Page 70 of A Little Bit Extra

Cassie’s eyes find mine, her lips curl inward, and she nods.

“We are in this together, Sass. You and me,” I remind her.

“Together,” Cassie agrees.

“Okay.” I give her shoulders a squeeze before removing my hand and stepping back. I reach for my phone on the other side of the island just as Logan is calling again and click the accept button.

“Logan, what’s up?”

“Emmett. Finally. Sorry to call on the weekend, but we have a situation,” Logan says.

“Does this situation have anything to do with my dad?” I ask, rolling my eyes in Cassie’s direction.

“He tipped the media that you were done acting because of a girl, he didn’t name names. And, the only way I know this is because he called me to tell me that he’s doing this for your benefit,” Logan explains.

“Of course he is. How bad is the press? What are our options?”

“Well, I can try and keep some of the outlets quiet. Mostly anything that would be printed tomorrow or next week. But anything that’s online is going to be difficult.”

“Okay. Well, is there anything we can do?”

“We can put out a quote letting them know that it’s false information.”

“Any other options?” I ask, knowing I’m not ready to tell everyone the truth.

“Um, we can let it ride and hope people forget about it next week? It’s purely speculation, since they can’t name your dad as the source. That’d look bad on him if they did.”

I look over at Cassie, trying to gauge what she wants me to do. Neither option is great, but Logan’s right. People will likely forget about it without there being a solid source. But my dad did mention Cassie, which we will need to figure out. There are a few people who would piece together who the girl the articles refer to is.

Cassie mouths, “Let it go” and shrugs, also unsure if it’s the right decision.

“Let’s let it ride, Logan. Just keep me updated if anyone spins the speculation negatively, then maybe we can decide something else.” My chest still feels tight with dread.

“Okay, alright, that sounds like a plan. I’ll keep you updated,” Logan responds.

The line goes silent, but my mind is on full blast. My dad would mention Cassie. He knows I don’t care about the world knowing about my career being over, it’s something that would be surprising for a moment but then forgotten. But he had to mention something that would get under my skin, something to make me hurt.

Cassie and I can solve this together. I won’t be the reason she loses her job.

21

Emmett

“I’m going to call Marcy,” I say, already opening the contacts app and searching to find her name.

“What? Why? Emmett, she’s against us. She doesn’t want us to be together, remember? I don’t see how that’s going to help,” Cassie says.

“I think she’ll see reason.”

“See reason? Is that possible? It’s her literal job to prevent this—” Cassie gestures from me to her, “from happening. Can we trust her to be on our side?”

“I trust her, yes. And chances are, she’s already aware. Knowing Marcy, she’d hold it against me for blackmail to get something she wants.” I chuckle, thinking of the time she threatened to call my dad for ditching a charity dinner in exchange for me telling Ed she needed a week off of work, no questions asked. It worked.

“Plus,” I continue, “It’ll be better to talk to her here, now, before she sees it on her own.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“I know I’m right, Sass,” I say with a wink, then I dial Marcy’s number.

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