Chapter 24
“Okay, I have to ask,” Gabe says, walking back into my living room with a bowl of popcorn to start the movie he and Lexi picked out.
I’ve only been home for approximately forty-eight hours, but it’s been exactly what I needed to finish this story.
Barry expects it on his desk first thing Monday morning, and to say it’s been a struggle would be an understatement.
Every time I barricade myself in the guest room to write, go through the financial statements Troy sent over, or call Chase, I can’t get the words out.
I’ve been staring at a blank page for the last week, but when I got home yesterday, it was like a veil had been lifted, and the words never stopped.
I finished both articles just before midnight, and spent today editing them.
I guess it’s not a matter of why I couldn’t do it in Florida, but more a matter of who.
Gabe sits on the floor next to Chase, who has been considerably jumpy tonight.
Probably because the man next to him doesn’t know he’s been helping me.
I never thought looking through financial statements would be so difficult.
Between the technical accounting jargon, dense notes, and large amounts of data that one person—with limited knowledge of the subject—couldn’t possibly go through alone in less than a week, I knew I was going to need help…
and lucky for me, one of my best friends has a partner with an accounting background.
“Is this injury Wolf has part of a storyline?” Gabe asks, stuffing a handful of the popcorn into his mouth.
“She can’t tell you that, Gabe,” Daphne says, rolling her eyes.
“Daphne’s right. They make you sign a blood oath and everything,” Lexi adds, bringing her wine glass to her mouth to hide her laugh.
I wasn’t sure how she’d fit in with my friends, but from the moment she walked through the door tonight, it was obvious they’d be just fine.
She and Daphne have bonded over giving Gabe a hard time, while Gabe has found himself drooling over the bag on her arm; apparently, it hasn’t even been released yet.
Ben must have told her I was back in town, because I had a text message waiting for me as soon as I touched down in Boston.
She asked if I had time to hang out and then offered to travel to Houston together.
“I didn’t realize the whole family is coming,” I said when she told me she was going to the Elite Wrestling Entertainment fortieth anniversary party tomorrow.
“Mom and Dad can’t make it, but I wouldn’t miss it.
Who knows, maybe I’ll find a new boyfriend while I’m there,” she said.
I thought about asking her what happened with Troy this time, but decided to wait for our four-hour flight to Houston, where she could tell me everything all at once without distractions.
“No, they don’t,” Gabe says, eyes narrowed at the younger James. After a moment, he looks at me. “Do they?”
I laugh and consider playing along, but decide not to. “No, and I’m sorry to say, it’s not part of a story. He was home for practically two weeks before last Sunday, trying to avoid this.”
“See how well that worked,” Lexi says.
Ben didn’t tell his mother the truth about his injury, so I have to play the role of a concerned girlfriend when his family is around. I almost let it slip earlier when Lexi asked me how her brother is doing, but luckily I caught myself, and she didn’t seem to notice…At least, I hope she didn’t.
“This sucks, I was hoping for a match between him and Grady at Beachbash.” Daphne sighs. “Someone needs to put that asshole in his place.”
“Don’t even get me started on Grady Chandler,” Lexi practically spits the name.
Gabe’s eyes light up from across the room. “Oh, no—please do.”
“And on that note, I’m going to get a drink,” Chase says, pushing up from the floor.
I wait a moment, making sure Gabe is too preoccupied with his conversation with Lexi and Daph, before I follow Chase to the kitchen.
He pulls a beer from the fridge and jumps when he sees me as the door closes. “Fuck, Sloane. You could’ve at least warned me.”
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask. “You’re acting weird.”
“Are you serious?” Chase scoffs. “Sloane, this is no longer just some story about harsh work conditions and whether the big boss is a dick or not. This way more than that, and if anyone finds out—”
“No one is going to find out.”
It’s the same thing I told him three nights ago when he called me about something else he’d found while going through the latest set of documents Troy sent over. “What does ‘Callum’ mean?” I asked.
“I was hoping you could tell me,” Chase said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Are you at home?”
“It’s six o’clock in the evening, what do you think?”
“For someone who doesn’t want to get caught, you sure do a bad job of hiding what you’re doing,” I said, typing in the word Callum into the search engine.
“What did you find?” he asked, ignoring my statement.
“Nothing.” I scrolled through the search results, most of which were about baby names and a British design company. “Do you think it could be a name? Like a person?”
Chase let out a quiet gasp on the other end of the line. “A name. It’s a name! Sloane, do you know if Amos has any other kids besides Theo and Chelsea?”
“I don’t—”
“Based on the amount of money and the frequency of payment, not to mention it’s been going on for at least…fifteen years—probably longer if Troy were to hand you records from twenty, maybe thirty years ago—I think this is support.”
“As in child support?” I asked, scribbling the name Callum across a hot pink Post-it note. “Chase, are you saying you think Amos Rafferty has another kid?”
He never got the chance to answer me, because I hung up when Ben walked through the door of the guest bedroom I’d been spending most of my time in since we got home from Paradise City.
Chase scoffs, bringing me back to the present moment.
“Do you honestly believe the Raffertys won’t come looking for the people who put this out?
Sloane, be realistic. They’re going to know it was you.
And let’s not forget Wolf, the man you’ve been sleeping next to for the last three weeks, or have you forgotten—”
“I know what I’m doing, Chase,” I say.
“I don’t think you do,” he says, his tone harsher than normal.
“Are you…Are you prepared for the worst-case scenario here? Because something tells me that Wolf isn’t going to be very happy when he finds out what you’ve been doing.
I thought maybe you had changed your mind because of the way Gabe was talking about you two, but you’ve proven he’s nothing more than a means to getting what you want. ”
“That’s not true,” I say, earning a suspicious brow. “Maybe at first, but not…not now. I care about him, and—”
“If you really cared about him, you would have stopped digging. You would’ve told Barry to take his story and shove it up his ass.
But you didn’t, Sloane.” With a final sigh, Chase shakes his head.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, because if you’re not careful, you’re going to hurt a lot of people. ”
“Everything okay in here?” Gabe asks, walking around the corner. He looks between us, waiting for one to crack.
Chase has made it explicitly clear from the moment I asked him for help that he is not happy.
The only reason he agreed is because he didn’t want me going to someone else who might use this information for worse things than I am.
He stares at me, and for a moment, I think it’s going to be him.
He’s going to tell Gabe everything we’ve been doing.
“Everything is fine,” Chase says, smiling when he looks past me at his boyfriend.
“I was just telling Lolo about how you were cleaning your mom’s good nonstick pans with the wire—”
“Hey! I bought her new ones.”
“I can’t believe you did that,” I say, and my heart flutters with anticipation. I was seconds away from getting caught, seconds away from someone walking in and hearing our conversation. What if that someone had been Lexi? “Everyone knows not to use wire brushes on nonstick, Gabe.”
“Well, apparently not everyone, because I didn’t. And for being ‘nonstick,’ they sure had a lot of shit stick to them.”
“That’s because you blasted the heat,” Chase says, rolling his eyes. He glances my way. “You coming? I want to finish this movie before you kick us out.”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” I say, backing toward the hallway that leads to my bedroom.
I need a minute, or five. I want to call Ben, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea.
I’ve only talked to him on the phone twice since I’ve been home.
The first time was when I landed on Wednesday, and the second was that night.
Last night, my phone call was met with a text message:
But he didn’t call, and I hadn’t thought it strange until Lexi said she spoke to him this afternoon.
Maybe he hasn’t called because he knows I have company, or maybe he’s upset with me.
My finger hovers over his name for a brief moment at the thought.
He’d tell me if it were the latter…right?
He was fine when I left Tampa. I can’t imagine something happened between when we hung up on Wednesday night and yesterday morning.
I’m being paranoid…At least that’s what I tell myself when I press down on his name.
“Hey, Honey.” His voice comes through the speaker after two rings, and an instant wave of relief crashes over me. “I thought you had company.”
“I do,” I say.
Ben chuckles. “So, what are you doing calling me?”