Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
“Answer it.” I hated how overworked Beth was. It felt like she couldn’t switch off, and I knew from going through it with my career that you needed time away from the job.
Beth put her plate down on my coffee table and picked up the call. “Cara?”
Her face paled at whatever Cara said. “Oh my God. Okay, okay, I’ll have a look now.” She switched it on speaker as she swiped on her phone screen. “Prepare yourself for the comments, Beth. Right now, people are totally taking her side.”
I frowned as Beth bent her head over her phone, peering at the screen. “What’s going on?”
She didn’t answer as she read something.
“Callan, is that you?” Cara asked.
“Aye, I’m here.”
“One of our ex-clients just blasted us on social media. She has a big following, so we’re taking a bit of a hit. We dropped her because she didn’t pay her invoices for the last three months, but in her post, she’s telling a bunch of nasty lies about Beth being abusive and pushy.”
Fuck. I dumped my plate, sliding along the couch to put an arm around Beth. She was shaking. “It’s okay.”
In answer, she shoved the phone in my face. I skimmed the social media post from the author, anger boiling beneath my skin at the lies she’d told about Beth and her company.
And at the nasty comments being directed at Beth.
“We need to post a statement,” Cara announced. “Something professional but honest. I don’t want to go down the road of she-said, she-said … but I do have screenshots of her response to us dropping her, and it’s nasty … Beth?”
My head snapped toward Beth and panic lit through me as I watched her clutch her chest, struggling to suck in air.
“Eh, Cara, we’ll call you back.” I hung up, dropping the phone. “Beth?”
She shook her head frantically, eyes wide with terror.
“Beth?” I tried to reach for her, but suddenly she threw herself off my couch and stumbled as she ran for my bathroom. “Beth!”
I hurried after her and got there as she slammed the bathroom door in my face. The lock turned. My heart hammered in my chest as I knocked. “Beth. What’s happening? You’re scaring me.” I had an inkling of what might be going on, but I couldn’t be sure, and the sight of Beth struggling to breathe left me shaken. “Beth, please.”
“I’m okay,” she croaked out. “Please … leave me.”
I leaned my forehead against the door, squeezing my eyes closed. “I can’t.”
BETH
Callan’s soft plea, endearment, and the worry in his voice caused the tears to spill over as I sat on his bathroom floor, my back to the tub. The cold tiles were uncomfortable but welcome because they centered me and brought me back into the room, along with Callan’s voice.
I forced myself to go through my lists of what I could see, hear, and smell.
It helped somewhat, but my chest still felt tight and I was light-headed.
“Beth?”
“I’m okay,” I repeated tearfully.
But I wasn’t.
I’d worked so hard to make something of Social Queens, just for someone with a bigger following to come along with their lies to tear us down, to take away everything I’d built, out of sheer pettiness. She was the one who hadn’t paid us for three months! And yet in my panic and anxiety, I couldn’t help but wonder if it had been my fault. Perhaps I should have been more careful, knowing this could be a consequence of pissing off someone on social media. I should have known better. I should have anticipated.
I’d failed.
Failed.
FAILED.
My breath caught as Amanda’s face flashed in my mind. A sob escaped my lips as I squeezed my eyes closed. No, no, no.
“Beth, please.” Callan’s voice was hoarse on the other side of the door. “I can hear you crying. Please, please talk to me.”
I covered my mouth to hold in the noise of my sobs.
“I … I know we’re not … that,” he said. “But I am your friend. Talk to me.”
I hadn’t wanted him to see this part of me. Yet it was out there now. And I couldn’t deny that right now more than ever, I wanted Callan’s arms around me.
Shoving onto my feet, my legs shaking, the room swaying a bit, I slowly crossed to the door. I unlocked and opened it.
Callan stood on the other side, his brows furrowed in concern. His gorgeous green eyes searched my face, dark with worry and tenderness. “Beth?”
I sobbed and threw my arms around his neck.
He wrapped his arms around me, his embrace tight. The scent of his aftershave, the familiar feel of his body, was comforting on a level that surprised me. He felt strong and stable and safe as I pressed my cheek to his chest and cried.
“Will you tell me what I can do?” he asked, voice rasping with emotion as he ran a soothing hand up and down my back. “That was a panic attack, wasn’t it?”