Chapter 15 #2
“No, but with a few pictures circulating, it’s only a matter of time.”
“What do I do?”
“Nothing. Other than be prepared to tell people you’re just friends. Eventually, the story will die off.”
I tossed back another gulp while she chuckled. “Social media can be a nightmare, make it or break it for anyone in any industry. You don’t know how crazy it gets with hockey. Didn’t you notice the posters at the game when you were there?”
“Trust me. I was trying to avoid passing out since someone convinced me to sing, which isn’t my forte.”
“Oh, you did great. Although… They’ll figure out you were the singer at the game, which means another connection with Cole.” She tapped her finger against her chin. “If you go to another game, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Let me see how deep this goes.”
“How does any celebrity deal with this shit?”
“My brothers do much better than I would, even if Cole has a lot of pent-up anger.”
While she searched, I thought about how bad this might get. Maybe she was right and that it would blow over.
“Well, the pictures someone managed to snap are creative. Nice maneuvers on the pool table.” While her voice held the same teasing tone, I was slip-sliding into thorough embarrassment.
“Pictures. As in plural. You’re kidding me.
” I jerked the phone from her hand, groaning as soon as I scrolled through a couple of photographs.
While some were grainy, someone had managed to snap the perfect, vividly detailed photo of Cole grinding himself against my butt as we both leaned over the table. “It was just a game.”
“Melito’s is usually a safe zone. His happy place. If he took you there, you’re very special to him.”
“Do not go there!” The rapid pulse was ticking in my eardrums. I searched through a few additional photographs before I couldn’t take it any longer. “They figured out I sang the national anthem.” My fingers were clutching the phone with such force, I was fearful I’d need to purchase her a new one.
“Absolutely and reporters like to make up shit, like Grant did. He just wants his fifteen minutes of fame. I know that all too well. Did you tell me you didn’t share anything personal about yourselves?”
“Honestly? I set up these crazy rules we both had to follow, which was why I told him my name was Clementine and he was Roy. I know what he prefers on his pizza if that counts as something personal.”
“Oh, no.”
“Oh, no? You are starting to freak me out.”
Samantha blew out a heavy breath, filling her cheeks with air.
“I think I need to tell you something that might surprise you. Maybe you figured it out already. Maybe you didn’t, but blindsiding you definitely isn’t fair.
My guess is you’re going to be hounded and I know Cole won’t want you to be shocked when a reporter asks you some leading questions. ”
“I’m no one important. Besides, I know he’s a catch, but he’s not pro yet. Aren’t the NHL guys hounded instead?”
Her laugh was almost as if she was nervous. “Normally, but we’re talking special circumstances.”
I flicked through a couple more photos. The comments were not kind. Then I noticed something very odd. Has the Seattle Wild’s wolf found his mate? “What is this? Mate? My God. The lengths these people will go for that fame.”
As soon as I turned my phone, her eyes dropped for only a split second. “That’s what we need to talk about.”
I could tell by the look on her face that whatever she had to tell me was serious.
“Cole has a girlfriend.”
“What? No. Cole can come off as an arrogant guy, but he is salt of the earth and his values are solid.”
“Then what? I already feel like a horrible person.”
She tilted her head back and forth. Whatever she had to say was bothering her tremendously.
“I would have said something when we first talked about you moving in, but honestly, after all the notoriety my family has received, I thought you knew. Now, with Jagger at the house, you dating. Plus, you have a family.”
“I’ll let you on a little secret. My father is an asshole and my mother does whatever my father wants. In other words, they couldn’t care less about how much we fuck up our lives as long as it doesn’t reflect badly on Daddy dearest and his stock.”
Her eyes grew wide. “I’m sorry. That’s why you never talk about your family. I knew you had a brother, but I honestly didn’t put two and two together.”
“In some ways, Jagger is just like our father. Arrogant, rough. But he has something to prove just like I do. Our father is insisting we come to work for the family corporation and trust me, neither one of us wants that to happen. While Jagger accepted a position as far away as possible to play hockey, I buried myself in school and dance, theater. The glee club. Anything I could use as an excuse to stay at school. I had no desire to turn on the news to find out my father’s latest accomplishment. ”
“O-kay. Well, that makes sense. So…” Samantha wasn’t the type of person to allow anything to bother her. “Do you know what the hardest part about my job with the newspaper is?”
“Not sure.”
“When I see the horrible things printed about my family. The worst is when I know the reporter. When I’m at work, I sit in a room full of cubicles.
Just like you’ve seen in the movies. Not only can I overhear conversations, but reporters talk amongst themselves.
There are a couple sports reporters who on the outside and in conversation seem like decent people.
But the shit they write about, the horrible things I’ve read just…
Well, let’s just say that it takes a lot of self-discipline not to drive my fist into their faces every other day.
At least what Grant printed isn’t terrible, but it is invasive. ”
“That’s crazy. I know how hard Jagger has worked over the years to get where he is today. He sacrificed years of his childhood.”
“Tell me about it. My brothers aren’t saints, but they are good people because our parents raised us to follow the laws and to know the difference between right and wrong.
They work hard and give back to the community, to our family.
To charities. My brother Ford is going to be a father and he’ll be amazing.
Beck is happy and in love and they both deserve the best.”
“Why does it seem like you’re running a political ad?”
“Ugh,” she moaned. “You’re right. I just don’t want you to believe the hype. Maybe you didn’t buy all the insane stories that popped up as soon as the news hit the fan. At least I hope you’re not one of those.”
“Okay. One of those? That’s a little cryptic like the comment from the blonde bitch about Cole having two cocks.”
“You haven’t been living under a rock, Chelsea. Please tell me you’ve been online at least once in the last four plus years. The craziest story of the century? The most unbelievable and shocking piece of news to hit the planet ever?”
Her question threatened to fly right over my head.
Then the realization popped into my brain hard and heavy like everything else that had occurred since I’d met Cole.
“You’re not suggesting that he is… I mean that you are…
I mean that your entire family are shifters.
Right?” I dropped my gaze to my drink, wondering just how long it would take the waiter to bring another.
A double this time. Maybe I’d just head to the bar.
“Yes, Chelsea. That’s what I’m telling you.”
She sat still, refusing to blink. Just waiting for my reaction. I’d never met a shifter before. Or had I? I certainly hadn’t been like so many others, terrified that beasts would come crawling out of the shadows of the forest, snatching pets and children to consume a tasty morsel.
There’d been so much hysteria, but I’d heard almost nothing as of late. Maybe I had been burying my head in the sand. Maybe I just didn’t have a feeling one way or another about the creatures. Two dicks? Please.
However, for a million reasons, my thoughts shifted back to Cole, no pun intended.
While I’d easily called him handsome, in truth, he was more like a dark-haired Norse god, his features too chiseled to be considered handsome.
With a strong brow and lush lips, he had an overtly carnal appeal. Dark and forbidding.
Like a wolf.
Possibly like a caveman, which was how he’d been when that asshole in the bar had been determined to come onto me. Maybe that had been the jerk who’d taken unauthorized pictures of us.
Cole had been protective, ready if not eager to punch the guy. And there’d been something about his reaction that had put me on edge.