Page 89 of For the Boys
Brent drove his fist in the air in a gesture of victory, then called his sister.
“She’s in!” he yelled when she answered.
“Danica?” Mackenzie asked excitedly.
“No, Dolly Parton,” Brent said. “Of course Danica. She just messaged me back and told me to call her to iron out the details.”
“B, that’s fucking amazing! What did she say?”
“It is, isn’t it?” He read her the message. “I haven’t talked to her yet, but since this shoot needs to be done as soon as humanly possible, I’m going to call her when I’m off with you and square everything away. I just had to tell you first.”
“Are you covering her travel expenses?” Mackenzie asked.
“Hell yeah, I am. Whatever it takes to get her here.”
“From the sounds of it, she’s firmly on board, but I recommend getting that contract to her, like, now.”
“Good point. Okay, I’m going to call her now. I want to get this settled before my game tonight. Bye, love you.”
He hung up before Mackenzie could respond and dialed Danica’s number.
“Hello?” a high female voice answered.
“Hi, is this Danica?”
“Sure is.”
“Hi, Danica, this is Brent Jean calling.”
“Oh my God,” Danica said. “Let me just get this out of the way now. I’m a huge fan. It is insane to be talking to you right now. I still can’t believe you want me to work with you.”
Brent laughed. “I appreciate it; I really do. In the interest of full disclosure here, my sister is actually the one who suggested you take over as the face of the women’s line. She’s my partner in the company. After doing some stalking of your Instagram, you really are the perfect fit.”
“That’s amazing,” Danica said. “You totally don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but what exactly happened with my predecessor? Anna Hartley, right?”
Brent groaned. “Yes, Anna Hartley. Creative differences,” Brent said diplomatically. “It turns out she wasn’t exactly what we were looking for.”
Danica snorted. “Like I said, you don’t have to tell me, but I’m willing to bet it has something to do with that video of her from New Year’s that’s been floating around the Internet for the last few weeks.”
Brent’s eyebrows drew together.What video?He stopped himself from asking out loud, not wanting to make himself look like an idiot in front of a potential new employee.
“Right,” he said noncommittally.
“So anyway,” Danica said, “where is this contract I need to sign?”
“Contract, right!” Brent said. “You’re sure you want to sign on?”
“I’m sure,” Danica said with a laugh. “I’m pissed off it took me so long to see your message.”
Brent laughed with her. “Okay, well, let me walk you through what I expect of you, pay, that sort of thing, and then we’ll go from there. Sound good?”
“Sounds good.”
They spent the next half hour going over the contract Brent would have her sign—the exact same one Anna had signed several months prior. He detailed to her how and when she would get paid, as well as her obligations for quarterly photoshoots and ad posting on her social media accounts. Finally, he stressed the importance of maintaining a squeaky clean image; he really didn’t want or need bad press coming back on him, nor was he interested in a repeat of the Anna Hartley experiment.
Despite his less-than-wholesome past where women were concerned, Brent had worked hard during his career as a Warrior to maintain an upstanding reputation in every other facet of his life. He took pride in being an athlete people could point at and say, “That’s a good guy.”
“That covers everything I think,” he said. “Do you have any questions for me?”
