“I can assure you I had no idea who she was,” Zane counters. “Not a clue until I came here one night for dinner, five months later, and saw her picture.”
“What is up with our kids and one-night stands?” my mother mutters to my father.
“I think it’s the apple and the tree.” Nico chuckles, earning a glare from my parents. “Anyway, you met; you did what grown-ups do.” He motions with his hand in a circle to move it along.
“We did,” I confirm, and Zane just looks up at the ceiling.
“Then I got his number and asked him for—” Zane holds up his hand to stop me from talking.
“We can fast forward that,” Zane suggests. “Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson,” he looks at my parents, “I didn’t want any of this to happen. I knew the press was ripping me to shreds?—”
“I was the one who wouldn’t take no for an answer,” I interrupt him.
“She’s exactly like her father, and she isn’t even married.” My mother looks at Zane. “I told him no so many times, and he just kept showing up at my door.”
“For the record, you let me in.” My father glares at her. “Don’t even try it…”
“For the record, her press was nothing compared to your press.” She points to my father. “But what does it matter that he’s dating her? They are two single adults who started dating.”
“Our team put out a statement today,” Zane says, “that we won’t be commenting on anything.”
“Yeah, that’s not good enough,” Nico chuckles, “and Ken knows it.”
The front door opens and then shuts. “Oh good, there is no bloodshed,” Jaxon says. “Jagger wanted to come home.”
“Wow, using your own son to lie,” Ariella accuses as Jagger comes into the room and runs to my father.
“Hey, buddy.” He picks him up and puts him on his lap.
“So are we all over the fact she’s dating someone who is almost Dad’s age?” my brother jokes knowing full well he’s not close to my father’s age, sitting next to me.
“There have been four more articles,” Nico reports and Zane gasps, “that are not spinning anything in a good light.”
“So, you put out your own story,” Ariella suggests. “Get something drafted, do a formal statement, which if you ask me is dumb. No one cared that he got me knocked up.” She points to Jaxon. “It wasn’t even news.”
“It’s because the organization is trying to get him fired,” Nico explains, and now I’m the one who is gasping out. “These stories.” He uses his fingers to do quotation marks, “are just an added bonus for them. To not make them look like the bad guys when Zane’s relationship with the team goes south.”
“What?” I say in a whisper.
“I don’t give a shit about the fucking job,” Zane hisses. “They can say whatever the fuck they want to say about me, but now they are fucking with her and I’m not going to take it.”
“They want you fired?”
“Tori,” Jaxon says, “where the fuck have you been?”
“She’s been in her love bubble,” my mother states with a smile.
“You love her?” my father snaps out and it makes Jagger jump. “I’m sorry, buddy.”
“What the hell do you think we are here for?” Nico spouts. “You think he would show up at an ambush if he didn’t love her?”
“Technically, he didn’t know he was being ambushed,” I counter.
“He knew shit hit the fan,” Nico retorts. “He knew that it was not good. He still walked into this house.”
“How do you think we should do this?” Zane looks at Nico.
“If this was my team”—he smirks—“I would have the two of you put out some statement on social media. Maybe even do a one-on-one with someone in the press. Then I would,” he looks at Jaxon, “and this is all just a suggestion, I would have a couple of the guys from the team put out their own statements counteracting what the press is saying.”
