I am in search of an idiom that would convey the act of explaining oneself to a person, after a third person has put one into an embarrassing situation, however with a bit of anger towards that third person.

Imagine, three actors in a hierarchical organization: a director, a manager and an employee. The employee makes a promise to deliver something by a deadline, based on which the manager makes a promise to the director to deliver too. The employee then fails to deliver without giving a proper heads-up, thereby putting the manager in a very difficult situation. The manager then has a conversation or a meeting with the director (or even a larger group of people) during which she/he has to explain themselves as well as the employee, possibly making up a fictitious story.

My question is: what would be an idiom to combine: to feel embarrassed, to feel anger or irritation, to be ashamed, to cover up - all in one. Note that the presence of the employee is crucial here - all the three actors have their roles! :)

Not sure how much it is going to help you - in Polish, in a situation like above, we use a phrase which could be literally translated as to flash/shine one's eyes for sb (one = the manager, sb = the employee). The manager would say something like: "Hey, we need to talk! I had a board meeting yesterday and I had to flash my eyes for you again!"