldn’t get over it last night, how great you reacted to seeing my deformity. How kind you were. Then it hit me.”
His stomach sank as she stared pointedly at him, crossing her arms over her chest. “You already knew.”
He clenched his fists. Dang Griff and Navy. The only option now was through. “I was going to tell you, but I wanted you to trust me, to share with me.”
“You know how important trust is to me.” She seemed to shrivel before him as she tucked her hair around her neck. She backed up a step. “And I definitely don’t trust you now.”
“Sariah, please.” He held up a hand. “I didn’t go looking for it. My brother sent me some pictures.”
Her eyes widened. “Thepictures?” her voice squeaked.
He nodded. “The ones where somebody is holding you.”
Her face blanched and she backed up again.
“Please, Sariah,” he said again. There were so many arguments and explanations he wanted to make, but she had to trust him, she just did.
“How long ago did you see them?”
“A week,” he admitted.
Her eyes were full of accusations. “And you didn’t say anything to me?”
“What did you want me to say?” He tried to not be frustrated, but he was scared this wouldn’t end well and he didn’t know how to make it better. All he knew was he couldn’t lose her. He’d tried his very best to get her to trust him and now he’d muddled it up. “From the first day at your school I knew something was wrong, how could I not? I’ve been waiting the past couple of months for you to trust me and show me. I didn’t want to just force it out of you.”
She shook her head, obviously not listening. “You should’ve told me you saw those pictures. And now this.” She held up her phone. “I thought I could trust you.”
“Trust goes both ways, Sariah,” he tried to say it gently but he needed to say it. “You’ve never trusted me with your secrets, so how could I gain your trust without you granting it?”
“I tried to grant it last night,” she yelled at him. “And now I’ve been exposed again. I thought you loved me, but you’re just going to hurt me like Tyler and Denise did.” Whirling from him, she ran through the hotel room, grabbed her purse, and slammed out the door.
Mack followed her. She rushed for the staircase and banged through that door, racing down the stairs.
“Sariah, wait.” He didn’t have a shirt or socks or shoes on and he didn’t have a wallet, but he had to catch her. The grips on the stairs dug into his feet but he ignored it and pumped down the stairs after her.
