Page 246 of Just for the Cameras
“You’re welcome for keeping things lively in your life.”
When I pick up my water bottle and phone and head over to the mats to stretch out, I spot a text on my phone.
OC:Uh…was the plan to announce that you were in a PR relationship with Maple this entire time? [Link]
“What the fuck?” I say as I click on the link, which brings me to an article about Maple and me and how our entire relationship was a fabrication for the media.
“What’s going on?” Hutton asks as he comes up behind me.
“Someone let it leak that Maple and I were in a PR relationship.”
“Shit, really?”
I pull up my search engine and type in my name and Maple’s. When I hit enter, a bunch of articles come up about our fake relationship.
“Fuck.” I push my hand through my hair, then quickly dial Gretchen’s number.
I pace the weight room as the phone rings.
“I’m handling it,” she answers.
“How? Because it’s being spread like fucking wildfire.”
“I’m well aware, Graydon.”
“Who was it?”
“Don’t know, but we are looking into it.”
I continue pacing the weight room. “This could hurt her. You knowthat, right? I told her that I would protect her, and this…this is putting a target on her back.”
“I know, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t hurt her, but you have to let me do my work,” Gretchen says. I can hear her typing on the other end of the phone. “We are working on a statement to dispel the rumor. Because right now, it just says a source close to you let the news out.”
“A source close to me?” I ask as I glance over at Hutton. He shakes his head vehemently. “Who the hell is close to me that would give out this information?”
“Who have you told?”
“Hutton, OC, Bennett…those are the only people other than Maple who I talk to. And they wouldn’t have said anything. If anyone, it would have been OC, but he was the one who broke this news to me, so it wouldn’t have been him.”
“Okay, well, I’m going to look into—” She pauses, and then I can hear her swear under her breath.
“What?” I ask.
“My friend over at one of the gossip sites just let me know that the news came from your dad’s team.”
“What?” I nearly yell, my entire body going stiff with anger. “It was my dad?”
“Looks like it. Someone on his team.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, this source is reliable.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Wait, Graydon,” Gretchen says in a panic. “Don’t. Don’t talk to him.”
“The fuck I’m not.”
