Page 101 of My Irresistible Enemy

Tanner, on the other hand, was practically glowing. Like he’d just won the lottery. Maybe the show had been nominated for something? Hewasan executive producer, after all, not just a judge. Maybe he’d found out about it before anyone else?

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why we’ve gathered you here,” Tanner said. “Normally, we like to give you some time off on Thursdays. But we felt this was too important to ignore. Didn’t we, Vivian?”

He looked at Vivian, who pressed her lips together for a moment. “Well. It is important, certainly. Whether it needed a meeting with cameras, I’m not so—”

“Of course, Vivian brings up a good point,” Tanner said, jumping in. “We actually considered doing this live—”

“That’s not what I meant,” Vivian objected, but Tanner barrelled onward.

“—Because of the ground-breaking nature of this news. However, this is, in the end, a family program, and therefore, we felt that it would be prudent to allow our editing team the chance to massage the content as needed.”

“I’m not sure any of this was needed,” Vivian said under her breath.

“That said,” Tanner continued, “please know that we are treating this matter with the seriousness that it deserves.”

I looked at the other contestants, utterly bewildered. Lucinda and Aisha looked just as confused as I felt. Nolan didn’t look like much of anything, though. He just stared down at his hands.

“It has come to our attention that one of the contestants onA Piece of Cakehas violated the show’s social-media policy,” Tanner said. “Violated it in a most egregious way.”

My head snapped up. What the fuck? I looked over at Nolan again, who was still looking down. What the hell was going on?

“Truly, I don’t know what to say,” Tanner continued, which was obviously a lie, since he was the only one talking and he was clearly relishing it. “I understand that the media environment we live in today can be a confusing, often stressful place. But we ask all our contestants to exercise good judgement for as long as they are representing the show and its brand.”

My stomach dropped, and sweat broke out on my brow. This was not good.

“The person in question has not just shown a lack of good judgement, however,” Tanner said. “They’ve shown a flagrant disregard for the rules, as well as disrespect for their fellow bakers, for us as judges, and for everyone involved in the production of this show. It’s one thing to slip up. It’s another thing to repeatedly, knowingly, violate the norms of respectable behavior. It’s an insult to everyone who works on the show. This may be my first season onA Piece of Cake, but I’ve worked in TV for many years, and I have to say, I’ve never been more disappointed by someone I’ve worked with.”

His gaze swept across all of us, but was it just my imagination, or did it linger half a second longer on me? I wanted to sink through the floor. I wanted to run away. I wanted to jump up and object that this wasn’t fair, that I was never trying to hurt the show, that I never meant for anyone to find out. That no onewouldhave found out if not for Nolan.

But I was paralyzed.

“Vivian?” Tanner said, turning to his fellow judge. “Do you have anything you’d like to add?”

Vivian sighed. “I think you’ve said more than enough on the subject. All I’ll add is that I know it can be tough out there. I certainly don’t claim to understand social media myself. But I just want you all to be safe.”

Her eyes scrupulously did not linger on me, but her words sank into my bones, nonetheless. Nolan thought I didn’t have a sense of shame? He had no idea. I wanted to crawl out of my skin, let my skeleton clatter to the floor, and ooze away like the pile of slime I felt like inside.

“Yes. Indeed.” Tanner nodded sanctimoniously. “Safety is, of course, our top priority. But there’s one other group of stakeholders we haven’t mentioned yet, and that’s our viewers. The safety of our viewers is important as well, and there are some things they simply shouldn’t be exposed to. I’d hate to think of anyone searching for our contestants online and stumbling upon something they never wanted to see.” His eyes swung over to me. “Wouldn’t you agree, Aiden?”

My mouth dropped open as everyone turned and stared at me. My cheeks burned, and from the depths of my mind, a memory swam to the surface. The way Nolan had looked, that first day on the ferry. Shocked, embarrassed, and unable to speak.

I understood that now, firsthand.

“I—that is, I’m not—I don’t—”

Maybe it was a good thing I couldn’t talk, because I wasn’t even sure what I was trying to say. Not that Tanner gave me time to speak, anyway.

“It’s no use denying it, Aiden. We’ve found your CamFans account. Obviously, we won’t be showing any images from it, nor linking to it, to protect our viewers. But I think they deserve to hear from you, to understand what you were thinking.”

“I—but I didn’t—I’m sorry, I’m not—”

“Did you think that it was appropriate for a baker onA Piece of Caketo be putting pornographic content on the internet?”

“Okay, but I never—I mean, I had the account way before—that is, I didn’t actually expect—”

“So you were simply hoping not to get caught?” Tanner shook his head. “You’re saying that you knew it was wrong, you just didn’t think the rules applied to you?”

“No!” I said, my body shaking. “No, it’s not like that. I knew the rules applied, I just didn’t think—I never thought I’d make it this far. I never meant to hurt anyone.”

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