Chapter 10
Emma
“Chloe, you’re not going to believe this,” I exclaimed as I shut the door behind me.
I had rushed right over to her house after school. I could hardly believe the coincidence—Declan’s prospective client was Josh. Unbelievable.
“What is it, Emma?” Chloe asked, as she plopped down beside me on her living room sofa.
“That prospective new former pro athlete client Declan has been raving about is actually Josh!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.
“What the hell? Are you fucking kidding me?” she exclaimed almost as loudly as I had shouted.
“I kid you not.”
Chloe shook her head. “That’s unbelievable,” she said, shaking her head again.
“Tell me about it. And he feels like Josh is just soooo goddamn important for his company’s reputation, and he told me how badly his father—the CEO of the company—wants the deal to go through.”
“Well, Josh is still a pretty popular.”
“Yeah, only because no one out there in the real world knows how much of a total asshole he really is,” I said.
“Well, maybe you should tell Declan the truth about Josh,” Chloe said, her voice stern.
I stopped dead in my tracks and thought for a moment. Perhaps she was right. Maybe I should tell him about Josh and then let Declan make the decision on whether to take Josh on for an endorsement deal or keep me in his life. Because there was no way I was going to continue to see Declan if he chose to work with Josh on an ongoing basis. I just could not handle the emotional stress of dating Declan on a regular basis if he chose to take Josh on as a client. There was no way in hell.
Whether either of us liked it or not, it was going to come down to either Josh or me—period. Declan was going to have to make a decision. I’d already been here in this situation before and I didn’t like those odds. I didn’t like them one fucking bit.
But I was leaving anyway, I reminded myself. Why should I care?
* * * * *
“Declan, there’s something I need to tell you,” I said firmly as I gazed into his alluring blue eyes.
We were out on a casual lunch date at a swanky, upscale rooftop café. I had just finished the fanciest salad I’d ever tasted, and Declan was packing up the other half of his huge, extravagantly-prepared sandwich.
“What is it, lovely?” he asked in a sweet, pleasant voice, flashing me one of his signature smiles—the ones that made me feel like melting right there in my seat.
“Well, I don’t really know how to tell you this but, that prospective client of yours, Josh Davis? He’s my ex-fiancé.” I looked down as I finished my statement and then gazed back up at him, solemnly.
His eyes widened as he realized the gravity of what I’d just told him. He was silent for a moment as a contemplative look appeared on his attractive face. He folded his hands under his chin.
Finally, he took a deep breath and reached across the table, grabbing my hand and taking it into his. “I wish had known this sooner,” he said pensively. “We’re so close to a contract now, that—well, calling the whole thing off would be—could be—devastating to both his reputation and mine.”
“I’m sorry, Declan, I just never put two and two together until the other day. And I really do understand how important that contract with him is to your father and to the reputation of your company. But there’re some things you need to know about him—things they kept from the public when he ‘retired early,’” I explained, emphasizing on the last part by making air quotes with my hands.
Declan cocked his head to one side and a fine line appeared between his eyebrows as it always did when he was especially attentive to whatever he was currently listening to.
“Oh, do tell,” he said.
“Well, the part about his injury is true, but the seriousness of it was embellished—quite a bit, actually. He was actually facing a possible suspension for some trouble that he’d gotten into before he suffered his injury,” I explained.
“I see,” Declan said, gazing at me as he listened to every word.
“There were a lot of rumors floating around that he had been accused of acts of violence, alcoholism, and even some extortion. Many of the rumors were true, and the team attorney did some digging and found out about them. So, truthfully, it was suspected that Josh actually injured himself on purpose—though it couldn’t be proven, of course. But that’s when he decided to retire early due to injury and health reasons, rather than to risk being found out and forced to face the negative publicity that would have come along with the charges that may have been brought against him,” I explained. “Also, if you take him on as a client, he will find out about you and me dating eventually, and he will no doubt try his damnedest to cause as many problems for us as possible, just to be a fucking dick—I assure you of that.”
Declan was silent for a few moments, as if he was pondering everything I had just told him. Finally, he took another long, deep breath and looked down at the table.
“This is a lot to take in,” he finally said in calm, quiet voice.
“I’m sure it is,” I replied with a sigh. “But I just really thought that I should tell you this before you finalized the endorsement deal. My best friend Chloe knows all about it, too. She was there with me all throughout our entire relationship and she was there for me after it all came crashing down.”
“She really sounds like a great friend,” he said, looking at me thoughtfully.
“Oh, she is! She really is. She’s a fiery, hilarious redhead. She always knows how to make me laugh. She really is like the sister I never had,” I confessed with a grin.
Declan smiled. “I’m glad you have someone like her.”
“Me, too,” I said. “But anyway, going back to Josh—I mean, I would totally and completely understand if you’re already in too deep to cancel the contract deal with him, but I would never have felt right about it if I hadn’t told you the truth about him.”
“Thank you, Emma,” he said as he leaned across the table and planted a soft, sweet kiss on my lips.
The moment his lips touched mine, that all-too-familiar sensation of desire shot through every inch of my body. I still wasn’t exactly sure why or how this man had such an effect on me but whatever it was, I liked it—I liked it a whole goddamn lot.
At that moment, I wasn’t quite sure if he was thanking me for telling him everything that I’d told him about Josh, or if he was thanking me for professing my total and complete understanding about how extremely important Josh’s endorsement deal was for his company.
In the end, which was more important to him? His company, or me?