In reply, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He tapped at the screen and then held it out in my direction with the screen facing me, not him.
What I saw in front of me didn't make me happy. "What's that?"
"A picture," he said, not looking any happier than I felt.
"I know it's a picture," I said. "But where'd you get it?"
The picture was of me and Mina, coming out of the barn at the Hazelton fairgrounds. Our clothes were disheveled, and so was our hair – Mina's in particular.
She looked like she'd just been ravaged, which in all fairness, she had. On the upside, she looked like she'd enjoyed it immensely.
Funny, me, too. But that was beside the point.
Mason said, "That picture? It was posted today on the National Dirt. And there's an article that goes with it."
As I stared at the image, Cami explained that one of her sisters had texted her the link while the four of them were at breakfast. Afterward, Mason had mentioned paying me a visit to discuss it, and the rest of them had decided to come along.
As Cami talked, I tried to think. The National Dirt – it was the same media operation where Angelique had claimed to be working. This could be no coincidence.
I set the takeout bag on the nearby counter and snatched the phone from Mason's hand. I gave the picture a long, silent look.
For me personally, I didn't give two shits what anyone thought. But I did care about Mina – and yeah, our company's reputation, assuming that was a factor.
I tapped at the screen until I found the story that accompanied the image. The article was short, only a few paragraphs long, but it was more than I wanted.
Along with the obvious innuendos, the story included Mina's full name along with a brief explanation that she was working with Blast Tools on a summer campaign blitz.
Her parents weren't mentioned by name, but the article made it clear enough that Mina was the daughter of a small-town farming family. Throughout the story, she was called a former beauty queen, even as the article made a point to mention that she'd been "only" runner-up, as if this mattered one bit.
When I finished reading, I scrolled back to the photo.
How in the hell had they gotten it?
I considered the possibilities. Maybe Ginger and Emory had snapped it from somewhere unseen, and then sold it to the highest bidder. Or maybe a professional photographer had been lying in wait.
Either way, this wasn't the kind of publicity I wanted. Not now. And not with Mina.
I shoved the phone back to Mason and said, "You need to leave."
He didn't budge. "Why?"
"Because I've got to call Mina."
"And tell her what?" Mason said. "The truth?"
I didn't have time for this. "And what truth is that?"
His mouth tightened. "You're using her."
I felt my fingers clench into fists. "The hell I am."
"Bull," he said. "I know what you're doing."
"And what's that?"
He gave me a knowing look. "You're pulling a Brody and Arden."
I shook my head. "I don't even know what that means."
"Sure you do," he said. "You're looking to drum up some positive publicity to offset the bad."
Positive? Not the way I saw it.
Up in the barn, we'd been careful, Mina in particular. Before leaving, we'd taken every precaution to make sure that no one would ever know what had happened up there in the loft.
We'd left no trace of our encounter – except apparently, the photo, taken by God-knows-who.
And now, Mason was calling it a stunt?
With a bitter scoff, I said, "So that's why you're here? To give me a hard time?"
Hey, what else was new?
Mason eyed me with obvious disgust. "She's a nice girl."
I felt like slugging him. "How would you know?"
"I did some research."
Of course he did.
His tone grew sarcastic. "And the public will love her, right?"
Hell, anyone would love her. Even me – if I were the type to fall in love, she'd almost surely be the one. But I refused to go there.
Mason was still talking. "But we know how it ends, right?"
I crossed my arms. "Oh yeah? How's that?"
"With you dumping her as soon as the book thing blows over."
By now, I'd heard enough. "Are you fucking nuts?"
From somewhere inside the pantry, Arden called out, "That's what I said, except I didn't use the F-word."
I looked to Brody. "And what do you think?"
He didn't look happy at the question. "I don't know what to think."
Terrific. "Are you serious?"
He shrugged. "Hey, I'm just saying, I know you can get pretty creative when it comes to marketing."
Shit. What kind of monster did they think I was?
"Oh, yeah?" I said. "Like you got creative when you hooked up with Arden?"
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
"So the two of you – you hooked up for publicity, right?"
Now, he looked pissed-off. "No."
"Oh, I get it," I said. "So with you and Arden, it's real. But with me, it's just a stunt? That's what you're saying?"
Brody gave me a skeptical look. "So, it's not?"
Arden, who'd emerged from the pantry with a cannister of ground coffee, looked to Brody and said, "See? We told you it's not a stunt."
We. I could only guess she meant herself and Cami. When I looked to Cami, she gave me an encouraging nod, as if to say, "Go ahead. Tell them the real story."
I reached up and rubbed the back of my neck. Hell, I didn't even know the real story, except that Mason's theory was a smoking pile of you-know-what.
I looked back to Arden. "And what's your theory?"
Arden and Cami shared a long, knowing look before Arden announced, "We think you're in love."
I was staring now. "What?"
Cami added, "Yeah. It's so obvious from the picture."
Mason spoke up. "He's not in love. He's in lust. Or he's just using her."
I told him, "You don't know as much as you think."
From the sidelines, Arden said, "But how about us? We know." She smiled. "Right?"
"Wrong," I said.
