Page 43 of Take The Risk

​I had done that, too.

​We bickered for a few minutes, and I didn’t realize how relieved I was. For the first time in a couple of years, Jesse was acting like his old self. He seemed more alive, just like he had Friday night. I knew I had Phoebe to thank for that.

​“—you’re outta your… Oh. My. God.” Jesse broke off, his voice dropping to a whisper.

​Turning, I found him flipping through a pile of stapled papers. “Jesse!”

​“I can’t believe it.” His face was drawn in awe.

​“Jesse!” I got up from cleaning the last of the water. “We can’t go through—”

​“How could you not tell me?” His head snapped up, a look of pure accusation on his face.

​“Tell you what?” I stomped over, reaching for the papers which he pulled away from me. “Give me the papers.”

​“She’s—she’s—” Jesse swiveled his head as he looked between me and the papers, playing keep away, and starting to piss me off. “How could you not tell me!?”

​“What’s going on?” Wade heard the commotion from the bathroom and popped his head in.

​“She’s—she’s A.J. Lane! That’s what’s going on!” Jesse burst out. “The A.J. Lane. I can’t believe—and she’d given me advice!” His eyes ping-ponged as he made connections, leaving me standing there annoyed and confused.

​“Who’s A.J. Lane?” Wade made his way over to us.

​I went to grab the papers again, done with this, when Jesse suddenly dropped to his knees, abandoning the papers on the floor only to pick up a book. “This is it. The final Cursed Bonds book!”

​He started to hyperventilate, his hand shaking as he flipped it open.

​I wasn’t sure what was going on here, but I snatched the book out of his hand, closing it. “What is your problem?”

​First, he went through Phoebe’s private papers and now he was going to read one of her books? Yes, I was aware my brain was being slow here.

​“You know better than to violate a client’s privacy.”

​In the end, I’d decided against Wade doing that very thing, so I didn’t count it as the same thing.

​Jesse clambered to his feet. “You don’t get it! She’s A.J. Lane!”

​“Who the hell is A.J. Lane?” I shouted, feeling anger ignite inside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Wade reach for the papers Jesse had dropped, and I snarled, “Don’t you fucking dare.”

​Wade merely raised an eyebrow at me, picking up the papers anyway.

​Jesse, nearly hopping on the spot in his excitement, burst out, “Phoebe! Phoebe is A.J. Lane!”

​“What?” What the hell was he talking about? “Phoebe is Phoebe.” I defended her, not really sure what I was defending her against. “You want to explain what the hell you’re going on about?”

​“Uh…Ty?” Wade took in the papers in his hand in less than a second, his hawk-like cop eyes absorbing the information. “He’s right.”

​I whipped around, ready to blast him. I’d told him we weren’t going to be doing this today.

​“No.” He held up a hand. “It’s all right here on the first page.” He shoved the papers at me.

​Looking at them, I saw it was a contract for a publishing house in New York City. Without really wanting to, I scanned the document briefly. There were words like pen names, A.J. Lane, the Cursed Bonds series, something about P.J. Alexander, and then there was her name: Phoebe Lebonaire.

​Something inside me twisted, forcing me to not really read the words. I didn’t want to do this.

​Wade sighed, seeing my indecision. “That’s a publishing contract for Phoebe. Looks like our mystery is solved. Phoebe is keeping secrets, but it’s that she’s the number one New York Times best-selling author of the biggest book series in the world right now.”

​“So what does that have to do with A.J. Lane?” I couldn’t keep up, even as I rocked back on my heels. Her words flashed in my head and…yeah, I could see her as a writer.