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“Oh, man. You devil.” He chuckled. “I don’t think Tess ever suspected anything, but she did say that Kate was a little weird.”
“She’s not weird.” I resented the remark. “She’s the woman I love. You’re weird.” I picked up my pace to jog ahead of him, and he caught up.
“Hey, wait. Are you sure she wants anything serious? Didn’t you crush her heart last time? That’s not something some people easily forget. Women always remember their first loves and the asshole who broke their hearts.”
“Yeah, I think we’ve moved way past that. I mean, I have. I know I acted impulsively by leaving her behind the day after I asked her to go. I’ll ask for her forgiveness if I have to. Logistically, I know that our relationship could be a nightmare, but I’m willing to work through that if she is.”
Austin shook his head. “Then I guess I should say good luck. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I looked down to see it was my publicist, Carter Osha.
“Shit. I wonder what he wants. I can’t even enjoy a run.” I had too much on my mind to be entertaining him.
“You’re not running. You’re skipping like a little girl.”
I held up my middle finger as I hit the button to answer my phone. “Hey, Carter. What’s going on, man?”
The first thing I heard was a sound that I’d only heard Carter make when he was really on edge or hopped up on coke. “Where are you?”
“I’m running down my street, getting in a morning jog.”
“Skipping,” Austin muttered. “Frolicking like a fucking schoolgirl.” He dodged out of my way.
I gave him a hard look. He was always fucking around, and even though I’d dealt with him for years, it still drove me crazy. “Why, Carter? What’s going on?”
He made that stupid groaning sound again, and I nearly lost my shit. “We’ve got a shit storm on our hands. I would tell you to sit down, but you may want to come to my office.”
“I’ve got a busy schedule, Carter. Tell me what it is.” I wondered if the production money had fallen through. It had to be something like that, or else I’d have been off the phone already.
“I received an advance copy of the article that Arthur Scott releases later today. Remember the interview you did in the jungle?”
“Yeah. We talked about the movie. It went okay. Why?”
“It didn’t go as well as you think,” he said, still beating around the bush.
“And?” I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like what I heard next. I stopped in my tracks, and Austin stopped too, jogging in place. “Did he talk shit about Ben? The production? Surely, he’s not ragging on a movie that hasn’t come out yet?”
“No,” Carter said. “It’s worse than that. I don’t even know how to begin.”
“I’d suggest you just spill it. I’m getting sick of you beating around the bush.”
“Well, Arthur fucked you. There was no story about the movie. Instead, the article focused solely on you and your affair with that anthropologist consultant, Kate Bridges.”
My blood pumped so quickly, I could hear it thrumming in my ears. I was so angry. This was much worse than I’d expected to hear. “What? They didn’t talk about the film at all?”
“Oh, they mentioned the movie, called it Ben Malcolm’s Operation Amazon, but that’s it. The rest was about you and your rabid fan base. They called it Jake Storm’s Adventures in the Amazon.”
“He’s going to be pissed,” I said, pacing the ground around Austin, who was still jogging in place. “The only reason he allowed Arthur to come at all was so he could plug the movie and talk to the cast. You’re telling me he didn’t even do that much?”
“Yeah,” Carter said. “And too late. Ben’s livid. He got an advance copy too. I just got off the phone with him, and it doesn’t look good.”
“What did he suggest we do?” I had to find a way to make it right. Ben had put so much hard work into the film and so much trust in me. I didn’t want to let him down. There had to be something I could do. If I could only get ahold of Arthur.
“There is no way to stop this, Jake. It’s all out in the open. Now, you just have to do a bit of damage control.”
He was right. The two of us needed to make clear what was going on. I didn’t even know what the article said, but if anyone was upset, I already knew I had to set the record straight. “I’ll just talk to Kate, and we’ll work something out. I’m sure she’s just as upset as I am.”
“Yeah, I’d advise against it. She’s toxic, and Ben needs you to be the single playboy a bit longer.”
