Across the table, Angel shakes her head. I can barely breathe.
Anthony lays his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “This magazine will hit newsstands in a couple of hours, and yes, it looks bad, but we’re not here to judge. We’re here to go into damage control.”
Mary gives Liam a disapproving glare. “What the hell were you thinking, sunshine?”
He doesn’t look at her. “I wasn’t.”
“Who is this girl?” Marco asks. “Will she be an ongoing issue?”
“No.” Liam’s face is hard. “She’s just some chick I met in a bar. I was drunk. I did something stupid. It won’t happen again.”
Heat engulfs my face as bile rises in my throat.
Opposite me, Anthony crosses his arms. “Liam and I have spoken about this in detail, and he assures me it was just a drunken kiss that meant nothing. He wants to put it behind him and move on.”
I swallow down another bout of nausea. It wouldn’t hurt so much if I didn’t suspect it was the truth. I flip the magazine open to the story inside. There are more pictures. My legs wrapped around Liam. His hands on my breasts. My fingers gripping his hair. Seeing it like this, it seems so seedy.
“The first thing we do,” Anthony continues, “is make sure everyone is clear on the narrative. No one but Mary and I speaks to the media. If we stand strong and united, we’ll weather this storm. The woman in these pictures is unidentified, but to America, she’s simply a cheap tramp who seduced a famous movie star in the hope of getting her fifteen minutes of fame. Are we clear?”
Everyone nods, even Liam. He’s staring down at the table, fists clenched, jaw tight. He can’t even look at me.
Angel is also looking at the table. She seems shell-shocked. I curl my fingers into my palms until I feel the sting of my fingernails. So Liam didn’t tell her about us and she still gets her heart ripped out? What the fuck is happening right now?
“How can we be sure she won’t talk?” Mary asks. “Liam, if you give us her name, we can work out some sort of deal to keep her quiet.”
“No,” Liam says, roughly. “She’s not interested in any of that.”
“How do you know? We can draw up a confidentiality agreement. Legally gag her.”
Liam shakes his head. “I can barely remember her face, Mary, let alone her name.” Now he glances at me. “She won’t come forward. Trust me.”
I clench my jaw to stop from screaming at him. “Trust me”? Never again, asshole.
“The woman isn’t part of our strategy,” Anthony says. “In a few hours the media frenzy will have reached fever pitch, so we’ll need Angeliam to go on television and make a joint statement.” Anthony passes Liam a printed speech. “Liam, you’re going to say you suffered a moment of weakness. You were nervous about the wedding, but you love your fiancée and deeply regret hurting her in any way. You will be on the verge of tears the whole time and hold your fiancée’s hand like it’s made of precious crystal, understand? Angel, you will stand beside your man and support him. When he’s finished, you will hug him and whisper words of forgiveness. We will manage this disaster with the military precision of the goddamn National Guard. Don’t forget, there’s no scandal so bad it can’t be spun into something good. Except of course if you murder someone or get caught kicking puppies, in which case, you’re screwed. But short of that, anything can be turned into promotional gold. We’ll get through this.”
He keeps talking. Mary chimes in with her opinion. When Marco worries that the backers for the show will pull out, Mary reassures him that this kind of viral exposure will triple ticket sales.
I just keep staring at the pictures and try not to let everyone see how my emotions are strangling me.
So, all that talk about being with me was bullshit. Why do I even bother hoping anymore? It’s pointless.
Here I was dreaming about being Liam’s girlfriend. Instead, I’m a regret. A stupid, nameless, shameful mistake.
“For the love of God, we blocked this last week!” Marco glares at the actors. “Why the hell are you all in the wrong positions?! Where are your brains, people?”
Since the meeting, everyone’s been on edge. The rest of the cast found out about the scandal when the magazine hit the streets an hour ago, and we’ve been bombarded by phone calls and weeping fans ever since. Down in the street, I can still hear them wailing in disbelief.
“They can’t end like this! Their love is eternal! I can’t believe Liam would do that. The slut must have made him.”
I grind my teeth, and Josh gently touches my leg beneath the table. “This will blow over. Just give it time.”
I nod tightly and write notes on my script. “Yep.”