Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 103008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.
Ever.
Trav sighs. “I don’t want to make this call.”
“Then don’t. You should have faith I can do my job.”
“How can you do your job if emotion is clouding your judgment?”
“Trust me when I say I can compartmentalize.”
Trav rubs his temples. “I’m leaving this up to Gideon. Harley’s his client, and he has a right to know.”
“Shouldn’t Harley get a say in who protects him?”
“Can you stand there and honestly say your feelings for him won’t get in the way of protecting him?”
“Look, I’d understand if it were teammates hooking up because out in the field it could distract from the true target, but Harley is my target. So how could loving him screw that up?”
Trav glances around the room. “Love. Did … you just … Am I in the right place? I think I’m lost. I’m looking for Nolan Brixton Reins. He’s a serious workaholic with no love life and an attitude problem who’s a royal pain in my ass most days.”
I glare at him.
“Huh. Wow, this is weird. Of all the guys …”
“Are you done yet?” I ask.
“Oh, no, I’m just getting started.” His face lights up. “Iris is going to have a field day.”
In a flash, Trav is gone, and I begin to wonder if I’m in the wrong room.
That can’t have happened the way I think it did.
Trav is leaving it up to Gideon to decide if I’m fired or not?
I guess all I can do is hope Trav’s cousin is as morbidly fascinated with my love life as my boss seems to be.
Chapter Twenty-One
Harley
As angry as I am with Brix right now for not telling me about the surveillance on Billy Webber, when Trav comes back downstairs, I realize we have bigger problems. Like the secret we’ve been keeping from everyone.
“Hey, Gid, we need to talk,” Trav says.
Oh fuck. Yep, he knows.
Gideon follows his cousin into the house while Iris stays with me.
“How are you holding up?” Iris asks, taking my attention away from where Trav and my manager have disappeared. “Want me to take you inside or somewhere you feel safe?”
I shiver, but I don’t know if it’s from the fake bomb or what’s to come when Gideon finds out I crossed lines I shouldn’t have. Again.
I’m really good at it.
He wasn’t my manager when I started sleeping with Jay, but he knows all about it.
“I’m fine. It was a fake bomb.” Am I fine, though? I think I’m still in shock. “Could Brix get taken away from me for this?”
“Taken away? He could lose his job entirely. It’s obvious you guys are hooking up, and I don’t understand why Brix would jeopardize his job like that. Especially when …” His mouth slams shut.
“Especially when, what?”
“Nothing.”
“You do know more than you let on about him.”
Iris rolls his eyes. “Of course we all know. He thinks he’s being so secretive, but he seems to forget gathering intel is what we do for a living. None of us call him on it because it’s his burden to bear, and he clearly doesn’t want our help. We keep asking in hopes he’ll open up about it, but he doesn’t. He never does.”
I thought I was different, but I’m not.
Brix doesn’t tell me anything either.
Maybe I’ve been seeing more than what’s truly there between Brix and me.
He’s this amazing man—the only man in my life to not make me feel like I need to be more. More for the public, more for the label, more for everyone else.
He reminds me that I’m valid. That my opinions and thoughts matter and shouldn’t be censored by sales stats and fan opinion.
But what do I do for him?
I give him sex and an annoying whining pop star to deal with.
Great trade-off. It’s astounding he hasn’t proposed yet.
“Hey,” Iris says. “Don’t think that because he hasn’t told you why he needs money that he doesn’t have feelings for you. Brix is the type of guy to not risk his job for anything. For him to put his position at Mike Bravo on the line, you have to be something special.”
That doesn’t make me feel any better.
At all.
What’s going to happen if he loses his job?
He’ll hate me.
That thought is even more terrifying than the pipe bomb.
“Iris,” Trav barks from the doorway. “We’re rolling out.” He turns to me. “I’ll make sure my people find Billy Webber.”
“Aren’t the police going to arrest him? This is the second time he’s broken the restraining order.”
“We can’t prove it was him this time,” Iris says.
“He doesn’t own a silver car,” Trav adds. “We tailed him for weeks. He drives a crappy red Chevy.”
“Like he can’t borrow a car? Steal one? Do something to throw off the cops?” I say.
“We’re not saying it wasn’t him,” Trav says. “Just that we can’t prove it. The police will obviously want to talk to him, but with him disappearing …”