Page 108 of Faking the Shot

Zac pulled out his phone. Found a nearby flower delivery service. Added some extras.

“Aww, flowers. Hey, want to write a note yourself?” Michael opened the desk drawer and pulled out a white notepad and pen. “There you go.”

He wrote a note, then folded it and tucked it inside the envelope Michael slid his way. “Thanks.” He then scribbled his phone number and passed that to Michael, who looked like he’d been given treasure.

“Okay. Well, I’ll do my best to let you know, about, ah, the other thing.”

“Thanks.” He wondered if he should offer more hockey tickets as thanks or whether that would look too much like a bribe.

Michael eyed him. “You’re different to all the others.”

“The others?”

“All the other guys she went out with. I could tell she likes you best, but you really care for her too, huh?”

“I really do.”

“Good. She needs someone who cares. I think she’s been lonely for a long time.”

He pushed back his shoulders. “I want to make sure she’s never lonely again.”

By the timehe’d returned to his condo and done his Zoom with his agent he found a missed call from Diana, but more importantly, a thank you text from Ainsley. It literally was a thank you text with just those two words, which he took to mean she had received the flowers.

It wasn’t until later, just as he’d fumbled between praying for her, watching sports on TV, and contemplating dinner, that he got a notification from Drew.

Dude. Have you seen this? Is there something your girlfriend isn’t telling you?

He clicked the link, and it opened into something he’d promised God he wouldn’t look at. Was that—Ainsley?

What the dancer wore barely counted as a bikini, and the bikini barely covered her, ahem, assets, but it was her face that drew his attention. Ainsley’s face. Smiling, just like at the White Night gala.

Whoa. That hairstyle, that makeup, those earrings. It was Ainsley’s face from the gala. But she definitely hadn’t been wearingthat.

Dear God.Who had done that? Who could be so cruel as to deepfake a photograph to suggest Ainsley was a stripper? Had someone sent that to her? Had she seen it? What could he do?

“God, I need help.”

So he called Chris and asked him to pray.

CHAPTER21

“Isimply cannot understand why you thought that was a good idea. What other actress, in the history of the Earth, who is known for her sweet family-friendly movies, would eventhinkof going to a strip club and trashing her reputation?”

Ainsley closed her eyes as Rosie continued to berate her. Thank goodness this wasn’t a video call, and that she had the call on speaker. The shaking from earlier today had returned as soon as Diana had called and said a photo had been taken of Ainsley leaving the strip club, which had subsequently been leaked, which had led to Rosie’s call not five minutes later.

“Here you’ve spent all this time trying to fix your reputation, and then you go do something like this? How could you?”

When Rosie finally paused for breath Ainsley was inclined to agree with her.

What had she been thinking, trying to make a difference? Glenda might say God used broken people, but right now Ainsley felt a little too broken to be of any use to anyone ever.

She wasn’t even being any good for her career.

Rosie gasped. “Oh my goodness! There’s another one.”

“Another what?”

“Oh, Ainsley, I wouldn’t go on the internet if I were you.”