Chapter 12
I’ve never been more nervous to walk through the doors of my office building than I am right now.
There’s been a constant lump in my throat, my insides coiled into a tight knot, since Soph and I left the restaurant last night.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and what I thought was a text from Bennett was actually an email from my boss.
I had two choices: either not go and risk getting fired, or go and try to come up with a believable excuse to tell Bennett why I couldn’t meet him in Salt Lake.
There wasn’t much of a debate in which one I had to pick, and when I called him to break the news, Bennett picked up on the change in my tone from our earlier conversation.
“I have to fly back to Boston in the morning and somehow make it to a meeting by two,” I said, rubbing the space between my brows.
There was only one flight left, but I’d be cutting it close, and it would definitely be going on my credit card—a last-minute red-eye flight across the country isn’t exactly cost-effective.
“That’s okay, Honey.” His voice wrapped around me in a comforting embrace, and I felt some of the tension in my abdomen release. “I was looking forward to seeing you, but you have to take care of business first. Are you even able to find a flight back this late?”
“I found the last seat on the last red-eye. I should make it in time.”
“You sure? Brooks isn’t going to Utah; he’s got some stuff down here in Florida to handle. We’re all flying out with Savannah first thing in the morning. I can ask him if—”
“No, no. That’s okay. I don’t want to inconvenience him,” I said, typing in the numbers to my credit card.
There was no way I was going to let Bennett arrange a private plane for me, and not just any private plane, but the one belonging to Brooks Taylor.
I’m trying to stay on Savannah’s good side, not make her any more suspicious of me.
Now, as I step off the elevator, Kaci looks up from her magazine when I step off the elevator and waves with a bright smile. “Sloane! I thought you weren’t going to be here for a while. You’re supposed to be finishing that story.”
“That’s what I thought, too, Kace,” I say, leaning against the front desk. “You don’t know why Barry sent me an email demanding my presence today?”
She rolls her eyes. “Beats me. You know they don’t tell me anything. You’d think they would, considering people ask me the most questions, but nope. Probably because they know I’d accidentally let something slip.”
Glancing around at her screen, I ask, “Does his calendar say anything? Supposed to be at two.”
Kaci scrolls through until she comes to Barry’s calendar, opening the time slot for two o’clock. “Just says that he has a meeting with Laura in his office.”
“Great, so the witch is going to be there, too. Just what I need.” I sigh, thanking her as I push off the desk. “Best wishes,” she says, sitting back in her chair.
“Warmest regards.”
From here, the walk to Barry’s office will take less than a minute. Technically, I have five minutes before I need to be in his office, but I don’t think showing up a few minutes early would be a bad thing today.
The open door provides a clear view of the office where Barry sits at his desk, phone pressed to his ear.
His gaze lifts to meet mine before I can even knock.
“Hey, Brock, let me call you back. Yeah, tomorrow. I’ll see you at seven.
” He beckons me forward, hanging up the phone. “Sloane, glad you could make it.”
Not like he gave me much of a choice.
“Of course,” I say, falling into one of the armchairs across from him. “You’ll have to forgive me, though. I was a little confused when I got your email. I thought we talked about my absence last week.”
“Let’s wait until Laura gets here. I’d like her to be here so we can all discuss together.”
“Oh, Sloane, you’re early,” Laura says from the doorway. Speak of the fucking devil. “Honestly, I thought you weren’t going to show when I didn’t see you at your desk this morning.”
I clench my jaw, pressing my lips into a firm line to keep from saying something I’d regret…
but the smirk on her lips makes me second-guess that decision.
Lura positions herself against the cabinet behind Barry’s desk, arms delicately crossed over her chest, waiting for the show to begin.
Tearing my gaze from her, I watch as Barry rolls his eyes before looking my way.
“You said you wanted to discuss the story?” I ask.
“Yes, I’d love to know where you’re at with it.”
“Still in the investigation phase.”
“You mean vacation phase?” The words roll off Laura’s tongue with an extra bite.
I glare at her. “Excuse me?”
Barry sighs, looking over his shoulder at his deputy editor with a shut the fuck up expression. When he turns back to me, his expression softens. “Sloane, it’s been brought to our attention that while you asked to work remotely on this story, you’ve been—”
“You’re traipsing around the country on vacation—”
“Enough,” he snaps over his shoulder.
“Vacation?” I scoff. Is this a joke? How could Laura even know where I’ve been? Why does she care? I’m supposed to turn the article directly in to Barry upon completion; she has nothing to do with it. “Barry, vacation is the furthest thing from what I’ve been doing.”
“So, you haven’t been visiting your best friend in Phoenix for the last week?” Laura asks.
“Yes, I was in Phoenix, but I wasn’t on vacation,” I say.
“But you haven’t written anything.”
“I’ve written a draft based on the little information given to me by the contact at the company. And you’ll see that I sent it over this morning.”
“I didn’t get anything,” Laura snaps, crossing her arms a little tighter. Barry slides his glasses down over his eyes and scrolls on his computer.
“That’s because I didn’t send it to you. I wasn’t aware you were part of this conversation,” I say with just as much bite, and watch as she retracts ever so slightly.
The corner of Barry’s mouth twists upward as his eyes scan over the screen. He clears his throat, lifting his glasses back onto his head, and turns back to me. “So, if you haven’t been on vacation, tell me, Sloane, what have you been doing in Phoenix?”
The answer sits on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t force the words out.
Telling him the truth feels like a betrayal.
I’d be giving away my plan to leave The Baller.
I’d be betraying Bennett. Even though our relationship isn’t a secret, telling Barry the truth means admitting that I’m using that relationship and Wolf for my own advantage.
Once Barry knows the truth about my connection to EWE, I have no doubt he’ll be able to put the pieces together.
I’ll be betraying Wolf, throwing him into the lion’s den without him even knowing it, and betraying myself, because if I tell Barry the truth, there’s no going back.
Forget the article about the fortieth anniversary of Elite Wrestling Entertainment, Barry will want the story I’m supposed to submit to Diane in two and a half weeks.
“Sloane—”
“I’m dating Wolf Bennett.”
A harsh laugh breaks the silence that follows, and Laura looks between us. “You expect us to believe you’re dating one of EWE’s biggest wrestlers? You cannot be serious. Barry, please tell me you don’t believe this.”
Barry’s gaze narrows for a moment, and I do my best not to react. After a moment, his expression softens. Tossing his glasses onto the desk, he scrubs a hand down his face.
Laura scoffs. “Barry—”
“When did this start?” He interrupts her. “Because not long ago, you sat in the very same seat and said you couldn’t stand wrestling.”
I sigh, silently asking Bennett, Diane, and myself for forgiveness for what I’m about to do. “I’ll tell you everything, but only after she leaves.”
Laura scoffs. “That’s not happening.”
“Laura, leave,” Barry says, looking over his shoulder when she doesn’t budge. “Now.”
“This is insanity. You actually believe her? She’s lying!”
“We’ll discuss this later.” His voice reminds me of the first time I came into his office after he assigned me the story.
Tight, controlled—not the norm for the man who runs this place.
Laura’s mouth hangs open as she looks between us, before she peels herself from the cabinet and stomps out the door.
The door slams behind her, and Barry sighs before leaning back in his chair, hands folded over his stomach.
“Alright, Sloane. What in the hell is going on with you?”
“When I told you I didn’t like wrestling, it wasn’t a lie. I don’t consider myself a fan. I went to one show last year with my best friend because her husband had a last-minute work thing, and I didn’t want her to go alone. Long story short, I ended up going on a date with Wolf Bennett that night—”
“You’ve been dating him this whole time?”
“No.” The word draws out as I draw an invisible circle on the black fabric covering my thigh. “We went to dinner and then went our separate ways…until I ran into him over the holiday weekend.”
“You realize this could be seen as a conflict of interest.”
“He doesn’t know,” I say, and lift my gaze from the floor, swallowing the lump in my throat.
“What do you mean he doesn’t know? You haven’t told him?” Barry looks dumbfounded as I shake my head. “For fuck’s sake, Sloane. What in the hell are you doing?”
“I’m getting the fucking story, Barry!”
“And tell me, what story is that? Because you’re supposed to be writing a story about the fortieth anniversary of Elite Wrestling Entertainment and Amos Rafferty, not about Wolf Bennett.”
The question hangs between us, and I try to think of the best way to explain this without giving away the truth. I can’t tell him what I’m really doing, or I can kiss the position at Pulse goodbye.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Sloane, what story are you working on if not the one I assigned to you? Because trust me, I’ve already fired one writer for not doing his job, I won’t have a problem—”
“Barry, I…I will write the story you assigned me. Hell, it’s practically done if you’re okay with the same cookie-cutter bullshit that everyone else writes,” I say, noticing his jaw flex. “But—”
“You’re writing a different story,” he says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Let me guess: for Diane, over at Pulse?”
My heart stops. How does he know about that?
“One of my best friends works over there, and you think I don’t know that you’ve been talking to them? C’mon, Sloane. Give me a little more credit.”
“Barry—”
“Look, I’m not upset. I get it. You’ve been stuck on the same shit for a while now, and that’s because you’re good at it.
Maybe I should’ve found something sooner, but truthfully, there wasn’t anything I felt confident in assigning to you.
Had I known you were this frustrated…Well, I wish you had come to me instead of making plans to jump ship. ”
I sigh, looking down at my folded hands in my lap. I did go to him. Multiple times! The answer was always no. What else was I supposed to do if I ever wanted to move on from things like Inside One Wife’s Journey to Beauty Influence? I can’t say that, though. “I’m sorry.”
“You know I have every right to fire you for this?” His words draw my gaze back up. “This is a major conflict of interest. I could fire you right here and now if I wanted to.”
My entire body seizes, waiting for impact, waiting for him to utter the words that will end my tenure at the first sports magazine that ever took a chance on me.
“But I’m not going to do that.”
“You’re not?” I ask, and I’m sure my relief is palpable.
“No, because you’re going to take whatever story you’re working on for Diane and submit it to me.”