Kallie

Kallie couldn’t stop thinking about her dinner date with Ash. She’d called him after work the other day and told him that going out sounded like a wonderful idea. He told her he’d make reservations and to wear something that made her feel beautiful, so she had every intention of getting off work early and buying a new outfit. She had a little bit of money saved away, so she figured she could splurge.

She felt like a lovesick little schoolgirl, and she adored it.

She hunched over her desk and worked on a few quotes. She’d had a busy morning and she needed to get them done before she could go shopping. She scribbled down some notes and recalled the places she had stepped into, then wrote out the official quote and stuck them in envelopes. Most people sent quotes with email, but Kallie enjoyed the paper trail. Having an official copy as well as a carbon copy for her records was a lot harder to dispute in court than an email that could be altered at any given moment.

She sealed the last envelope before her cell phone rang out in her purse.

“Kallie Semple.”

“Kallie. It’s Eris.”

“Eris?” she asked. “You sound panicked. What’s wrong?”

“Have you seen the Daily News today?”

“Uh ... no. I don’t make it a habit of reading the tabloids.”

“Well you should. You need to pull it up. Now.”

“Why? What does it say?” she asked.

“You,” Eris said. “It says you.”

Kallie had no idea what the hell that meant, but she figured someone might’ve snapped pictures of her and Ashly in the park. She recalled the incident with one of his exes at the restaurant that day and figured maybe she had tried to orchestrate something. Kallie figured a woman like that would try to pull something in order to sway the cards in her favor, and it had been obvious how much that woman wanted Ash.

But it was obvious how much Ash wanted Kallie, and that was all that mattered.

Not some stupid tabloid that—

Kallie gawked when the front page of the Daily News finally loaded on her computer. And it was worse. So much worse than she could’ve ever thought. Her face was splashed all over it, and on the front page she was holding hands with Ash in Central Park. But a picture right next to it was one that made her stomach sink.

One that made her want to vomit.

“What the fuck is all this?” Eris asked.

It was a picture of her and James. Kissing in front of that damn restaurant.

“They did take pictures,” Kallie said with a whisper.

“What did you say?” Eris asked. “Kallie, are you at your office?”

“Eris ... I ... I ... I—”

“Start at the beginning. What the hell am I actually looking at?” she asked.

But Kallie didn’t know how to answer her. What was she doing, being plastered all over the gossip magazines? And the Daily News wasn’t the only one reporting it. They were simply the first. Article after article, dragging her name through the mud and calling her things she could’ve never dreamed in her wildest imaginations were actual phrases people called other people. Her hand began to tremble and tears brewed behind her eyes. It was hard to breathe. Hard to speak.

“Ash,” she said breathlessly.

“Kallie, you have to talk to me. What’s going on?” Eris asked.

This would be her life with Ash. People would be constantly following him and taking pictures of their time together. Even when she didn’t realize it. Kallie’s life was now news, especially when she was wrapped up in the wealthiest man on the East Coast.

At least, the article called Ash that.

When had that picture been taken? Of her and Ash? And how in the world did she stop it from happening again?

“Kallie!”

“I’m sorry!” she exclaimed. “It’s just ... I didn’t know people were—”

“The picture of Ash. Where were you?”

“It was the day after the club. We spent the day together walking in Central Park and getting food.”

“So when the hell was this picture of James taken? Please tell me that’s from before you guys split up,” Eris said.

“No, it’s not,” Kallie said with a sigh.

“So you’re just serial-dating rich men now?”

“What? You know me better than that. No,” Kallie said. “Look, James sent me a necklace at work, and I told him I couldn't accept the gift. He said if I returned it to him, he had the receipt and he would take it back for me. I returned the gift. I didn’t even stay to eat dinner with him. He followed me out of the restaurant and tried to keep me from getting away, and then he just kissed me.”

“So he set you up.”

“I don’t know. I know there was a possibility photos were taken. Some idiot guys standing in the parking lot,” Kallie said. “But I didn’t think they’d gotten anything because it happened so quickly. I mean, I shoved him away, Eris. He grabbed my wrist so hard and wouldn’t let me leave and then he followed me all the way out to the sidewalk and he almost didn’t let me get into the cab.”

“That son of a bitch. If the tabloids come at you, that's exactly what you tell them, okay?” Eris asked. “You paint that son of a bitch in the limelight he fucking deserves.”

“They’ll come after me?” she asked.

“They’ll want a quote or something. That’s why I asked you where you were. For all I know, they’re at your office or something.”

Kallie slammed her chair back and got up before peering out the window. It didn’t look like anyone was outside, but her window was on the side of the building. Not at the front. Her hands were shaking and her heart was racing.

Dinner.

She had to cancel her dinner plans with Ash.

“I have to go,” she said.

“Kallie, wait—”

But she hung up on Eris before she could get in another word.

Kallie pulled up a text message to Ash and quickly typed him a note. She was in no condition to talk with him on the phone. Tears were seeping from her eyes and, for all she knew, he’d already seen the articles and was ready to unleash on her. She sent off a quick message telling him she couldn't get together tonight, and he called her phone.

He called and he called, and he called some more.

“Ash, I’m at work. I can’t talk right now,” she said.

“What’s going on?” Ash asked. “Talk to me.”

“I can’t. I have quotes to send out and a meeting to get to soon.”

“Kallie, don’t do this. Something’s wrong. I can hear it in your voice.”

“I’m in my office, Ash! It doesn’t matter if I’m my own boss, my hours are my hours!”

Then she hung up the phone and placed her shaking hands in her lap.

Kallie rushed down to the Post Office drop box in the front of the building. She peered out the front doors and didn’t see anyone congregating in front of the building, but she could see some of the looks people were giving her. Snickering at her. Shaking their heads at her. Looking upon her in disgust.

She rushed back up to her office and closed the door behind her, but she should’ve known Ash wouldn’t have left it alone.

Kallie put her head in her hands just as her office door opened. She whipped her red gaze up to whoever was coming in and she saw him slip into her office. Ash, with his comforting stare and his freckles that made him look as boyish as he acted somedays. He had a scowl on his face as he locked the door behind him, and Kallie leaned back into her seat.

“What part of ‘I can’t talk right now’ don’t you understand?” she asked.

“Then clear your schedule and talk to me,” Ash said. “Explain to me what’s going on right now.”

“You don’t command my life.”

“But I do care about you. And when you cancel a dinner date on me and then pick up the phone with tears in your voice, I make it my duty to make sure that whatever’s going on with you can be fixed. Now clear that damn schedule of yours and talk.”

“Do you really not know?” she asked breathlessly.

“Know what?” Ash asked.

Kallie pulled up the Daily News on her computer and turned the laptop around to Ash.

His eyes fell to the screen and Kallie held her breath. She watched his beautiful hazel eyes brew with anger as his gaze dropped to the screen. She watched him take in the sight. Take in the picture of her kissing her ex. She had no idea where to start. No idea how she was going to explain this to him without him getting upset with her. She brought her trembling hands to her mouth and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming unstable. Her chest hurt and her legs locked up, and suddenly her heart started beating wildly in her chest. The room tilted. Her chair felt unstable. She gripped tightly onto the arms of it and held on for dear life. She felt like she was on a roller coaster she had never consented to getting on, and she wanted off.

She wanted out.

She wanted Ash gone.