Free Web NovelChapter 83: The article
Ruby was still crying on my shoulder when her phone suddenly started to ring.
Who is it? I reached into her bag and pulled it out. "It’s Landon," I announced.
"Huh," she looked up.
"Do you want to take the call?"
"Yes, give it to me." She took her phone and swiped the icon. "Hello?"
"Hello, what the fuck happened to you? Your pictures are all over the net," Landon said. Because of our close proximity, I could hear him clearly.
"What?" Ruby gasped, sitting upright. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
"I’ll send you a link; go to this article." The call ended, and Ruby’s phone vibrated. She followed the link Landon sent and landed on a popular blog.
The blog had posted about Simon’s cheating incident and hadn’t bothered to blur Ruby’s face. The article had only been up for ten minutes, but there were already hundreds of comments and shares.
"Moon goddess! She did it! She wasn’t joking," Ruby exclaimed.
"Hold on." I took the phone from her, but as I tried to read the article, another call came in—not from Landon, but from one of her other contacts.
"Hello?" Ruby dried her tears as she answered.
"There’s an article I just read. Are you the one written about in it?" A male voice asked.
"What article?"
"About Simon’s infidelity. Are you Simon’s side chick? Some comments say you’re his baby mama. Is it true?"
"No! Of course not. I don’t know who the man is; I’ve never met him before," Ruby immediately denied.
"Oh great, I have to go now; talk to you later." The call ended. Another call came in almost immediately, this time from a woman.
"Hello, Ruby, I live in the same apartment as you. I saw a weird article, and your picture was used..."
"It’s not me! You’ve got it wrong," Ruby said and ended the call.
Another call came in from a different person; Ruby rejected that one.
A new call came in, this time from an unknown number.
"Who is this?" Ruby muttered to herself as she answered.
"Oh goodness," a female voice said. "I thought you weren’t going to answer. I’m glad you did."
"What is it? Who are you?" Ruby asked.
"I’m Sarah Williams, and I work with the crisis management team at Mr. Simon’s company."
"What do you want?" Ruby frowned.
"First of all, I’d like to apologize for the disturbance. I’m sure you’ve been getting a lot of calls lately. I’m sorry about that," she said.
"Did Mr. Simon ask you to do this?"
"Uh, yes! He did."
"Is he there with you?"
"No, he isn’t. Do you have a message for him? I can pass it along."
"Never mind, why did you call? You must have a reason."
"I’d like you to deny the dating rumors. Deny everything—don’t grant interviews or speak to reporters."
"And why is that?"
"The infidelity issue could become a bigger problem. It’ll damage Mr. Simon’s reputation and affect management, so we’d appreciate it if you would—"
Ruby scoffed, not letting her finish.
"Tell Simon that I said, fuck him!"
"What?"
"Fuck you, and fuck Simon too! Do not ever call my number again!" Ruby groaned and immediately disconnected the call.
"What nonsense?" She grumbled, setting the phone aside. The phone began to ring again, but she ignored it. When it rang constantly, I picked it up to check the caller.
"Landon is calling," I said.
"Oh," she said, taking the phone and answering.
"Have you read the article? Is that you?" He asked.
"Yes."
"I remember you said you were going to go on a date with Simon. Did you verify that he was single before going out with him?"
"No... I didn’t."
He sighed. "Okay. Where are you?"
"At the karaoke bar close to the house."
"Go home."
"I’m here with Amera; you don’t have to worry about me."
"Just go home."
"Okay, I will," she murmured and disconnected the call.
She looked at me. "What should I do? Everyone who knows me will see those pictures and call me all sorts of names. This will ruin my reputation and future chances. What if I don’t ever get a job because of this?"
"Don’t overthink it; I’m sure it won’t happen. Why wouldn’t you get a job?"
"All the neighbors will hear the news by the weekend. Everyone at school will call me names. Our childhood friends will point fingers at me. I will never get married; I’ll remain single forever."
"Stop saying such things; I’m sure Simon’s team will take down the article."
"Will they?"
"It seems like they’re working on it; they will..."
The ringing sound of her phone distracted us. "It’s an unknown number," she murmured. "I’ll just switch it off." She turned off the phone.
"Let’s do as your brother suggested; let’s go home. Everything will be back to normal by tomorrow."
"Are you sure?"
"I’m sure. Let’s go home." I stood up and helped her to her feet.
"My beer." She grabbed her beer and her bag, and we went to her apartment.
While unlocking her door, a woman and her children who lived next door came out.
"Oh my gosh, it’s really her; she’s wearing the same clothes," the woman’s child said.
"It’s not what you think," I said, correcting him.
"Sorry about that. How are you doing?" The woman smiled at Ruby.
"She’s doing okay; you don’t have to worry about her," I responded. "Let’s go in, Ruby." I guided Ruby into her apartment.
Two minutes after we went in, we heard the woman next door speaking to a male neighbor.
"She’s the one in the article, but she denied it when I called her earlier. She was wearing the same outfit in the picture," the woman said.
"Does this mean she’s a slut? I never thought she was, since she attends a prestigious school. Now I think I know who sponsors her lifestyle," the male voice replied.
"Exactly. She must be dating wealthy married men."
Another voice joined in.
"Is she really the one? Wow, I can’t believe it. She never speaks or responds to our greetings, and she’s rude. I’ll hide my husband and children from her. She is definitely a home breaker," the new voice added.
Those fools, what do they know? I thought, getting annoyed by their gossip.
"Why are you listening to them?" Ruby came up behind me. "Let’s just finish the beer and watch TV. I’ll go crazy if I keep thinking about it," she said.
"But—"
"No buts." She walked to the TV and sat down.
I went over to her. "You’re right, the situation is escalating; we need to do something before it gets worse. I don’t want people talking about my best friend like that," I said, clearly pissed.
"There’s nothing we can do," she murmured.
"We can stop the rumors from spreading."
"How?"
"How? By... By... I don’t know; there has to be a way."
Ruby sipped her beer. "The brothers might be able to stop the news from spreading, and I could have gone to them for help, but..."
"But what?"
"It’s you. You’re not on speaking terms with them, so I doubt they’ll help me."
"They will. They’re not that childish. Maybe... Cooper might help. Or Gavin," I suggested.
"You’re right, but without you I can’t..."
"I’ll go with you. I’ll talk to Gavin and explain the situation. I’ll ask him for help."
"Really?" Her eyes widened. "You’ll speak to him?"
"Of course. My best friend is involved. I’ll plead with him," I said, but Ruby looked unsure.
"Why are you hesitating? Come on, let’s go to him before it’s too late," I urged.
