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I heard her smooth voice on the phone before I could snap at my brother again. “Hi, Luke. It’s Charlie.”
“Yeah. Linc says there is something you need to talk to me about.”
I gripped the steering wheel thinking of all the ways I was going to lay into my big brother. What the hell was he thinking getting involved with her? Yeah, she had a nice little ass, and she was pretty. But she was trouble. And she’d done nothing but bust my balls since the minute we met. I didn’t like she was in McCade’s pocket. This was fucked up.
“It sounds like you might be driving.” Her voice was crisp as usual.
“On my way back from practice and film day.”
“Maybe you should call us back when you’re at your house.”
This was total bullshit. Now she was calling them an “us.”
“I can talk now.”
“All right. There is a story that just broke. I thought I should ask you if Alexa talked to you about it beforehand, because I would have appreciated a heads up.”
“What are you talking about, Charlie? I’ve told you everything Alexa and I have planned for the red carpet. I’m not keeping shit from you.”
I was tired of her riding my ass. I’d been transparent with her since the DC fuckup. Alexa and I had brought her in on everything so that she could use the awards show as a launching point for our relationship story.
The only thing I hadn’t brought up was the possible pregnancy, but that wasn’t any of her damn business. Alexa was stressed out about it enough. Her schedule wasn’t regular. She didn’t keep track of it and her birth control was all over the place. The only way we were going to know was when she took that test together.
“Then you don’t know about Mandy Brown?”
“Who the hell is Mandy Brown?”
Charlie exhaled. “We have a problem, Luke.”
“Spit it out.” I was on the verge of calling her the same names I used on the field for some of the guys. I was close.
“Mandy Brown is Lexi Wilde. Before she was a country star apparently she was an escort in Nashville.”
I almost missed the turn for the ranch. I thought I heard what Charlie said, but it didn’t register.
“Luke?”
“Yeah. What did you say?”
“Lexi used to work for an escort service as Mandy Brown. I don’t have all the details, but I’m going to have to advise you right now that we have no choice but to call off the red carpet appearance. You can’t be seen with a former hooker.”
“Hooker? Escort?” She wasn’t talking about my Alexa. “Some loser is probably trying to extort money from her. This has happened to me.”
I was angry enough to split the steering wheel in half. The rage pumped through me in jolts of adrenaline. Someone was going to pay for this. Ruining my reputation was one thing. Someone trying to take Alexa down was something else.
I pulled into the garage. I needed to get Alexa on the phone.
Charlie kept rambling. She was in def-con five mode. “I’m not prepared to reorganize our plan until I see how the optics fall out. It would help if I could talk to Alexa. For now, please don’t leave Austin, Luke.”
I ignored her. There was no way she could keep me here if Alexa needed me in Nashville.
“I’ve got to go, Charlie. Tell Linc I’ll call him later.” I hung up before she had a chance to shove another recommendation down my throat.
I dialed Alexa’s number.
“Baby, you ok?”
She choked out a sob. “Luke.”
