Chapter 23
“So, you like this girl?” his agent asked.
It was early afternoon and Asher was there. On the set. Which could only mean there was something major happening—that would likely affect Decker’s career. Because Asher didn’t get up before ten for anything.
A slick sheen of perspiration broke out on his body. Did they hear last night through the door? They’d been as quiet as possible, but what if it wasn’t quiet enough?
God, he hoped that wasn’t the case. He didn’t want America to know what happened. It was something special between the two of them and he wanted to keep it that way. Plus, he was feeling especially protective over Poppy, and he didn’t want her to suffer the same fate he did with that sex tape.
“Where did you hear that?” he demanded.
“Calm down, buddy. It’s clear as day on the show. I haven’t seen you look at someone like that ever.”
“Like what?”
“If you don’t know, it’s not my job to interfere. Closed set, no outside influence, remember?”
Oh, he remembered alright. It was what gave him the time to turn Poppy’s dislike of him into something deep and meaningful. So while Asher still owed Decker for bamboozling him
into doing this show, he was over the moon that he’d agreed to it. Not that he’d let Asher know.
“What are you doing here? It’s a closed set.”
“I got permission.” The grin on his agent’s face said that there was big news coming.
Unless it was to tell him that he’d found a miracle fix to the Castle screwup and Brian had forgiven him, he wasn’t interested in what Asher was selling.
“More like, we made an exception because we’ve got something to talk to you about.” Jack pointed over his shoulder to the director’s trailer. “In there.”
Something in Decker’s gut was telling him not to enter the trailer—or even open the door, so he dug his feet into the ground. “I’ll pass.”
“Seriously, when have I ever steered you wrong?” Asher asked.
Decker looked down at his designer toolbelt that was more fashion than function, then to his shirt that was painted on his body. “I’m dressed like a Chippendale and haven’t been able to leave the same three-thousand square-feet in weeks. I think you’ve used up your surprise opportunities.”
“Point taken. But you’ll like this one. I promise.”
When he didn’t budge, Asher shoved him forward. “Five minutes and if you hate it, you can punch me.”
“Deal.”
Jack led the way and, the second the door opened, something uncomfortable unfurled in his gut. “No cameras?”
“Not for this,” Jack said.
“Is everything okay?” Because something inside was telling him that this was all wrong.
Asher clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s great. Take a seat.”
“Then why do you look like you’re about to shit yourself?”
His agent and director shared a look. “Just take a seat.”
“Nope.” Decker started to back away toward the door.
“Not doing it. The next Bachelor. The next S-Ex’s Island.
Whatever you two are concocting, I am not interested in.
Now if you’ve got SportsCenter or ESPN on the line, we can have a conversation.
If it’s some kind of reality TV shit again, I’m out. ”
Tweedledee’s and Tweedledum’s faces went slack.
Jack slapped on a scared-as-shit smile. “We were thinking more like Decking It with the Deckers.”
Decker had yet to cross the threshold of the trailer.
As far as he was concerned, they could have whatever conversation they needed to outside where Decker could leave whenever he wanted.
Plus, he felt his chest start to tighten due to the unknown, and he knew if he walked in that trailer he’d likely have a panic attack.
“It sounds like a 1980s sitcom,” he said.
Jack put his hands up like he was framing a shot. “Imagine. Houses, construction, sharing a cold beer while looking out on the gorgeous view from the deck. And scene.”
He snorted dismissively. “Sure, whatever.”
There went that exchange of looks. But it was Asher who spoke. “Really?”
“I’m not the Decker you need to be convincing. You’d never get Brian to sign off on that.”
The door opened behind him and the Tweedles looked as if they had eaten the canary.
“It was my idea,” Brian said.
Decker turned and saw his brother standing behind him, the sun beaming around him burned his eyes to look. Almost as much as it burned his gut when that ball finished unfurling and dropped all the way down into the pit of his stomach.
“So much for a closed set,” Decker said. “Who’s coming next?”
“This is it, just me,” Brian said. “So, what do you think?”
No hello. No thanks for looking after his kid for the past couple of weeks. Just a TV deal. “You want crews filming our family business? That’s a no for me.”
“Maybe this isn’t about you.”
“So they’re calling Brian Decker, mid-sized construction guy, to have his own show?”
Brian gave him a shove to the chest. “Fuck you, bro.”
“I’m just saying, whose life do you think will be the center of the media frenzy?
The guy with or without the sex tape and tanked hockey career?
” And after these past weeks where all he’d been able to think about was getting some alone time with Poppy, preferably on a private nude beach, he wasn’t all that interested in jumping in front of the camera again anytime soon.
“I was thinking about how proud this would have made Dad. How this would take his legacy to the next level.”
“Low blow, bringing Dad into this. Plus, he was already proud.” At least Decker would like to think he was. He was working on a project he was proud of, doing it while reconnecting with a pretty amazing nephew, and working alongside an incredible woman, who he’d gone past the surface with.
For the first time since his old man’s stroke, Decker didn’t feel as if he was suffocating.
In fact, he hadn’t had a single panic attack since he’d been with Poppy.
If he were to put a name to how he felt, up until that moment, it would be happy.
And he wasn’t going to let his brother’s guilt trip rip that away.
“Let’s take this inside,” Jack said, leading the group into the trailer that was the size of a penalty box. “Talk it out like adults.”
Decker followed but didn’t promise to be an adult about this. He watched as they all crammed around the tiny table. Jack patted the bench next to him.
Decker shook his head. “I’ll pass.”
“Take a fucking seat,” Brian said.
“I won’t be staying long enough. I just don’t think that this is something I’m interested in.”
“You haven’t even heard what we’re proposing,” Brian said.
“And you haven’t heard what I’ve been saying,” Decker volleyed.
“We hear you and after suckering you into this I get why you’re gun-shy, but this is different. Hear us out,” Asher said, scooting over.
He may have felt suckered at first, but now that he was there, Decker felt as if it was where he was supposed to be. Not necessarily the lights and camera, but being part of a larger story and being there with Poppy. Not that he’d let the round table know that.
Decker stood there for a stubborn second before finally giving in. When he sat, his big frame dwarfed the already small seating area and the bench sank a tad. He had to spread his legs just to get them to fit under the table.
He waved his hand for someone to start.
“Remember the hundred acres Dad bought back in the day?” Brian said, and—look at that—he had the blueprints to show for it. Decker didn’t even glance at them.
“The land in po-dunk Nevada?”
“I don’t know the last time you were there, but million-dollar developments are sprouting up all around it,” Brian said. “With the privacy, the views and access to Vegas, they’re saying it will be one of the new premier destinations for celebrities looking for that Sin City house.”
“Seriously?” This was news to Decker.
“Our property is right on the edge of those planned communities. In fact, our land is on the ridge with the best views, where no one can build in front and block them. One-hundred-and-eighty degree unobstructed, baby,” Brian said, and to hear it come out of his mouth Decker could almost hear his old man’s voice.
When everyone told their dad he was an idiot for buying that land he told them to just wait, that someday it would be worth its weight in gold. Turned out he was right.
Decker had to smile. He’d never doubted his dad. Never then. Never now. But Nevada? Vegas? Was that where Decker wanted to spend the next chapter of his life?
“How are you going to sell Lauren on you commuting back and forth between Vegas and Cali over the next three to four years?” Decker asked Brian.
“Her parents are looking to retire there, and she wants to follow. It would be a good move for the family. And my business.”
And there it was. The big sledgehammer to the chest. His business. “I think you meant our business.”
“You know what I meant.”
“I do. But do you? Because you’re already making life-changing plans that affect me without even talking to me. Again. And it’s getting old.”
“Decisions need to be made and you’re in here.”
Decker let out a humorous laugh. “Because you guilted me into it. For the good of the company. So I did it. For the good of the company. Remember?”
“And it worked. We cemented the contract with Castle. Broke ground last week.”
The excitement he should have felt over landing that big of a project fell flat. “Good for us. Might have been nice to know.”
“Again, you were in here.”
“You were able to get word to me about this show idea but not that? Oh, that’s right because you need my name for it to move forward.”
“I told you he’d be a little prick about this,” Brian said, as if Decker weren’t sitting right there.
“Just hold on,” Asher said. Then to Decker, “This is a great deal, man. For you and your family. You’ve always said it was about family.”
“That’s low even for you.”
“It’s not low, just reminding you what you told me the day I signed you. What you asked me to remind you if you ever got your head up your ass and forgot your way out. Well, you’ve got your head up your ass.”
Decker had to look away because he had asked his agent to tell him that.
Remind him of that because he’d seen so many of his teammates make it big and then get caught up in the life and forget what mattered—family.
Except his family was doing the same thing that other people had done to him throughout his career—capitalize on his name.
Only seeing his value in the monetary things he could provide.
Then again, if that’s the way his life was going to go, at least his family would be the beneficiaries.
“I’m not saying yes. But I’m not saying no.
” The look on Brian’s face was one of victory, as if he knew he’d gotten his baby brother on board—which was far from the truth.
Decker wasn’t a yes man anymore. A smart man always hears out a business deal before making a decision.
And Decker was a smart man. “How soon before this would start?”
Jack smiled. “Well, from the day we sign on the dotted line it would take at least ten months’ prep on our end.”
Brian pushed the blueprints forward to show Decker the vastness of their property. “And we’d need that long for grading and permitting, before we start anything exciting.”
“What about plans?”
“I’m already in talks with some architects,” Brian said, as if he were aware he was lobbing a few mortar missiles Decker’s way with that admission. And they hit him square in the chest.
“I see.”
“Nothing concrete. Just preliminary talks,” Brian added quickly. Then he began rattling off other people he’d met with and had lined up, and the more he spoke and the more excitement he saw in Brian’s eyes the less interest Decker had in the project. But Brian was family.
“You really want to do this?” he asked Brian.
“Yeah, man. This is a huge opportunity. And it will come only once in a lifetime. We can’t let it pass us by.”
Brian had already had to give up so much, and Decker was just realizing that this was his brother’s shot—it represented Decker’s NHL draft and career all wrapped up in one. How could he deny Brian that?
How could Decker find that happy he was on the verge of grasping, while being back in that lifestyle?
Decker headed to the workshop. Sweat beaded between his shoulder blades and a drop slid down his back. The hot summer temperatures didn’t help his feelings toward his brother any.
He pushed through the door and stepped into the cool workshop and leaned against the wall. Eyes closed, he tried counting down like his therapist taught him to, but it didn’t help.
“Did he tell you?” Miles asked, his head popping up from behind the refrigerator.
“You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry, but I’ve been dying to know if he told you.”
“Tell me what?”
“Brian? Did he tell you?” Miles slapped a hand over his mouth. “Shit! He hasn’t talked to you. I totally blew it.”
“No, you didn’t. I just spoke to him.” And he looked about as excited as you, kid.
“And? How did it go?”
“How do you think it went?”
“Incredible! I mean, the three of us working together on Grandpa’s land? He’ll be so proud.”
“Brian would let you take time off school?”
“We made a deal. Architectural school during the academic year, and then I can work on the show with you guys during the summer.”
Of course Brian would work a deal that would benefit him. Keep the kid doing what he wanted him to do and then dangle fame for the summer.
“Is that what you want to do? I mean, all month we’ve been having a pretty good time picking furniture, paint colors, and restoring the history of Stark House.”
Miles lifted a shoulder. “I can do that and still see if I like swinging hammers, too. You know, don’t cut myself short and all that.”
Decker had to swallow. “And you think that being a finisher would mean cutting yourself short?”
Another lift of the shoulder.
“You’re good, kid. Really good. Better than I was at your age. And I’m not going to influence which direction you should go; I’m just going to say do what makes you happy.”
Now if only Decker knew how to listen to his own advice.