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CHASE
I made some phone calls that afternoon and just sort of wandered around in a foul mood. Jessica and Pax had gotten to me today. And the sister had gotten to me last night.
Just when I'd thought everything was looking up…
Eric called me. "Hey buddy."
"Hey." I cracked open a beer and stalked out to my patio.
"I talked to Wes—they're trading Pax this week. They made the call right after that stunt he and Jess pulled at practice. Tim fully endorsed it."
I sat down heavily. "Good."
"You okay?" Eric asked.
I took a swig of beer. "I just want this to be over with. Jess's seriously trying to fuck with me. I don't even get the point. She's getting a ton of my money. Why would she pull that shit at practice? I can't wrap my head around what she's doing."
"I have an idea…but you're not going to like it."
"Just tell me." I had more beer to ward off a threatening headache.
"I heard through the grapevine that she and Pax are shopping a reality show around," Eric said. "I think she's trying to get as much attention as possible to drum up interest from the networks."
"Great," I groaned. "So I can be featured as an off-screen villain while she and Pax prance half-naked around a pool."
"Maybe." Eric sighed. "Probably."
"What sucks is that they just won't go away. They'll ride this pathetic wave as far as they can."
"I know," Eric said. "It does suck."
"It's good that you hired Avery for me," I offered, trying to find a bright side. "At least I'm faring well in the hot new girlfriend department. The team seems good, too. They were totally supportive today. It was awesome to be back."
"Good," Eric said, his voice neutral. "But I think they would have been anyway. I don't think Avery changed that. I think she just changed how you feel about it. I don't know how much actual credit she gets."
I bristled at his words. "I thought that was the plan—I was supposed to appear like I was in control, and the rest would fall into place. Remember? Your little pep talk? When you talked me into this in the first place?" My voice was rising. He was seriously on the verge of poking the Chase Layne bear. "What are you saying now—that this was a bad idea?"
"No—hey, calm down," Eric said. "I'm just concerned."
"About what?" I barked.
"That she's becoming a liability," he said quietly. "The sister has me worried. The fact that she showed up at that function bothers me."
My stomach sank. Eric was saying what I'd been thinking for the past twenty-four hours. "She asked Avery for money," I said.
"Fuck," Eric said. "What's her deal?"
I drained my beer. "She doesn't work. She sponges off Avery. She's greedy and cares more about weed and nice clothes than she does that her baby sister's out turning tricks to pay their rent."
"That's just fucking great," Eric said. "Does the sister know? About you?"
"Yeah."
My agent went quiet for a minute, digesting the news. "So what's the play?" he finally asked.
"Avery said she was taking care of it."
"That might not be good enough," Eric said.
