21. Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-One
Pasha
M ia massaged her forehead and looked stressed. Tyler stood behind her, and Victoria was nowhere in sight. Anger vibrated off Mia in waves that hit me full force in the chest.
Last night, she’d refused to talk to or acknowledge me, even though I’d worked until the party had ended.
Then, I’d gone to Alyssa’s hotel room. She’d let me in without a word, and we’d held each other in bed, lost in thought, not speaking.
When her head had settled into the crook of my neck and her lips had skimmed across my skin, I’d sighed out a breath.
No matter the cost, I wouldn’t change the choices I’d made, the moments we’d shared.
“You realize you’ve put me in a really awful position, right?
” Mia made eye contact. Her eyes were bloodshot.
She’d had a lot to drink last night, and Tyler had practically carried her back to their room.
During the plane ride, she’d slept, ignoring everyone but Tyler and her daughter.
Once we’d arrived in Bellerive and her hotel room had been swept, she’d hidden out there until she’d summoned me, just now.
“Yes,” I admitted. One of the consequences of pursuing a relationship with Alyssa had always been this reckoning. I’d hoped to avoid it. No such luck .
“That’s all you have to say for yourself? Aren’t we beyond the one-word answers?”
“At the hospital—”
“I asked if anything was going on, and you said ‘no.’”
I searched her expression. Maybe I’d read that exchange wrong. I’d come to know her facial expressions, could read her emotional reactions at a distance. Had my anxiety over Alyssa clouded my judgment that day?
“I didn’t think you really wanted to know,” I admitted.
She bit her lip and glanced at Tyler over her shoulder.
With her hand, she drew her long, dark hair over her shoulder.
“I didn’t want your relationship with Alyssa to be happening.
I’m happy for you, of course, if you like her or whatever.
We’re friends. I want my friends to be happy.
But I’m running a business, and that business has a contract. ”
“I understand.” My chest tightened. I understood the contact and its consequences, but none of that made this conversation easier.
“Do you? My lawyer says I should fire you.”
I’d let her down. The realization made the weight on my chest almost unbearable. She was like a sister, and family should always come first. “I’m sorry. I should have—I should have done things differently.” Even though I wasn’t sure I could have done anything differently.
Alyssa made me happy, the happiest I’d been since Zoya died, and no matter how much I loved Mia, I wasn’t sure I could have sacrificed these months for anything or anyone.
“I told you in the hospital that you could be with her. Like, I wasn’t saying you couldn’t ever have a relationship with her. All I wanted was for you to wait until the tour was done, until her contract was done. ”
I took a deep breath. She made her request sound so simple.
We’d already been involved at that point, and the distance I’d tried to enforce with Alyssa had only hurt us both.
Besides, Alyssa had another contract with Sarah Telling almost as soon as the wedding was over.
After the tour was over wasn’t exactly a possibility for us either.
“If you have to fire me, I understand.”
“I’m not fucking firing you,” Mia burst out.
“I just—I hate that I’m in this position two weeks before my wedding.
Like, there’s all these other things to think about, to worry about, and then Jazz creates this social media shitstorm.
My lawyer; Jodi, who handles my PR; and the HR company, who is supposed to deal with these things, have all said the easiest way to calm people down is to fire you.
” She glanced at Tyler again, and he stepped forward, sliding his hand into hers.
“I mean, Tyler told me he knew. That you asked him to keep it a secret. That hurts, you know? Before the Jazz stuff, you didn’t tell me.
I don’t understand why you didn’t trust me? ”
My answer was complicated, not easy to explain neatly. Alyssa hadn’t been sure Mia wouldn’t have a conflict between her personal feelings and her business commitments. Wasn’t that exactly what was happening now?
Also, I didn’t know where my relationship with Alyssa was headed. Nowhere, perhaps. After the wedding, we’d go our separate ways. Mia didn’t have a need for consistent backup dancers without a tour. Alyssa had bills to pay, so she needed Sarah Telling’s job.
I wouldn’t leave Mia’s employ unless she asked me to—she and her family were my American family.
“I love you like a sister,” I said. “But you are also my boss. ”
Tears sprung into Mia’s eyes, and she shook her head. “I’m not firing you.”
“I would not blame you if you did.” As painful as her firing me might be, I’d understand. I’d broken her trust, broken part of my contract. The boulder on my chest was made of guilt but not regret. I regretted nothing.
“Jodi says that I might be able to overshadow Jazz’s claims with the wedding.
You don’t feed that particular social media beast and the beast dies.
My lawyer says Jazz violated part of the NDA by posting a portion of my contract online to have me tried in the court of public opinion.
We’re sending her a cease and desist. We’re all hoping the strategy works, but Jazz seems unhinged. Who does this?”
“Can I see what she’s posted?”
From beside Mia, Tyler took out his phone and opened a few things. He passed the device to me. “I took some screenshots of all her posts.”
I sank into the closest chair and scrolled through the increasingly bizarre claims. “She says she wasn’t high on stage?”
“Xanax and cold medicine. I checked with a medical professional, and her justification could be valid, which is why no one has called bullshit. The problem is the toxicology report doesn’t support her claim. She was coked up.” Mia flipped her hair back over her shoulder.
“Why not write back to her?” I didn’t have any social media accounts, thought the whole thing was a time suck, but I’d seen Mia firing off tart responses to a variety of claims in the years I’d been employed with her.
She’d often read them out loud before sending them off with a triumphant smirk on her lips.
Besting ignorant people was a favorite pastime of hers .
“When Mia fired her, we signed legal paperwork preventing any of us from discussing the results of the toxicology report.” Tyler rubbed Mia’s back, and she leaned into him.
I clicked on one of the posts that looked like a medical report. “But she posted the toxicology report here?”
“It’s not hers. She must have created one on Photoshop or something. I don’t know. But that’s not the right one.” Mia sighed.
“Can’t you just say that?” The blatant lies baffled me.
Her claims were so easy to disprove, at least about Mia.
When I came to the posts with the photos of Alyssa and me, I stared, awestruck.
A shot of adrenaline rushed through me. I hadn’t seen her all day, and the joy on her face in the pictures of us caused my chest to swell and tighten with a new emotion. No regrets.
“Sure. I could fire back all kinds of retorts, but I have a million other things to get done in the next two weeks without dealing with this BS. I’m not adding legal troubles to my load.
I could give Jazz to my assistant to deal with, but I don’t want passing it off to cause the claims to spiral more.
” She huffed out a breath and wrapped her arms around Tyler.
“I’m not firing you. I’m not reprimanding Alyssa.
We’re going to ignore all of it for now.
Whatever game Jazz is playing, she’s not going to win.
I just wish I didn’t have these fires blazing. I’m getting married. ”
“I’m sorry,” I said, passing Tyler back his phone. “I’m so sorry.”
Mia stared at me for a moment. “Do you love her? Was she worth it?”
The way I felt about Alyssa was so distinct from how I’d felt about Zoya. Love . Could a person love two people deeply but differently? I did know one thing for sure. “Yes,” I admitted. “She’s worth everything.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. “Well,” Mia said, “you may want to remind Alyssa that muting and blocking people is a perfectly legit way to lead your social media life. ’Cause if some jackasses aren’t already coming for her online with their misogynistic bullshit, they will be.
She doesn’t have to hear every asshole’s hot take on things they know nothing about. ”
Yet another reason I hadn’t bothered with social media accounts.
The few I’d had when I moved to America I’d deleted when I started working for Mia.
I’d borne witness to how many times she’d been depressed for hours, sometimes days because someone who didn’t know her had taken their best shot at rattling her sanity.
I wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to Alyssa.
“How do I—how can she block and mute people?” I asked.
Tyler let go of Mia and came to my side, dragging his phone out of his pocket again.
He clicked through all the major social media platforms and their member options for harassment.
“When in doubt, block or mute.” Tyler caught my gaze.
“Once you’ve seen people’s cruel words, they’re hard to unsee.
Neither of you needs that. The real person in the wrong here is Jazz.
Did you and Alyssa violate your contract?
Yeah, you did. Are you probably still violating your contract?
Yeah, you are. But your relationship didn’t arise out of malice.
There’s no power imbalance.” He glanced at Mia.
“Technically, Mia and I started when I was still under contract with her. It happens. Jazz might try to make you and Alyssa seem awful to gather public sympathy. Be prepared.”
Since Mia and Tyler had gotten together, Tyler had taken Mia’s social media obsession in stride.
Tyler didn’t put as much stock in the things people posted or said.
I’d been in the limo when Tyler had told Mia more than once, “They don’t know us.
They don’t know what we have. They don’t get a say in what makes us happy. ”
“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll talk to Alyssa.”
When I entered the ballroom, Alyssa was in the far corner, her hair pinned back and a frown on her face as she stared at her phone.
Had Mia’s prediction already come true? Without my own social media accounts, I hadn’t been able to keep a beat on what had been happening today.
Even if I had those accounts, my day had been filled with firming up security measures, talking to hotel staff, helping Tyler search for a honeymoon location, and trying not to see the hurt look in Mia’s eyes each time our gazes connected.
The story broke last night, so we were still in the middle of the crashing waves.
“Alyssa.” My voice was husky. I could take letting Mia down, but I couldn’t handle Alyssa in pain. When she glanced up, her tears were evident, even from this distance. I closed the space between us and drew her into my chest. “Are you okay?”
“Did she fire you? Everyone on social media is calling for you to be fired.” Her voice caught. “I couldn’t stand it if you got sent back to Russia because of me.”
I cradled her to my chest and took a deep breath. “She’s not going to fire me. She’s angry and hurt, but she’s not going to fire me.”
She released her breath in a whoosh against my T-shirt. “Oh, thank God. I’ve been so worried all day. I knew you were talking to her earlier, but I didn’t want to text you because I figured you’d either be busy or, you know, just wanted to be alone for a bit to process. ”
“It’s going to be fine. Mia has a strategy.” Her phone was pressed against my chest, which reminded me of Mia’s warning. “Is anyone being mean to you?”
With a humorless laugh, she gazed up at me. “Of course. I’m the harlot. The temptress. The one who swayed you from your unwavering loyalty to Mia.”
“Are you blocking and muting those people?”
She frowned and cocked her head. “People can think whatever they want. I know the truth.”
I scanned her expression, unsure whether I should push. Were people not being too terrible yet? Maybe they wouldn’t be. Perhaps Tyler, Mia, and even I were exaggerating.
“Over time, with Mia, the comments can…” I searched for the right word.
I used my hand to indicate what I meant.
“Stack?” I grimaced. “So many people’s opinions can become a lot.
” The words I wanted to say weren’t coming very well.
Anonymous people on the internet could be cruel, either forgetting or not caring there was a person on the other end of their comments .
She patted my shoulder. “It’ll be okay. Seriously. I grew up in the dance world with people dissecting your body, your every movement, every facial expression. A few mean people on the internet won’t break me.” On her toes, she kissed my cheek. “Your worry is sweet, though.”
I took a deep breath. Perhaps she didn’t need to hear what I was going to say next, but I needed to be sure I’d said it. “Mia said to remind you that muting and blocking people is okay.”
Alyssa laughed. “I won’t need to do that. I’ve got a thick skin.”
I wasn’t sure how tough her skin would need to be. I’d have to take her word for it that she could handle the onslaught. With a kiss on her forehead, I held out my hand to her. “Shall we dance?”
She took my hand, and I spun her around, my handholds changing with ease. She grinned when she came to a stop.
“I’m just so glad she didn’t fire you. Nothing could ruin the next two weeks for me. You, me, dancing, the beach. It’s like paradise.”
I hoped that prophecy proved true. From experience, I knew how rough the social media waters could be once they’d been stirred.