Page 46 of Hearts Adrift
I come out of it. “What?”
“Your sister—Heather, not Welcome Basket Brooke—just said so. What do you think?”
“I don’t know what I … what I think. Heather has a lot of opinions. Too many.”
“So you think we should keep going?”
“WhatIthink …” I pull my shorts back up. “… is we’d better go to my room before we get interrupted by theothersister also deciding to spontaneously catch us.”
“Nice call,” he says before stealing a kiss.
And another kiss.
And one more.
Then I race up the stairs with him, hand-in-hand, both of us still snatching kisses, as we head for my bedroom and peel off our clothes at the same time, ready to get it on at long last.
And we nearly make it—before the sight of Brooke at the end of the hall stops us cold, standing at the door to the game room with a big mug in her hand.
Her eyes snap to River’s.
She drops her mug.
There goes her jaw, too, dropping to the floor along with it.
Well, there’s no sense denying it now. “Not DiCaprio,” I say by way of introduction, gesturing at River, clenching shut my eyes.
Chapter 13 - River
It’s the cutest thing, watching Finn and Brooke.
Battling it out over keeping secrets and controversy.
I can’t tell whether my presence here is the greatest or the worst news, from how Brooke’s attitude ricochets left and right by every sentence Finn utters here in this colorful game room. They’re basically playing foosball without the foosball table, spinning their players, knocking the ball at each other with increasingly exasperated intent.
Eventually, the whole story is gotten out, and Brooke instantly becomes a celebrity fixer. “No really,” she says with her hands spread, “we can get ahead of this. Easily. I am awizardwith social media. Primarily: optics.”
“River has professional people for this,” says Finn with a note of weariness. “He doesn’t needyouto write a post to his followers, of all people.”
“Of all people?” She scoffs. “Don’t be a Heather. You aresorelyunderestimating my abilities here.”
“This is a big deal, Brooke,” he presses back, squared off with her at the opposite end of the couch. “A seriously big deal involving acelebritywithmillionsof eyes on his every move.”
“You don’t think I know it’s serious?Ugh, you reallyarebeing a Heather,” she mumbles to herself, crossing her arms. “While we’re on it, tell me: what exactlyarethese so-called ‘professionals’ doing? Other than nothing. These professionals suck. Silence is just as much a response as doubling down—orworse.” She turns to me, her eyes bright and thoughtful. “Mr. Wolfe, might there be a chance you have the login info to all your social media accounts, or are they controlled by your agency?”
I frown. “Sorry, can’t do anything with my socials. My agent told me to hang low and stay off the internet. I think I’ve pissed him and my team off enough. Hands are tied.”
“Hmm. I can still work with that, Mr. Wolfe. Is it okay to call you that? Mr. Wolfe? Never mind, I’d call you that whether you tell me just River is okay or not. I’m gonna need to know all your socials that exist to study them. It’s been about a week or so, but we can still turn this around.”
“Brooke …” gripes Finn, frustrated.
“I know you don’t want to go after the director head-on for two reasons,” she continues. “One: you don’t want to out your friend as the victim or force her into the spotlight. Two: you can’t exactly go up against a big beast like Trent Embers with just a pointed finger …”
“This is dangerous,” Finn keeps cutting in.
“So instead, we’ll prioritize changing the conversation about Mr. Wolfe’s character … with simpleredirection.” Her eyes flick through a dozen thoughts a second, passion burning behind them. I do like that passion. “Two waves. Now hear me out. First wave: plant seeds of doubt all over the place. Posts pointing out odd things in the viral video that don’t make sense. ‘This is what I find weird’ and ‘This doesn’t add up’ taglines … stuff like that. Focus on the timing of the video. What’s omitted. How it all feels too convenient. Even the punch itself can be questioned.”
“But the punch was real,” I point out, then smile, “anddeeplysatisfying.”
