The staffers all head for the door of the bus, most of them looking as numb as I feel.
“Sorry, Reagan,” Claire mumbles as she walks past me.
Just Lexi, Tom, and I are left when I feel my eyes flood with hot tears. I can’t process seeing the photos Jude told me he’d bury plastered all over the news.
“I can’t believe he did this to me,” I say, my voice breaking. “He gave me his word. I can’t…”
“What do you mean?” Tom asks.
Lexi steps in quickly. “She means her father, of course.”
“Gave you his word? This isn’t his first affair?” Tom shakes his head in disgust. “Bastard could have at least told me.”
“Speaking of bastards,” Lexi says, “Tom, you need to leave, too.”
“Leave?” He shakes his head. “No, we’ve got to start damage control. This is gonna hurt us pretty bad, but we can mitigate things.”
“I’m taking a week away,” I say sharply. “Away from the campaign. That means away from you.”
“This is a Senate seat the party needs to hold, so you don’t get that luxury, sweetheart.”
“Get the fuck off my bus,” I say, my tone low and level. “Go. Right now.”
“You need me to manage this, Reagan.”
“Manage it all you want, Tom. Just don’t expect anything from me. I’m taking a week away.”
“Those photos came from the Titan campaign. You know that, right?”
I swallow hard, but I can’t keep a couple tears from escaping. “I know that, yes.”
“And we have to hit back twice as hard.”
“I’ll talk to you in a week, Tom.”
He holds my gaze for a few seconds in what feels like a power play, but then he finally walks to the door and leaves.
I sit down and close my eyes. “Was he just playing me this whole time? Getting me to fall in love with him so he could ruin me completely?”
Lexi doesn’t answer, but then, what can she say? She warned me, and I didn’t listen.
My phone buzzes with a text, and I check it.
Dad:Nice of your boyfriend to leak those photos. Hell of a way for your mother to find out.
I fire back an angry text.
Me:How many times could you have told her in the past 22 fucking years, Dad?
He doesn’t respond.
“Let’s go to my place,” Lexi says gently. “You need some sleep.”
I nod numbly and hand her my phone.
“Keep this for now. I just can’t.”
She slides it into her purse, and we walk to her car. Once I’m safely buried under the covers of Lexi’s bed, I’ll cry. But for now, I can’t even think of any words to say.
