My hands clenched into white-knuckled fists all the way until the half-time show.It was only then that I took a breath and stood to grab a drink and something to eat.
I needed to calm my nerves.Ridley was playing well.His team was ahead.They were going to do this.
“Oh, shit,” I heard Ace mutter behind me.“Coleman’s out there.”
I looked up at the door that led into our box.He was right: Caleb was standing outside in the hall.He was looking directly through the window and into my eyes.
Whatever he wanted to communicate to me had to be important.He wouldn’t have risked coming here and being seen near me if it wasn’t.
I opened the door.
“Harvey.”He greeted me like a stranger.His eyes slid over to Ace.“Park.”
“Coleman,” I replied just as coldly.I wasn’t sure what he was doing.The only thing I knew was from his tone: this was performative.He wanted someone to overhear this and tell the press.
“I thought you should know.”He inspected one of his black leather gloves as if looking for imperfections.“Brody Driver is no longer employed by the Coleman Group.”
I nodded once.“Best of luck with filling the position.”
He smirked wryly and turned to go.
That was enough.I glanced at the security guards posted to our door.They were really glorified ticket checkers.One of them was pressing his earpiece and shifting from foot to foot.Good.The guilty look of a man who knew he was about to sell a story to a paper.
I stepped back inside the box and closed the door.Ace nodded at me with a smug smile.I knew he was glad to see the back of Brody Driver.The man wouldn’t be bothering us any longer.
I felt lighter in my chest as I walked back to the big glass windows that gave us a clear view of the field.A singer down below was leading everyone through a rendition of a popular country song.There was a matching video playing behind her on the big screens to add atmosphere.
I grabbed a handful of assorted nuts from a bowl and started throwing them back into my mouth.My spirits were definitely on the up.I glanced at Keaton.“You don’t have to stay for the full game,” I said.I knew he would probably rather be at home with his sister.I had the feeling I had been monopolizing him in the couple of weeks since our budding relationship began.
“No, it’s okay,” Keaton said.He gave me the kind of smile I lived to see on his face.“I’m actually enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.I like the atmosphere.And the entertainment’s good.I’m even enjoying the –” He gestured towards the field and then cut himself off.His face went pale.
I didn’t turn around.For a long moment, I watched him and tried to puzzle out what was happening.
Then I heard it.
The music had stopped.The song was over.The singer should have been launching into her next track.
But there was something else playing over the speakers.
Something I recognized in the core of my stomach before my brain processed what it was.
A groan.A voice saying my name.
My head whipped round and down.I stared at the big screens scattered around the stadium.Every single one of them was showing the same picture.
A shot of my office.My desk.
The video had been taken from above.Instinctively I knew there must have been a camera hidden in one of the light fittings above where I sat.It was the only place to hide something like that.
Keaton’s face was at the bottom of the screen.It was contorted with ecstasy.His eyes were closed and his chin tipped up towards the ceiling as he moaned joyfully.His glasses were askew and his hair unruly.
The shot was clear down the curve of his naked back.Down to the place where our hips joined.The angle was sufficient that you could just make out my face at the top of the screen.It wasn’t explicit enough that you could make out any of the more private parts of our anatomy: the way Keaton leaned up against the desk took care of that.But it was still painfully obvious what we were doing.
I felt bile rise up in my throat again.This time it was driven by rage.
“Get them to turn it off,” I growled at no one in particular.I heard a scurry of running footsteps and knew without turning that Ace had run out of the box.I took a step forward as if I could reach the control room through the glass and get them to hear me.“Turn itoff!”
I heard a small gasp of panic behind me.Keaton’s life was being broadcast up there as well as mine.He had a sister.I had to guess he had parents.He was just a secretary.He wasn’t in a role that was supposed to bring him any fame.He didn’t want fame.He had been clear about that.
