Page 68 of Savored Sins
“Hello?” Carter’s voice is muffled, and there’s clanking in the background.
“Carter. It’s Zeke Holloway.” I have to suppress the urge to shriek, “Oh, thank God!” and instead keep my voice even. I’m about to drive a hard ass bargain, and the last thing I want to do is give Carter the impression I’m desperate. Even though I am.
“Oh,hey,” Carter says. He pauses a moment, maybe covering the phone with his hand, and when he speaks again the clanging’s stopped. “Sorry—I’m just at the gym. I didn’t know you got up this early. I promise I’ve still got your number saved. I just didn’t believe it when I saw your name come up! How the hell are you?”
“I’m good, I’m good,” I say, nodding my head to no one in my effort to drum up some positivity. “Got my podcast, got some sponsors. TikTok’s been treating me well. Can’t complain. What about you?”
Carter takes a breath, blows it out. “Doing alright. Still looking for someone to head up my videography team, though. Did you see my email?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did.” Bingo. Segue. Didn’t even have to try. “And actually—uh—I’ve decided I may be interested.”
I can almost see Carter’s eyes bugging out. I’m sure it’s the same look he got when I told him I made out with our history TA my sophomore year. “Seriously? I thought it was a lost cause. I figured, one more shot…”
“Yeah, seriously. I’m thinking it’s time. The nomad life’s been pretty cool and all, but I guess you gotta grow up someday, right?”
“Right,” Carter chuckles. “Can’t be Peter Pan forever. But listen—I already know the level of work you do. I know you’re fucking good. You’ll report to me, and as far as I’m concerned, you’re as good as hired. We’ll just need to negotiate the salary, talk about the benefits package, the accrual of vacation days?—”
“—and the favor you owe me,” I finish, cutting him off. “I’m gonna need to cash that in.”
“Uhhhh,” Carter says, thrown for a loop. “Okay. I kind of forgot about that. But, what the hell? Hit me.”
“I need you to help me with a photo shoot for a line of men’s clothing, and I’d like you to get it on the desk of one of your clients. The editor at Citrine.”
“Whoa.” Carter sounds kind of alarmed. I’m glad he can’t see me biting my lip, waiting for his response. “That’s… I mean, that’s quite the favor for covering for a little weed when we were nineteen.”
“They would’ve kicked you out, Langley. You wouldn’t have this job.”
“Jesus,” Carter says, but I hear the chuckle in his voice. “You’re not fucking around. When do you need it by?”
I bite my cheek. “Today.”
“Today?!”
“Yeah. This very day in the year of our lord and savior.”
“Do you… mind telling me why?”
I sigh. “It’s a girl. I fucked something up, and I need to fix it. Stat.”
“Okaaaay…” Carter seems dubious, but he hasn’t said no. I can tell he’s still thinking, trying to weigh this all out. “So—just to clarify—you joining the team hinges on me getting this campaign cranked out today and onto the desk of the Citrine editor.”
“Correct.”
“And what about your podcast? Your TikTok stuff? That pilot competition I saw you posting about. You’re just dropping all of it to come work for me?”
“Yep. I’ll do whatever the fuck I need to.”
It pains me, hearing it all laid out like that. Everything I’ve worked toward, the platform I’ve built, the dreams I had of making it big… I’m throwing it all in the trash, per se, but with the hours I know Carter’s going to need, there’s no question I’ll be losing a ton of traction.
But I won’t let myself think about that—because knowing I pulled through for Autumn in the end? That’s worthwaymore than another hundred thousand downloads of my podcast. And when it comes down to it, it’s worth giving up a TV show for, too.
Sheis worth it. A million times over.
“Daaaaamn,” Carter whistles. “You’ve got it bad for this one. I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Yeah. Me neither. But I can’t lose her.”
So much for not acting desperate, Zeke. Real smooth.
