Page 78 of Undeniable Love
Enjoy the moment, ladies, because I’m about to kill it…
Lucy looked over at him and he saw it on her face instantly. Quietly, she walked over and sat beside him. “What happened? Are you hurt?” Worry laced her tone as she scanned him from head to toe. “What do you need?”
Unable to help himself, he hauled her in close, burying his face against her neck. “You, Luce. I just need you,” he whispered. Letting out a shaky breath, Jax had no idea how long they stayed like that, but he felt when everyone came over to join them. Reluctantly, he let her go and hated the confusion on her face.
“Jax?”
Swallowing hard, he sat up, resting his elbows on his knees, and repeated the events of the day. He never looked at anyone, just at his clasped hands, and when he was done, he was almost afraid to hear what anyone was going to say. But more than anything, he hated the thought of seeing disgust or disappointment on Lucy’s face.
“Screw that bitch,” Lucy declared. “I mean, with her track record, why are they putting any of this on you? She’s a train wreck and everyone knows it! Why is it up to you to work on your image when you’re the one being slandered?”
“If I may,” Juliette carefully interjected. “It doesn’t always work like that. She’s got texts and pictures of the two of them and, with the right spin, she can easily play the woman scorned.” Looking at Jax, she added, “And sometimes the public sides with the wrong party. We’re definitely going to need to do some preemptive damage control, but I don’t think you’re going to need to do anything drastic.”
“Um…”
“We can start by doing a series of videos of you talking about the camp—just some short reels for social media showcasing some of the plans,” she went on. “Then we have you doing some goodwill right here in your own backyard—signing autographs, visiting the local high school, and maybe tossing the football with their team.”
“I can do all that.”
“And while we definitely want to shine the best light on you right here in Wichita, we need to make sure we’re doing a lot publicly on a greater scale.” She paused to think. “Back to the camp and your hometown, I think it could be fantastic PR to showcase you and Lucy! You know, how the camp brought the two of you together and how you’re working together while being in love and…” She grinned broadly. “A love story attached to this—especially the hometown hero dating the hometown girl or the girl next door? It’s like a Hallmark movie!”
Beside him, Lucy didn’t say a word.
“If the two of you are up for it, we can really move forward with that one, and I think it would be a great start!”
Turning his head, Jax looked at Lucy and saw…he didn’t know what. He couldn’t read her expression. “Luce?”
“I…I need a minute,” she said quietly. “This is…it’s a lot. My family doesn’t even know about us and suddenly I’m going to be part of a PR campaign telling the world about us.” Her laugh was a bit mirthless. “I’m not sure how they’re going to take it. They’ll think I’m crazy, or…or…that I have serious issues. After the whole Blake thing…”
“What’s the whole Blake thing?” Juliette asked.
Jax groaned. This so wasn’t helping.
“I was engaged to a guy and let’s just say I wasn’t marrying him for the best of reasons. It wasn’t really a love match,” she sighed loudly. “I caught him cheating on me and broke things off, but…everyone knew I wasn’t with him…you know…because I was in love with him. I saw it as a way out of my small-town life.” Now she hung her head.
Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her close before looking back at Juliette. “That has nothing to do with anything or our relationship. It’s not like that for us, okay? So before anyone thinks…”
“Dude, no one’s thinking that,” Simon quietly commented. “We all get why you’re a little defensive and freaking out, but we’re all on your side. The truth is going to come out that Tiffany is unhinged. The extortion threat alone has got to prove that she’s lying about there being a baby.”
Again, Juliette stepped in. “It doesn’t necessarily prove that she’s lying, but it is a punishable crime. She’ll face jail time for sure, but not for any significant amount of time. Although…on top of the theft and everything else that she’s out on probation for, this certainly isn’t helping her case.”
Leaning back, he let out another groan. “This is a freaking nightmare! How much more am I supposed to deal with, huh? I made a stupid mistake! I lost my truck, was publicly humiliated, then we have a potential half-sibling reach out and who knows if there are more out there, and now this! All I wanted was to play ball and do something good with this camp, but everything’s too much of a damn shit show right now!”
Everyone grew silent and Jax figured it was because they knew he was right and didn’t have any answers or any positive spin for any of this. The quietness became mildly awkward until Lucy spoke up.
“Do you think the whole Hallmark thing will work? Because if you believe it will, Jules, then I’m in,” she stated, sounding determined.
Jax sat straight up. “Wait…what?” Then he looked at Juliette. “We don’t even know what it will entail!”
“Um…”
Taking his hand, Lucy gently tugged it to get him to look at her. “It doesn’t matter what we need to do, Jax. If this is going to help you, then I’m in. Whatever it takes.” And her smile was the sweetest thing he’d seen all day.
“Luce…your family…they’re going to see this. You know we haven’t talked about how we were going to tell them…”
Then she chuckled. “Well, it will be hard for them to get upset when everyone is commenting on how happy we are and how great our love story is.”
Love story, he thought. She deserved a genuine love story, not this madness for the sake of boosting his reputation. “I don’t know. This just feels wrong. Like…you’re sacrificing for me and we don’t even know if it’s going to help.”