His dick didn’t seem to care about the ramifications. But that was no excuse. He was a grown-ass man and couldn’t allow his dick to cause trouble. He didn’t want her or Calvin to get hurt.
“Yeah, well. They’re moving soon anyway,” Alex said. He figured that would be the end of it. They wouldn’t see each other anymore, and things would die a natural death.
“Why?” Johnny asked. “You didn’t drive her out, did you?”
“No,” Alex said. “Her husband left her in a financial bind when he died. Well, more like financial trouble. Tons of debt, she had no idea he’d racked up. No life insurance. She just can’t afford it anymore.”
“That’s too bad,” Mitch said. “What kind of d-i-c-k does that?” He spelled out the bad word, and the rest of them moaned.
“So, we’re going to spell out the swear words now?” Johnny said, rolling his eyes.
“Shut up,” Mitch said.
All of a sudden, Alex had a great idea. He smacked himself on the forehead. Why hadn’t he thought of this sooner?
“Sam, how many social media followers do you have?” he asked. Because Sam was Alex’s brother, he never really thought about it, but Sam and his company were both household names. He was one of the wealthiest and most influential people in the world.
“Beats me,” Sam said, shrugging. “A bajillion?”
“Bro. I need a favor.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Julia woke to a phone call from Ellie. It was the day after Thanksgiving, and Ellie wasn’t scheduled to work. This couldn’t be good. Not wanting bad news, she hesitated, but finally answered.
“Julia, have you seen what’s going on with your channel?” Ellie asked. “Not to mention your cookbook sales?”
“Oh no. What?” Julia immediately assumed the worst. Her channel had been taken down. Her meager-in-the-first-place book sales had vanished. Someone had deep-faked a video of her eating a cheeseburger and chocolate cake.
“Are you near your computer?” Ellie asked. “If not, get to it.”
Julia stumbled out of bed and into the living room. She rattled the mouse to wake her computer. “I’m here. Give me a second.”
“What happened yesterday?”
“What do you mean? I was at my mom’s all day. Helped cook Thanksgiving dinner. Ate too much pie. Nothing special. Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Julia, you have almost two million new followers. Emails are pouring in from companies asking to sponsor you. Big companies. And the cookbook sales have gone through the roof.”
“What?” She typed in her password and clicked on her channel’s home page. Sure enough, Ellie was right. Her followers had increased twentyfold overnight.
“This is impossible. It must be a glitch,” Julia said, hopping over to the website that showed her cookbook royalties.
“I didn’t know you knew Sam MacDonald,” Ellie said. “He’s the one that caused all this.”
“Sam MacDonald of Samatrix? Idon’tknow him. What do you mean he caused this?”
“It took me a while to figure it out, but the catalyst for everything is his recommendation and endorsement of you on all his social media sites. On one site, he says he’s tried your recipes, and they’re delicious. On another, he promotes your channel as a way to ‘get your life together.’ And on a third, he says your cookbook would make a great Christmas present for anyone looking to eat healthy. His wife, Annie, posted on her accounts too. Between the two of them, they have millions, if not tens of millions of followers.”
“I don’t understand.” As she said it, something clicked. “Oh, my God. Maybe I do understand. My friend Alex must be related to him somehow.”
“Well, prepare for crazy, because these are only overseas numbers. People in the US are just waking up. By the end of the day, I bet you earn half a million dollars just on the cookbook royalties.”
She couldn’t help the tears. Happy tears of relief. This would get her through the holidays. This would allow her to pay off her debt to her mother and enable her to put aside some savings. She knew the book sales would be a onetime jump, but the sponsorships would result in residual income.
“Oh, Ellie. This is fantastic. I have to go thank Alex. He must have had a hand in this.”
“Hey, does this mean I get to keep my job?” Ellie asked with a chuckle.
