Olly
Keaton looked at me with shining round eyes. Like he was about to cry.
“I need you to look into this saboteur,” I said quickly. I wanted him to know he wasn’t in trouble – wasn’t being sent away and punished. I actually just had a job for him to do. “You and Ace need to find a way to save Ridley’s career. We can’t have his public image going into a downward spiral.”
I had an image at the back of my mind of other sportsmen who had been caught out in the press.
Men who had done stupid things and been vilified for it.
It always seemed like one bad thing followed another.
Public life problems prompted performance issues.
Investigations into personal conduct became investigations into professional conduct.
Wives and girlfriends got involved, mistresses and one-night stands.
Down and down until the public hated them.
Sometimes the career would bounce back. Sometimes it wouldn’t.
Tiger. Rooney. Odom. Armstrong.
There was no way I was adding Ridley Angus to that list.
“Oh,” Keaton said. He pushed his glasses back up to their proper position on his nose.
He seemed fond of doing that even when they had barely moved.
I liked it. A little gesture that was so very Keaton.
“So, you want me to work out who is doing this to him and get proof that he wasn’t really drunk? ”
“Yes.” I paused. Caleb’s message rang in my ears again. He had wanted me to hear that for a reason. “And look into Brody Driver.”
Keaton stared at me. “The agent who works for Coleman?”
I nodded.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea to ask Ace to look into him,” he carried on. “The two of them… I saw them almost come to blows. Brody seems kind of arrogant. Like he wants a fight.”
“All the more reason,” I said. “Ace will more thoroughly investigate a man that he hates. Tell me the second you find anything.”
Keaton nodded and quickly got up. He gathered a number of things from around him – his phone from the drawer. A notebook and two pens. A bottle of water.
He was so organized. Always. Even to the point of being over-prepared.
I liked it.
He paused at the doors. His hands were so laden that I thought he was going to ask me to open them for him. He turned around instead.
“I’m going to figure this out,” he said fiercely. “I won’t let you down.”
And then he was gone.
My eyes and my thoughts lingered on the space where he had been. His brown eyes had blazed with conviction. Those glasses and that messy hair – he was… cute. He was always cute.
Maybe too cute for my ability to focus.
Especially with that fierce look that had made me want to pin him against the wall.
I shook my head to dislodge anything inappropriate from it. My phone was ringing. It took me a second to realize that I was supposed to be the one to answer it now. Keaton wasn’t going to take the call for me if he was in another office.
“Hello?” I answered. I didn’t need to give the usual corporate answer that I made the others answer with. I was the boss. Anyone who called my direct line knew who they were calling.
“Harvey,” the voice on the other end barked. I recognized it immediately. Barb. She was the appropriately-named sharp-tongued owner of the drinks company that sponsored Ridley. “We need to talk.”
“Barb,” I sighed. “We’re doing everything we can to find the culprit. I hope to have an answer for you by the close of business.”
“Not good enough anymore,” she snapped. “We’ve just had a call from one of our major investors expressing serious concerns about the way we’ve spent his money.
It’s over, Harvey. The only thing we can do now is regain some positive publicity by telling the world we’re cutting ties with Angus. We’re cutting the cord.”
I pressed a hand over my eyes. “Is there anything I can do?”
“You know there isn’t,” she rasped. “Get your boy under control, Harvey. Maybe in a season or two we can come back and look at one of the others on your roster. But Ridley Angus is done.”
She slammed the phone down before I could do the same.
I held my hand over my eyes for a second.
Then I slammed the phone back down into the cradle because it was the only thing I had available to slam.
Not quite. I slammed my hand on the desk for good measure. Or maybe slapped.
I looked over at the empty desk standing at the side of my office. The empty chair.
I wished so fervently that Keaton was sitting in it. There was something about him I had noticed this past week or so since he took the job. There was something about him that called to my inner peace. Made me feel calmer. Stronger. Like I could weather any storm and ford any river.
My phone rang again.
I glared at it. That didn’t seem to affect it in any way. I knew I had to answer. I could see the caller ID.
I took a deep breath. Held it. Breathed it out.
Picked up the receiver.
“Ridley,” I said.
“I just saw a breaking news alert,” he said. His voice was full of hot fury. But also a little disbelief. He wanted me to tell him he was wrong. “They said my sponsor dropped me.”
I slid my eyes closed. Keaton was just over there. I could picture him. Watching me expectantly. Waiting for me to finish my call so he wouldn’t disturb me by making a call of his own. I could almost imagine it strongly enough for it to be real.
“They did.” The unvarnished truth seemed to be the right path.
“Fuck!” Ridley screamed down the phone. I should have winced and moved it away from my ear. I endured it instead. “Fuck you, Harvey! You said this would be fucking fixed!”
“And I am fixing it.” I took a breath. “Your reputation. The sponsorship may be off the table for good.”
“Oh, my God,” Ridley said. I could tell he was working himself into even more of a frenzy. “This is what I fucking pay you for! You said you had it handled!”
“And I will fix it,” I growled and slammed the phone down.
There. At least I’d been able to do the hanging up once.
I looked at that empty desk again and ran a hand back over the top of my head.
This had been a very bad week. One of the worst weeks I could remember. There had always been trying times and stressful events. They just usually didn’t come so close together. More than that: they usually didn’t affect our biggest client. The one who brought in the most revenue to the firm.
We wouldn’t die without Ridley. Not right away. But it might end up being a slow death of a thousand cuts if we lost the trust of our other clients along with him.
The room felt empty without Keaton now. Strange. He’d only been here such a short time. He filled the space in his own quiet way. Just sitting quietly typing over there. It made a difference. It made everything feel brighter. Less solitary.
I realized he was becoming a touchstone of mine. I could look up when I was working and see him there and take comfort.
This strange man with his curly hair and his tortoiseshell glasses… he was casting some kind of spell over me. A spell that made me feel hungry for more.
Hungry for him.
I reached for my coffee. It was empty. The last time that happened had been the day Keaton started. He had kept me topped up since then.
There was more work to be done. More fires to put out. Other clients to reassure. Meetings I would need to step into personally to make a show of force. That was why I had to trust Ace and Keaton to find the information we needed. I had to put my best men on the job.
Which meant I had to shoulder all of the rest alone.
Heavy was the head that wore the crown.
A crown I would easily give up for…
For what?
A night with him?
A life with him?
I barely knew him.
This was stupid – all of it. The stupid thoughts of a stupid man who had made a stupid mistake. Somewhere along the line, I had allowed this to happen. It wasn’t going to happen twice.
And if Keaton Dunbar turned out to be too much of a distraction…
I would have to…
I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the sentence.
That was what made it even more painful when Keaton asked me at the end of the week if he could move to work with Ace Park permanently.