Page 133 of I'm Your Guy
He’s deep in the Google search results when his phone dings. I wait for him to pick it up.
“Excuse me a sec. Let’s see if this is the Trenton publicist.” He grabs the phone and reads the message. Then his mouth flops open.
Yup. Called it.
I get up and walk around the desk so I can see the reply.
Trenton P.R.
Not funny. Tell Tommaso to go fuck himself.
Tate blinks rapidly. Then he scrubs a hand across his forehead. “This can’t really be their response.”
My chuckle is dry. “Looks pretty real to me.”
He picks up the phone and squints at it again, as if he can’t quite believe it. “Jesus. That’s…” He doesn’t even finish the sentence. I’ve never seen a publicist at a loss for words, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.
I return to my seat. “Sorry, dude. I guess the photo shoot is off. I’ll still make the donation, though.”
He waves a hand, as if pushing that detail aside. The he puts his elbows on the desk and sinks his head into his hands. “You just played me.”
“A little,” I admit. “But you needed convincing.”
He groans. “Brilliant idea, though. You really proved your point.”
“It was a brilliant idea,” I agree. “Can’t take credit, though. My boyfriend thought of it.”
“Your…?” He looks up at me, his mouth hanging open again.
Yeah, plot twist. Deal with it. “We’re done here, right? I got a busy day ahead.”
Without waiting for his answer, I get up and leave his office to change into some workout clothes. The gym is quiet at this hour, and I’m just finishing my warmup set when Coach Powers pushes open the door to the gym and strides purposefully over to me. “DiCosta? Got a second?”
“Sure. But can we talk here?”
He glances around. There are only a few other players in the room. “If you don’t mind, I guess I don’t mind. It’ll only take a second. First of all, how’s your mom doing? Is she having a good visit?”
“Yeah, great.” I load another plate onto the hex bar. “It’ll be a while before we know her long-term prognosis. But she’s doing okay for now.”
“Glad to hear it.” He rubs his hands together. “So… Tate just flagged me down and told me what happened. The man is scandalized.”
“The man is naïve.” I step into the center of the hex bar.
Coach lets out a snort. “You just schooled him up, didn’t you?”
“Sure. But now I have to worry about the consequences. I probably just made things worse for the game.” I take a moment to settle my form, and I lift the bar.
When I finish the set, Coach is frowning thoughtfully at me. “You think Marco is going to come after you in Trenton?”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “I can handle him. But I’m more worried that he’ll do something worse. Like trying to punish me by hurting a teammate.”
Coach takes a step closer and drops his voice. “Like maybe Newgate?”
“Yeah,” I whisper.
Then we both glance over to where Newgate is spotting Hessler on the bench press. When our eyes meet again, Coach’s are worried.
“Look,” Coach says with a sigh. “I might owe you an apology. I completely misread your discomfort with the whole Newgate situation.”
