Page 56 of Is It Casual Now?

“Hang on.” Siena’s fingers flew over her keyboard, her shoulders dropping and her heart growing heavy with each new article that popped up.

“Wow. They are not holding punches, are they?”

“Exactly. So you see what I mean?” Ingrid’s voice still carried the fury, but there was also a smugness in the tone. One that Siena had never minded before. But this time, she wanted to scream and kick shit. Holding back, she couldn’t be sure her frustration and annoyance really had anything to do with Ingrid at all.

“All right, so from what I can tell…” Siena had scanned several of the more popular articles, all pointing their sources back to Jamie’s blog. “…the slant is definitely on her offstage presence.”

“Yeah, but like you’ve always said, they deserve some privacy as well. They give enough.”

Siena saw the difference, but there was no point in highlighting that to Ingrid. It wasn’t her job to justify Jamie’s blog. It wasn’t Siena’s either. And yet part of her wanted nothing more than to form a defense for Jamie.

It was crazy. Her work meant so much to her, and here she was, thinking about Jamie instead of automatically helping her friend with the shitstorm she and her client were facing.

“Yeah, I know.” Siena shook her head. Tried desperately to shake off the desire to justify Jamie’s actions. “All right, let’s get on top of this as much as we can.”

“How?” Ingrid sounded deflated, and Siena knew she had to shake off anything to do with Jamie and help her friend.

“How we always do it.” Siena smiled, ignoring that small part of her that still clung to the confusion she felt over Jamie. “We use the media against them.”

“I don’t think the usual stuff will work.”

“No, I think you’re right. But we can start a dampening campaign and try to anticipate anything else that might come up about it.”

“Okay.” Ingrid’s tone was a lot calmer now.

Siena put her phone on speaker and let her fingers dance over the keyboard.

They spent hours together, and even after Siena had hung up the phone, her mind raced with steps Ingrid could use to help solve this problem. But she refused to let herself feel anything, at least yet. Because she wasn’t sure what to think or believe. Her feelings were getting in the way, and she needed to think about this logically.

Siena had seen texts fly in from Jamie throughout the day, but she hadn’t read or answered any of them. She wasn’t ready for what they had to talk about yet, whether that was an actual interview with Bunny and Piper, a conversation about their second one-night stand, or something to do with the pressure that Siena knew Ingrid was putting on Jamie’s boss to fire her.

Finally home and anything but rested, Siena’s mind decided she was no longer in control, and it was now time to unpack all the thoughts and worries she had pushed down. She collapsed onto her couch, one leg up and her hand over her eyes to block out the light as she crashed hard.

She and Ingrid had worked for hours on fine-tuning the steps Siena had laid out, Ingrid taking over the details as she knew her client better than Siena could. She had chuckled at Ingrid’s unguarded opinion of her client and wondered how her friend could work so hard for someone she obviously disliked. Then again, Ingrid had never had as strong feelingsabout that as Siena did. It was what had cost Siena her marriage.

Siena knew she wasn’t as perfect as Tori in always doing the right thing, but she did try to only represent those she believed in, those who didn’t lie to her or outwardly deceive the public. Keeping some things private was far from telling lies, as far as Siena was concerned.

Siena wished it had been her week with Harley. Her daughter was the light of her life. More than work, more than anything else she had ever experienced. And having her daughter here always helped ground Siena. She also had the skill of helping Siena with her grown up problems without even understanding what she’d done.

It had been a selfish thing, marrying Tori and having a child. Because that had been the only reason, when Siena truly thought about all those years ago, that she’d agreed to get married in the first place. That clock had been ticking, and Siena had let it take over her brain. In the end, she hadn’t been able to keep it up with Tori, and she’d needed to end it for both their sakes. But despite the guilt that often tried to overtake her, she could never regret those choices.

She didn’t want to regret any more choices when it came to Jamie either.

Then again, she wasn’t thinking about an actual relationship with Jamie. Siena wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice and rush into something when time seemed short. She always had more time.

Jamie’s article had definitely stirred up the hornet’s nest. But Siena couldn’t find herself as angry as Ingrid had been. The truth about Ingrid’s client being a spoiled brat behind the cameras was notorious on the manager side of the entertainment industry. It was why Siena had turned her down the first time and the second time she’d tried to leave Ingrid. And yet she was still cleaning up the brat’s mess.

Siena had ignored Ingrid’s rants about Jamie’s source, but she also wondered how the hell Jamie had gotten ahold of the information. Surely it wasn’t coincidence that they were spending more time together and suddenly Jamie was publishing more often and with stronger sources and claims than before.

Siena lay back on her couch and the dull throb of her earlier headache built up pressure. This wasn’t just a Jamie and Ingrid issue. This was more than that. The first time they’d had sex, Siena could claim ignorance. But not this time. This time she’d walked into Jamie’s apartment, and she had known full well what and who she was doing.

The itch beneath her skin wouldn’t be satisfied.

Firing up her laptop, Siena found Jamie’s blog and read the article properly.

It was incredible the way Jamie used her words to set the entire frame of her article. At the beginning, Siena wouldn’t have picked up how well the slant would lean against Ingrid’s client.

Three times she read it, and each time her stomach flipped in confusion.

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