I pulled out my phone and dialed Monte.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Phoebe
Dutch kissedmy forehead then stepped over to the couch, his head down as he talked to his editor quietly.
“Holy shit, Phee.”
I turned back to my brother. “I know.”
“This sounds like a fucking movie. How did this guy think he was going to get away with this?”
“I wonder how long he’s been playing Dutch.” I dropped down on the club chair beside him.
Lance frowned. “From the beginning?”
“I don’t know. Maybe not consciously, but maybe playing on Dutch’s solitary tendencies. He doesn’t talk about his family much, but I know his father wasn’t very supportive of his writing. When you don’t have people around you supporting you, it’s easy to keep him exactly where he wanted him. Dependent on him. Only real friend, his first reader, his agent.” I ticked off the list on my fingers.
“Sounds damn predatory to me when you say it like that.”
“Yeah, it does. And he’s so talented, but the minute Christopher took that away from him, it made him doubt everything. I think he counted on Dutch shutting down.” Mygaze strayed to him. He was hunched over as he quietly talked to Monte, but the shame was gone. Or at least it wasn’t as heavy on his shoulders anymore.
“You love him, huh?”
I smiled and focused on my brother. “That obvious?”
“Yes. But he’s a good guy. He got dealt a shit hand, but he’s got you in his corner.”
“Us.” I scooted forward to the edge of the chair to hug him. “I can’t thank you enough for helping him.”
“Anything for you, Phee. You know that.” He squeezed me hard for a minute. “But you’re different with him. Happier.”
“I’m pretty happy all the time.”
“There’s a difference between your sweet helpful self and how you are with him. I’m happy for you. Jealous as fuck, too.”
I huffed out a laugh. “You never seem to want to be tied down.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t look quite as bad these days.”
Dutch stood up and I squeezed my brother’s arm before I got up to go over to him. “What did she say?”
“She’s shocked. But she also told me that Raven Boulevard hasn’t sold another manuscript under Chris in two years. Well, other than mine.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I confess to not paying attention to much in the market. I’m privileged enough not to have to, but Chris was always talking about his other clients. I assumed I was just one of many.”
“Maybe he was more desperate than you thought.”
“Doesn’t absolve him,” he said darkly.
“No, definitely not.”
“Monte is going to talk to the publisher and get me a meeting. When you have an agent, most everything goes through them contract wise. He’s supposed to advocate for me in the contractsto make sure I get the best print deal and any other rights. Now I need to comb over my contract and see if he fucked me anywhere else.”
“That sounds like a mess.”
