Three to Play (13 page)

Had Clint crossed the line with Beth? Pushed her too far? He wanted to comfort her, and let her know how much being with her meant to him. All he could do now was make sure that she and Dustin stayed on the morning show. They’d be an incredible duo together. His jaw clenched tightly at the thought of moving on without them, but that would be best for all of them.

Late Sunday night, he and Dustin sat in the living room, willing the phone to ring.

“You gonna say something?” Dustin’s tone sliced razor sharp. “Anything at all?”

Clint wanted to tell him about his time alone with Beth, but he couldn’t. Dustin wouldn’t understand his attraction to bondage. If he told him, it would just be another nail in the coffin of their already-crumbling friendship. His gut wrenched at the thought. Best to leave it be.

“If you won’t bother to answer me, then don’t fucking talk to me.” With that, Dustin went to his room and slammed the door shut.

Once he got to Candi tomorrow morning, everything would be okay.

But everything wasn’t okay.

* * * *

At four a.m., Clint and Dustin jumped into the car. Clint hated the drive. Dustin kept an invisible barrier between them ever since they left Beth’s apartment Friday night. Now, Clint sensed it growing with each passing minute.

When they got to the station, the only person that could tear down Dustin’s blockade was missing. Beth. Could she just be running late? The latest she’d ever come in last week had been four, and that day she stopped to pick up some breakfast burritos for everyone.

Fuck.

Fruitlessly, Dustin dialed her cell over and over just as they had done all weekend. No answer.

Clint looked for the hundredth time at the digital clock in the studio.
Five-thirty a.m.
Still, no Beth.

His mind swirled with memories of being with Beth and Dustin on Friday night, of watching the two of them fuck from the bathroom doorway, of restraining her to the bed for his taking. No one compared to Beth.

His recalled her soft body, her submission, her kiss, her response to the things in his black bag.

“Damn it.” He’d left his bag and the video camera at her place.

Clint felt completely lost. Next to her, his self-control that he always trusted failed him. He had turned off the camera, erased the little he’d recorded, never asked her to confess. Her body confessed enough for him, and he believed that showing Dustin any video of her divulging the truth would do nothing but drive him further away from Clint.

Could he fuck things up any more?

Two of the most incredible people he’d ever known. Beth, so beautiful, intelligent, soft and determined. He wanted her to be some typical, washed up, wanna-be announcer, but she wasn’t. He’d never met a more talented broadcaster or wonderful human being. Sometimes he could swear, she saw through all his bullshit. And Dustin, so strong, confident, loyal and real.

What would he do once he found out Clint had gone back to Beth’s apartment and ravaged her? Clint hoped he would never find out.

Amazing sex, yes, but in the light of day all that disappeared. And what was left? Regret. And boy, was he feeling that now.
 

By fifteen minutes to air time, Dustin darkened to a pitch black.

“Dustin, maybe Beth’s in the break room. Take a look, will you? If not, there’s a phone there. Try her again.”

He glared back at Clint, but did exit the room.

Clint hated the ruse, but he needed to get Dustin out of the studio. He needed to talk to Candi privately.

When Dustin was out of earshot, he punched the speaker button that went to the control booth. “Ted?”

“Yes?”

“Is Candi’s home number posted in there?”

“Sure is.”

“Can you get her on the line for me, ASAP?”

“No problem, Clint.”

No problem.
Nothing could be further from the truth.

A minute later, Ted poked his head out of the control booth. “Candi’s on line two.”

“Thanks.”

Ted asked, “Everything alright, Clint?”

“No, it isn’t.” He worried that Dustin might walk in and hear what he would say to Candi. He only had a few minutes, at best.

Ted waved and shut the door behind him.

Clint headed to the chair that Beth claimed the very first day, but he couldn’t bring himself to sit in it even though it was the closest one to him. Instead, he went to his chair. Line two flashed red on the receiver. He punched it.

Candi just couldn’t have—not over the weekend. She couldn’t be that cold.

“Candi, this is Clint.”

“Why are you calling me at this hour?” Candi’s voice sounded agitated and then changed to concern. “Something wrong at the station?”

“Yes, everything is wrong at the station.”

“What’s happened?”

“Beth isn’t here. I tried to call her an hour ago. No answer. Dustin and I left her messages all weekend, and she never called us back.”

“Really?” Candi didn’t sound surprised.

“What did you do?”

“I let her go.”

“You what!” Clint yelled. His body turned ice cold.

“I canned Beth like we agreed.” Candi sounded smug with a hint of confusion.

“Over the weekend? Why were you in such a goddamn hurry?” Despair gripped Clint’s entire being. He’d expected Candi to pull Beth from the show today, not over the weekend.

His plan had been when Candi showed up at the station to tell Dustin and Beth that he needed to talk to her after their shift about some promotional ideas. The next step would’ve been to tell the woman that he didn’t want Beth off mornings. In fact, he would insist that Beth stayed with Dustin. Then he’d give his resignation. Candi firing her over the weekend had destroyed his plan.

“Clint, I don’t understand why you’re reacting this way. You and I discussed this. In fact, this was one of your terms to come here. At any time you didn’t feel like she was contributing to the show—”

“I know what my fucking terms were. They’ve changed.”

“Well, I wish I had known. But based on what you and I talked about in my office, I executed on that.”

Clint could tell by her tone she didn’t give a damn about him, Beth, or anyone. A cold-hearted bitch to the max.

“Where exactly did you
execute
Beth? Did you have her come into the station over the weekend? You could’ve let me know.”

“I told her she could pick up her things any time this week. She told me she’d come by sometime today.”

“You told her over the phone, didn’t you? Very classy.” Fury and guilt seized him. Candi was right. She acted on what he’d demanded. Get Beth out of the picture. But the picture had changed.

“You’ve got to calm down,” Candi said. “This is what you told me you wanted.”

“What reason did you give her for letting her go?”

“I told her the truth. You and I talked, and while we thought she had talent, we want the show to go in a different direction. I offered her the midday slot, but she turned me down. I also told her that I’d give her a great recommendation.”

Fuck.
Beth knew what he’d done. She likely hated him for it. He hated that she knew and hated himself for what he’d done.

“Clint, what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to get Beth back. I want you to tell her that I changed my mind and that I want her on the show. Convince her to stay, whatever it takes.”

Dustin’s voice boomed from behind him. “Who the fuck are you talking to?”

Clint turned and saw the rage in Dustin’s green eyes.

Candi’s voice filled with more patronization than he’d ever heard before from her. “That isn’t possible. Just calm down. When I get to the station, you and I can talk.”

“You better make it possible, Candi, or Dustin and I are out of here.”

“Candi. You had her fire Beth. You fucking asshole!” Dustin planted a solid punch on Clint’s face.

Pain exploded in his jaw, and he stumbled back from the blow. He dropped the phone and nearly fell off the chair. He didn’t care. He deserved even more than Dustin dished out.

Ted rushed in. “What the hell?”

Clint heard Candi’s voice. “What’s going on?”

He picked up the receiver and slammed it as hard as he could on the cradle. “Fuck you, Candi.”

“Fuck you, Clint.” Dustin growled, then charged out of the room.

Clint’s grandfather’s voice clawed at the inside of his head.
Yool always be worthless, boy. A firefly caught in jelly jah. All flash, no future.

* * * *

Beth looked in the mirror. Her eyes looked swollen and felt like tenderized meat. She’d tried to stay in bed, but her internal clock denied her that luxury. Too many years on the morning show.

She’d been tempted to turn on the radio just to hear how Clint and Dustin would explain her absence.

What an idiot.

Of course they’d say nothing. That’s how it worked in broadcasting. When someone got canned or moved on, the station treated it as if they’d never been there. If any listeners called in asking about the missing announcer, which rarely happened, they were told that the announcer had moved to another job, whether true or not. For Beth, it would be the same. As if she’d never existed. The last ten years would evaporate into nothingness.

She choked down a sob. She’d cried more than enough since Candi’s call. Beth took a dampened washcloth and put it up to her eyes. The coolness of the cloth eased the sting. No makeup today, not that she ever wore much. No place to go.

But losing her job wasn’t what hurt the worst. Knowing that Clint was a part of it broke her into a million pieces. What a fool she’d been.

“Beth, I’ve okayed it with the higher-ups to offer you the midday shift.” Candi actually sounded sympathetic.

For a split second Beth had been tempted, but then she thought about Scott Davis. He currently worked that shift at the station, and he didn’t have a contract like Beth’s. Scott would cost the company only two weeks of severance as opposed to Beth’s buyout of twelve months. Though Beth wasn’t sure what she would do, she refused the bitch and quit, which cut her severance package in half. She just couldn’t be ruthless like those assholes Clint and Dustin.

“Candi, you know what you can do with that offer?” Thankfully, she kept the waterworks at bay until after hanging up the phone.

How long had she cried?

She wasn’t sure. But the sobbing ended, leaving her eyes swollen.

She’d let those two jerks into her house. Did they know that Candi was jettisoning her off the show? Beth wasn’t certain about Dustin, but she was about Clint. He’d been unusually strange that night, until they got horizontal.
Asshole.

Who to blame but herself? She‘d let them in. Pushed her boundaries past any known place she’d ever been before. And now, what did she have? Nothing. She‘d lost her show, her job…and her heart. Why did she take that jump? She wasn’t someone who took risks. That’s why she stayed all those years in a medium-sized market station. What the hell was she going to do?

God, she’d really lost it.

Since they left, she’d not left her apartment. She ate the rest of the chocolate ice cream. No help. She tried to start working on a resume. No luck. She started to call the damn duo but stopped. She would not give them the satisfaction. No way.

The two assholes had kept trying to reach her. She refused to answer any of Dustin’s or Clint’s phone calls, knocks on the door, text messages. Whatever their version of the truth, she didn’t want to hear it. Ever. She didn’t want to ever see them again.

She felt so alone. Isolated. She needed her bearings. Needed a new place, a safe place. Nancy, an old friend, managed a station in Albuquerque. They’d talked shortly after Candi’s phone call. Nancy would hire Beth, for the overnights, not mornings. What did it matter? It was a job, a place a washed-up announcer could escape to.