Page 115 of Fear of Falling

Wyatt Boone, the star player for the Toronto Knights, was seen kissing an unknown woman as he left for the team's away game. Sources tell us it’s his new girlfriend, Josie Scott. The magazine reporter was seen only hours later dancing at a club with another man. Is Miss Scott truly the one for our beloved hockey player, or if she is in it to further her career?

Attached below the article were pictures of Wyatt and I kissing and then a slightly blurry picture of me and the creep who’d hit on me.

The phone fell from my hands.

38

JOSIE

“Josie, don’t read anymore.” Tasha’s voice sounded so far away. All I could see were the pictures of Wyatt and me. My eyes darted to the picture of the stranger from earlier. His hands were gripping my waist and from the angle it looked like I was willingly grinding back against him.

Who took this?

The fact that the article was out already, meant someone had to have followed me to the club and taken the picture.

My phone continued to buzz with tweets. I couldn’t stop myself from clicking on one, taking me to twitter. It didn’t matter that it was 11 at night, people were tweeting. The tweets ranged from people who were angry that Wyatt had a girlfriend, to comments that I was too ugly to be with him, to calling me a gold digger who only wanted to further her career.

I couldn’t stop myself from reading one after another. Each one worse than the one before it. In just a matter of minutes, both mine and Wyatt’s names were trending. I was about to click on another tweet when my phone was snatched from my hand.

“Stop.” Tasha gripped my phone in her hand. I looked at her, not fully comprehending what was happening. “Stay right here.”

I just nodded as she quickly stood up and went over to Mila and Lydia. I watched absently as she spoke to them quickly before all three came over to me. Without another word, they pulled me to my feet and towards the exit. Mila and Lydia did a good job at hurtling us through the crowd as Tasha gripped me to her side.

We pushed through the doors only for a flash to blind me. Seconds later the yelling began.

Are you dating Wyatt Boone?

Cheating on your boyfriend already?

How did you meet?

Who were you dancing with?

I completely froze, my eyes darting around.

“Move!” A hand gripped my arm tightly. With the help of the girls, we pushed through the crowd of reporters, towards an Uber idling on the curb. I was shoved inside, pressed between my girls as they ordered the driver to drive. The windows muffled the sound of yelling, but I could still hear the questions being hurled at me.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Tasha chanted, rubbing a hand on my arm.

I glanced down and saw hands shaking like leaves. I looked over at Tasha, my breathing heavy and my eyes wide.

What the hell just happened?

I’d known at some point word would get around about Wyatt and me. He was a well-known hockey player, people adored him, so it made sense there’d be interest when he started dating someone. I just hadn’t anticipated this would be how people would find out.

The fact it went viral so fast made my stomach roll. Whoever took that picture immediately sent it to some news station that already had the article ready.

How could they do that?

Suddenly, I realized in the shock of it all, I hadn’t spoken to the one person I needed to.

Wyatt.

“Where’s my phone!” I had to talk to him before he saw the pictures or the article. He had to know it wasn’t what it looked like. Tasha looked at me with apprehension, probably thinking I was going to look at the comments, but she must have seen the desperation in my expression, and she handed my phone over.

Ignoring the notifications, I went straight for Wyatt’s number. Just as I was about to call him, my phone rang. Wyatt’s profile photo flashed across my screen.

“Wyatt,” I breathed into the phone.

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