Page 110 of Fight For Me

“Uh…me and Alex? You saw the show, right?”

My dad’s face turns more serious. “I’m not saying you haven’t gotten yourself into a complicated situation—and Levi definitely wants to kick your ass—but we’re not mad at you.” He studies me. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“At least not by kissing her,” Reed clarifies. “Upsetting her is another story. You better fix that, kid. My wife loves Alex like a daughter and she’s going to kick your ass before Levi even gets a chance if you don’t start groveling soon.”

I meet Will’s eyes over Dad’s head.See?he mouths.

“Sit down,” Dad urges, nudging me towards the table. “We’ll have a couple beers.”

“I just have time for one,” I tell him, trying to get over the utter shock of the last few minutes. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine they’d be so…cool.

“Ahh, he’s going to grovel already,” Reed says approvingly. “Good job. Paige will finally calm down.”

“Uh, no, actually. I’m supposed to bring George back to his owner today.”

“Shit.” Dad’s face falls. “I’m sorry, kid. I know you got used to having that dog around. You want company?”

“We could come with you,” Lennon agrees. “Find a bar and grab those beers on the way home.”

Once again, I’m totally overwhelmed. “Mom’s gonna go with me.” I meet Dad’s eyes. From the way he studies me and then nods, I get the feeling that he’s guessed we spent some time talking today. “Good,” he says. “I know she’ll be happy to do that for you.”

When Dad heads to the fridge to get beers for everyone, Daltrey moves next to me. “Got a second?”

I follow him out to the foyer. “I took care of it.”

I gape at him. “You took care of it?”

“Well, me and the lawyer. But you don’t need to worry. That footage isn’t going to air.”

“You know this already?” I’d assumed it would take much longer than this. I figured I’d have to talk to the lawyer, maybe even the cops if he thought we should go the legal route.

“The texts alone probably aren’t sufficient to prove blackmail in the legal sense,” Daltrey explains. “But it was more than enough when we brought it to the big wigs at the network. They weren’t too pleased.”

“Seriously? Scott made it sound like they were the ones pushing for a second season.”

“Oh, they are. Everyone at the network is thrilled with this show. Which is only one of the reasons why they don’t want to fuck with the Ransomes.”

“I don’t get it.”

“They’re an entertainment network, Wyatt. Let’s just say we’ve got a bit of pull in the industry. They don’t want our label on their bad side. Besides, the lawyer made it perfectly clear that if Scott wasn’t taken off the production, none of the kids would be back for another season. And we’d be going to the press to let the world know just what kind of a blackmailing asshole they’re working with.”

“Does this mean they’re going to have to do a second season? Because I’m not sure—”

“No,” he assures me. “We didn’t make guarantees. Just told them if they want a chance, they better not show those clips or anything like them.” He rubs his chin, looking deep in thought. “Maybe we’ve been approaching this wrong. Maybe if the guys and are I more involved, it gives us more power.” He shakes his head. “That’s a conversation for a different day. The important thing is that you don’t need to worry.”

I breathe out, feeling something like relief for the first time. “They’re really going to scrap that footage?”

He smacks my back. “They really are. Ready for that beer now?”

I join them at the table and everything feels strangely normal. They’re talking about music and annoying shit the younger kids did, and it could be any random weekday. Eventually George comes to lay on my feet and I soak up the feel of his warmth while I still can.

I wonder what Alex will say when I bring him over. I wonder whatIshould say. Will she even talk to me?

My phone rings and I pull it out to see an unfamiliar number. But I remember the area code from the call last night, and my stomach drops. George’s owner. I step back to the foyer to take the call.

“Look, I’m sorry about this,” the guy says, though his voice sounds way more relieved than sorry. “But the craziest thing happened this morning. One of the shelters we contacted when Baxter first went missing called us. They had a stray just come in that matched his description so we went down there first thing and it was him.” The guy gives a laugh. “We went all these weeks without any leads and then in two days we find out about two possible matches. My kids are going to go nuts when they see him.”

I stand there, frozen, not really comprehending what he said. “Sorry…you’re saying this other dog is yours?”