“Also, you have nothing to apologize for.” He ushered Coral out of the way and sat beside me. “This was my idea. It’s my fault it’s happened. I’m the one who’s sorry.”
A sigh escaped me. “You were trying to help.”
Dad circled around in front of us and knelt so he could look me in the eyes. “Whatever is going on, we’re here for you. Do you want me to sue the guy for slander? I could keep him tied up in courtrooms for the next year.”
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “No, but thank you for offering.”
“If you change your mind, I’ll be here. In the meantime, what do you need from us?”
“I don’t know…” Everything had happened so quickly. Only a few minutes ago, I’d been sleeping peacefully, and now my life had been turned upside down.
Did all the wedding guests know? What about the hotel staff? Were they gossiping even now?
“Do you think you could find out whether everyone is talking about it?” I asked quietly.
His face softened. “Sure thing.”
He and Mom turned to leave.
Alec wrapped his arms around me. “You’ll be okay. We’ll get through this. We know we’re really together, and soon enough, everyone else will realize it too.”
Mom scoffed. “Of course you are. No one who sees you together could ever think it’s fake.”
Dad tugged her arm and they stepped outside and closed the door softly behind them.
I dragged in a deep breath and let it out in one go. “Thank you, Coral. I appreciate you letting us all know about this, so I wasn’t ambushed.”
Coral frowned. “It’s literally the least I could do after all the pain I caused you.”
I nodded. I didn’t have the energy to discuss the matter further, and I wasn’t really sure I wanted to either. “Could Alec and I have a little time alone?”
“Sure.” She scuttled to the door and hesitated before waving awkwardly and letting herself out.
I felt Alec’s gaze on the side of my face and turned.
“You’re really not angry with me?” he asked. “This is my fault. It was my idea to pretend to be together. You said no, but I talked you into it. Then there’s the fact that no one would have even cared about the truth if I wasn’t semi-famous just because I chase a puck down the ice for a living.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” My nerves were scraped too raw for me to mince words. “I agreed to the plan, and you can’t help the fact that some people find you interesting. You didn’t ask for that. I’m not angry at you. I’m just…upset, and scared about what might happen now. This article makes me look really bad. Will my business suffer?”
He nuzzled the side of my head. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t. Somehow. I promise. I’ll stand by your side for every second and we’ll get through this. Coco Luxe will too. I’m so sorry, Tally. I never meant for this to happen.”
“You’ve said that already.” I sighed. “I’ll survive.” I wasn’t about to say that it was okay, because it wasn’t. It sucked. This whole fake relationship had started out because I wanted to keep my dignity intact, and now it was not only cracked but completely shattered, along with my reputation.
On the nightstand, Alec’s phone rang. He ignored it, holding me close and murmuring nonsense in my ear.
It rang again.
“You’d better get that.”
He looked over. “It’s my agent. He can wait.”
“Maybe he’ll have some ideas about how to make the most of this.” Not that it necessarily painted Alec in a bad light, but I couldn’t imagine his agent was pleased that he’d gotten himself embroiled in a scandal like this.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yeah. Answer it.”
He released me for long enough to grab the phone and then held onto it with one hand while he kept me close with the other. I shut my eyes and tried not to think about what might be going on outside or what the world thought of me.
