Page 22 of Losing Faith

Sire watches me carefully before asking, “Did he?”

I roll my eyes at him. “Why would he, you weirdo? Webarelyknow each other since we only speak for two seconds when he picks up and drops off his kid.”

Sire thinks about it before nodding. “True, but I don’t care. I already have to suffer through someone I hate dating Sage,” he mentions Liam, hisrival,who our sister is madly in love with. “I don’t need my best friend with my other sister.” He rolls his eyes, but I know deep down, he’s happy our sister is happy.

Per usual, I decide to mess with him. “Well, if it bothers you so much I’ll be sure to add him to my to-do list.”

“Lisette,” he warns and I offer him a smile before setting my phone up so he can see me write on the paper in front of me.

“Fuck Sire’s DILF best friend.” I add an exclamation point, and when I look back at Sire, he doesn’t look amused. “Put his offspring on the phone,” I say with a laugh.

Sire rises from the table before walking to the living room, and when I hear the movie playing, I know they didn’t read at all. He hands her the phone and she smiles when she sees me.

“Hi, Lissy. Are you feeling better?”

I smile at her. “Yes, I am,” I answer honestly.

She nods before a guilty look covers her face. “We didn’t work today.”

I shake my head and she bites back a smile. “If your dad asks, just blame it on Uncle Sigh.”

She quickly agrees and laughs at something Sire says.

“I heard your popcorn reading went well. I’m proud of you, kid.”

She quickly gets comfortable as she tells me about it. “I kinda cheated.” She giggles and a smile touches my lips. “I counted how many people was in front of me, then I counted the lines and practiced mine in my head, so when it was my turn, I read it fast.”

I let out a laugh and when she throws her head back and holds her stomach as she laughs with me, I laugh harder.

Chapter Eight

Jackson

I’minthemiddleofproofreading an email for the third time when my work phone starts ringing. When I see it’s a blocked number, I feel my brows furrow as I bring it to my ear.

“Jackson Jones.”

Someone lets out a relieved breath on the other end.

“Jones, thankfuckyou answered.” Rome Booker’s voice sounds through the other end and a million bad thoughts run through my mind as to why he would be calling me through a blocked number.

The only downside to being a good agent is all the damn spoiled kids want me. I work for the sports agency, Athletics Prime. When Sire and August signed me as their agents and my first check cleared, I was ready to quit since I didn’t even need the job anymore, but I love what I do and the Hale brothers were my friends long before my clients, so quitting wasn’t an option.

This kid, however, makes me question how much I love this job.

“What’s up, Booker?” I lean back in my seat as I prepare myself for today’s bullshit.

“I got arrested. I’m at station—”

“Why are you callingme?” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I’m youragent,not your criminal defense attorney.” I shake my head at my words. “Why did you get arrested?”

He lets out an annoyed breath before yelling at someone. “Back up!” He shouts a few foul words and I bury my face in my hand.I can’t catch a break with this kid.

“You there?” he says to me now.

I look around for where the fuck I would’ve gone. “Yes, I’m here, Rome. What did you do?”

“I got in a bar fight,” he says as if it’s absurd to get arrested for such a thing when I’m sure he was at fault.

---