Accidentally Married

Chapter Nine

We made it to 3 pm before we heard from Luke, and he chose to come to the house and see me personally.

"What the fuck is this??" he demanded as soon as Tom opened the door.

"What?" Tom asked.

"Your wife's challenge to Berlin fucking Marriott!"

Tom just shook his head, looking puzzled.

"You retweeted it!" Luke's voice was getting screechy high now.

"I did it," I said, waltzing out of the sun room. "I'm taking back control of my life and I will no longer allow that vicious little excuse for a human being to demean and belittle me without hitting back."

"Do you have any ideas how many calls I've fielded about this?!"

"No," I smiled sweetly, "but I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"The phone has been ringing off the hook!"

"Good! I wanted to make some waves." I turned away and headed into the sitting room, knowing they were going to follow me.

"You should have cleared this with me," Luke yelled.

"I knew you'd say 'no'." I said, unconcerned.

"I WOULD HAVE!"

I shrugged as if to say, 'well, what do you expect then?'

"I'm your publicist, I can't look after your interests if you don't talk to me!"

"You're Tom's publicist, not mine, as you have repeatedly made clear, and you have never looked after my best interests!"

Tom was watching us bicker from the side-lines, unsure how to react until he knew exactly what had happened.

"I- You can't-" Luke stuttered.

"What exactly did you say to Marriott?" Tom asked me, puzzled.

"I challenged him to put his money where his mouth is and see if he can beat this disgusting and unhealthy whale in a half marathon." I smirked. "And you retweeted it from my account?"

I nodded. That was the only bit I was hesitant about.

"Twitter is going mental, Berlin has written four new articles ripping her to shreds, the press are clamouring for interviews and-" Luke sighed. "This is a nightmare."

"You said publicity is good for Tom and the Oscars," I argued.

"Not this late in the game!"

"Voting doesn't end until five days before the ceremony so there's another week to go," I reminded him.

"This publicity isn't for Tom, it's for you!"

"But the only reason anyone knows me is because of Tom!"

"It's a bit of a moot point anyway," Tom added wearily. "Going by the other events, it seems pretty clear that I'm not going to win this year."

"Never say never," Luke urged, but he was looked defeated.

I actually felt a little bit bad for how haggard he looked. Whatever else I felt about Luke, I knew he'd worked his arse off for Tom. It was his one saving grace, as far as I was concerned.

"Luke, I need to look out for myself in this circus, and this is what I need to do to reclaim my power." I said as reasonably as I could.

Luke huffed in exasperation and reached into the pocket of his jacket.