Serendipity Strikes

42

Author's note:
Check out that pic ⬆️
I spent hours trying to make it look realistic, which says how much I stink at photo editing. Ha ha!

Emmaline

I just stared at Shawn, shocked by the vitriol he was spewing. I understood he was upset, but for him to channel that anger towards me was completely unfair.

I decided not to engage with him while he was like this. Instead, I stomped off to our bedroom where I quickly removed my party clothes and make-up and took my hair down. Once I'd changed into pajamas, I sat down on the bed and started to cry the tears that I'd been holding in since the whole terrible encounter with Flint. There was a knock at the door right as I started to get myself under control.

"It's open," I said as I wiped off my cheeks with the back of my hand.

"Can you come back out?" Andrew asked from the doorway. "I want to talk to both of you at the same time since this involves you."

"Yes, but do you think it's possible for me to get my own room afterwards? I can't sleep here tonight."

He closed the door and sat down on the bed next to me. "That's not a good idea, Emmaline. If someone on the hotel staff leaks that you moved out of Shawn's suite, it could be a problem."

"I can't stay with him when he's this angry with me."

"Let's go talk. Okay? I know he's mad right now, but that's primarily because of the testosterone from the fight. It doesn't help that both of you were slamming champagne."

I knew all about raging male hormone levels from Mike. There'd be times after a particularly aggressive hockey game that he'd come home amped up and full of a strange kind of energy. It took a couple hours for them to work out of his body.

Andrew was also right about the alcohol. The adrenaline from the scene with Flint had sobered me up considerably, but it's not like it erased all the effects of the booze in my system or Shawn's. I was still probably legally drunk.

I followed Andrew out to the living area and sat on a chair as far away from Shawn as possible. He didn't acknowledge my presence since he was engrossed in his phone. Andrew walked over and pulled it from his hands, shoving it into his own front pants pocket.

"I need you focused, and you don't need to be on social media right now. If you say the wrong thing, it could hurt you."

Shawn just nodded sullenly.

"There's good news and bad news," Andrew started. "The good news is that you come out of this smelling like a rose. It's clear that Caddigan was the aggressor and that he attacked you. You're the victim, which in a PR nightmare like this, is an advantage."

"If I hadn't been pulled away, I would have beat the shit out of him," Shawn grumbled.

That's when it hit me that his pride had been hurt. He hadn't been allowed to defend himself, which was undoubtedly emasculating. Even though I knew it was best that they didn't get in a full blown fight, I could see why Shawn was so upset, and I couldn't completely hold how he'd reacted afterwards against him. That didn't mean I still wasn't hurt by his misdirected anger, but I knew this was about more than just me.

"It's a damn good thing that didn't happen!" Andrew barked. "As is, people will be sympathetic to you. That's what we want."

Shawn rolled his eyes.