Blitz (Emerald City/Black Family Saga Book 1) (18 page)

The door slams cutting me off. And I peer out the window, watching as Ray marches down driveway and off out into the street.
 

Shit. That didn’t go as planned. I sigh and rake my fingers through my hair. Well, I’m the one who wanted to end things. And I’ve done a bang up job.

I sit down on the edge of the bank and prop my elbows up on my knees. I should go back. I should apologize, take her to the bus station and end things on a good note. But I can’t. All I needed was a little comfort. Why would she shut me out like that?

I shake my head. I’m just as naive as I’ve ever been. Mom’s going to love this one. I should call, give her a heads up. The last thing I need is for her to hear about this through the grapevine.
 

She’s going to kill me.
 

How have I fallen for a girl in three days? It’s ridiculous. I’m not that into her. I shake my head again. She’s beautiful, funny, smart, but so are a lot of other girls and I never fell for them.
 

Was it the way she kissed me? No, that’s not it. It hit me almost the moment I saw her. At least a little while after.
 

I sigh and cover my face. I’m such an idiot. Why on Earth would she…?
 

I feel stupid but, at the same time, I feel like there’s something I’m not getting. Last night wasn’t just me. She was into it and not the get-on-with-it kind of way either. She wanted me. I know she did. And I wanted her.

Now all of a sudden we’re done?

Eating out of her hand. That’s what she said. Does that mean she never really liked me? That’s not what I saw. That’s not what I felt.

I groan and pick up a stone beside me, rolling it around in my hand. I’ve had the worst day—hell the worst 24 hours—so far. And after I call home it’s only going to get worse. I need Sydney. She makes me feel better. She makes all this other crap not matter.
 

Rising to my feet, I toss the stone into the creek and glance back up at the bridge. I have to go talk to her. I’ll apologize, drive her back to Seattle myself if I have to, but I can’t let it end like this. I can’t give up that easy.

I stroll up the driveway, relieved to see my truck still there. She was so pissed when I left, I half-expected her to take it after all. Not that I would have minded. But at least this way, we’ll get the chance to talk this out. Whatever it is.
 

I take a deep breath and open the door, stepping into the living room, prepared to grovel if I have to.

“Sydney?” I call. She’s probably upstairs, fuming.
 

“I’m sorry. I know you want to get back. Let me just drive you, okay? No point in waiting for the bus. You’ll be traveling all day.”

I walk toward the stairs. “Syd?”
 

Before I make it half way up, I know she’s gone. But where the hell did she go? There’s no way she walked to the bus station from here.
 

I grab my cell phone and scroll to her name. She picks up on the first ring.
 

“I’m fine,” she says. “Pete gave me a ride.”

“You mean the guy you thought was going to chop you into pieces?”

Her voice is muffled on the other end when she responds. “He’s got business in Cle Elum. Uncle Bobby will pick me up there.”

“Sydney, I should—”

“It’s fine.” She clears her throat. “I just want to see my cousin. I’ll be in touch…with numbers. I’ve already spoken with some of my contacts, but I’ll have to get into Reese’s office to reach the rest. I have a feeling you’ll get some pretty outstanding offers. I just need to make sense of everything first.”

“Okay,” I say. “But, once you get settled, can you give me a call so we can talk?”

“Sure. Obviously your input is important here too. You’re the top-ranking prospect. It’s going to be a bidding war and we want to get the best—”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Sydney sighs into the phone. “I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I screwed up and I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t screw up. If anything, I did. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I was just—”

“This is for the best,” she says a little louder now. “Let’s just get you the deal you deserve and we can move on. Okay?”

I close my eyes and sit down on the stairs. “When I get back, we’ll talk.”

“Bye, Ray.”

“Sydney? Did you hear me? When I get back—”

“I have to go. I’ll call you.”

A rapid succession of beeps signals she’s gone and I rest the phone down beside me and my head in my hands. Then I stare ahead of me at the groceries on the table. The ones that have been sitting there for almost two hours.

Great. Melted ice cream, warm beer and no Sydney.

I sit down in Reese’s chair and let out a sigh of relief. I still have time to fix things. Part of me feels awful for letting it all go to hell, but at least I’ve got Ray. In one way anyway.
 

Her office still looks exactly the same, not cleaned out like Willie threatened. Except for the smaller stack of files on her desk, everything’s in its place. Ready for her to come back. Those assholes. Now that she’s awake they’ll be kissing her ass.
 

I didn’t know what to say when I saw her at the hospital. She looked like shit, but I told her she looked pretty. Her client list is almost depleted but I told her she is still on top. Now I need to make it happen.
 

I smooth the contract on the desk in front of me and smile. I did it. I don’t feel particular great about the way I did it, but it’s done. I rub my eyes, remembering the sound of his voice. I’ve hurt him and I can’t take it back. I can’t have any kind of credibility in this business and carry on with him. The more I think about it, the more I realize how important it is to move on, no matter how good it felt to be with him. I need people to respect me for what I can do, not who I’m sleeping with.

There’s a knock on the door and I look up to see the man who might as well be responsible for all my stress as of late.
 

Willie Mahr.
 

“I thought I saw you wandering these halls.” He pulls up a chair and sits across from me. “How’s she doing? She okay? She’s a fighter that one. She’s a fighter.”

I nod forcing myself not to roll my eyes. When he’s not being an ass, the guy reminds me of that half-horse thing from the Hercules cartoon I used to watch with my dad. He even has the same damn hair.
 

“She’s fine. No thanks to you,” I add.

Willie’s too wide, too toothy smile erupts on his face. “Glad to hear it. Glad to hear it. And I’m sorry you feel that way.”

“Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Mahr?”

“First off, you can call me Willie. Second, you can tell me what it is you’re still doing here.”

“Excuse me?”

Willie leans forward, clasping his hands in front of him. His nails are so shiny and perfect, for a second I’m sure he’s wearing nail polish. I glance down at my own and place my hands on my lap.

“Look, I know I was harsh the other day. Call it stress or whatever but it’s been a rough couple of weeks. And with the draft coming up…” He sighs. “But I want to apologize.”

Typical. She wakes up and they all come running. He must have heard about Ray. He must be shitting himself trying to make up for almost letting her go.

“Look, we all love Reese. And I was so sorry to hear about her accident, but we’ve got a business to run. I can’t afford to reserve office space for someone who isn’t physically capable of doing their job.”

Wait, what?

“You’re kidding right?”

“I wish I was, but I’ve got Baldwin on my ass. It’s been six weeks, kid. Her time is up. We can only be so gracious and the fact is if she can’t be in the office by tomorrow, you’re going to have to pack it up.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “You know that’s impossible. She just woke up. She’s still got cracked ribs and a broken leg. What’s wrong with you people? She’s a human being.”

“And like I said.” Willie shrugs. “This is a business. It’s all business.”

“Fine. But I get the feeling you’re going to regret this.” I fold the paper in front of me. Standing up, I reach for Reese’s Rolodex, my bag and Ray’s file. “You can leave one of those boxes on the desk. I’ll come by and pack her things up tomorrow.”

Willie joins me at the door. “Okay.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “That’s good. That’s good. And I’m sorry for how this is going down. If I had a choice, you know I’d wait until she’s better. But we just can’t afford to make those kinds of decisions. We’re in the business of making money. It all comes down to money.”

I walk out the door and down the hall toward the elevator and Willie trails behind me.
 

“Thing is if you’d been able to sign one big client, well, things would be ending differently wouldn’t they?”

I turn to face him with a sly smile. “I suppose they would.” Then I stab the elevator button and cross my arms. “Nice knowing you, Willie.”

I’m freaking out. But I can’t show it. I stand here in the elevator, poised and calm, like the other bodies surrounding me, but inside, I want to scream. I thought I’d done it, saved the day, but instead it’s all going to end like I dreaded.
 

I could tell Willie about Ray. But if I do, he won’t let me go quietly. My first instinct was to keep Ray for myself. For Reese. But now what? She doesn’t work here anymore. And if I let these people know about the contract, they’ll take it from her. I know they will.

But where does that leave me now?
 

I’m nobody. An assistant who doesn’t have a clue how to do anything but find people. I don’t know how to get a hold of whoever it is I’m supposed get a hold of. Who am I supposed to talk to about Ray’s career? This contract is nothing in my amateur hands. Without Reese, I’m powerless.

It isn’t until the door closes again and I feel the jolt in my feet that I realize we’ve already reached the bottom floor and I’m headed back up.

“Shit,” I mutter.

“Bad day?”

I turn to see Ray’s aunt standing beside me. I sigh and roll my eyes, because no matter how inappropriate it is, I can’t help myself. She is the last person I want to see right now.

She levels her chin and sticks her nose just a little higher in the air.
 

She looks so confident, so sure of herself, I wish I could burst her bubble with this news about Ray. But what’s the point of getting into it with her? She’s already won. I got him to sign, but now I’ve got no other kind of leverage. No agency to put him with. No experience. I might as well just hand him over.
 

“I thought you were with Ray,” she continues.
 

“I was.”

“I see.”

I clear my throat. “Um, what’s your take,” I ask. “On whom he should sign with? If not Reese then who? Who knows his career better?”

Her cool-as-ice, blue gaze locks with mine. “I can think of a few people.”

“I can think of more than a few, but just because they know what he’s done doesn’t mean they’ve always known he could do it. Doesn’t that make a difference?”

“But they’ll give him what he needs. The support Miss Clarke can’t manage right now. Raymond lives here. In Washington. It’s where he belongs. If he doesn’t manage to get chosen by the Seahawks or the Steelers we need a solid plan to get him there. Reese Clarke will be spending the next year getting back on her feet, not getting him on his and we can’t take the risk. We want him home with his family.”

I nod. “I guess you’re right. Especially now that he’s found Mariah.”

Her head jerks to the side. “He’s found her? His sister?”

I nod. “I helped him in exchange for—”

“Where?”

“I…he didn’t call you?” Of course he didn’t. He was pissed her when we left. Drunk and pissed. “I’m sure he meant to,” I say.

“I’m sure.” Sheila blots her lips and plants a hand on her hip. “In exchange for what?” she asks.

“Pardon me?”
 

“You said you helped in exchange for something.”

“Oh, um…” I drop my gaze, willing the elevator to hurry up. Or at least stop and let someone else on. This thing is always crowded. And the one day it isn’t I’m stuck with Mrs. Carlson?

“Oh,” she gasps, her eyes narrowing. “He did not. Tell me. He. Did. Not.”

“I’m not sure I—”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You manipulated him.” She laughs.
 
“I don’t know which is worse, that you’d stoop that low or that he’s stupid enough to fall for it.” She pulls out her phone and begins tapping furiously on the screen. She casts me an angry glare. “Just so you know, which you probably don’t, a verbal agreement isn’t good enough in this business. You haven’t won yet—Ray? Hi, sweetheart. What are you doing?”

The door to the elevator opens again and Sheila waltzes out. “Oh, nothing. Just headed up to a meeting with Willie Mahr. Honey, I need to ask you…”

I lean my head back against the wall, every ounce of energy drained.
 

“Well, that’s that.”

Back to Sweetwater for me.

I hang up the phone and toss it back onto the bed. Time to go home. I’ve spent enough time in this town and my sister is right, I need to get the hell out. Even if it means leaving her behind.

If it wasn’t for the call I just received from my mom, I might stay a little longer, but I need to get home and fix things. For Sydney. It’s the least I can do, even if she still never wants to see me again. Well, touch me anyway. The seeing part’s inevitable.

I knew they’d be angry, but I didn’t expect a full-blown attack. The talk of lawyers and blacklists has me worried. But I’m also pissed. I’m the talent. What agency I sign with, what agent, what team? The decision is mine. At least it’s supposed to be. But it sure as hell doesn’t feel like it. I should have said something, but the woman always has me tongue-tied. I can’t help it. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have a damn thing.