29. Dante
Chapter 29
Dante
September 25th
Reese Sinclair Living Her Best Life: Star Lets Loose After Creative Differences with Felix—And We’re Here for It!
September 25th
Breaking Free: Reese Sinclair Shows Her Wild Side, and Fans Are Loving This New Era!
September 26th
America’s Sweetheart Reese Sinclair Gets a New Knight in Shining Armor—Dante Hastings to the Rescue!
September 26th
Robyn Hood Gets Fresh Blood: Can Academy-Award Winning Director Amara Bellamy and Hollywood’s New Favorite Bad Girl Reese Create Magic Together?
Frankie
wait hold up…tabloids say u weren’t drunk at the party last night???
Awwwww reese is changing u
Dante
Need my wits about me when I’m with her. Can’t risk fucking this up.
Besides, my liver’s probably begging for mercy after a decade of champagne.
Brooklyn
Is my baby brother actually growing up?
But seriously, you look…different. Good different.
Dante
I am.
Frankie
btw Amara left your precious yacht in my possession darling brother
might have 2 use it as collateral in a teensy tiny bet
this absolute TWAT thinks his pathetic excuse for driving can beat my lap time LMAOOO
Dante
…
If you lose my yacht, I want your Porsche 911 turbo.
Frankie
over my dead body x
The Bay Area fog creeps over the bay, blanketing the city from view in my Nob Hill apartment. My phone’s pressed to my ear as I survey my barely lived-in space, my sleek leather couch and carefully curated modern art collection. I’ve been home more in the last week than I have in years.
My laptop is open to two unread emails from Marcus going over Reese’s new stunt choreography. The one I’ve just read, however, is from Coach, delivering news I have no interest in hearing.
He answers on the second ring.
“What? It’s three in the morning here,” he grumbles. He’s at another tournament in Madrid this week.
“Just saw your email. What do you mean I can’t go to watch Em?”
“Committee, they make things very clear—you cannot be anywhere near a USFA event.” I imagine him rubbing that giant wrinkle on his forehead.
“It’s a goddamn high school tournament, not the fucking Olympics. It’s not even a big competition.”
My Olympic gold medal is buried beneath a mess of old receipts and loose change, untouched since May.
Since my suspension. Since they took everything from me.
“ Da , but if anyone see you there, committee will make suspension permanent, no going back.”
This is stupid.
Em let it slip tonight that her parents aren’t coming to her first tournament in three weeks. I asked Coach to ask the organizers if I could go.
Clearly, they’re assholes. But I need to be there for Em.
Her voice echoes in my head. They have my baby sister to take care of. She’s five. Third attempt to get one of us right, I guess. My brother bolted before I hit middle school.
The tournament allows kids in the audience, so it was a flimsy excuse, but I knew what she was trying to say. The middle child sandwiched between others.
She wants to get out of her situation, and I want to help her. She may not have the financial resources, but at least now she has me, and the right people can get you far.
“Her parents aren’t coming. She needs someone there for her.”
“I am flying back home that weekend. I will be there, and you say Sadie shows much promise for doing well too.”
While Coach has been gone this week, he left me and the assistant manager in charge of the youth program. Most of the ten kids are hopeless, which is probably why he tapped me to train Em. She never would’ve improved if she’d stayed with the rest of them.
“Yes, but I want to be there. Besides, she only listens to me.”
In the past week, I haven’t seen any signs of her stealing, so maybe I’m getting through to her.
“And what do you think I have been doing for three months while you sail around on fancy boat, huh? Reading her bedtime stories like babushka ?”
“You know what I mean. You’re too old-school. She won’t get you.”
“Listen here,” he says, voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “Your reputation dangles like thread in wind. You cannot go.”
My breath shudders.
“But Coach, it’s her first competition.” We’ve only had eight training sessions, but sparring together brings people close, fast. She’s counting on me. I don’t want to let her down.
“Ah, Dante.” He clicks his tongue. “I knew this girl would mend something broken in you.”
“Must you always be right?”
“Is like I tell you, you have soft heart for this one. Took her under your wing, exactly as I predicted.”
“I’ll work something out. The rules say I can’t be at a competition; they don’t say anything about being near a competition.”
I walk past my bedroom, and my eyes catch on the dagger resting on my dresser, untouched since I bought it weeks ago.
I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to give it to Reese. Maybe once Robyn Hood hits number one at the box office. A blade for a true fighter.
“Whatever scheme is brewing in that thick skull of yours, organizuyetsya po fekhtovaniyu already breathing fire down my neck. Next season you must return to competition, or even my influence runs dry. Especially with media circus.”
“I was saving her from a black eye. They’re calling me a knight in shining armor.” I rake my fingers through my hair, frustration mounting. “That’s hardly something the committee will frown upon.”
“Press always hungry for scandal like starving bear, Dante.” My groan echoes against the windows. “Did you forget you have another zoloto to win?”
I flinch. Of course I have another gold in me.
“I’ve dedicated the past decade to my career. I wouldn’t put it in jeopardy if I thought Reese could make me look bad. She’s America’s sweetheart, for fuck’s sake.” I settle on the end of my bed. “I know what I’m doing. If the committee is actually reading up on celebrity gossip, then they’re going to see me as someone other than the guy who punched Quentin.”
“I don’t like this one bit.”
“Trust me, every committee member will be begging for Robyn Hood premiere tickets in a month. They’ll meet Reese and me, I’ll sign some headshots, work my magic. Problem solved,” I say, my chest constricting as I casually leverage Reese’s fame without her permission.
“Life is not like Hollywood fairy tale, where everything bends to pretty smile and charm.”
“And why the hell not?”
“Stay out of trouble, pozhaluysta .”
“I will.”
“And, Dante, you are watching little ones this week before running back to your big movie, da ?”
“ Da , old man, wouldn’t miss it,” I say. I know he sees right through me, down to the scared kid still trying to prove something.
Maybe he always has.