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Monday, December 21st
I wakeup at six when Harrison’s alarm goes off, then promptly hide my face under a pillow until he shuts the thing off. I stayed awake long after Harrison fell asleep in my arms, thinking of all the events of the weekend and how my life has changed so drastically. I kept trying to convince myself that all I feel for Harrison already is not possible and doing my best to not even think of the ‘f’ word associated with him.
Forever is not something that should enter my mind yet.
I think I fell back asleep, because next thing I know, it’s my phone blaring that wakes me, but with a phone call.
“Cindy,” I answer after looking at the caller. Why the fuck is she calling so early? It’s only three A.M. on the west coast. Then it all comes back to me, Wolf. Oh fuck. “Is he okay? What happened?” I ask probably more sharply than necessary
“Look man, I know I woke you up, but I haven’t even gone to sleep so don’t shout at me, okay?”
“Yes, yes. I’m sorry.”
“You’re fine.” She sighs. “Wolf’s fine. It’s… they’re about to run the story tonight unless we have something better for them.”
“Fuck,” I grind out. “Shit fucking dammit. How the hell did they find out?”
“I’ve been trying to figure that out since I got the call six hours ago. They gave me twenty-four hours. No answers yet, but my bet is someone at the center got a fat wad of cash recently. I just have to find them.”
And the poor soul would deserve whatever Cindy did to them. The woman is a force to be reckoned with, she defends her clients till the last breath every time. It’s the main reason I recommended her to Wolf and Hawk after they signed with me.
I sigh, “That won’t prevent them from running the story, though. Shit, Cindy, Wolf can’t find out about this. He doesn’t need this bullshit.”
“I know, believe me, I know, but I have no idea what we could give them that’s good enough for them to kill the story. Because you know it’s gotta be good otherwise they’ll just print it in a couple of weeks.”
“Yeah.” I run a hand through my hair, yanking at the strands in frustration. “Look, why don’t you go to sleep, I’m awake and I can start to look into options. Once you’re rested then hopefully, I’ll have something to go on, okay?”
“I really hate this, Tristan.” And I can hear it in her voice.
“I know.” I do, too.
“He doesn’t deserve this.” I hear her sniffle, so I know shit is about to hit the fan.
“He doesn’t and we’re not going to let it happen. You and I, we protect them, right? We take care of them and that’s what we’ll do with this just like we did with Sterling last year.” Harrison steps out of the bathroom and the picture he makes, with only a towel wrapped around his hips, shoulders relaxed, on his way to the walk-in closet has my mouth watering.
“Okay, then I guess I’ll go to sleep,” Cindy’s voice takes me out of my filthy thoughts.
“Yes, I’m gonna brainstorm with Zoe, see what we come up with. We’ll talk later, okay? You sleep at least eight hours, please.”
She snorts. “You know if it’s not my phone blowing up in the middle of the night it’s Patrick’s,” she says, talking about her husband who’s also an agent and manager of all kinds of Hollywood celebrities.
“Yeah, I do but I also know you both need more sleep, and if you text your clients saying you’re unavailable for eight hours the world won’t end.”
“Fuck off, I’m too important,” she snickers at the end, not able to hold it in.
“Yeah you are, now go the hell to sleep, I gotta get ready for a fucking bitch of a day.”
I rub my eyes and go splash some water on my face to wake up properly after I hang up, and after doing my business in the bathroom I find Harrison completely naked, staring at his racks of suits. “Hey,” I call out.
“Morning, baby.” He takes my hand and pulls me in, giving me a kiss so full of heat my knees nearly give out.
“Morning,” I whisper and wrap my arms around him. I think he needs it, that’s why I do it. The only reason. I swear.
He holds me and kisses my cheek. “Sorry I woke you, but I have to get ready for the board meeting, then I’m having lunch with everyone here so we can tell Ma what happened yesterday. Do you think you’ll have time to join us?”
I sigh internally. “I wish,” I tell him honestly. I’m dreading having to work all day, that’s new. I love my job, but I don’t feel… ready to stop spending time with him. And his kids, even more surprisingly. I like them. I’m also a huge fan of Mike’s, but I don’t think anyone’s caught on.
“I have to stop a story about one of my clients from coming out, so I’ll be looking for something juicier to offer the magazine, so they’ll trash it and keep it buried forever.”
