Iris ends the call and looks at me with tears in her eyes, so I lurch toward her with my arms open and heart splintering. With a pitiful little wail, she springs up from the couch and falls into my waiting arms.
“I’m so sorry,” I coo, stroking her hair.
“Apparently, I’m no longer an ‘appropriate role model’ for the kids.”
“Tell me exactly what she said you did wrong,” I command, outrage and protectiveness flooding me. I’ve got a team of lawyers at my fingertips. I could enlist one to send a threatening letter to the school, at the very least.
Iris sniffles. “She said going viral twice in one week was one time too many, and she can’t protect me from the ‘rising throng’ of disapproval any longer.” Iris hiccups. “She also said I’m too big a distraction—that I might even be putting the children’s safety at risk.”
“What?”
Iris nods. “She said I might attract ‘internet crazies’ to come to the school.”
“That’s bullshit.”
Iris hiccups again. “My worst offense was what I shouted at the end of the video. ‘In achurch, of all places, Iris!’ She said that went against the morality clause in my contract in the first place, but it’s especially egregious now that it seems I’m ‘brazenly following through with it’ for the ‘whole world to see’ with a ‘known womanizer.’”
“Motherfucking hell.”
“She said one of the most influential parents at the school, aka one of their biggest donors—it’s a private school—has beendemanding to know why they hired a ‘slut’ to teach small children.”
“This is insane. We were having dinner, not fucking on the table.”
“It was the photo combined with the video combined with your reputation that did me in. She said when I chose to have dinner so publicly, with such a high-profile person, mere days after the video going viral, that showed an ‘astonishing lack of judgment’ that also made me look desperate to ‘fan the flames of my internet fame.’” She tries to catch her breath. “The good news is, they’re giving me a month’s severance, at least.”
“Amonth?” I shout. “That’s it?” I’m enraged—wishing I could fly straight to that school and threaten to sic a team of overpriced lawyers on their ass if they don’t take Iris back or pay her enough money not to care. Fucking hell. I’m the one who pushed Iris to get out into the world and ignore all the bullshit on the internet. I’m the one who told her the video would blow over and not to worry about it. And now, thanks to me and my goddamned reputation, she’s lost a job she loves along with everything else she’s lost over the past week.
“You know what?” I say. “Forget what we talked about last night, baby. Go pack your bags. You’re coming to LA with me today.”
Iris looks flabbergasted. “I’m not doing that.”
“I know some lawyers there. I’ll set up a meeting.”
“I don’t want a lawyer. I don’t want to fight. I don’t need the stress.”
“You can’t let them do this to you. You love your job, and you did nothing wrong.” When she bows her head, I take her hand. “I’ll have to put you up in a hotel for the first couple weeks, just so Maverick can get to know you before I—”
Iris lifts her head abruptly and pulls her hand away. “I’m notgoing to LA with you. I’m going to Denver to move all my stuff out of Brandon’s house, as planned, and then I’m going home.”
I shake my head. “I’ll hire someone to get your stuff for you in Denver while you’re hunkering down in LA with me and figuring out—”
“I have no desire to ‘hunker down’ anywhere,” Iris says disdainfully. She crosses her arms over her chest. “All I want to do is get my shit out of Brandon’s house and go home to Orchard Blossom for however long it takes to find a new job.”
I exhale with frustration. Why is she being so fucking stubborn? “Look for a job while you’re in LA. You said you’ve got good friends there, right? Plus,I’llbe there.”
Iris squints. “What’s your endgame here, Roman?”
“I-I want to help you.”
“Why?”
“You lost your job because of me.”
Her mouth twitches. “Let me see if I understand. You’re asking me to follow you to LA like an unemployed puppy—so I can meet with a lawyer for an hour but otherwise sit around in a hotel room and wait for you to deign to give me scraps of your valuable time in between your football and parental obligations—out ofguilt?”
I run a hand through my hair and inhale deeply, trying to remain calm. “It’s not only out of guilt. It’s also because ... Look, the bottom line is I don’t know where things might lead for us. I admit that. This is horrible timing for me, but I’m willing to bring you to LA and do the best I can under some difficult circumstances.”
Iris looks at me like I’ve gravely insulted her. “Like I said last night, I’m not interested in dating anyone right now, not even you.Especiallynot you, if I’m being honest. The last thing I want is to draw more attention to myself by being seen in public,once again, with a guy the internet calls Roman ‘Ribbed for Her Pleasure’ Maguire.”
