"You can't quit."
"Fuck you, Theo." I hold my ground. "I didn't sign up for this. Not the way it's become."
His jaw tightens. "You can film yourself with your girl. I'm sure the audience would love that."
Something moves through me so fast and so hot that I have to clench everything to keep it from showing. I have filmed Adela. Not for this — never for this, never with any intention of handing it to anyone — but I've filmed her, and Theo, knowing that, Theo referencing it like a card he's already holding, tells me everything I need to know about how far he’s willing to go.
I lean in. "I'm fucking done," I say quietly. "Count me out from now on. Today was my last session."
"We'll see about that," Theo says.
I leave.
Theo
"We're making stupid fucking money," I tell Silas. "He can't quit."
Silas shrugs from the couch, not looking up. "Shit, I’ll pick up his slack. Let me do it."
"They want Cody." I shake my head. "The numbers drop when it's not him. He's the draw. The whole thing crumbles without him."
"Judge Ravenshaw," Silas mocks.
"He doesn't get to walk."
"So don't let him," Silas says simply.
Beckett laughs from across the room. "It's going to be fine. If he wants out, let him out. You don't need him."
I turn to him. "Fuck you, Beck. What do you know about business?"
"You’re fibbing. You film the most, and people love your shit. It’s more about the woman anyway." Beck pauses. “And you’re lucky he wants out and doesn’t want the entire business. He could sweep the rug from under you.”
I think about that for a second. He’s right. If he paired with Serena, they would make a shit ton of money.
Silas sits up. "Blackmail him. Simple. Get footage of his girlfriend and tell him if he quits, you start posting her."
The room is quiet for a second.
I think about what I know about Adela Kalkaska, what I've seen. The way Cody orbits her. The way she's the one variable in Cody's life that he doesn't want to lose.
I think he might be obsessed with her.
And that’s the perfect place to start.
Two weeks later, Beckett
Theo storms into the locker room— not loud, not explosive, but compressed. He finds Cody across the room and stares at him.
Cody doesn't look up.
I know better than to say anything. I wait. I've learned that with Theo, you wait, you watch, and you let the thing develop until he's ready to tell you what’s going on.
That night, I'm at Theo's place. I didn't want to be on the sex side of it — that was never where I was useful, and Theo knew that from the beginning — so I film. I get five percent of whatever the footage makes, which has been enough for me to look the other way on the parts.
Theo is standing at the window with his fist clenched when I get there.
"He didn't like the footage I got of his girlfriend," he says.
