Twenty-Two
OF COURSE, I fell asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I was in Jack Stapleton’s bed, under that maelstrom of whatever it was he did to his sheets every night, and I was pinned to the mattress by one of Jack’s enormous arms, slung across my shoulders, and also one of his legs—tangled around one of my own.
All of which felt pretty nice, actually.
I gave myself a moment to savor it.
I mean … right? That kind of thing doesn’t happen every day. I was tempted to snap a selfie so I’d believe it later.
But then my phone—which was set to never ding before 8:00 A.M.—started dinging at 8:01.
A lot.
And by the time I’d wriggled out from under Jack to check it, I found a thousand texts from every single person I worked with, and plenty of people I didn’t.
Apparently, I’d accidentally gotten famous overnight.
Because while we’d been sleeping in here—out there on the internet, things were wide awake.
In less than twenty-four hours, three major Jack-related things occurred.
One: The Corgi Lady decided to update her Jack Stapleton fan page with photos and videos of all her stalking shenanigans—spreading the word far and wide that Jack was in Houston and that she’d managed to find his house. Countless posts showed up with captions like, “Love is in the air at my one and only’s luxury rental estate in Houston! He can run, but he cannot hide! #JackStapleton #JackAttack #JackHammer #TrueLove #CorgiAddict #CheckOutMyNudes #LetsMakeABaby.”
Two: A photo of Jack and me from the hospital—that night, when I told him to hide by leaning into me—showed up and then exploded online. We definitely looked like we were embracing, possibly even making out like crazy, even to me. And this photo was everywhere under headlines like “Who’s Jack Stapleton’s New Girlfriend?” and, “Mystery Woman Sucks Face with Jack Stapleton,” and just plain old, “Get It, Jack!”
And three: The Corgi Lady apparently saw the photo, lost what was left of her mind, and delivered a basket of stuffed-animal corgi puppies to the doorstep of Jack’s rental house in Houston … with a note tucked inside letting Jack know that she was definitely, without question, going to murder me. In graphic detail.
Glenn, needless to say, was not pleased.
Take a jog to HQ! ASAP! his final text said. Let’s figure this the hell out.
This definitely bumped Jack up to threat level tangerine. Or maybe even persimmon.
It wasn’t a death threat against the principal, but it was a threat against his “girlfriend,” which was close enough. Also, the photos she’d posted included all sorts of revealing clues about Jack’s house that enterprising fans could study. Also, the world now knew that he was back in civilization—which made him fair game.
Before I left Jack’s room, I gave myself a minute to pause at the door and look at him—still fast asleep in the bed where I had also been just minutes before. The guy in that bed was so different from the person all over the internet. From his crooked glasses, to his death-defying tricks on circus horses, to the way he could not land a piece of trash in the can to save his life.
It’s so funny to look back at that moment now: Jack sleeping so peacefully, and me, watching him, still blissed-out from a night in his arms and feeling—without even realizing it—closer to him than I’d maybe ever felt to anyone at all.
I was so confident that we’d handle this new complication like we’d handled everything else.
But sometimes confidence just isn’t quite enough.
Because my fake-yet-somehow-impossibly-true relationship with Jack Stapleton?
It was pretty much already over.
BACK AT HQ, everything was moving double-time.
Glenn was howling orders, Kelly was collating printouts, Amadi was correcting somebody on the phone. Taylor had called in sick, but Robby was there—and the idea of a death threat against his former woman had thrown him into macho mode.
“You have to take her off the assignment,” he badgered Glenn, as I walked in. “It’s not safe now. She’s a target.”
“Simmer down, Romeo,” Glenn said. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“Damn straight,” I said, closing the door behind me.
Glenn didn’t even glance my way. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, either.”
“I can stay on the case,” I said. “It’s fine.”
“I’m not sure it is fine,” Glenn said, shuffling through a stack of printouts. “These are very specific. This lady has really thought it through.”
“There’s more than one?” I asked. “I thought she just wanted to run me over with her car.”
“She also wants to push you off a roof,” Glenn said. “And electrocute you. And poison you with rat bait.”
“Thorough,” I said, stepping close to Glenn to look over his shoulder.
“Rat bait is no joke,” Robby said, but I ignored him.
“How did she come up with all this in twenty-four hours?” I said. “That photo of me just surfaced.”
“Maybe she had a contingency plan at the ready,” Glenn said, “for any girlfriend that might come along.”
“We’re fine as long as we stay on the ranch,” I said, surprised at how badly I wanted that to be true.
But Glenn was shaking his head. “You’re compromised now. You’re a risk to the client and to yourself.”
“We can minimize those risks if we—”
Glenn cut me off. “If we take you off the gig.”
Robby looked infuriatingly triumphant.
“Look,” I said to Glenn. “I can handle it.”
“But there’s no reason to,” Glenn said. “We have plenty of available agents who can take over.”
“I’ll take over!” Kelly volunteered from her back corner.
“But…” I wasn’t sure what to say. “What will we say to Jack’s parents?”
“Simple,” Glenn said. “It’s time to come clean.”
“About me?” I asked.
“About all of it.”
“You mean”—I said, feeling sparks of panic in my chest but trying so hard to sound like I was just clarifying for my mental file—“I’m going to have to tell them it was all a lie and then just … leave forever?”
“Pretty much,” Robby said with glee.
“Shut up, Robby,” Kelly and I said, in unison.
“I was okay with the deception when the threat level was yellow,” Glenn said. “But now it’s orange for the client, and it’s red for you. If you stay, you’re luring danger—toward yourself and toward them. They need to know what’s going on. Everyone’s safer if you come clean and go.”
I thought about that.
“You don’t want to put the Stapleton family at risk, do you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then it’s settled. You leave tonight.”
Wait! What? “Tonight?”
Glenn looked at me, like This isn’t hard. “Tell them today, then leave tonight. I’ll send Amadi with the car after dinner. And we’ll put an agent at your apartment to keep an eye on you for the next few days.” Glenn turned to check his roster.
I crossed my fingers for Amadi. Or Doghouse. Or Kelly.
“Taylor’s free,” Glenn said.
“Seriously?” I said. “She’s my nemesis!”
“Get over it,” Glenn said.
Then, with dread, I realized that if he was putting Taylor on my detail, that left Robby free for it. I said, “Who’s taking my place?”
Glenn knew what I was asking. But he played it like he didn’t. “Once everything’s out in the open, we’ll move a team in at the ranch and also place a team at the house in town. And I’ll put Robby on the principal.”
I saw it coming. “Come on!”
“Hey,” Glenn said. “It’s exactly like the op Robby ran in Jakarta. You want the best for your boyfriend, don’t you?”
“Don’t call Jack my boyfriend,” I said.
“Yeah,” Glenn said. “I guess that’s all over now.”
Robby nodded with a smirk that made me want to punch him in the face.
“But here’s the great news,” Glenn said. “You’re still in the running for London. And now you are free to go to Korea.” Then he tapped his watch, like Eyes on the prize—thinking I was getting exactly what I wanted. “Two short weeks.”