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Amy went to get it from the counter. “It's Josh,” she said handing me the phone. “Don't forget to ask them over for dinner.”
I shook my head and took the phone. “Hey, Josh, before we start, Amy and I would like to have you and Brinna over for dinner this Saturday.”
“Sure, I'll check with her,” he said. “But first, I have some bad news.”
I braced myself for whatever he was about to say. None of our news recently had been good.
“Don't tell me another article.”
“No,” he said. “Worse. I still haven't heard back from Sanders after they canceled our last call, but the scuttlebutt from our lawyers is that they signed with those Winterbourne assholes.”
I closed my eyes, willing myself to be calm and not throw the phone across the room. “How did that happen?” I asked him.
“Somehow they got a last look and outbid us. That's all I know.” He let the impact of the news settle in for a moment. “You know what this means, right?” he asked dejectedly.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Closing the Springbok deal is now the only avenue to making the quarter's numbers.”
We had one make-or-break deal now, and no wiggle room. Without Springbok, it was game over. Game, set, match. Hangman's noose.
“Anything you need me to do on that?” he asked.
“No,” I said firmly. “Amy and I will have to work that one.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow.”
I hung up. My life just got more complicated. A lot more complicated.
“What did he say about dinner?” Amy asked.
“He said he had to check with the invisible Brinna. I told you she's just an imaginary friend.”
Amy went to her purse and pulled out her phone. “I want to have them over for dinner and collect my thousand dollars. I got a picture of them together. I forgot to tell you. She's real——at least I think it’s her.” She held out her phone.
“The bet was dinner, not a random picture,” I said, taking the phone. “Fuck me,” I added loudly as I checked the picture and expanded it to examine the face of the woman with Josh. Now I was totally screwed. “I need a drink.”
Amy sat down next to me. “What's the problem?”
“Her,” I said, pointing at the girl in the picture. “She's the fucking Winterbourne spy who’s been following me around.”
The short redhead who had been taking pictures of me everywhere was Josh’s girlfriend, Brinna.
Chapter 25
Amy
The next morningI found Liam had gotten up early again and slipped out of bed without waking me. I wandered into the hall. The kitchen was quiet, and the light was off in his office. I found him slumped on the couch in his bathrobe, staring at the wall.
He’d been disturbed by yesterday’s phone call with Josh, when he learned another of his deals had been stolen by Winterbourne. The tougher part, though, had been discovering that Josh’s girlfriend was apparently a Winterbourne spy. Everything seemed to be crumbling down around him, and he’d been restless all night.
I slipped back into the bedroom and started my shower. I wanted to help him, but he had to be able to help himself first. He’d drunk heavily last night, so heavily I’d had to help him to bed. He didn’t look like himself this morning either. He needed to get his groove back if he was going to solve his problems.
After drying off, I could hear him cooking in the kitchen. I had to decide what to wear for breakfast. I chose one of his button-up shirts with a single button fastened at my navel, nothing else. I slid a condom into the pocket, but stopped at the door and went back to put on the red heels I’d worn our first night——the ones he referred to as my “fuck-me” shoes. My ensemble was now complete.
He faced the stove as I entered.
“I don’t think you should drink so much,” I told him as I walked up. “It’s not good for you,”
