Machine by Normandie Alleman
23
Bridger
I was just comingin from a run when I got a call from Barvo.
“Man, you need to turn on the television.”
“Why? What is it?”
“Just turn it on. Channel 7.”
“Okay.” I hung up and flipped on the TV with the remote.
A handsome reporter with an unusually square jaw was speaking to the camera, “…fans of the reality show ‘The Barnes Bunch’ were shocked today to find out that the man Dynassy Barnes has been dating is the owner of a pornography business.”
I sank down into the nearest chair, feeling like I’d been kicked in the gut.
The reporter continued, “The same young man the Barnes family showed off just last month as kind of an antidote to Dynassy’s remarks about a homeless man, turns out to be the owner, or at least part-owner, of a pornography business called Luv Machines.”
Some guy’s voice-over asked, “He is a veteran though, isn’t that right, Mark?”
The reporter responded, “Yes, Bridger Thompson is a former Navy SEAL who was injured while overseas. That part is accurate. He’s a wounded warrior, but apparently the guy invented some sort of machine that women use to, well…let’s just leave that to your imagination, since this is a family show…”
A family show? Since when was the news a family show? Since when was my profession news?
Unfortunately, since I’d been dating a member of the Barnes family.
Suddenly I was pissed, and I wanted to punch something. That big white wall in front of me looked good.
But I took a deep breath and refrained. I should turn off the damn TV. But I didn’t.
The reporter continued, “…and somehow he started making videos of this, and I guess the rest is history.”
The voice-over guy responded, “Well, this can’t be good for the Barnes family brand. We’ll watch what happens and we’ll be keeping you up-to-date on this story.”
“We sure will,” I snarled, flipping off the TV. What were they going to watch? The Barnes dynasty go up in flames? I doubted it. Lucinda would use this as a way to get more publicity. They’d be rid of me then she’d spearhead another campaign to clean up Dynassy’s reputation again.
For a girl who hadn’t done anything wrong, she sure had a lot of damage control to do. I actually felt sorry for her. Damn, I wished she’d pick up the phone and call me. I’d called her plenty of times, and each call went unanswered.
This was exactly what I’d been afraid of from the beginning. That my business would become public and she and I wouldn’t be able to work it out.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I sent her a text.
Hey, saw the news. Sorry. Call me.
I waited for her to call me back. After staring at the screen waiting for about five minutes, a text came through, but this one was from Barvo.
The site is going crazy. :-).
I groaned. Typical Barvo. Always thinking about the money, the bottom line.
I texted back.
Fuck that, man.
Yeah, sorry. But at least it’s good for business.
Business. I didn’t even want that fucking business anymore. What had it done for me? If I didn’t have Dynassy in my life, I didn’t give a crap about the money.
