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She made an irritated sound, followed by the clucking of her tongue. “No, you couldn’t have. Because if you had, you wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
“Stop!” I shouted. “Just stop for one second. Listen to yourself.”
“It’s you who needs to listen to me. Did you even see the pictures this morning?”
This was news to me and got me to take a breath.
“What pictures?” I pulled up a search engine and started frantically typing my name in an image search.
“They’re grainy, but it’s you. In some alleyway. Kissing your new”—she shrugged her shoulders—“whatever she is.”
The pictures immediately flooded my desktop screen. They weren’t clear, like Mother had said, but you could definitely tell that it was me. And since we’d already made a public outing the other night, you could tell it was Sutton as well.
I put a hand up. “Okay, hold on a second,” I said before gathering my thoughts. “You were the one who was going to set me up with random strangers in the first place if I didn’t bring a date to Social Month, remember?”
“Yes, and your point?”
“You didn’t care about the press destroying those women’s lives? You only care about them messing with Sutton’s? Why is that? Do you not think she’s good enough for me or something?” I felt myself getting extremely defensive. If my mom was about to tell me that I shouldn’t be with Sutton, I was going to lose it.
“Whomever I planned on setting you up with already lives in the public eye. The press would be nothing new to her. She is equipped to handle what being seen with you would mean. Sutton has no idea. She isn’t ready. Have you checked in on her this morning? They basically printed her biography in thePost.”
I slammed my fist on top of my desk in anger. I felt out of control and like I was failing Sutton somehow by not protecting her the way I’d promised her I would.
“Calm down, Joseph,” my mother warned as she moved toward the door and pulled it open. She knew that doing that would ensure that Kayla overheard what she said next.
“I suggest you stop this charade and give Sutton some semblance of peace. They’ll leave her alone if you end things now. There’s still time to save her from the fire you’ve thrown her in.” She turned her back to me but continued talking loud enough for me to hear. “I’m sure you agree, don’t you, Kayla?”
I wanted to rip my fucking hair out, but Kayla came in and filled the space my mother had just left behind.
“Did you see what thePostwrote?” Her eyes were glossy, and I wondered if she’d been crying.
“No. What happened?” I pushed out from my desk and stalked toward my assistant.
“They posted about her scars. They found out about her being burned,” Kayla said, her head shaking like she was disgusted.
“How?” I asked before realizing that this was exactly what my mother was talking about.
The press loved to dig up the past, and they’d stop at nothing until they found a topic so sensational that they could profit off of it or at least get more views.
“I don’t know. This is all my fault,” she said before sitting down on my couch and putting her face in her hands.
“This isn’t your fault. It’s mine.”
She looked up at me, disappointment and pain written all over her face. “But I set you two up. I suggested that you date her, and I pushed her into it. I wouldn’t let her say no. I didn’t even think about this part.”
Neither had I, but I didn’t want to admit to being so naive and stupid to Kayla. I was typically smarter than this, had all my ducks in a row and wasn’t easily fooled.
“Is Sutton okay? Do you know? Have you talked to her?”
“Only for a second this morning. I don’t think she’s in a good place,” she said.
I started grinding my teeth, wanting to destroy each and every person who’d had a hand in hurting her.
“Push my meetings,” I bit out. “I need to make sure she’s all right.”
“You actually care about her,” Kayla said as if the realization had just hit her.
“I do,” I admitted before grabbing my keys and leaving the office, thankful that I’d decided to drive into work this morning instead of arranging for a car.
