Page 46 of Jason
“Okay.Is anyone else here?”
“Not yet.Trey and Graham have a meeting across town this afternoon.”
“Hey!”Jason’s younger brother Brock walked out into the reception area.Everyone said that Jason and Brock looked the most alike of all of them.Jason would love to believe he was half as put together as his kid brother, but he doubted it.
“Brock, I’d like you to meet Mallory, my assistant.”
Brock turned to Mallory and smiled.His appeal ratcheted up when he smiled—it was one of his best assets.Jason had seen it work time and again—girls melted when Brock smiled, and Mallory was no exception.She returned his smiled with a thousand watt one of her own.“Great to meet you,” she said, extending her hand.“I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Oh,” Brock said with a playful wince.“I just bet you have.It didn’t have anything to do with a logo, did it?”
Jason laughed.They’d gone round and round about that damn logo.“Chase, would you mind showing Mallory to the conference room?”he asked, and to Mallory, “I’ll just be a minute.”
“This way,” Chase said.
When they’d gone round the corner, Jason asked, “What’s up?”
Brock’s smile was gone.“Come on,” he said, gesturing with his chin in the direction of his office.“He’s not in today, but my advice is to avoid Uncle Graham if you can.”
“Why?”
Brock glanced over his shoulder.“Some guy fromVulturecalled here, nosing around.He said four women have now come forward to accuse your star of inappropriate behavior, and one of them has even said rape.”
Jason’s stomach dropped as he followed Brock into his office.He had a flashback to an evening out with Darien and Cass one night.Darien had gotten pretty handsy with the waitress.Jason had told him to cut it out, but the woman had laughed and Darien had smiled, and Jason could feel the vibe between them.That night, Jason and Cass had left but Darien had stayed behind.Had he forced himself on the waitress?Had Jason walked off and left a predator lurking around the woman?She’d seemed totally into it.
“The reporter suggested that Blackthorne Entertainment knew about these allegations—”
“That’s bullshit,” Jason snapped, but Brock cut him off before he could rant.
“I know, Jason.But you know how Uncle Graham is.”
Jason knew how his uncle was, and he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Brock wasn’t a little like that, too.He was a bulldog when it came to keeping the Blackthorne name pristine.“I’m handling it, Brock.We have a statement going out today.”
“Good,” Brock said.“You gotta get in front of it.”He looked to the open door, then said softly, “Uncle Graham is making noise about pulling funding from you.”
Jason’s heart began to pound with the tension he was feeling.“Are you kidding me right now?”
“Don’t wig out,” Brock said, and patted Jason’s chest.“I talked him down.He’s just nervous.He thinks there will be lawsuits we could be on the hook for.There’s already enough talk going around about him and Aunt Claire, and now, your thing is like a little gas added to his personal fire pit, you know?”
Jason didn’t know what the truth was between Uncle Graham and Aunt Claire’s separation.But he’d worked too damn hard to be derailed by Uncle Graham’s issues.
Voices in the lobby drifted down to Brock’s office.“You better go,” he said.“By the way, I saw the second episode.It’s killer, Jase.You should be proud.”
Jason smiled.“Thanks.I am.”He walked out of Brock’s office and took a shortcut through a break room to the conference room.The very same conference room where he’d stood to beg for the money to get his company off the ground from Trey, Graham and Brock.
Mallory stood up as he entered the room, her phone in her hand.“There is more news about—”
“I heard,” he said grimly, just as Chase walked in through a door at the other end of the room.Behind him, Cass swanned into the room wearing a cape and a hat, and a newly trimmed beard.He looked like a portly English butler.
“Hi, Cass,” Mallory said cheerfully.
Cass stopped walking.He looked at Mallory, then at Jason, then back to Mallory.“Well, well, well, look who is here.Little Mallory with the big ideas.I suppose you had a hand in our two contestants today.”
Mallory’s smile instantly faded and Jason was reminded what a jerk Cass could be.“Jason asked me to come to Maine to help him out.”
“Oh, I just bet he did,” Cass drawled.
“Calm down, Cass,” Jason said gruffly.“Why do you have to be rude, man?”
