forty-four
I do the interview.
On the way to the conference room, random people want to grab me, it’s a nightmare. I can’t smile, but I do shake their hands and give them autographs. They don’t notice anything wrong with me.
I go on the record, in front of hundreds of flashing cameras and microphones, and lie about Eden and me. I just straight out lie. I say she is nothing to me, never was. It was all rumors.
I do it with a straight face. No trembling of my voice. No trembling of anything. I say it like it’s the truth.
“Kindly give up talking about her in relation to my name,” I say. “I have to protect myself, and things can get real illegal real quickly, don’t you agree?”
I smile amiably, but they look afraid for the first time. Good, that was my purpose. Enough of them realize that the smile on my face is that of a wolf, ready to pounce. Just try and cross me. See what happens.
I hear a few sniggers here and there, but most of them are frozen, staring at me. Some of them are getting terrified, and I know why. The look on my face goes back to pure menace. Etched in stone. Expressionless.
“Besides,” I add. “It’s got nothing to do with me.”
I lower my head close to the mic and enunciate:
“There is no relationship with that person and me. Never has been, never will be.”
I lean back and watch chaos explode around me, as every single person in the jam-packed room raises their hand, yelling questions at me.
“We will not be taking any more questions about this,” Skye says into his mic next to me. “Now. Anyone want to ask Isaiah here anything else?”
We spend the rest of the afternoon dodging questions about my sex life, my relationship with Lou, and the police reports from the time Eden was rescued. I get increasingly nauseous, but I manage to get through it. To stay strong—well, to look strong at least .
Finally, it’s over.
And not just the press conference. Everything is over. Eden and I are over.
I ended it for good. I ended us for good.
I will never see her again.
I dry heave in the limo on the way home, but I don’t care. I didn’t do it in front of them , I keep thinking. I didn’t lose it in front of the whole planet. Now that I’m alone, I can fall apart.
And that’s exactly what I do.