Imperfect

Unwanted Attention

The press, and Finley's fans were once again taking more than a slight interest in me. There were lots of fake news stories going around, and the narrative that I had stalked Finley until he had given in, was back in full force. This time round I was much better equipped to deal with it, and Malcolm was hitting news outlets with cease and desist orders for defamation, left and right. I insisted it was fine, but Finley wasn't standing for it. I was sat at my desk in work chomping on a vegan chicken salad sandwich and scrolling through yet another laughable article.

"After months of refusing to leave Beckett's home, he felt he had no choice but to date Wilson again. A source close to the pair said that he was worried she would do something to harm herself unless he restarted the relationship. One of Claire's exes, Tom Lewis, came forward and said she used the same tactics on him."

That was something I wasn't expecting. My jaw visibly dropped and I scrolled to keep reading.

"When I dated Claire, we ended up engaged for a short while. She was obsessed with me and pretty much refused to leave my flat unless I was with her. She always went through my phone and wanted to know where I was at every moment of the day. If I ever went out with friends she would have a meltdown. That's probably why he's ditched all his friends."

I couldn't believe what I was reading. Everything that he said about our previous relationship was true, but it was all by his design. He had made me so co dependent on him that I was scared to ever be alone. I would only go into meltdown because he was always out cheating on me, and he played my anxiety against me. I slammed my phone down. I didn't want to read another word. I thought I was going to vomit. How dare he? I picked my phone back up and rang Malcolm.

"Hello? Claire?" He asked.

"Hey Malc are you ok?" I asked.

"No. I've just seen a quote from your ex in an article." He responded flatly. "Finley is going nuts over it."

"So I don't need to tell you how untrue it is?" I said angrily.

"No. I've arranged something for Finley and you actually. Do you finish early tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll be home at around two in the afternoon, why?" I asked. Malcolm let out a heavy breath on the other end of the phone.

"Because I want you both to do an interview together. I know you're not keen on appearing in front of the camera's but one of the best way's to stop this narrative is for you and Finley to combat it head on. We won't be able to sue every single news outlet." He explained. I groaned loudly and put my hand to my forehead.

"An interview? Really Malc? Who with?" I asked.

"Quick drama. They said they want to get it up by this weekend so if we shoot tomorrow it should be out by Sunday." He said.

"Fine and are you sure it will stop this stupid rumour that I'm a stalker? I really don't know how those assholes can sleep at night." I said.

"I'm sure Claire. Now don't worry about it. I'm on top of it! You just sit back and relax and I'll email you and Fin a list of questions later." He said.

"Ok, thanks Malcolm. What would we do without you?" I said gratefully.

"Have a meltdown. I'll speak later Claire, have a good day."

"You too Malc, thanks again." The line went dead and I put my phone down. I put my head on my desk and banged it against it gently a few times. The press were monsters. I was sure Finley would be in an awful mood. I looked up and noticed everyone in the office was staring at me. It had become a pretty regular occurrence recently. Wesley came out of his office and noticed. He barked at everyone to get back to work and called me into his office. This could not be good. Wesley offered me a seat, and closed the door behind me.