“And I’m also sorry for bringing all this shit onto the team.”
Rhett laughed. “Son, we’ve had shit smeared all over us before.”
“I know, but this is more than a little wild partying and too many women, this is…” I didn’t even know how to finish the word.
Seemed like I didn’t need to, he simply nodded. “It’s ugly. What was done to your girlfriend—”
“Fiancée,” I corrected him, feeling an intense need to make my relationship with her clear.
He smiled. “Right. Fiancée. What was done to her was irreprehensible. My understanding from Katrina is that the man was a college boyfriend and she didn’t know she was being filmed.”
I nodded. “Correct.”
“I can’t even imagine her shock. Or yours.” He eyed me carefully. “I’d imagine you’re feeling about a million different emotions right now, and you’re not sure which one to land on.”
I lifted my glass. “You’d be right.”
Rhett exhaled a long breath and took another sip of his scotch. “I’ve escaped the altar a couple of times, once by the skin of my teeth. Don’t know that I’ll ever be the marrying kind. Don’t know if there’s a woman out there who could stand me long enough to find out.” He lifted a shoulder. “But I’m envious of what you men have. Calvin, Ace, Todd, and the rest. Now you.” He narrowed his eyes. “I’ve still not figured you out.”
“What’s there to figure?”
“I know your background. I know who your family is, yet you work hard every day on the field. Not that I’m complaining. That’s what I’m paying you for. That’s why I chose you, but you have to admit it’s a contradiction.”
I nodded. “I guess it is.”
“It’s also a contradiction for you to be fucking a porn queen one week and engaged the next, to a sweet, wholesome young thing to beat it all.”
Smiling, I thought of freckles and sweet tea.
“It’s a contradiction that you’ve known a woman for a couple weeks, yet you look like a love-struck fool right now.”
“So, are you saying I’m completely fucked in the head?”
He chuckled. “No, I’m not saying that at all. Love is messy. People are messy. And you need to know one thing. Whatever you decide to do, I’ll support you. Understand? If you think this girl is the one, then you bring her to the game tomorrow, and everyone on our team and staff will help protect her. You don’t let her hide away, you hear me? She wasn’t doing anything you or I haven’t done a thousand times. She just happened to be with a pig who is now probably cashing in on the news that she’s connected to you.”
“Yes, I thought about that.”
“Don’t be surprised if you don’t get some type of phone call or email saying they’ll destroy any other tapes for a million dollars or some shit.”
I puffed out a disgusted laugh. “Every now and again, I think about having a family and worry that some asshole would steal my kid for a ransom. It never even crossed my mind that I’d need to pay a ransom for something like this.”
“And it might not happen, just don’t be surprised. You getting the cops involved?”
“Private investigators for now.”
Rhett nodded. “That’s good. Track that bastard down and hang him up by the balls.”
I rose to my feet, feeling steadier after our talk. “Will do.”
“I’ll talk to Katrina. What’s happened to your fiancée has happened to a lot of young ladies. I remember reading about some laws that are being passed to stop revenge porn, I think they called it. It would require website and search engines to take those things down if requested. It’s a long way from solving the problem, but the subject is getting a lot of attention.”
Revenge porn. For some reason, the name itself made me uneasy. I liked the idea of simple greed better than revenge.
“Maybe what happened to… sorry, what’s your girl’s name?”
“Eliana.”
“Pretty name. Maybe through the Beasts’ PR machine, we can bring attention to revenge porn. The connection might help people have more sympathy toward Eliana, or at least not so much high-and-mighty hate. There will still be trolls, can’t avoid those, but maybe normal people will see the truth behind what happened.” Rhett looked far away in his thoughts. “Hell, I’m seeing a commercial out of this.”
I shook my head. “Does your business mind never quit?”
He chuckled. “Never. But think about it. There’s more than one way to rape a woman. Every eye that lands on that video is a rape, a violation. If we, through a commercial, could stop people from clicking, then it might reduce the number of uploads. Or at least help.”
More than one way to rape a woman.
Rhett was right.
That Winston asshole had almost raped Eliana once, although I’d never asked her about what happened. And now… two million prying eyes. The letches. The predators. The curious.
And where was I right now?
I know where I wasn’t. I wasn’t holding her, reassuring her that it was alright.
Punching the elevator down button, I felt an urgent need to go, to get back to her now.
“Thanks, Rhett. This has been a big help.”
“Anytime, Kane. Go take care of Eliana.”
The doors slid opened, and I jumped in.
“Don’t worry, sir. I will.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Eliana
After the door closed behind Kane, and after I was able to lift myself up off the floor, I stripped with the motions of a robot and stepped under the hot water, turning my face to the stream. Pouring shampoo in my hand, I washed my hair and scrubbed my scalp, wishing I could open up my head and scrub my brain too, washing the memories of the past few hours away.
I stayed there until the water turned cold and I was shivering. Stepping out, I dried off and pulled on a robe, wrapping my hair in a towel. At the door, I hesitated, unsure what I should do next.
Maybe I should just go.
I didn’t have many possessions anymore so it would be easy to pack up what I had. I could take off Kane’s grandmother’s ring and walk away from this ridiculous agreement. What had we been thinking anyway? Marrying after only two weeks of knowing each other, to make someone else happy?
But I’d been happy too.
Absurdly happy.
Like maybe-this-might-actually-work-forever-and-ever kind of happy.
Then a virtual bomb dropped. I still couldn’t wrap my head around it.
Why now?
It had been well over a year since I’d seen Brett Southerland. No email. No Twitter message. No text.
We hadn’t even parted in a horrible way. Sure, I’d been hurt when I learned he was screwing a cheerleader, but I hadn’t been in love with him, so it hadn’t been hard to walk away. There hadn’t been a fight. No big drama.
Now this?
Why?
Why the fucking why?
Feeling numb, not from the cold water, but from what I needed to do next, I stepped out of the bathroom and headed to the closet, pulling out a suitcase Kane’s mother purchased for me.