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I had no desire to see him or anyone else, but I wanted to find out exactly how many reporters he’d spoken to and what he’d told them. I needed to know what to expect and how much more fallout I would have to deal with. I was already on my way when he called me. I answered using the Bluetooth speaker in my car.
“What’s up, man?” Evan asked.
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Uh…” The noise around him died down—he must have moved to a quieter place. “You’re majorly on the shit list around here. You might not want to do that.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” I repeated.
Evan cursed. “I’ll meet you in the café down the block. The one with the blue sign, okay?”
I disconnected without responding. By the time I parked and walked into the café twenty-two minutes later, Evan was waiting for me. Two mugs of coffee sat in front of him.Damn.For him to extricate himself from the goings-on atSing Battleand beat me there meant he really didn’t want me in that building. I didn’t simply burn those bridges—I’d blown them to smithereens. Oh well.I’d warned him I wasn’t a good fit for the show, that I was too much of an asshole. The irony was that my only asshole move had been done out of love.
“What’s going on, Trenton?” Evan looked tired, but I didn’t give a shit.
“An unnamed source?” I shoved my phone with the article pulled up across the table toward him. “Really?”
“Yeah, really,” Evan said, not bothering to deny it.
Well, hell. I hadn’t expected him to readily admit to it. He’d thrown me off my game. “Really, Evan?”
“You already said that, and yes, really. Hell yes, it was me. It’s not like I could allow them to use my name. I might hateSing Battleat the moment, but I don’t want to be fired from hosting it.”
I drummed my fingertips on the table. “You had no right to speak about things you know nothing about.”
“Really?” Evan deadpanned. “You are such a dumbass.” He no longer seemed tired. He was pissed. “You really fucked up my show.”
I winced. I hadn’t anticipated how much my actions would piss off everyone behind the scenes. I honestly hadn’t thought it would be a big deal to anyone but Ali. “Sorry. But weren’t you the one who told me all press was good press when I was dealing with those memes?”
“I don’t believe I said exactly that.”
I shrugged. “Close enough.”
“Either way, you fucked up my show. And since I’m the one who put you in the lineup, the execs are not happy with me.”
“Sorry. I… uh… hadn’t considered that.”Fuck.There I was, coming in on my high horse, not realizing my actions had hurt my friend’s career. I should have realized Evan would be called to task over it since he’d vouched for me. Maybe I was a little bit of a dumbass.
“I figured as much”—he leveled his gaze at me—“because I know you. And you would never do anything malicious to someone you care about. But that doesn’t mean you’re not a dumbass.”
“Aside from screwing you over, I stand by my actions.”
Evan shook his head. “Why?”
“I have my reasons.”
Evan looked like he was about to blow steam out of his ears. “Look, you dumbass… first, you fuck with my show, and then you call me out of a meeting for said fucked-up show only tonottell me why you fucked up my show? What the hell?”
When he put it that way, I did kind of sound like an asshole. “It’s complicated.”
Evan rolled his eyes. “No, it’s not. Here’s how I see it. Not only did you fuck up my show, but you lost your woman in the process. She was good for you, you dumb—”
“Can you cool it with the dumbass shit?”Jesus.He acted like I was happy about the current state of things. I’d said sorry, hadn’t I?
“All right, you show-fucker-upper.” He grinned, the first sign he wasn’t nearly as pissed as he was coming across. “I like that sound of that. So listen here, you show—”
“I get it, Evan. Jesus.” The conversation was not going at all how I’d expected. “Did you talk to any other reporters? I just want to know what you said and who you said it to.”
He tapped on my phone screen. “Just this one. Everyone is talking so much shit about you. You might not care to defend yourself, but I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.” He paused. “Well, I am very much standing by and doing nothing in that building over there”—he pointed in the direction of the studio—“but I don’t blame them for being pissed at you. You earned that shit. Let’s just hope you don’t run across Georgia in a dark alley. That woman will fuck you up if given the chance.”
