Free BeautyandtheButch by Paisley Smith Page B

Northingtons would prefer to handle the
matter privately.”
    Lindsey didn’t like being told what to do. “I haven’t done
anything wrong, Mr. Schuessler.”
    She heard a little snort of derision through the phone.
“That remains to be seen. An investigation into TLN and your ethics as a
producer wouldn’t make you very…shall we say attractive to future
employers?”
    They were practically blackmailing her. Lindsey bit her
bottom lip to keep from telling him what she really thought. She certainly
didn’t want any blowback on the network. None of this was TLN’s fault.
    “May I be blunt?” Schuessler asked.
    The audacity! “Be my guest,” Lindsey said, not
masking her sarcasm.
    “Miss Northington herself has requested that you cease all
contact with her.”
    Just like Reagan. Lindsey stood in stunned silence.
She squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to steel herself, grappling to not let
him hear the hurt in her voice. “You tell her she has nothing to worry about
from me.”
    She couldn’t hit the End Call button fast enough.
    In spite of everything, it had happened to her again. She’d
risked her emotions with someone unattainable. She’d known she was diving in
head-first. She’d known how it would end. She wanted to kick herself. Hard.
    “Fuck,” she said under her breath. But at least she’d done
the right thing. At least she still had her dignity. She might have fucked up.
But she hadn’t used someone she cared about to claw her way to the top.
    But none of that offered her any solace. For the first time
in a long time, she realized she wanted a relationship, a soft place to fall, a
partner and lover.
    No. It wasn’t just those attributes. She wanted Ella.
    Now Ella was gone.

Chapter Five
    Six months later
     
    “How’s that?” the makeup artist asked as she stepped back so
that Ella could see her reflection in the mirror.
    She looked older in spite of her years. Seasoned.
    No. At peace.
    She turned from side to side. She’d have to remember this
eye shadow trick. “Nice. Thank you.”
    One of the assistant producers for Global Now tapped
on the open door. He glanced at his clipboard and then back up. “Five minutes,
Miss Northington.”
    “Good luck,” the makeup artist said as she removed the drape
protecting Ella’s navy suit and then disappeared from the room.
    Ella nodded and drew in a deep breath. Going against her father’s
publicist, she’d done a whirlwind of appearances, speeches, and talk shows
since being outed. At first she had wanted solitude but after Natalie and the
Femme Coalition’s generous donation for cystic fibrosis research, Ella realized
she finally had the platform she needed to bring awareness to the disease.
    In addition, she’d taken on another cause. LGBT rights. Even
her father—after a certain amount of soul-searching—fired his publicist and
began working within his party as an advocate for LGBT rights. Espousing
moderate and fair policies, he’d been elected hands down over his opponent.
    The pageant that had practically launched her career as a
spokesperson for LGBT issues now seemed far in the past, even though it had
only been six months. Marquita had deservedly won. Chelsea had come in
runner-up and then had been forced to give up her position after making a
public slur against gays. Ella hadn’t looked back—with one exception.
    Not a night passed that she didn’t recall the joy she’d
found in Lindsey’s arms. She’d picked up her phone to call Lindsey a thousand
times, but indecision and doubt had swamped her before she’d been able to hit
Send. Instead Ella had waited for a call.
    A call that never came.
    Perhaps Lindsey had merely been climbing the success ladder.
Part of Ella didn’t want to know if that were the case.
    A soft rap on the door caught her attention and she turned,
expecting the young male producer to alert her it was time to go on.
    But her lips parted in surprise. Standing in the doorway was
Lindsey as Ella had never