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The reporter hit a bunch of buttons on his camera and turned the screen toward her to show her he’d deleted the pictures. Satisfied her son’s photo was no longer on the camera, she turned and walked back toward her family.
“Psycho,” the cameraman yelled at her back.
Kia bristled briefly at the insult, then looked at her son. Fear had leached all the color from his normally tanned skin. She glanced over her shoulder at the cameraman one more time. He hadn’t even begun to see what she could be like if he messed with her kid.
She scooped Max up, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Why did he do that, Mommy?”
“I don’t know, baby. But you did the right thing screaming to get my attention and running to me. Exactly the right thing. I’m really proud of you.”
Max nuzzled into her neck as they walked across the field. “I’m proud of you too. I can’t wait to tell dad.”
Kia’s stomach dropped. That was the last thing she wanted to do. “Let’s get out of here.”
For the first time in his life, he was glad spring training was over. When the team’s PR person, Kirsty, had shown him a video of Kia dropping a reporter today, it was all he’d been able to do not to leave the game and rush home immediately. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.
Thankfully, Pete had offered to drive his truck home tomorrow with all his stuff, so he’d been able to catch a flight home instead. As the Uber driver pulled up to Kia’s front door, Jeff glanced at his watch. 9:40 pm. Max would already be in bed, but Kia would still be up. Even if she wasn’t, there was no way he was waiting until tomorrow to talk to her.
Conscious of Max sleeping, he knocked quietly on Kia’s front door. Bouncing anxiously on her front step while he waited for her to answer, he was tempted to use the key she’d given him. But given the fact she’d been avoiding his calls and not answering his texts, he didn’t figure that would go over well.
As he raised his hand to knock again, Kia pulled open the front door. With a resigned sigh, she pulled the door open further, turned on her heel and walked inside. That was not the welcome home he’d been hoping for. Shit.
Following Kia into the living room, he noted the half empty glass of wine on the coffee table.
“I guess you saw the video,” Kia said as she dropped onto the sofa. She pulled the blanket up over her lap and covered her body like a shield.
His stomach knotted with dread. This wasn’t the Kia he was used to seeing. This wasn’t the warrior he’d seen in the video. This woman looked broken. Defeated. He hated he had anything to do with this.
“Yeah, I saw it.” He stepped toward her. Kia’s body tensed, and she wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them tight. Her body language made it perfectly clear to him that touching her was not an option. “You looked pretty badass in the video.”
“Gee thanks,” she muttered. Sadness clouded her eyes as she looked up at him. “I shouldn’t have to be a badass at the playground, Jeff.”
“No, you shouldn’t.” He rocked back on his heels. “I’m so sorry.”
“This isn’t blowing over.”
“It will,” he tried to reassure her, but honestly, given what Kirsty had said today, he didn’t know if this would blow over anytime soon. As amazing as it was to know Kia could defend Max, the fact she’d taken a reporter to his knees had just fueled the trolls online. Some people thought it was great, of course, but a very vocal few seemed to think she was a danger to society. Which was complete bullshit, but he couldn’t stop people from saying what they wanted online.
“This isn’t working.” She nervously chewed her bottom lip. “I have to think of Max.”
Needing to touch her, to be close to her, he crouched on the floor in front of her and reached out his hand. “Baby, I get that you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared. This isn’t about me. This is about Max.” She pulled away. “They chased him with cameras.”
Anger bubbled up inside him. “I know.”
“Do you?” She gritted out the words through clenched teeth. “Do you have any idea what that felt like? For me? For him?”
“I can imagine.”
She bristled. “Well, I was there, and it was terrifying. I have never felt anger like that in my life, Jeff. I wanted to kill that guy for scaring Max. The playground is supposed to be safe for kids. How is it safe when you have some person lurking around taking pictures of your child like a fucking pervert?”
“He wasn’t taking pervy pictures, Kia.”
“Not the point,” she snapped. “He took pictures of my kid without my consent. He chased him. What would have happened if I hadn’t been there? If Vika had just been with the kids at the park alone? That’s unacceptable, Jeff.”
“I know.” He knew. He just wasn’t sure how to stop it. Being in the public eye, there was always an expected amount of media attention, granted not usually the tabloids, but it kind of went with the job. “It’ll get better.”
“And what if it doesn’t?”
