I read the comments, my heart sinking, even though I know I shouldn’t. Readers are overwhelmingly certain that Caulter Sterling is definitely still a bad boy.
CHAPTER TEN
Caulter
My head is pounding as the limo returns me to the lake house, even though I was by no means wasted last night. I'm too old to drink malt liquor, I think, shaking my head. Hell, I never even drank that shit when I was a teenager.
I text Kate for the third time this morning. She hasn't responded to any of my messages, which is unusual for her.
Out too late last night? Hope you got a private lap dance.
If you didn't, I'd be happy to give you one...in five minutes.
In case I wasn’t clear…I want to put my dick in your face.
I'm walking toward the house when I get pinged on my phone, a message from Bryan.
Dude. Don’t freak out, but you’re on the internet with that chick from the game.
Fuck. I swipe the screen on my phone, pouring over the gossip websites. The photo of me and Debra the Psycho and her friend, what’s-her-name, is plastered everywhere. Psycho chick is leaning close to me, laughing with her hand on my leg.
That doesn’t look good.
Shit.
This is exactly what I need right before my wedding. Just when my pregnant fiancé is having doubts about my readiness to settle down.
"Is Kate home from her bachelorette party?" I ask Ella, who's standing inside talking to the wedding planner about the rehearsal dinner.
"She's napping in the guest house, I think," Ella says. When she goes back to talking to the wedding planner, I breathe a sigh of release. At least the photo isn’t widespread public knowledge yet.
Then Ella turns around. "Oh, and Caulter?"
"What?"
She walks toward me, her expression concerned, and takes my arm, talking to me softly. "It's all over the internet," she says.
"What is?" I ask, even though I know exactly what she’s talking about.
"You and those two girls last night." Ella gives me a look like she's disappointed in me.
"Are you kidding me?" I ask, my voice tense. It’s the look of disappointment that gets me, like deep down she expected this from me. "Do you think I cheated on Kate last night with two chicks at a basketball game?"
"I know that men freak out before getting married," Ella says, looking at me sternly.
"I'm surprised you can even furrow your brow like that, mother," I say, sarcastically. "With your forehead pumped full of collagen."
"That’s not what freezes your face,” she says. “And besides, I haven’t done any of that lately. I’m aging gracefully now. Don't try to change the subject. What are you going to do about Kate?"
"What do you mean?" I ask. "Nothing happened. Do you really think I'm that much of an idiot? You think I'd hook up with two bleached blonde bimbos at a bachelor party when I'm getting married to my pregnant finance?"
Ella gives me a look. "It doesn't matter if you did or not," she says. "The photo looks --"
I don't give her a chance to respond. "Like it was taken out of context?”
I don’t see the need to point out that despite the fact that I warned him about Psycho Chick, Joe went to the hotel room last night with both of them. But then, Joe has always been kind of a loose cannon anyway. He’s one of those friends I’ve known for so long that I shrug off his crazy antics.
Ella clucks her tongue against her teeth. "It looks inappropriate," she says. "My PR person can issue a statement. We should do damage control."
"I don't need to do damage control," I say, irritation taking over. "Because I didn't do anything. Someone grabbed a photo that is entirely out of context, and posted it on a blog. It's a stupid gossip site."
"It's not one gossip site, Caulter," Ella says. "It's a number of them. You and Kate are back in the public eye now, you know that. Between Kate's father and I, and your history in the media – and now this – you need to expect interest in the wedding.”
"I don't want to talk about this right now," I insist. "Has Kate seen the blogs?"
Ella looks at me warily. "I didn't tell her," she says.
"But she's seen them?"
"I think so," Ella said. "She didn't want to talk. She said she was going to take a nap."
Shit.
Well, surely Kate knows me well enough by now to know that I wouldn't cheat on her. I mean, why would she be marrying me if she didn't trust me?
But Kate isn't in the guesthouse, after all. And when I trek back to the main house to ask Rose about it, she tells me she thinks Kate is probably at her mother's grave. "You know she goes out there sometimes," she says. "Before something as monumental as a wedding, she'll want to talk to her."