Round & Ravishing

Chapter 2-2

Abby walked in a few hours later. I nearly kissed her when I saw bags of food from Thai This and more wine.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

I nodded and led her to the couch. The article was still up. I set the computer on her lap and hit the keyboard to wake it up. She gave me a questioning look then turned back to the computer.

“Is that you?” Abby asked, gasping when she saw the photo.

I sat back and sipped my wine. “Yep.”

“Is this real?”

“Mmm hmm.” More wine.

“Who took these?”

I huffed a laugh. “My ex. He thought it would be hot for us to take pictures of each other before s*x one night. Too bad mine are the only ones that made it online.”

“Do you really think he’s the one who leaked these?”

I laughed mirthlessly. “Who else would have? It’s not like they were taken in a studio and the photographer could have published them.”

“Why would he do this?”

“How the hell do I know, Abby! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though. The asshole thought it was okay to cheat on me and was perfectly okay with leaving me when someone better came along. He was probably having money trouble and decided to sell the nude photos he had of his barely b-list ex-girlfriend!”

“I’m sorry, Tara,” Abby said, sounding contrite. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

I waved off her concerns. “It’s fine. You didn’t upset me. That stupid son of a b***h did.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to make him pay.”

Abby sighed. “How are you going to do that?”

I shrugged. “I haven’t figured that out yet, but I have to do something. I can’t let him get away with this.”

“I don’t understand how someone could publish these without your permission. Didn’t you tell me people couldn’t publish pictures of you without you saying it was okay?”

I laughed mirthlessly. “Sure. Reputable places. But bottom feeders like these sites don’t care. To them, if more people complain, they’re doing better. They love s**t like this.”

“Ruining people’s lives?”

I shrugged again. “To them it’s entertainment. There is no person behind that photo. It’s just something that will bring them visitors and make them more money from their advertisers.”

“I still think it’s wrong. Can you report them or something?”

I shook my head. “It’s not worth it. At this point, the pictures aren’t just at this site. They’re all over. I’ve spent the last few hours looking for them. All the tabloids have them posted on their sites. With the black lines, of course, because they’re ‘reputable’ places. I can only imagine the number of p**n sites that have already picked the pictures up. All they have to do is download the photos, change the information attached to it, and upload it again and I’ll never find it. They won’t use my name, but they’ll use my face. And all my other parts.”

Abby shuddered. “It’s so creepy. I don’t know how you ever lived this life.”

“I didn’t have this happen when I was in Hollywood. I was no one. Which is why the whole thing is so confusing. I don’t know what Patrick’s getting out of this. I’m nobody, even less of a nobody than I was before. Why? Why does he care? The only thing I found out in all my digging is that he’s shooting his next movie here. It came out this afternoon that Winterville is the small town that was chosen for the shoot.”

“Really?” Abby squeaked. “He’s shooting a movie in Winterville?”

I rolled my eyes at her. She was clearly more excited about the prospect than I was. “Yes. But it’s only going to mean aggravation. Roads will be closed, all the hotels will be booked, it’ll be a mess of paparazzi. Trust me, this isn’t a good thing.”

Abby sobered and considered what I said. I knew she wasn’t done. She just had to figure out a new way to attack the problem.

“Maybe he leaked the photos because you live here. A little added drama for the upcoming movie. Real life drama.”

I sighed but knew she was right. That was so Patrick. Anything for his career. I knew that well. “Dammit. I bet that’s exactly what he did.”

“This is good though. He’ll be here. You can get your revenge on him when he’s in town.”

A dangerous thought filled my head. It was perfect. I’d have the chance to ruin him. To do to him exactly what he did to me. To show all of Hollywood exactly who he was.

“The only problem is I don’t have any sort of clearance. They keep those things tight. I could try to get on as an extra, but the extras don’t interact with the director or the actors.”

“What about an interview or something? Get an entertainment channel to do an exclusive with both of you. Promise them some kind of drama. Maybe not what you’ve got in mind for him, but something.”

It was the perfect angle. Exactly what they looked for. The failed actress. The successful director ex. And the scandal that surrounds them as he travels to her town for his new movie.

I could see them salivating over it.

I just had to find a way to convince Patrick it would be good for his career. Make him think it was his idea. After all, he was the one of the two of us who was still famous. The one that would be the real draw to the interview. I had no doubt he’d make sure I was well aware of that.

And it would only make taking him down that much better. He’d never even see it coming.

I just had to figure out how to make it happen.