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She blew out a shaky exhale, her hands balled into fists, and pink spots formed on her cheeks. “And in the centre of it all is you. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted nothing to do with me. They’ll be evil if this story takes off. They’ll dig into every part of your life. I didn’t even consider that until now because there was no risk of it. No risk to you.”
Her voice caught at the end.
I bundled her against my chest, my heart beating too fast.
Dimly, I was aware of Ben marshalling the others into the kitchen and saying something about making coffee. I didn’t pay any more attention to them. I needed to make Alex understand. She thought we were over because of this.
I laid my lips to her hair. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You should. I’m toxic to be around. One of the reasons I don’t have close friends besides Dori is because they get sick of seeing themselves in the press. My best friend at uni, the one you met? She got upskirted by a newspaper shortly after the picture of you and me and never spoke to me again. My own mother left my dad because the shit they printed about her eventually got too much.”
“Why are you giving Hot Pilot reasons to quit you?” Dori queried from the kitchen. “He isn’t like them.”
I tipped up her chin and made her look at me. “He’s right. I’m not. However this goes down, we face it together.”
Her gaze clung to mine. “It might get worse.”
“Then I’ll handle it.”
“Even if they share your name? Even if this can’t be managed and goes global?”
The strain in her voice told me she’d realised what I’d already leapt to—that my father might see the pictures and hear the rumours. If it happened, that was my problem to solve, and though Jax’s murderous remedy had stuck in my mind, there had to be other options.
I cared about her too much not to try.
Though it scared the fuck out of me, the issue in hand was her family, not mine. If that flipped, I’d take care of that, too.
“Whatever they throw at us, we’ll be okay.”
“Us,” she repeated, her voice small, then with a nod to herself as if confirming something, she cupped the back of my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. “That’s probably the most romantic thing I ever heard.”
“Same,” one of my team called from the kitchen.
I smiled against her lips and caught her hand to lead her with me to join them, buoyed, becauseusmeant fighting this together.
At the kitchen table, I looked to each in turn. “What are we thinking?”
Ben lifted his chin. “Moving quickly to control the damage. I’ve already sent a request to my legal guy to get him to request a takedown of your photo from any major sites, and a pre-emptive one if you’re named. It’s been posted on the internet which means it’s forever, but we can limit visibility. I don’t have the approval to act for ye, Alex. I wish I did.”
She gave him a grim smile. “I wish I’d known that your team existed and I had hiring power.”
He shrugged. “Say the word and we’re yours to employ.”
My heart hurt. I fucking loved my team. They’d teased me but also accepted Alex with no hesitation, working with me in what I wanted to do. They understood without me needing to ask or say a word. I had no idea how lucky I’d been to land on my feet with them, but I’d never take it for granted.
Alex swallowed. “I can’t pay you. I don’t have any income or access to royal bank accounts.”
My boss’s smile remained kind. “Raphael is already firmly on your team. What’s a few more of us? Sign us on and we’re yours to instruct. Leo pays us fine and doesnae need us right now. He won’t mind. The alternative is lending my crew out to other teams, and we all know how that went.”
He held up his phone with a pro-forma contract.
“It’s as easy as that?” Alex signed her name with her finger.
“Done. I’ll get onto the lawyer to try to manage the media circus that’s bound to follow.” Ben strode back into the living room and made a call.
Valentine took over his role. “That handles your protection and the shite online. Now we have to address the immediate concern. People will be on the hunt. Ye don’t wait around for them to come to ye.”
Alex shivered. “Which means we need to leave.”