None of it was true. I knew who I was. I knew what Ty and I had. I knew that he and Jo were just friends.
“It’s ridiculous.” I shook my head. “But I’ll do it.”
I didn’t want to stress him out more than he already was. I could hear the panic in his voice. “I’m sorry about this. The fans can get a little crazy. I’ve just never had to deal with it personally. Jo’s on the phone with her sister, because someone from the doctor’s office apparently gave a quote off the record that she was there for a pregnancy. She doesn’t want to throw salt in her sister’s wounds by saying that it wasn’t her.”
“Oh my gosh,” I groaned. “This is a shitshow.”
“Welcome to my life. You ready to jump ship?” he asked, and I took him off speakerphone as Addy went to sit in the chair across from my desk. Ty wasn’t joking. He was worried. We had more than enough obstacles working against us being together, but not one of them had scared me off as of yet.
“No. I think I’m a lot safer here in my little cocoon. As long as I stay off the internet, because it appears that everyone hates me.”
“Don’t let that shit get to you. We’ll get this straightened out. Here comes Zane now,” Ty said, and I heard Zane speaking in the background and Ty informed him that I was on the phone.
“Hi, Ivy. It’s Zane.” His voice had a chill to it, but he’d never been very warm to me. “This is why I warned you both that things would get tough. But hopefully, we’ve put out the fire. I released a statement on behalf of Ty and Jo, and that should calm things down. I’ve got calls into every contact that I have at every outlet, letting them know that we will not tolerate this bullshit.”
“Maybe it’s time to talk to my parents so I can let the fans know that I am in a happy and healthy relationship. But right now, with my sister’s miscarriage going viral and everyone thinking I’m the one who lost the baby—might not be the best time to have this chat with the family,” Jo said.
“Let’s try not to sink the ship over all of this. Let’s put out one fire at a time,” Zane said, and his irritation was evident. Who was he irritated with? The people making up the rumors or us? It was hard to tell.
“Okay, I need to go. Sebastian’s game starts in a little bit.” I wasn’t sure who all was still listening.
“I’d stay put for the time being,” Zane said. “Ty has a few guys coming out to look after you. Stay in Willow Springs. Keep a low profile until all of this blows over.”
“This is such bullshit,” Ty hissed.
“It’s fine. I need to go.” I didn’t like the way I was feeling. Like I’d done something wrong. I’d never intentionally hurt anyone. Zane was making me feel like I’d caused trouble for the band, and I didn’t like it. I hoped that his public statement would make everything go away.
Addy and I met Jett at the football game, and she filled him in. He’d already received a call from Ty and had agreed to help manage the situation. Whatever that meant. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. My hope was that by the time we got back to Addy’s house, it would all be cleared up.
I cheered for Sebastian, and I noticed a few locals looking at me funny, which I did not appreciate. “Do you have a problem?” I shouted at Mary Jane Wilson. She was a few years older than me and a complete snob.
She walked my way, and Addy moved beside me. Jett moved to the other side.
“I just didn’t take you as much of a home-wrecker. We all know the man broke your heart years ago, and I know you two were hanging out when he was here and I was fine with it, but that’s before I knew that he had a girlfriend. Just because you want him back, that doesn’t give you the right to ruin his relationship with Jo. I mean, the girl was pregnant. You’re probably the reason for the miscarriage,” Mary Jane snarled, and a few people gaped at us.
She was fine with it? What in the actual hell? Like I needed her permission?
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You sure act all high-and-mighty for a girl who got caught kissing the football coach in high school, who happened to be a married man. Isn’t that why Coach Peters got sent away to work at an all-boys school? Don’t you dare slut shame me, you little tartlet,” I shouted, and her jaw dropped open.
“How dare you.” She glanced around to see who was listening, and thankfully most people had turned their attention back to the game.
“No. How dare you. Get your facts straight before you come at me,” I said. “Don’t believe everything you read.”
“You heard her,” Addy hissed. “Why don’t you turn your attention to the game. Isn’t your little boy playing?”
Mary Jane huffed and flipped me the bird.
Classy.
“You all right?” Jett asked as we dropped to sit on the grass, and I waved at Sebastian who sat on the bench.
“I’m fine. Has the statement been released?” I asked, because I was too nervous to look on the internet as of yet.
Jett opened his phone and stared at the screen for a moment. “Yeah. I’m not sure it’s going to help as much as we hoped, but at least it’s something.”
“What does it say?” Addy asked.
He cleared his throat and looked around to make sure no one was listening. “This is the official statement from Ty Greene. Jo and I would like to make it clear that no third party ended our relationship, as we are not involved romantically at this time. The pregnancy rumors are not true, and my girlfriend is not the reason that we aren’t together. Please stop this hateful campaign and let us get back to doing what we do best, making music. Thank you.”
“At this time? Well, that makes it sound like they had something going on before.” I grabbed his phone from his hand and scanned the comments.
“Oh my gosh, someone called me a whore. And this one says that they should have known I was a home-wrecker because I have auburn hair. What does that have to do with anything?” I threw my hands in the air and dropped the phone on the grass just as it started ringing.
Jett moved to stand. “It’s Ty.”
I shook my head because I’d had about enough of this madness for one day.
“Hey, buddy. Yeah, we saw it.” He paused for a few seconds. “I agree.” Another pause. “Oh really. Well, legal probably knows what they’re doing. Hopefully it all goes away. Yep, she’s right here.”
He handed me the phone.
“Hi.” I fell back in the grass and shielded my eyes from the sun.
“I tried calling you, but your phone’s off.”