Read Online Rumor Has It: A Bad Boy Romantic Comedy by Lila Moore - Free Book Online

call Shonda,” I said. Without thinking, I reached for my pocket. Then I remembered: I’d lost my cell phone during the attempted kidnapping. “Shit. My cell phone is in the limo. It slid under the seat when he drove off.”
    “I’ll call the cops and see if they’ve recovered it.”
    Theo pulled out his cell phone and started to dial.
    “Theo,” I said before he got lost in a conversation with the cops. “I never thanked you for what you did last night.” Awkwardly, I realized it sounded as if I was talking about sleeping together. “Thank you for saving me,” I said, clearing my throat.
    “That’s my job.”
    His words left me cold. Was I nothing more than a professional nuisance to him? I took a bite of pancakes while Theo asked the man on the other end of his call about my cell phone. They tasted cold and soggy. I took a bite of the biscuit just so I’d have something in my stomach. I hadn’t eaten much yesterday and though I wasn’t hungry, I knew I needed to eat something. It was difficult. My nerves were fried. My stomach cramped around the small amount of food in my stomach. I felt full even though I hadn’t really eaten anything.
    “You’re sure?” Theo said into the phone. “Nothing? Alright, thanks.”
    He hung up. “Your cell phone wasn’t recovered from the scene,” he said to me.
    “Where is it?”
    “Are you sure you didn’t lose it in the street or somewhere else?”
    “I’m positive.”
    Theo frowned. “Well, you’d better get in touch with Shonda. I’m sure the two you have a lot to talk about.”
    He handed me his cell phone. I dialed her number. The phone barely rang once before Shonda screamed into the phone: “What did you do?”
    “ What did I do ? I didn’t do anything.”
    “Tell me where you are. I’m coming over. We’ve got serious problems.”
    “I know I saw the front page of the paper.”
    “Then you haven’t been online yet?”
    I could feel the pancakes and biscuits crawl up my throat. I swallowed hard and braced myself for bad news.
    “No, why?”
    “Where are you? I’m coming over. We need to discuss this in person.”

6
     
     
     
     
    “No… no… no… This isn’t happening…”
    “I’m afraid it is, Jamie.”
    Shonda stood before me with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She looked furious, as if I’d done something wrong. I flipped through the images on Shonda’s phone. The front page of Gossip Guru was nothing but nude photos of me. Most of the pictures were selfies. I’d taken several nude photos of myself about six months ago. At the time, I was flirting with a director. The relationship ended up going nowhere. No one knew that we were sending each other sexy texts. I was extra careful to keep it on the down-low. If our budding romance ever became public, my contract with Louis would be invalidated- and more importantly- everyone would think I was cheating on him.
    I was America’s Sweetheart; I was not supposed to fool around, or send naughty photos to men. Everyone loved Louis. I would be seen as the harlot who broke his heart.
    “How did this happen?” I asked. “
    That’s what I’d like to know.”
    Besides the humiliation of seeing myself completely naked on the internet, I now had to contend with the possibility that my career was over. I scrolled through the front page of Gossip Guru’s website and saw a picture of me sitting on a couch with my legs spread and my breasts exposed. The comments below were disgusting. I handed the phone back to Shonda. I couldn’t take anymore.
    “Who did you send these photos to?” she demanded.
    “A director- Steve Anderson.”
    “When?”
    “Months ago.”
    “Why would he leak them now? Did you piss off someone at the studio?”
    “No! I didn’t do anything. This isn’t my fault,” I said on the verge of tears. I sat down on Theo’s couch and buried my face in my hands.
    “I know,” she said with a sigh. “I’m not saying you deserve this. I’m just trying to