Austin’s heart physically stopped in his chest. They knew. They hacked his email and they knew.
Seth’s call broke the image on Austin’s phone. Julie, his publicist called at the same moment. Both must have gotten the same message. He answered one, then the other, putting them on conference as he sat in his truck right in the middle of the pasture, his heart at his knees. The cattle made their way to his truck, eating the hay from its bed.
“Where’s the breech?” Seth asked.
“My email.” Austin’s heart now hammered in his chest. It wasn’t just that they’d found him. They’d found Kitt too. “Goddamnit!”
“Austin, we ignore it and let it happen. They have no real proof. A couple of pictures of another man naked, none of this implicates you. They have no proof you’re involved. It’s two men who aren’t you, kissing. We can get you off the property.”
Seth stopped her flow seconds before Austin could. “That’s his boyfriend.”
“So? It changes nothing. There’s no proof in any of this that Austin’s involved. We’ll get you across the world and make this a lie they’re trying to put on you.”
Austin could hear Julie typing away as she spoke, already outlining everything just said.
“Kitt’s still gonna be outted,” Austin said lamely.
“He looks like a big boy. A real big boy.” Julie chuckled. The typing stopped and he could feel her eyes staring at the picture he’d secretly snapped. There was absolutely no proof, but he knew in his heart she stared at his Kitt.
Austin’s tone turned hard. “I’m not hangin’ him out to dry. This will ruin him, and it’s my fault those pictures were taken. He doesn’t even know I still have them.” Dread filled his heart. He stared out his front window, but saw nothing other than Kitt’s life being ruined, and in return, Kitt pulling completely away from him. And that was the very best case scenario in this deal he came up with.
“Austin, this is easy enough to sweep under the rug. Pay this cowboy off. He’ll be fine,” she said. Austin stayed silent for several long seconds. “Austin, you still with us?”
“He won’t take my money. Seth, get me a car and a flight to New York. I’ll take care of it,” Austin said, ready to end the call.
“From where?”
“Good point. Change in plan. Get me a helicopter here on my property in thirty minutes. I have to try and find Kitt. He’s helping the school out. I wanna leave Dallas within the next ninety minutes.” Austin put the truck in gear and drove slowly through the cows surrounding his truck.
“I’m advising you not to do whatever you’re thinking of doing,” Julie said.
“Don’t respond to Chrissy or anyone, period. I’ll be back in touch.” Austin disconnected the call and dropped his head to the steering wheel. What was he going to do? Was this the best plan? Nothing else came to his mind, and he’d have the entire flight to consider every option. Palming his phone, he quickly dialed a number.
“Well it’s about damn time you returned a phone call!” Donnie Cliffs of the Late Show answered on the first ring.
“I need to be on the show tonight, but it has to be on the DL. I mean, way down low. No one knows I’m on until you call me out. If you do it, I promise tomorrow’s gonna be a boom for you.”
“Alright, can you get here by six?” Cliffs asked.
“I’m gonna try.” Austin popped his head up, driving again.
“See you then.”
Austin dialed Kitt’s number, not allowing himself to think about his actions. The call immediately went to voice mail. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I’m leaving a note on my kitchen table explaining more. I’ll keep you posted as I go. I just wanted you to know that I’m here for you no matter what. Even if you never wanna see me again, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of and everything’s yours, Kitt. The horses, my land, the farm, it’s all yours. I love you beyond anything reasonable, more than life itself. You’re everything to me, and I’ll regret this for the rest of my life. I’m so sorry for what I’ve done and what I’m about to do.”
Austin disconnected the call and drove straight back to the house. He’d have no more than twenty minutes to shower, dress and get to the helicopter. He got ready in ten, and took the other ten to write his note.
The helicopter landed close to the house. He was out the door, running to the copter with his head ducked low before his security team could even surface to find out what was going on.
~~~~~~
A plane waited for Austin as he landed at Dallas Executive Airport. There was little time to spare. Seth, who was the most metro sexual, most uncowboy kind of guy, arranged for a stylist to be on the plane, along with a hairdresser and make-up artist. When Austin questioned it, Seth’s exact words were, ‘Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You need this’. The entire time they worked on Austin, he was on the phone with Seth, Julie, and all of his attorneys trying to find any other feasible alternative out of this mess.
No one came up with anything to stop the pending photo campaign from going worldwide. Immediate injunctions would stop the United States publications, but it was a global world now. Kitt would be plastered all over the entire world. It would easily seep into the United States even without a United States entertainment company featuring the story.
None of Austin’s staff, other than Seth, could understand why this had Austin so worked up. To them, this was nothing more than another round of the same rumor that had plagued him for years. No one got how much Austin changed since meeting Kitt. He’d become honorable. This landed squarely on Austin’s shoulders, and he wouldn’t slink away from it. He should have deleted those pictures. Hell, he shouldn’t have even taken them, and no way would he leave Kitt to deal with this on his own.