“We got her. I had some of my team escort her back into an empty suite with the rest of your family. She doesn’t know any of this is going on.”
I sagged against the wall and leaned down to put my hands on my knees, breathing hard. I allowed myself just a moment before pushing myself back up. “I’ll sue those bastards. What they said out there was libel. Eliana wouldn’t—”
“Kane, it’s true. I heard rumblings just as you all were finishing up the ninth.” Katrina stepped closer and placed a hand on my arm. “I went online and found the video. Unless Eliana has a twin, it’s her. And it is viral. It’s had nearly a million hits in just under an hour. This won’t be stopped.”
I stared at her. This couldn’t be true.
Covering my face with my hands, I scrubbed hard before pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes. “Is it bad?” I asked from that position.
The answer was soft. “Yeah, but it doesn’t appear that she knew she was being filmed. Kane… the man never showed his face, so we don’t know who he is or where the video originated from. I… I’m sorry. I really liked Eliana the couple times I met her. I was looking forward to working on a pets and vets program with her.”
“I want to see the video.”
No, that wasn’t true. I didn’t want to see it, I needed to see it. I needed to be able to look at the video and then tell everyone how stupid they were. No way in hell was that Eliana. They were all wrong.
With a deep sigh, Katrina pulled out her phone and tapped the screen a few times. She handed it to me, and my heart was beating like a sledgehammer in my chest. As the video loaded, I read the headline: “Beast of First Base Kane Steele’s Fiancée Caught Cheating.”
Then it was there.
A woman was naked on the bed, her breasts rocking on her chest as a man thrust in and out of her. She was gripping the sheets, her body arched in pleasure.
The lily-white skin.
The freckles.
The breasts just big enough to fill my hand.
Strawberry blonde hair.
Pert nose, full lips.
As I watched, the woman cried out as the man thrust harder, his hands holding her legs up over his arms. I couldn’t see his face, or even his head for that matter.
All I could see was her.
Eliana.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Eliana
“What is taking him so long?” Nana complained and wandered over to the glass to look out at the field. I had been wondering the same thing.
I looked at my phone. Only twenty minutes had passed. In prior games, Kane had wanted us to wait in the suite for him. He would deal with the press, get changed, and come find us.
But it did seem to be taking a little bit longer than normal. Now, it was only me, Zoe, Marsha, and Nana. Everyone else had already left.
Stepping over to the beverage bar, I pulled a bottle of tea from the ice. Twisting the top off, I took a long drink. Not nearly as good as Mamaw’s. Of course, nothing was as good as what Mamaw used to make. Biscuits and gravy, corn bread and fried potatoes, and blackberry cobbler that would make your tongue cry in appreciation. And sweet tea was always in the refrigerator, little lemon wedges precut in a bowl.
“Look, Kane is on TV,” Zoe said and pointed at one of the many large screens sprinkled around the room. She had been flipping through the channels as she waited, and I thought it was curious that he was on something other than ESPN.
“Turn it up,” I told her then groaned when the show cut to commercial. I watched a happy woman cleaning her toilet, and a happy woman walking along the beach, thrilled that she’d gotten her period. Another happy woman was feeding her happy children. The following commercial showed someone else feeding her happy cat.
“Geez, would you like a bit of news with your commercial,” Zoe muttered, and I nodded in agreement.
Finally, the show was back on. It was one of those entertainment news shows with a beautiful woman and a beautiful man facing the camera.
“Welcome back to E-Behind the Scenes where you’ll get the latest on the hottest celebrities,” the woman said.
The man jumped in. “And tonight, we have the hottest of the hot. The New York Beasts are new to the MLB, but they are making quite a reputation for themselves off the field.”
“That’s right, Jeff. And tonight, we have exclusive footage and breaking news about the beast of first base, Kane Steele.”
My stomach was churning. Oh no. Was this about the porn star? I glanced over to Marsha and Nana to see if they were watching. They were.
“Zoe, I think you should turn this off,” I whispered.
Just as Zoe raised the remote, a picture appeared on the screen behind the “news” anchors. I gasped, recognizing the person immediately.
Me.
But it wasn’t a picture I’d ever seen before. It was a close-up of my face, and I looked… orgasmic.
“Kane Steele was recently engaged to Eliana Anderson, daughter of former model and soap opera star Alize Montgomery. E-Behind the Scenes learned today that, even though the ring was only recently slipped on Miss Anderson’s finger, she has already been caught cheating on the baseball player.”
With some kind of computer magic, the image expanded, my face growing smaller as more and more of my body filled the screen. I jumped to my feet, the tea spilling to the floor.
“No,” I breathed.
But it was. By the time the picture stopped moving, it showed me lying on a bed, naked, although my breasts were blurred. My head was thrown back, my mouth open, my hands gripping the sheets as a man stood between my naked thighs, clearly having sex with me.
“Earlier today, a video of Miss Anderson hit the internet and has gone viral in a very short time.”
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t think.
“That’s right, Amy. This image was a screen grab from the video, and although we don’t yet know who Miss Anderson’s lover is, we’ll continue to get the scoop and report back with the latest.”
The woman flashed a brilliant smile. “You bet we will, Jeff, because we know you want to know what is happening behind the scenes. And in other news…”
My picture began to fade as they speculated as to whether a famous actress was just bloated or was sporting a baby bump. Although I heard each word, it was as if they were echoing around me from within a tunnel.
Gentle hands touched my arm. “Eliana, I’m so sorry.”
I couldn’t respond. Only stare.
Video.
Did they say there was a video? A viral video?
“Phone. I need my phone.”
On numb legs, I turned, my gaze landing first on a stricken Marsha, then on a stricken Nana before my eyes landed on my purse. Zoe seemed to break from her own paralysis and ran to my bag, scrounging through it for several seconds before coming up with my device.
“Are you sure you want to see this?” she asked in a low voice.