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“Let me see.” Connor held his hand out for the phone.
Zac slapped it into his palm, then looked back at Cassie. “I’m sorry.”
Cassie gave a little head shake, her mouth too dry to speak.
Drew cleared his throat. “I think there are two ways we can play this. Ignore it and wait for the media to move on to something else, which, honestly, won’t take long. There’s really no story here. Or we get the label to make a statement that Cassie and Bryan broke up before this photo was taken and leave it at that.”
Lexie regarded Drew with a frown. “The problem with both those plans is that they’re fine for Zac—he’s a rock star. He can do whatever he wants, and no one cares. Cassie is the one being painted badly in this, and neither of those strategies does much for her. People will assume the worst, and even if the media attention goes away quickly, we already know industry word of mouth is going to tear her apart. And while it might help a bit having it out there that she wasn’t cheating on Bryan, it still doesn’t look great for her if she’s seen as jumping from Bryan’s bed to Zac’s. No one wants someone who’s going to cause problems on tour.”
Cassie slumped in her seat, her neck and skull throbbing with tension. “But that’s not what happened. Can’t we tell everyone it was just a kiss? Can’t we force them to print a retraction or something?”
“No.” Zac’s voice was flat.
She looked at him. “Why not?”
“They’re not interested in the truth. They won’t report it. If we make a statement, we’re on the defensive. They’ll smell blood in the water and be more interested.”
Drew nodded. “And we can’t sue and make them retract what they’ve written. It’s all insinuation. They never come right out and state anything as fact. Even the headline is a question, not a statement. It’s enough to do damage, not enough to hold up to a defamation suit. They know exactly how to walk the line.”
Anger and frustration flooded through Cassie. “So, there’s nothing I can do? One kiss that didn’t even mean anything and my career could be ruined?”
Zac’s eyes flashed to hers. “I’m not going to let what I did ruin your life.” His voice was low, tension vibrating through it. For a second, it distracted Cassie from the nausea in her stomach. She wasn’t sure why Zac was taking this so personally. Yes, he’d been the one to kiss her, but she hadn’t exactly pushed him away.
“There is another way we could play it.” Drew’s cautious tone made Cassie sit up straight. His gaze met hers, then swung to Zac. “I wouldn’t have suggested this a few years ago, but considering everyone else is in a serious relationship now, it will seem more believable.” Zac’s brows lowered, his jaw tightening as if he knew what his manager was going to say. “And since you’re usually so private about your dealings with women, I don’t think it will be questioned.”
Cassie looked between them. “Please tell me what you’re talking about.”
Drew’s hand rasped across the stubble on his chin. “The only thing we let slip to the media is you and Bryan weren’t together. Zac’s right. They don’t care about the truth, and it will just make them more interested. Instead, you and Zac act like you’re a couple. It won’t fix everything. But if you act as if you two have a genuine connection, you’ll look less like the bed-hopper they’re suggesting you are. Once the tour is over, and you have your next job lined up, the two of you quietly go your separate ways.”
A knot formed in Cassie’s chest. Why would Drew even suggest something so ridiculous? “Musicians get away with sleeping with people they work with on tour all the time,” she whispered.
Drew nodded his sympathy. “It’s a huge double standard—one I’m not condoning in any way. Rock stars are pretty much expected to screw around. But if women crew members are thought to be sleeping around with the musicians, they get labeled pretty quickly. And regardless of how unfair that is, it’s not something we want happening to you.”
Zac slumped back against his chair and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck,” he muttered again.
“I don’t want to do it,” Cassie said quickly, and everyone turned to look at her. She couldn’t meet Zac’s eyes. She didn’t want to see the relief shining there.
“Cassie—” Lexie started.
Cassie shook her head. “Can we just go with the option where we let everyone know Bryan and I had broken up before the photo was taken? At least it won’t look like I’m a…” She shook her head and swallowed hard.
“Are you sure that’s the way you want to play it?” Drew asked.
Cassie hesitated for a fraction of a second and was about to nod when Zac spoke. “No.”
Cassie met his gaze, frowning.
“It was my fault. You shouldn’t be the one to suffer the consequences.” His expression was unreadable.
She gave a humorless laugh. “There’s no way you want to pretend to be in love with me for the next few months.”
“We don’t have to be in love. Just together.” His voice was tight.
She didn’t know why that hurt. But it did. She shook her head but stopped when Zac leaned toward her.
“Cassie,” he said, more softly. “Let me make this right.”
For a few erratic beats of her heart, she forgot the others were there as she stared into his eyes. She almost thought she could see a plea in their beautiful hazel depths.
