Page 92 of Work It Out
“Denied.” Absently she picked up her mug.
“How are you so calm about this?” Samuel vibrated in his own fury.
That was precisely why. She couldn’t get mad. One of them needed to stay levelheaded. That wasn’t the only reason, though. Her first thought when she’d seen the article wasn’t blind panic or righteous fury. Yes, she felt both of those things, but she didn’t really want vengeance. She wanted Jake. She wanted him to put his arms around her and make some stupid, possessive joke about her boobs and pinky promise that everything would be all right. When he held her, when he looked at her like she was his reward for every good thing he’d done in his life, nothing else mattered. Come what may, they’d get through this together.
Except…where was Jake? She started to ask when Samuel drew her attention again.
“I guess it’s good that you’re not too upset yet.” Samuel crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s not the only problem.”
Of course it wasn’t.
“Don’s article showed up this morning.” Blaine fiddled with his phone and handed it to her again. “This one dropped late last night.”
With a sigh that rose from her toes, she took it and focused on the screen again.
“‘Super Hero or Super Zero’?” She scrolled more frantically this time, heart beating against her ribs in a violent tattoo.
There it was, the picture of Rayah carrying Jake and Hogrid up the hill. The pig wasn’t visible, but he surely featured in the story somewhere. She skimmed the article, her heart sinking farther with every word. That damn reporter had been busy. Somehow, she’d not only known Jake was being considered for a new superhero role, she’d known that hero was Phantom Strike. She praised his physical transformation, while speculating that it might not be profound enough to land him the part.
The article was also littered with candid shots of Jake in the gym. (She bet the cow had gotten her hooves on those after chatting up Chad yesterday. For one or two of them, he was the only potential photographer who made sense.) She’d even included shots of Jake and Vicky that had been digitally ripped apart with Rayah pasted in the middle. She didn’t need to read to know what that was about.
But then the author raised the question that had brought him to her in the first place, the one that could ruin it all: “Can a man who can’t stay conscious make a believable superhero?” Another shot of Rayah carrying Jake. In this one, his head rested on her shoulder. He’d been thunking it against her in frustration, but the camera caught him at just the right moment, at exactly the right angle for him to appear to be out cold.
“As best I can tell, that’s the article that started the shitstorm,” Samuel interjected. “It’s written by the reporter who was there yesterday, though she freelanced it out to a different paper. No doubtThe Journalturned it down. It’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”
Not that he’d ever win. Slander and defamation were a lot harder to prove than people thought, and next to impossible when the injured party was a celebrity. For this woman, the risk had been worth it.
“Where is he?” Rayah asked, voice much too small.
Blaine and Samuel looked at each other. “We don’t know,” Blaine finally answered in a tone that suggested Jake should also be glad she’d vetoed those vacation days. “No one can get hold of him, either. What the hell did you two do, drop your phones in the creek?”
She honestly didn’t know. They’d come home soaking wet… “They’re probably in my car.” She started for the door.
“He took it,” Samuel bit out.
Right. Jake didn’t have a car here.
Another thought occurred to her, and she jerked away from the counter, spinning in a tight circle. “Where’s Hogrid?”
“He’s gone, too,” Blaine told her.
“He took my pig?” Why that was the final straw, Rayah couldn’t say.
“Ourpig,” Blaine corrected.
She searched the counter and the fridge, ran back to the bedroom, tossing blankets and cursing up a storm, but there was no convenient note explaining it all away. She grabbed Blaine’s phone again and stabbed at the screen until she found Jake’s contact information. It kicked over to voicemail on the first ring. She didn’t bother leaving a message.
There had to be a reasonable explanation. Jake was sweet and kind, and he knew what last night had been to her. He’d never leave her without a good reason.
Or was the fact that she hadn’t been able to keep her promise reason enough?
“Pierce is out looking for him,” Blaine said as she handed his phone back.
She laughed, but even she heard the edge in it. “What? He didn’t trust one of you to go looking for his pet-thieving bestie?”
“I’m not sure Pierce was the wisest choice, either.” Samuel stared at his busted knuckles. “He strung together some pretty creative curses before he tore out of the parking lot.”
She frowned and took another sip of coffee. Blaine was right. This day demanded caffeine. “Pierce is that attached to the pig already?”
