Chapter 13 #2
“No, we just… everything was just so… good? I didn’t want it to not be that way, I guess. I’m sorry. Jack is… he’s so great and I really…”
“I know how great my brother is, Indy. Does anyone else know?”
“Jasmine knows and Caroline, but we didn’t exactly tell either of them, they just found out.”
“I don’t understand why you’d keep it from me. He’s my brother and you’re my friend. Did you think I wouldn’t be happy for you guys?”
“Maybe,” Indy said, shrugging. “I don’t know. Jack was worried that it would bother you and I thought that maybe… maybe you’d think I’d been, I don’t know, using you to get to your brother.”
Penny inhaled quickly through her nose and then blew an exhale out of her mouth. “Right. Okay.” She picked up the bowl of strawberries and started to leave the room.
“Wait,” Indy said, standing up and starting to follow her. “Are we okay?”
Penny turned back to her, mouth in a firm line, her eyes looking over Indy’s shoulder. “I don’t know.”
“Do you think we will be?”
“I don’t know.” Penny actually looked a little sorry as she said it, her face softening for a moment, before she swept out of the room.
Watching her friend’s retreating back made Indy’s vision swim with tears. A lump grew in her throat, choking her, making it impossible to fight them back. They slipped out of the corners of her eyes, but she gasped for breath and wiped them away quickly.
Crying wasn’t going to make it better; the only problem was that she had no idea what would.
Sitting cross-legged on Jack’s bed, Indy just stared at her hands. She looked up eagerly at Jack when he came in from talking to his sister.
“She’s not pissed. She’s hurt, which is way worse,” Jack muttered, closing the door behind him. A harsh buzzing cut through the air and they both glared at his nightstand, where his phone was lit up like a Christmas tree. He huffed out a breath. “Damn it. I’m sorry. I have to take this.”
He grabbed the phone.
“Who is it?”
“Sam Grogan.”
“Natalie’s dad-slash-coach-slash-manager?”
“The one and only,” he said, glancing at the phone and shaking his head.
He leaned over and pressed a hard kiss to Indy’s lips and then pulled away just as quickly.
He stepped away and answered the call. “Jack Harrison. Yes, Mr. Grogan… of course… yes, of course, but… I assure you that… right… of course you do… what’s best for Natalie, of course.
Well, thank you for calling and best of luck to Natalie the rest of the way in qualifying. ”
Indy sat up, biting her lip. “Not good news.”
“They decided to go with another agent,” he said, tossing his phone to the nightstand with a clatter.
“I’m sorry.”
Jack sat down on the edge of the bed, shoulders slumped before he buried his face in his hands.
“It’s not just that,” he said. “It’s more the reason why they decided on another agent.”
“Why’s that?”
Letting out a heavy sigh, he looked up at her with genuine confusion written across his face.
“Someone told him that you and I are together. He doesn’t think I’ll be able to represent his daughter’s interests because my relationships ‘compromise my objectivity.’ Anyway, apparently, today is not our day. ”
Indy’s mouth dropped open. There were only two people in the world who knew she and Jack were together, well, four now, but Alex didn’t care and Penny wouldn’t have… would she? When would she have had the time to tell Natalie’s dad?
No, that was impossible. She wouldn’t do that to Jack, no matter how hurt she was.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. It was the only thing she could think to say. She was partly to blame, mostly really. “I’m so sorry that I…”
“This isn’t your fault, Indiana,” he said, reaching for her hand and entwining their fingers together. “It’s mine.”
“Ours.”
He shook his head but cracked a smile, which had been her goal.
“Did he keep it to himself or…” She trailed off as her phone started blinging wildly from somewhere in the sheets.
It must have fallen out of her pocket when she climbed into bed with him.
She dug around for a moment and found it, glancing at the screen before tossing it aside again.
She saw a glimpse of the notifications and didn’t want to see any more.
But the phone continued to light up, with notification after notification as the world realized Penny Harrison’s brother was dating her.
“It’s all over the place by now—a whisper from the right source and some pictures of us sitting next to each other in France and one from when I got to Bari, nothing explicit, but enough for anyone who wants to believe it.” Jack pulled back and grabbed the phone, handing it to her. “Shut it off.”
“Who do you think it was?” she asked as his hands rubbed up and down her arms, thumb landing lightly on the inside of her elbow, stroking back and forth. Usually, his touch made her skin tingle with want, but now it was simply a warm, solid comfort.
It was still amazing to her that he could be both.
“Our list of suspects is pretty short. Natalie’s father said she signed with Caroline this morning, so my money is on her.
Though she could have let it slip to any of the other agents who were vying to sign Natalie.
Classic maneuver; it’d keep her hands clean while getting her what she wanted out of it.
Publicity and buzz for you, a new client for her,” he said, not sounding angry, just resigned.
“I’m sorry,” Indy said again, leaning her forehead on his chest. His chin came down to rest on her head before he pressed a kiss to her hair.
“It was a risk I knew I was taking, Indiana.”
“Should I call my dad right now and rat out her cheating, lying, backstabbing ass? Although that’ll probably make things even weirder with Dom, and that’s the last thing I need right now. Still, she’s such a bitch.”
“What did she say that wasn’t true? We’re together. Natalie’s dad can’t be sure I’ll prioritize his daughter over you, and truthfully, he’s probably not wrong.”
“So what? Do we stay away from each other? Deny it? Or… do we just confirm it? It’s no one’s business and Penny knows now, but…”
“There’s nothing to be done, but I’ll follow your lead. It’s your career.”
“It’s yours, too. You just lost a client because of me.”
“I lost a client because of choices I made, and I’m more than okay with that,” he said, but the words sounded hollow. Defeated. “I’m gonna go shower.”
He stood and hesitated, then he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, the pad of his thumb brushing gently along her jawline. Despite everything, his touch warmed her from the inside out.
“They should be releasing the tournament draws soon,” he said. “Focus on that. The rest of this is just noise.”
As he disappeared through the door and down the hallway, Indy collapsed back onto the bed. The back of her head hit her phone, and when she dug it out, it lit up immediately.
“Oh, absolutely not.” She tossed it onto the bed, lying back and staring at the ceiling. Eventually, the messages stopped, but then it rang and a picture of Caroline’s face with a photoshopped mustache and fierce eyebrows popped up on her screen.
“I am about to arrive. Meet me at the door,” Caroline said, and then hung up.
Indy thought about leaving her out there to rot on the doorstep, but the chance to call out that bitch to her face had her heading down the stairs and slipping out the front door. She didn’t need Caroline in the house, not with all the tension swirling in the air.
She sat down on the steps, watching a few people leaving their homes for work.
She saw a kid grabbing his parent’s hand as they walked to a black Mercedes parked on the street.
The car pulled away. The day was still barely beginning for most of London, but so much had already happened, it felt like a week had passed since she woke up this morning.
A car similar to the one she’d watched pull away stopped in front of Alex’s house, and Indy stood up, sliding past the black wrought iron gate that enclosed the property.
“I suppose I’m not welcome inside,” Caroline said as she got out of the car, her large tortoiseshell Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses almost completely taking over her face.
“You’ve made quite a few enemies on the other side of that door. It’s for your own safety,” Indy said, leaning against the fence. “What’s up?”
Caroline reached into her bag and pulled out a file folder. “I received an advance copy of the draw. It won’t be announced until later today, but I thought you should see it.”
“Who am I playing?”
Her mouth twitching a little in agitation, Caroline handed her a sheet of paper, a sketch of the tournament bracket done in Caroline’s precise script. Indy scanned it, searching for her name, and she found it at the bottom-left side of the draw.
Indiana Gaffney (WC) vs. Penelope Harrison (4)
Indy felt her stomach knot, something she hadn’t felt since Paris, except she wasn’t about to go out on a court at a Grand Slam, at least not yet. Of course Penny was her first-round opponent, because today the universe had it out for Indiana Gaffney. She huffed out a breath.
“I’ll be okay,” Indy said, forcing herself to sound confident. “Her ankle has been giving her issues since France. She’s not even close to a hundred percent.”
Caroline raised her eyebrows so high that they actually appeared up from beneath her sunglasses. “If you think so.”
“I do.”
“Will you and she continue to train together?”
“Probably not.”
“Good. We will need to find someone for you to hit with. I will speak to Dominic about it.”
“Fine.”
Caroline began to walk away, but after only a few steps, she paused and turned around and said, “Are you not going to ask me about the leak?”
Indy shrugged. “I don’t need to. I know it was you. You knew I wasn’t going to run to my dad, and you wanted to sign Natalie Grogan, so you did what you had to do to make that happen.”
“I am sorry it had to be that way.”
Pushing off the fence and letting herself back in the gate, Indy gave a small laugh. “No, Caroline. No, you’re not.”