Two Minutes Earlier
TED
It had been a very long time since Ted had been rattled.
So long that he couldn’t honestly remember it ever happening.
He’d been annoyed, irked, frustrated, and angry, but not rattled.
Things had been going so well year after year after year that he’d made the catastrophic mistake of believing his own hype.
He thought he had life figured out in a way that very few people on the planet managed to do.
Incredible career, great kids who adored him and were becoming his friends far ahead of schedule, world-wide recognition and accolades, and a gorgeous young brunette who couldn’t keep her hands off him.
And tonight, with the buzz of his phone, it all went up in smoke.
He was numb. Nauseous. Dumbfounded. Furious. And terrified all at once.
The email kept coming back to him.
She knew. And she was already building a case against him. No, not building. Built. It had already happened before he even had the first hint that she was onto him. And there she had sat—smug, cold, and triumphant.
His brain was a mishmash of questions and wild thoughts, and for once, he couldn’t calm down long enough to focus on any single thing.
How long had she known? Who else knew at the studio?
When Antonia had been talking to him about a bright future together the day before, was she just screwing with him?
Why didn’t Charlotte react when she saw the email?
Had she not actually read it? Or if she did, was she just not as bright as he thought?
Or did she already know that they’d been caught and she was keeping it from him?
When the game ended, he’d been forced to sit listening to Travis finish regaling him about an African elephant he’d killed (best feeling in the world, to take down something that weighs as much as a heavy-duty truck).
At the first possible opportunity, Ted jumped up, taking the stairs two-at-a-time to get to Charlotte, who had made a quick exit when Travis was describing sawing off the tusks.
He reached her just as she was about to go into her room, whispering, “Charlotte!”
She froze on the spot before turning to him.
“We need to talk, now,” he hissed. Gesturing to the library, he opened the door and waited for her to come in.
They stood in the dark room, lit only by the light of a nearly-full moon.
When Ted tried to speak, he let out a strangled sound from his throat.
Fuck. Get it together, man. “Did you read the email all the way through?”
“Umm…yup.”
He took a breath and reminded himself he needed to take control of the situation or they’d both end up getting burned. “I don’t know what happened, but clearly she knows everything, right?”
She nodded. “Listen, I don’t think we should be caught together.”
“Why? She’s already got everything in place to ruin me. What more can she do?”
Charlotte fidgeted a little, looking suddenly much younger than her twenty-eight years. “I have no idea, but I’m sure she’d think of something. She’s got everything we sent each other.”
“What do you mean, everything? What did you keep?”
“All of it.”
His body went numb and his knees went weak, but he forced himself to stay put. “What do you mean, all of it? All the pictures? The…dick pics? Tell me you deleted the dick pics.”
An image of a particularly nasty photo he sent her popped into his mind.
He was standing in his studio office, with his awards and books behind him, letting it all hang out.
He had been really pissed off at Antonia that day, and at the time, it felt like an act of defiance to stand there in front of symbols of the empire they were building together, pants down, shirt pulled up, hard as a rock.
But now, that picture would become evidence in a divorce hearing and he would look like the world’s biggest jackass.
She shrugged. “I like looking at them. Especially when we can’t be together.”
“Oh fuck,” he whispered, letting his shoulders drop.
This was so much worse than he thought it was.
Why didn’t she seem more upset? She should be crying right now.
Panicking like him. But she was far too calm.
He stood, squinting at her in the dark, trying to understand what was going on.
Then it hit him. Charlotte didn’t seem surprised because she wasn’t. “She already told you.”
When she didn’t respond, Ted put his hands on her upper arms and rubbed them gently. “Sweetheart, what happened? You can tell me anything. We’re in this together.”
He felt her stiffen against his touch and he knew the sand had shifted under his feet. His voice cracked. “Aren’t we? Aren’t we in this together, babe?”
Charlotte let out a tiny groan. “I…I don’t know right now.
It’s all so complicated. I think she wants to ruin you, and if that happens, I’m going to go down with you, and everyone will hate us.
I’ll be a joke. And I just can’t do that.
I’m not strong that way. I can’t be a joke for the rest of my life. ”
He pulled her into his chest and pressed his lips to her forehead.
“You’re not a joke. I screwed up, but I promise if we stick together, we’ll get through this, and the future will be bright for us.
” He took a long inhale, the scent of her soothing his raw nerves.
“It’ll be hard, sure, but it’s not like she can go public with any of this.
She wouldn’t do that to our kids or to herself. She’ll look like a total fool.”
Charlotte pulled back and stared up at him in the dark. “Honestly, Ted, I don’t think she cares.”