Page 32 of Coming Home

She reaches around to hug me, and I’m glad she is breaking through the shock. Not everyone is cut out for this.

My phone rings; the ringtone is my agent's. Fuck! When I pull away from Sam to take the call, the hurt in her eyes is like a stab to the heart. I give the phone an annoyed look but answer.

“Damnit, Stoll,” my agent shouts, making me move the phone away from my ear. “We don’t need this shit now. Couldn’t you keep it low until a month or soafterthe launch? We agreed to none of your sluts till after.”

“Don’t!” I begin, my voice raised. I turn from Sam and lower my voice. “Don’t talk about her that way.”

His words are condescending in my ear. “Oh, well look at this. You finally found a skirt worth chasing. Great timing, Asher.”

I grit my teeth. “I know.”

“Well, if you don’t want your pretty little blonde girlfriend to be dragged all over the rags, you need to get back here for some damage control. Now!” The line goes dead and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

Putting the phone back in my pocket, I turn back to look at Sam. “I have to get back to Chicago,” I grit out through clenched teeth. “This is spiraling out of control, and I have to address it before it gets worse.”

“You're kidding, right? It can get worse?” Her voice is shaky and high, and she is on the verge of tears. “So, you're just going fly back and leave me to deal with those vultures?”

“Sam, they will just make up all sorts of things if I don't deal with this!” I want to explain but she isn't hearing any of it. She stalks off out of the kitchen toward the living room.

She grumbles to herself as she pulls on the curtains angrily, shutting out the reporters. “Then why does it feel like you're taking the easy way out, instead of fighting for us again?”

I can't help but think I should just screw all the gossip and stay with Sam. She needs me. She isn’t used to dealing with the madness of the press. She has always been one to avoid public attention and lead from the rear. It’s the very reason even I didn’t know she was the true owner of Transcend.

God, maybe I don’t deserve her after all. Just look at the shitshow I've brought into her life.

Chapter Eleven

SAMANTHA

Isit in the darkened living room with the curtains drawn, listening to Asher’s voice as he talks to someone on the phone again in hushed tones.

A few minutes later, he comes back to the living room entrance and stands there. I can see him from my peripheral vision as he wrestles with trying to say something. But if he is going to leave me here alone, I don't want to hear it.

He finally speaks. “Sam, I’ll fix this, promise. Just don’t make any statements, okay?”

I try for nonchalance, but I just sound bitchy. “Yeah, just go. You do what you have to.”

He walks away after a while, and I hear the front door open and close, followed by the reporters shouting questions after him.

Goddammit, Asher! How can you just walk away and leave me like this?I think to myself.You've always been my hero, and this is the second time you've just walked away without fighting for me.

I rush to the front of the house. Peeping through the window, I watch them follow Asher as he walks to a car waiting for him on the street.

This is my chance. I can use this distraction by Asher to slip past the vultures.

I lock the front door and rush to the back door of the kitchen. Peeking out, I see the coast is clear and take my chance.

After locking up behind me, I cut through the woods in the back, and cross to the neighbor’s yard where I come out farther down the street. When I'm sure I'm not being followed, I hail a cab.

I make it all the way back to my hotel and into my room before Madi calls. Things have taken an unexpected turn, and I can't shake the feeling that both my personal and professional lives are about to spiral out of control.

I take a deep breath as I answer the call. “Hey, Madi.”

Madi's voice on the other end is filled with concern, but there is a hint of excitement there too. “Samantha, I heard about what happened at Mrs. Kendall's house. Are you okay?”

I slump into the chair in my room, everything that happened this morning is beginning to weigh me down. “I don’t know, Madi. This is a disaster. The paparazzi were all over the place. They're going to drag Transcend Events through the mud.”

“Samantha, you can't blame yourself for any of this.” Madi tries to console me.

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