Sucking in a breath, I gaze around at my friends. “Guys, I need you to help me. We need to counter this story and save Jayce’s image, and we need to do it right now.”
No one questions me or pushes back. Instead, they all jump into action in an instant.
“Let’s do this,” Grace says, pumping a fist into the air.
“If anyone can fix this shit, it’s us,” Rylee chimes in.
“I’ll track down the original source of the photos,” Skyler declares, reaching for her laptop bag next to her and pulling out her computer. “I can take down posts while I’m searching and slow down their spread a bit.”
Stacey hops up and takes Henry from Rylee so she and Grace can huddle together, both going into PR mode.
“Sutton, you will need to make a statement,” Rylee declares, typing quickly on her phone. “We’ll play the privacy angle.”
“Good idea. Say I was there too,” I insert. “I just arrived earlier or something.”
Rylee nods as she continues typing on her phone.
“We’ll blast the statement all over social media,” Grace adds, working on her own phone. “Push it to the media outlets sharing the photos to counter the current cheating narrative.”
Within minutes, Rylee has a statement drafted for me. Stacey cleans me up, doing my makeup and hair so I look poised and camera ready. Skyler stays hunched over her laptop, glasses perched on the end of her nose, her tongue between her teeth as she hacks her way closer and closer to the source of the photo leak.
“Let’s put you here,” Grace instructs, pointing to the fireplace. She carefully removes the pictures of Stacey, Owen, and the kids so it’s a more neutral background, with just a few knickknacks and a floral painting hanging on the wall.
“Perfect,” I nod, moving to stand at a slight angle in front of the mantle.
“Okay, you ready?” Grace asks, holding her phone up to shoot the video of me making my statement.
For a moment, I freeze as the reality of what I’m doing hits me. Millions of people will see this. All those eyes on me, watching me… judging me…
Anxiety bubbles up inside me and my heart starts to race as my thoughts spiral. I raise my hand and start nibbling at my nails before I realize I’ve even moved my arm.“Hey, Sutt?” Rylee’s voice breaks through the noise in my head. I look up to find her watching me with a small frown. “You okay?”
Blinking, I quickly pull myself together, reminding myself this is for Jayce. It’s just a video. I’m here with my friends, and they won’t let me fail.
I nod. “Yeah, I’m good. Let’s do this.”
Raising my chin, I wait for Grace to hit the record button on her phone and I read the statement off the pieces of paper Rylee’s written it on with black marker.
My voice is calm and I speak in a confident tone. “Hello, I’m Sutton Holloway. By now, I’m sure many of you have seen the photos of my fiance, Jayce Vaughn, entering a well-known adult club and have heard the narrative that he has been unfaithful to me. Let me…um… let me…”
My voice stops.Not now.My lungs are not letting out air. I close my eyes for a half-second that feels like an hour, take a deep breath, and then deflate the balloon of anxiety that’s trying to rise up the back of my throat. When I’m certain I have it under control, I continue. I can do this.
“Let me put the rumors to rest here and now.” My voice is steady again, thank god. Grace gives me a thumbs-up. I keep going. “Jayce is loyal, loving, and would never do anything to hurt me. I trust him absolutely, and what those pictures fail to show is thatIwas also at the club that night as well. I’d arrived before him. We were together in the club, enjoying a night that was meant to be for me.”
I pause, gazing straight into the camera. I have to sell this next bit, and hard.
“What my fiance and I do in our private lives is our business only,” I say. “He respects my boundaries, body, and needs. This is an invasion of privacy and an intentional attempt to tarnish Jayce’s character in the public eye without actually giving all the facts.” I feel a flare of anger at that, and my words grow more forceful. “That is the violation here. The problem is not a man treating his partner with care. Consent isn’t a scandal. Violationof privacy is. Jayce and I are happy, committed to each other, and looking forward to our future together. Anyone suggesting otherwise simply has their facts wrong. Thank you.”
I speak with such conviction, for a moment, even I believe it. Reality quickly settles back in, though, as Grace ends the video and my exhausting thoughts swarm me once more. The anger and empowerment I was just feeling is dulled by sadness, knowing that it’s all a lie. Jayce and I aren’t committed to each other. We’re not looking forward to our future together. I didn’t even know he was there until now.
It’s nothing but an arrangement.
“Sutton? Helloooo? Earth to Sutton!”
I blink, snapping back into reality when I hear Grace’s voice. She and Rylee are grinning at me, and Stacey and Skyler are pumping their fists in the air in excitement.
“Brilliant,” Grace says, watching the video through again. “You look like a fucking CEO boss-bitch, Sutt. This is perfect. I’m sending it out now.”
I lose track of time over the next hour. I retreat into a daze as the girls push the statement out into the world. I just stare at the wall, breathing heavily.
