Chapter 7
INDY WAS UP EARLY.
Usually, it took two different alarms and multiple hits of the snooze button to get her out of bed in the morning. The last few days, however, her eyes had popped open just before the sun was peeking out over the horizon.
In the corner of her room, her bags were stacked neatly.
She’d packed the night before, making sure she had enough clothes to last her the two weeks in London.
Penny had texted her strict instructions to not just bring shorts and T-shirts and had even told her to raid her closet if necessary to find some nicer dresses for nights out in the city.
She hadn’t done it yet, but she’d left some room in her luggage to do so after training.
Just a meeting with Dom this morning and a doubles hitting session with Jasmine and then she had the afternoon off before their early flight the next day.
After throwing on some clothes for training, she pocketed her phone and then plugged her earbuds into her ears, letting The Clash’s “London Calling” blare through the tiny speakers.
Cliché?
Maybe, but London was calling, and it was going to be amazing.
She stepped out into the dorm hallway, lowering the volume just a little, only to hear the door two away from hers click shut. Looking up, she met Teddy Harrison’s wide eyes head-on. Some things never changed.
“You’re up awfully early,” she quipped.
Teddy had the decency to look embarrassed, and Indy laughed, but then her eyes caught the sign on the door that hadn’t been there the day before. Bright pink bubble letters made out of construction paper that spelled out WELCOME BACK AMY!
“You didn’t,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes, knowing how much this would hurt Jasmine.
He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Indy huffed. “If you don’t know why that was a bad idea…” She glared at him for another second before turning to leave.
“Look, just don’t say anything to—” he began, but she cut him off, whirling around to face him.
“Jasmine’s my friend, Teddy, and if you didn’t do anything wrong, then why shouldn’t I say anything?”
He shifted back and forth on his feet, biting his lip.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she said, and jogged down the hallway and out the door before he could respond.
She had to talk to Jasmine. Should she do it before or after training?
Definitely after. If she did it before, then it would screw with practice and Dom would be pissed.
There was barely anyone around yet, just a few of the grounds crew staff prepping the courts for a day’s worth of training.
The air was warm and light, a soft breeze coming in off the ocean, but soon the humidity would kick the heat into overdrive.
“Hey, Roy,” she called as she entered the atrium, lowering the volume of the music some more so she could hear him. It was so early, he hadn’t even started his paper yet.
“Mornin’, Indy,” he called, taking a sip of his coffee. “You got a meeting with the boss?”
“Yeah, I’m a little early.”
“No worries. That agent of yours went up there a few minutes ago.”
“Urgh. Great. See you in a bit,” she said, raising the volume again, wanting to drown out whatever shouting match Caroline and Dom would inevitably be having when she got up to his office.
She went up the stairs carefully, keeping her eyes on the steps, not wanting to twist her ankle doing something as trivial as going to a meeting with her coach.
The papers on the floor of Dom’s office should have been the first clue.
Brightly colored folders, normally stacked neatly on the desk, were scattered on the shiny wood floor, their contents strewn around them.
With the glare of the sun through the floor-to-ceiling windows and the music blaring from her earbuds, she didn’t notice it at first. So when she jogged into her coach’s office, she was horrified to find him with his pants around his ankles.
At first, her mind didn’t quite understand what she was seeing, so she just kept looking, past the horror of Dom’s bare ass to the long pale legs wrapped around his waist and the blond hair, usually so perfectly coiffed into a twist or a knot, in complete disarray.
“Holy shit.” Her voice was a lot louder than she meant it to be, but the music pounding in her ears forced her voice up in volume.
The couple on the desk froze, and she locked eyes with Caroline over Dom’s shoulder, seeing her agent’s lips form the word “Indiana.” Dom started to fumble to pull his pants up and turn around, but Indy spun on her toes and raced down the stairs before he could.
She hit a full sprint two steps into the atrium, flying past Roy at the security desk.
He actually dropped his paper in concern, but she was through the doors and out into the open air before he could even shout her name.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, probably Dom or Caroline, maybe both.
Had they even paused to put their clothes back on?
Her stride didn’t break as she flew down the street toward the Harrison house.
Pounding on the door, probably harder than necessary, she finally yanked the earbuds out of her ears, the sound of guitar and screechy vocals fading to a buzz before she reached up to knock again, just as the door swung open and Teddy emerged. She almost whacked him in the face with her fist.
“Hey,” he began, but she flew past him, her long legs taking the stairs two at a time, skidded down the hallway, and stormed straight into Jack’s bedroom, right across the hall from Penny’s, slamming the door behind her.
“Indy?” he asked, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. He was still in bed. She’d clearly woken him up.
“I just… I just saw…” She tried to breathe in through her nose and back out through her mouth to catch her breath. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, she continued to breathe slowly; the feel of his legs behind her, even through the layers of blankets, was a comfort.
“What did you see?” he asked, sitting up fully, the sheet pooling at his waist, but even the sight of him shirtless wasn’t enough to erase the horrible image from her mind.
“Dom and Caroline. They were, oh God, they were on his desk, and I think I’m going to throw up.” She covered her face with her hands as her stomach clenched in revulsion.
Jack pulled his legs from beneath the covers and twisted around to sit beside her, his thigh lining up with hers, large and warm, the feeling of his skin against hers grounding her. “Breathe, baby, breathe. You walked in on them?”
“Having sex on his desk. Dom’s ass hanging out. I’m never going to get that image out of my head.”
“Indiana—” Jack started, but she cut him off.
“What do I do? Do I tell my dad? I have to tell him, don’t I?
I mean, this is huge. She’s cheating on him.
My agent and my coach. My dad’s girlfriend and my coach.
This is—this is just way too much. Should I fire her?
I mean, this is something you fire an agent over, right? Like, a huge conflict of interest.”
“You want my advice?” He took her hand in his. “First, you need to calm down a little. Let’s just sit here for a second and breathe.”
He leaned back against his pillows, pulling her with him, and she curled up into his chest. One of his arms snaked around her waist, holding her close. The other stroked her hair, twisting the ends around his fingers before letting the curls untwine themselves. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, breathing in his scent. Letting the warmth of his skin further ease the tension in her body. “I just. What do I do? What would you do?”
“We’re not talking about me,” he said. “What do you want to do?”
“I want to fire her ass and then tell my dad his girlfriend is cheating scum. And I’m so pissed off at Dom.”
“You have a right to be pissed, but look, I’ve learned something over the last couple of years in this business.
It’s a small world and everyone’s got a lot of baggage, everyone knows everyone, everyone is connected.
The best way to navigate it is to keep business and personal separate.
Caroline is sleeping with your coach and cheating on your dad.
She makes bad personal decisions. Does any of that mean she’s not a great agent? ”
“No,” she answered numbly.
“And Dom—does this mean he’s not still the best coach in the world?”
“No.”
“Would you want to train with anyone else?”
“Definitely not.”
“Then, okay. You still have one of the best agents in the world, present company excluded, of course, and the best coach in the world. Even if you want to throttle them, is staying with both of them what’s best for your career?”
“Probably,” she grumbled, annoyed at how reasonable he was about this. “You could be my agent, though.”
“I can’t even tell you how bad an idea that is.”
“Yeah?” She turned her head, her lips brushing the skin of his shoulder, goose bumps rising as her mouth curved into a smile.
“Oh yeah. What’s happening between us, it’s special, and I don’t want it to get messy. Messier than it already is, anyway. Let’s keep this”—he squeezed her hip firmly—“and everything else separate.”
“But what about my dad?”
“That’s the tough one. Do you want to tell him?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Then call him. Tell him, and your conscience is clear.”
She pulled her phone from her pocket, the missed calls and voicemails from her coach and her agent lined up on her screen, but she flicked past them and brought up her dad’s number.
Jack slipped from beneath her. “I’ll be right outside,” he whispered, and shut the door behind him.