Page 80 of One Last Shot
She shook her head. “I’ll talk to them. Maybe you need to, well, distance yourself from this. And us. And... maybe you need to gohome, Oaken. Back to your real life.”
Her words landed like a blow to his chest. “What?”
“I just think maybe...” She turned to him, then pulled her phone from her back pocket. “I don’t want you getting hurt. Socially or emotionally. And I don’t want the show to get hurt financially.”
“What are you talking about?”
And that’s when she opened up her Instagram account and turned her phone around.
A picture of him and Boo. Tonight. During their food fight. And the caption wasn’t flattering about Boo.
But most damaging were the comments.
Oaken Fox, showing off his fighting skills, again.
Will Oaken never learn? Stay away from crazy fans.
Alaska, where country music stars go to die.
There were more, but she turned off her phone and pocketed it. “I’m sorry, Oaken, but... they’re right. If you want to resurrect your career, you need to get back to wooing girls onstage and writing love songs and stop hiding in Alaska.”
“I’m not hiding.”
“I know. But... I talked with Huxley. She said something about a fake rescue?”
His mouth opened. “No... I mean... okay, yes, there was a staged rescue. But tonight was the real thing. I nearly died trying to help a woman from a car.”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. Are you okay?”
He certainly wasn’t freezing anymore. “Yes. Fine. And that woman in the picture is a fellow rescue tech named Boo?—”
“I know who she is, Oaken. She was onSurvivorQuest. She was Blake Hinton’s partner, the one who slept with him to try to get him to lose the race. Diabolical. And then she went online after he outed her and told the world that he’d faked his illness to play her. That he was a predator and didn’t deserve to finish in second place.”
Oaken’s throat tightened. “I know.”
“And yet you’re kissing her? Hello—do you know what kind of fool that makes you out to be? I’m not sure we can even air this show?—”
“She hasn’t been on camera. At least, not officially.”
Seraphina’s mouth tightened. “It’ll come out. And we’ll be sunk.” Her eyes turned glossy. “I’m sorry, Oaken. I’m not trying to make this about money. I really do care what happens to you. You’re a good guy. An honest guy. A real hero—and a real talent. I just don’t want you to give up everything for... well, whatever is going on, because you’re feeling sad about your career.”
Feeling sad... oh, the social media fiasco. The lawsuit. He’d, well, forgotten, at least for a while.
“I’ve never felt more alive than the last week with Air One. It might be the best thing that’s happened to me since...” He shook his head. “I don’t know how long.”
Seraphina nodded, wiped her cheek. “Well, that’s good. Really good. And maybe it’s helped you get on your feet. And we can probably spin this?—”
“I don’t want to spin this!”
“Well, I do.” The voice came from a few feet away.
He turned, and Huxley stood there, dressed in wet clothing, a soggy wool hat. “Spinning this isexactlywhat we need to do. And by the way, keep your voices down. I heard you all the way down the hall.”
He stared at her. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that the reasonSurvivor Questgot such high ratings was because of the romance between Blake and Boo. Everyone saw it on-screen, and maybe youdon’t read the comments on the episodes, but it’s my job, and I’m telling you, after the episode where he voted her off the show, there were plenty of women on Boo’s side, who saw right through Blake. The media wanted to make her into Boo Hoo, but for many, she was the victim.”
Seraphina’s mouth tightened. “Maybe if she hadn’t come out and said terrible things about him.”