Page 88 of The Reality of Us
“Coming second hurts more than my knee,” he joked, but his voice was pinched, pain smothering his usual vibrato.
“Is there something you can give him? For the pain?” she asked the woman taking Owen’s pulse, but she didn’t hear her answer.
“Alice! Oi, Alice! Over here!”
She spun slowly, noticing several cameras were trained on her. No one seemed to care about the winners, which was … unsettling. And unfair.
A male reporter she recognised from an online music chat show caught her eye; his mobile pointed squarely at her. He’d always had a massive hard-on for Phoenix, mimicking his shaggy blond hairstyle and hipster beard. “How long have you been lying to everyone, Alice?”
She pulled her hand off Owen’s shoulder.
Owen leant to the side, looking around her. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. He’s a dick,” she replied. “Ignore him.”
“Come on, Alice,” the guy called. “You must’ve known you couldn’t keep it a secret forever.”
“What’s his problem?” Owen reached for his walking sticks. She moved them away, stowing them on the other side of the tent. She ignored the annoyed sound Owen made, her attention drawn back to the reporter when he called out again.
“When did you first realise you had a problem with drugs?”
His question echoed like a cannon blast. Time stopped. The lady filling out the novelty cheque dropped her Sharpie, a long black line marring the cardboard.
“What did he say?” Owen asked. The little colour left in his face disappeared.
“Stay here,” she ordered Owen and stalked over to where the reporter was standing. “What are you talking about?”
“The video. Where you’re high as a kite. It was leaked yesterday. Phoenix said you got him hooked on drugs.” He shoved his phone even closer to her face.
Is that … holy shit, he was streaming this live.
Alice breathed out slowly, tried to reassemble her game face. The number of viewers was climbing steadily. She couldn’t afford to make a mistake right now.
“Here.” Someone passed Alice a phone. She stared down at the video paused on the screen.
Her old hair was scrunched up in a rat’s nest, her eyes droopy, mouth slack. Video Alice giggled drunkenly and tried to wipe her face but missed, spurring another round of giggles. “Sötnos?” she slurred at the camera.
Oh God.
“This is some good shit,” she said. The camera panned out. The table next to her was covered in pill bottles, takeaway wrappers and Uber Eats bags. In her hand, she clutched something green, but it was impossible to see what it was. A wine glass with bright red lipstick smeared on it stood like a sentinel in the middle of the mess.
But … What? When? How? The sexy photos would’ve been less damaging. To think she’d actually believed she could break free from her past. Old Alice slumped to the side of the screen, eyes glassy. “Everyone should be doing this. I’m floating.”
“Alice, ho—” Owen called out again. She watched as he snapped his mouth shut, stopping himself from calling her honey.
Her beautiful, sweet Owen who always tried to do the right thing. Her heart broke when she thought about how she’d misjudged him at the start. He might show the world his serious exterior, but he was the most encouraging and supportive man she’d ever met. She’d been fooling herself, thinking she could be his. She didn’t belong here. She never would.
And she loved him too much to drag him down with her. To have them dig through his past, whisper about him behind his back—and worse, to his face—when he’d done nothing wrong.
She wouldn’t do that to him. Not when the mistake was hers.
The weight on her chest was suffocatingly heavy. Alice had worked so hard to rebuild her life, to convince people she wasn’t the reckless woman she used to be … to show them who she really was. And now, everything was about to be taken away again. Over something she didn’t even remember doing, but clearly, she had. The truth was right there, beamed over the internet for the whole world to see. Again.
The fleeting panic on Alice’s face was enough to propel Owen out of his chair, crutches wobbling as he stuffed them under his arms. He should’ve watched the ground, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Alice. With each step he took, she transformed.
Gone was the exhausted woman who’d pushed herself to her physical limit for the last two days.
Gone was the woman who laughed and joked like one of the locals.
