Page 40

Chapter Forty

AURORA

“ S o, on the bright side, you look really hot in those pictures,” Jules says, sitting on the couch next to me. I have my head on her shoulder, and she’s running her fingers through my hair in the most comforting way, her long acrylics occasionally scratching my scalp.

“I don’t know if that helps,” I mutter to her.

“At least it’s not a sex tape,” Clara pipes in. She’s sitting on the wooden table across from us after pushing aside Theo’s favorite energy drinks and his pre-show snacks. “Like you could always go with the ‘nudes are fake’ excuse. Sex tapes are harder to fake.”

“Actually, it’s getting a lot easier with current technology,” Jules corrects her with a roll of her eyes. “My PR training did a whole course about behavior because people can make others believe anything these days. The power of suggestion is amazing, and then you add in the downfalls of modern technology.” The door to the locker room opens, and instead of pausing, she continues. “Someone could probably fake a sex tape of me fucking Santa Claus.”

“Why are you fucking Santa Claus, Stanton?” Theo asks, leaning back against the doorway.

“Daddy issues. Next question.”

He snorts, crossing the room and sitting on the other side of me. “Ladies, you can leave now.”

“We don’t leave until Rory says we can,” Jules challenges him while Clara looks like she’s slowly sliding toward the door.

“Roo, I’d like to talk to you without your little girl gang,” he says, reaching over and slipping his arm around my shoulders. He pulls me away from Jules, into his side instead and she makes an offended sound. “You can invite them in later. Promise.”

I blink up at him. Any other time, I’d be annoyed. Right now, melting into him is a comfort that I crave. He was there for me all weekend. Theo saw the snot and the tears and listened to my mental breakdowns in the shower.

No complaints or mockery. He ordered food to make sure I ate and watched reruns of old sitcoms until some random joke made me smile. He took me to the zoo, just to try and make things a little better.

I hate storms and Theodore Abrams is becoming my shelter in them. Literal and figurative ones.

“Let me talk to Theo,” I say finally. “We can talk more about Jules’s sex tape with Santa later.”

That makes Jules snort as she stands up, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of my head. “It’ll be a hot one. You know that.” She ruffles Theo’s hair as she slips by him, making him roll his eyes.

On the way out the door, she wraps an arm around Clara’s and pulls her along with her. “Come on, let’s go, Bubbles.”

As they slip out the door, I shift in Theo’s arms, sitting so I can look at him better. “How did the conversation with Nathan go?” He was gone a hot minute, so I assume it was a long one and long ones aren’t always good .

I can feel a fresh wave of panic rising in my chest. He probably kicked Jules and Clara out so he could tell me that I’m fired alone. Probably wants to try and break the news easily.

“Well, first, I went and punched Austin because evidently he’s the one who did it.”

I blink, processing that. Austin…leaked my pictures? “H-how do you know?”

“He was being a shit stain about it. Micah told me, I confronted him, he confessed, so I punched him in the face a few times. Would’ve done more, but Hext stopped me after three.”

I’m annoyed, only because I want to punch Austin. I wanted to hit him once I sobered up and remembered how he tried to force himself on me while I was drunk. Now, I want to hit him even more.

Almost like he can read my mind, Theo says, “He was escorted out of the building, so you can’t get a lick or two in. Sorry, baby doll. I knocked out a tooth for ya, though, so maybe that gives you a peace of mind.”

“Sorta,” I mumble. It doesn’t feel as good as hitting him myself, but knowing that Austin had something taken from him that he can’t get back, just like I did, feels good.

I lost my privacy, my security. He lost a tooth.

Both of those things can be replaced with fakes, but you can’t get the original back.

“So, anyway…Nathan’s going to keep you off TV this week. Give it time to wash over, but, uh, I think I fixed your problem.”

I pause. This is a constant between the two of us. Theo fixes problems in his own way. Lacing his fingers in my life, twisting it to his will. “What did you do?” I whisper.

Almost sheepishly, he rubs the back of his neck. “Let’s just say that you’re not the only one with private photos out there. Seems like GRW has a hack. Pretty concerning. ”

“Theo…” My eyes go wide as I realize what he’s saying. “What did you do?”

“Everyone keeps asking me that today.” He shrugs. “I posted dick pics on social media.” The way he says it is as if he’s discussing going to the grocery store. So mundane, so simple as if he didn’t just expose himself to the world.

“Why?” is the only question that comes to mind. It’s the only thing I can think of asking.

“Because I’m the bad guy,” he says, leaning forward and pressing his lips against my forehead. “People are focused on me. They won’t focus on you.”

For me. He did it for me. So I don’t have to weather this alone. So I don’t have to be afraid or worried or any of those things. “You’re the champion,” I whisper.

“Nathan won’t fire his champion, baby doll. That’s bad for business. It just looks like there’s been a violation of privacy for his talent. That’s a whole different PR crisis. Paints us as the victim instead.”

As annoyed as I get with Theo for meddling in my life, this is the sweetest thing that he could’ve done. Instead of lashing out at him, I lean up and press my lips to his.

Theo’s shocked. He doesn’t kiss me back at first, and I worry that I made a mistake.

He doesn’t feel like that about me anymore.

I’ve ruined it.

I’ve pushed him away too much.

But then he melts into it. His hands grip my shoulders and pulls me to him, his full lips moving softly against mine.

It’s not a hungry kiss like we shared on his birthday. It’s sweeter. Something I can fall into and not want to resurface. My arm slips up to wrap around his neck, pulling him in closer as his tongue seeks entrance to my mouth and I grant it .

When it breaks, he presses his forehead to mine. “Is that a thank you?” he whispers, a teasing lilt to his voice.

“Yeah, that’s a thank you.”

Theo smiles and presses another gentle kiss to my forehead. “I’d do anything to make things easier for you, baby doll.”