Page 121 of Keeper
“I already told him,” I said.
“You did? When?”
“Well, I met with him earlier today and told him everything about my situation. I’ve been sending him all the links to everything Marta’s posted since then. He’s been emailing me updates all day long—he’s really on it.”
“And what’d he say?” he asked.
“He’s confident he can get all the pictures scrubbed off the internet—he’s already got several sites to take my pictures down, but that was before Marta went scorched earth.”
“What did he say about Marta?”
“Everything she wrote about us falls under defamation of character. The pictures she posted were clearly meant to shame and humiliate us, so she could actually be charged under Texas’s revenge porn law. Then there’s the fact she posted a link where people could download the uncensored photos of us—that really won’t help her case at all. Basically, she’s screwed.”
Tanner smirked. “Damn straight.” He set his phone back down. “Sounds like he’s on it, then.”
“Shouldn’t you call your agent and tell him, though?”
He chuckled. “Right. About that …”
Without a word, he pressed the ignition button on his car, and the engine fired with an aggressive snarl. “Why don’t I tell you over dinner?”
41
Tanner
I’d planned on taking Ainsley somewhere fancy for dinner, but she told me she didn’t have much of an appetite. After everything she’d been through today, she felt like she wasn’t in the mindset to fully appreciate a lovely dinner. I couldn’t blame her, in fact, I was happy she felt that way—the fact that she appreciated nice things in life and didn’t expect them or take them for granted was one of the things that initially drew me to her. We agreed to save the fancy dinner for another night.
Instead, I took her out to one of my favorite bar and grilles I go to when I’m in a hurry—a place where we could get a greasy cheeseburger, a heaping mound of french fries, and maybe a milkshake, too.
The hostess took us to a giant booth that we had all to ourselves. Ainsley and I smiled at each other from across the table that seemed like a vast expanse.
“You feel so far away,” she said, stretching her hands across the table and toward me.
“I know,” I said, taking her hands in mine. “Tell you what.”
I stood, slid out of the booth, and joined Ainsley on her side of the booth. Hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, we leaned our weight against each other.
“There,” I said, putting my arm around her. “Not so far anymore.”
She giggled. “You’re a same side sitter, huh? Is that your go-to move on the first date?”
I laughed. “No way. You don’t pull that move on the first date unless you want to creep her out.”
“Isn’tthis our first date?” Ainsley asked, her eyebrow arching with amusement.
“No way,” I said. “There was the, er, … the night I took you home after we met at the club.”
She planted her face against my shoulder. “Tanner, that wasnota date. That was a late-night hook up.”
“Okay, yeah, you’re right. But what about when we joined up after the photo shoot at my place?”
“Tanner!” She squealed with laughter. “Do you not even know what a date is?”
“Wait, I got it.” I snapped my finger in revelation. “When I took you shopping.”
She considered it, bobbing her head from side to side. “That’s close. Don’t get me wrong, it wasverysweet of you. But I don’t think it qualifiesas a date because it wasn’t exactly planned. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing.”
“Reavo’s party, then,” I said, determined to redeem myself. “We both dressed up nice, I picked you up at a planned time, and we went to a social outing as boyfriend and girlfriend. Tell me, how isthatnota date?”
