Page 137 of Studs Up
“Do you think he’ll play like shit?” Marcel asked, and Cruz chuckled.
“Shut the fuck up,” I roared, and everyone froze. “Shut the fuck up. If I hear anyone say any shit like that again, I will send you through a fucking wall.”
I stomped out of the room.
“Where are you going?” Marcel followed me. “We have a video session.”
I spun around to him. He was irritating as fuck. A gnat that followed me around, nipping and biting.
“Then go fucking watch the videos. You fucking need it more than the rest of us. I have shit to do.”
…
The first stop was Alice’s office.
My heart pounded, crossing the city. Every red light felt like a middle finger to my crumbling life. I wasn’t going to give up that easily. No fucking way.
Alice was buzzing around on her phone and snapping at her assistants.
“Hey,” I caught her by the arm. “We need to talk.”
She whipped around and glared at me.
“Later,” she barked. “I’m busy. This article shitstorm has a lot of people asking questions.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I know. That’s why I’m here.”
“Whatever it is can wait.”
“It can’t. It’s about the pictures.”
She pulled her arm out of my grip and planted her hand on her hip.
“Unless you have new information, I have this to deal with.”
“Now, Alice,” I growled. I didn’t have time for this. Spinning her around, I marched her toward her office and slammed the door behind us.
“You might be Nolan The Beast Reed,” she wheeled around at me. “But you aren’t going to push me around.”
“I’m sorry,” I put my hands up. “But we have to talk.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
She threw up her hands in surrender and leaned against her desk.
“What is so fucking important that you feel the need to ruin my already ruined day.”
I leaned forward and braced myself on one of the chairs in front of her desk. My pulse thundered through my veins, and my thoughts were hundreds of miles away.
“I’m going to tell you something, and you have to swear not to say a word until the off-season.”
Her eyebrows narrowed.
“Okay,” she said slowly, deeply suspicious.
“I mean it, Alice,” I said. “You can't say a fucking word. I don’t want to leave you blindsided, but I will if you can’t keep your mouth shut.”
