"Because you were assaulted and abused and you had to hide. And anyone who digs into that truth is going to see that. You are a victim, and you fought out of that to start a new life, and I, for one, am never going to let them destroy that."
He pulled me against his chest and kissed my forehead tenderly, then rested his chin on top of my head. "Please, don't run out and leave me. I need you, Amber."
"Ember," I corrected, but at this point, it didn’t matter. My body felt like a lead weight.
"You are mine, and I don’t care what name you go by. I call you mine." Nate's hands slid up my arms and he held me at arm's length.
"Now, absolutely no packing, do you understand? I want you to get in bed while I get you some water and deal with this situation."
I pouted, and he gave me a stern look like he was my father scolding me.
Rather than fighting him and upsetting him, I sulked to the bed and curled up.
Nate disappeared out the door and I stared up at his bedroom TV still showing the newscast from this morning that we never shut off.
The banner across the bottom of the screen read,The Daddy Claus Scandal Deepens. I shut it off and pulled the blanket over my head.
My chest physically hurt from how much emotion I'd expended in the past three hours.
I couldn’t imagine how bad I'd feel tomorrow when this thing had been out for a full day and the entire city knew.
Nate had no clue what he was up against.
When all that happened with Brad, it started out small.
My parents thought they could handle it discreetly by asking people to take things off their socials, but it exploded faster than anyone thought it could.
Now it was chasing me down and I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
I didn't want to be seen as that girl who slept around town.
That's what they labeled me back home, and they were already saying things like that here.
With Brad's dumb sex tape still out there floating around the internet, today's sleazy media hounds had all the fodder they needed to make a mockery of me.
I'd never be able to show my face around town again.
"Ember," I heard, but I kept the blanket firmly over my head and after a few seconds, I heard the bedroom door shut.
Nate left the water and went back to fighting my fire for me like the amazing man he was.
What he didn't realize was that no matter how much water he tossed on the flames, they'd only grow larger.
I knew how risky it was to let myself be exposed to the spotlight for even a second, but he had convinced me that day at the festival in July that everything would be fine.
He wasn't thinking that now.
26
NATE
Thomas Reed could take his dumb policy and shove it where the sun don't shine, for all I cared, but not showing up when they beckoned me to a meeting would be a horrible display of professionalism and likely would only make the heat worse.
Ember was hiding, tucked under the covers in my bed with a promise she would not leave my house under any circumstances, and I had chased the last of the press off my lawn without giving comment.
It was time to face the music, and I had no real idea where to start with any of it.
Mr. Reed sat with a few other committee members in the small conference room at the civic center.
