I couldn’t breathe.
My worst nightmare had become reality. The media had gotten a hold of the picture Bobby had littered around campus. Except now my humiliation wasn’t confined to a few thousand college students and teachers. This had spread across the internet. Anytime someone searched for Matt Easton, this would come up.
And where was Matt? I needed him by my side. I slumped back in my seat and stared at my phone, willing him to call. The screen remained blank and my palm hot and sweaty.
The ride to Matt’s seemed to be over in just a couple of minutes and, as the wooden gates opened, I craned my neck, hoping to see him in the driveway, waiting for me. But he wasn’t there. Was he even home?
I climbed out of the car and loitered as David took my bag from the trunk. I followed him as he unlocked the door to the house and placed my bag inside.
“Thanks so much, David.” I smiled, trying to pretend that Matt not being here to greet me was normal. Where was he? Was it possible that he hadn’t seen my picture on the internet?
David shut the door behind him and voices drifted in from the patio. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t been here before, but I still felt a little uncomfortable as I made my way through the living area and out onto the patio where Sinclair and Matt were seated around a large wooden table. Matt snapped his head around as the door clunked behind me.
“Lana!” Instead of the broad grin that normally lit up his face when he saw me, he drew his eyes together. I realized he knew. I’d been able to hold off the tears until then but realizing he’d known made it more real somehow. He strode toward me, leaving Sinclair at the table.
“Lana, thank God you’re here.” He cupped my face and I sagged against his hard, warm body. “I have some difficult news to share.”
He drew in a deep breath.
“There was a photographer at the airport,” I said. My voice was quiet. Why was Sinclair here? I wanted it to be just Matt and me. I didn’t want my pain to be public.
“Fuck,” Matt replied and pulled me against him. “I didn’t come to pick you up because I thought I might lead them to you. I’m so sorry. What did he say?”
“I saw the stuff on the internet. They have the picture of me.”
He nodded and pulled me closer. “Oh God, Lana. I wanted to be the one to tell you.”
Eventually, his grip on me loosened. “Sinclair’s here to help us deal with this,” he said and took my hand. We headed toward the table.
“It will all blow over in a couple of days.” Sinclair shrugged. “The less attention we give it the better. I keep telling Matt the same thing.”
“That’s easy for you to say, Sinclair,” Matt said, and I squeezed his hand, appreciating the support.
“My advice is still the same as it was two weeks ago. Ignore it,” Sinclair replied.
I looked up at Sinclair. “What do you mean two weeks ago? At Chateau Marmont? Surely this is different? I didn’t expect the press to get hold of these old pictures.”
Sinclair seemed to disregard me and stared at Matt. I glanced across at Matt and he was glaring at Sinclair. There was something they weren’t telling me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to get a lot worse.
Matt pushed his free hand through his hair. “We hoped it wouldn’t come to this.” My heart began to beat against my ribcage. I clearly wasn’t getting the whole story.
“You both need to tell me what’s going on.”
Matt sat back in his chair. “Can I get you a drink?”
I twisted in my seat so I was facing him. “No thank you. I just want to know what you mean by you hoped it wouldn’t come to this. Did you suspect that Bobby would leak the picture?”
Sinclair began to speak. “About two weeks ago, right after you went to Chateau Marmont, Bobby approached me with an offer. Your photograph, in exchange for a lot of money. He threatened to sell it to a tabloid if we didn’t agree.”
I tried to swallow but my throat was too tight. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. More betrayal by Bobby but this time on a far grander scale. How had I not realized he was such a worthless human being?
“Sinclair, why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. I turned to Matt. “Did you know about this?” It would be one thing if Bobby had contacted Sinclair and he’d handled it without saying anything to Matt, but another thing entirely if Matt had known and hadn’t said anything. But surely he wouldn’t do that to me.
He nodded. “Sinclair told me and I asked him to handle it. I’d hoped it would go away and you’d never have to find out about it.”
“You both knew and didn’t warn me?” I twisted my hand out of Matt’s. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How had Matt known about this and kept it from me? We were meant to be a team. I pushed my chair back from the table and put my head in my hands. My life was being managed by two people without me knowing anything about it. And the whole world had seen me naked.
Matt smoothed his hand across my back but I shrugged it off. I didn’t want him touching me. We’d spoken every day. How many times had he called me right after he’d been talking about me with Sinclair?
“Sinclair is really experienced at handling these kind of situations. It’s what I pay him for. It’s just that Bobby got impatient and went with an offer from that internet gossip site. Your ex is a real scumbag, Lana.”
“I know that. But I thought you were different.”
“Hey, I know you’re upset. We’ve been trying to make this situation better.” He tried to pull me onto his lap as he’d done a hundred times but I pushed against him with my fisted hands.
“No,” I snapped and he released me.
“We can handle this,” Matt said, stroking my hair. “Like Sinclair said, this is an old college photo. No one will remember in a week. And this is as bad as it will get. There’s nothing more to find. You’re over the worst of it now.”
“Over the worst of it? You don’t think I’ll live the rest of my life knowing there are stories on the internet calling me a porn star? I didn’t sign up for this shit. There’s no upside for me. You have a career and a bright future. What do I get for having my personal life exposed to the world?”
Bobby’s betrayal paled into insignificance compared to Matt keeping such important things from me. He didn’t understand why I was so upset. At him. “How could you have kept this from me? Why didn’t you tell me this was happening?” I scraped my fingers through my hair and looked at him.
“I wanted to protect you. We thought it would come to nothing. We thought we’d pay Bobby off and that would be the end of it.”
I slumped back in my chair. I’d never have thought Matt would be so secretive.