“You’re a funny guy, Jett.” Chase wags a finger at me. “But this is the kind of behaviour that I’m talking about. Our other athletes are complaining, I’m sure Brooke has informed you.”
“She has,” I grit out. “But I make you more money than all those other athletes combined, don’t I?”
Brooke stares sidelong daggers at me.
“I’ve always liked your confidence,” Chase says through a forced smile. “You’re right. You could make me a shit load of money this year, so herein lies my dilemma.”
“Numbers don’t lie, Chase,” I say.
“I’m not going to deny that I like the way your engagement has shifted the narrative online. It was clever, really.”
“I don’t know what’scleverabout me proposing to the love of my life,” I retort.
Brooke lets out a breath through her nose at my response. She forgets sometimes that I do a really good job of acting, of showing people what I want them to believe about me. Though for some reason, I don’t have to try as hard when I’m acting like I love Poppy.
“Regardless, the public is starting to believe your story. That all you did was drop those women off at the hotel.”
“Also, not a story,” I growl, before catching how my tone has shifted to something more defensive, more aggressive. “That is the honest truth.”
“Whatever happened that night, your engagement has been good press. Even with the incident with the waiter. People like how protective you were. I thought it might have all been fake, a staged relationship, but you punching that waiter changed my mind. You could be disqualified from World’s if he presses charges, and the fact that you were willing to risk your shot at the cup for your fiancée was admirable. I’d have done the same thing for a woman I love.”
Oh. Whatever I was expecting Chase to say, it was not that. It takes me a minute to recalibrate, to shift gears out of defensive mode. I open and close my mouth, but no words come out.
“Don’t think you’re in the clear yet, though. World’s is afew weeks away, and I’ve only just started to think you might be worth keeping around. If you make one wrong move, one slip-up, I’ll be forced to drop you. My hands will be tied.”
I nod, my mouth in a grim line, accepting my reality. We’ve taken one step forward, but I can’t take one more step out of bounds.
“That went better than expected,”Brooke says, once we reach her town car waiting for her on the side of the road in front of the Nuclear offices in the village.
I’ve decided to walk home, get some fresh air and clear my head. It’s been jumbled with thoughts about how this meeting would go, but now that it’s over, there’s only one thing occupying my brain space. The kiss Poppy and I shared the other night.
“I’m impressed you didn’t manage to fuck it up.”
“Come now, Brooke. Have a little faith in me,” I say. “I might actually want this to work more than you do.”
I open her door for her, but she turns back to me before she gets inside.
“Don’t forget about the engagement party on Friday,” she reminds me.
“Heartwood Lanes, seven p.m. sharp.” I tap my temple as I wink at her. “Got it.”
I close the car door and take my phone out from my pocket as the town car pulls away to send Poppy a text message. A tremor of excitement ripples through me when Ipress on her name in my messages. The sensation has surprised me a few times in the last couple of days. Ever since our kiss the other night.
Even though I knew it was coming, the way Poppy’s mouth felt against mine caught me completely off guard. I was expecting her to be gentle, reserved, even a little timid. But I wasn’t anticipating the sudden swelling in my chest, the way my whole body responded to our contact. It was so intense, I had to walk away, pull myself away from her before I kissed her again. I was afraid I wouldn’t want to stop.
Ever since then, it’s felt like my body has been craving more. Like I got a taste of a drug that I can’t get enough of.
I almost asked her to stay at my place for longer, but we agreed that she should spend some time getting work done at the café this week. So, she went home to Heartwood, and ever since, there’s been an emptiness in my house that I can’t explain.
It’s for the best.
She needs to focus on keeping Thistle + Thorne afloat through all of this, and I need to keep myself in check. Shut this down before it spins out of control. Having her in my house for any length of time now seems like a recipe for disaster.
Still, when we found out about the meeting with Chase, she offered to drive up here, and it took every ounce of self-control to tell her not to. That I could handle it. But I know she’s been anxious about it. Now that it’s over, my priority is putting her mind at ease.
JETT
Meeting went well
