Page 36 of Just a Little White Lie

But I don’t find him.

Weird.

Jack doesn’t strike me as thesocial media lepertype.

I open Facebook and see if I can spot anything on there, but again, zip. Nada. I then check TikTok, although my hopes are pretty low at this point, and I’m met with nothing on that either. Jack Akana does not seem to exist on social media, and that only increases my curiosity.

What is going on with that caveman? How can he not be on social media?

He really does belong with the crocs and hyenas.

Flopping onto my bed, I lie like a starfish, muttering a few curses at the ceiling before covering my face with my arm and returning to the pity party from before.

But I can’t lie here moping about stupid Jack and his mysterious past. I need to figure out what the heck I’m going to teach tomorrow. With a groan, I crawl back to my laptop and absorb myself in lesson planning until Luke’s dinner call.

JACK

After the beer, I decided to skip dinner and go for a walk instead.

It’s a cowardly move, but I’m not even ashamed of it. I can’t face meal conversation with Lauren right now. She’s going to ask, poke, prod, and question until the truth slips out of me.

The ugly, humiliating truth that I don’t want another living soul to know about. Enough of the world found out, and they crucified me on social media and TV. I couldn’t show my face anywhere in Sydney. Too many people recognized me.

“Hey, aren’t you that guy fromDancing with the Stars?”

I used to love that question.

Now I hate it.

I turn away from it.

I ignore it.

Yes, I was that guy.

But not anymore!

Hunching my shoulders, I bury my hands in my pockets and walk along the Waikato River. The path runs for miles, and I’m only being passed by cyclists, dog-walkers, and evening joggers.

No one knows me here, and I need it to be that way.

I swear, never in my life have I been more humiliated than that moment the truth all came to a head.

My dance partner, Yolanda, the country singer who made a mill back in the nineties, screwed me over. She was Australia’s version of Dolly Parton, without the awesome personality and the good, kind heart.

When I was first paired with her, I didn’t know this. Of course I didn’t. All I understood was that I was dancing with a woman in her fifties. She was fit, athletic, and could move pretty well, so I thought we had a decent shot at victory. Being my third year on the show, I figured I was due for a win, and I spent hours putting together the best dances I could for us.

Rehearsals went great.

The performances were a hit, until we started getting to the final rounds.

We had some strong competition, and it made Yolanda edgy. I don’t know what was driving her. Maybe she was after some revival of her fame, but…

She crossed a line.

She paid a bribe.

And someone found out about it.

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