Page 43 of The Omega's Surprise Baby
I knew that voice, but I hadn’t heard it in a while. My memory struggled to work through the sleepy haze that still surrounded my brain.
“Kade, are you up? We need to talk.”
Michelle!
As soon as I recognized the voice, I sat upright, suddenly wide awake. This was my agent, and I hadn’t heard from her in a damn long time. “Michelle!” Why was she calling me this early in the morning? And for that matter, why was she calling me at all? We’d mostly parted ways after the scandal that had derailed my career. I didn’t blame her. I was a train wreck, and during the time we’d worked together, she’d always been good to me. One of the many alpha females in this business, she made sure that nobody got too close to her clients without a good reason.
“Good, you’re up.” She chuckled. “Did I wake you? Don’t answer that, I already know I did. You were never one for early mornings.”
Then why did you have to call me so early?“I was up!” I insisted, even though we both knew that wasn’t true. “Is there a reason you’re calling? Not that I don’t love to hear your delightful voice first thing in the morning.”
“Aw, you’re still a charmer, Kade Ashton. Don’t ever change.”
“Not planning to.”
“Good, good. But all that aside, I watched your videos.”
My breath stuck in my throat. Did she want to work with me again? Was that why she was calling? “I figured I had to dosomething,” I said.
“And you were right! I can’t believe I didn’t think of YouTube. My mind is still too stuck in the old ways, I guess.” She laughed again. That was good. Michelle in a good mood always meant that she had happy news.
“There’s not much yet,” I said. For some reason, I felt nauseous this morning. I didn’t use to have this kind of reaction to calls from my agent, so that was odd. “But I figure I can keep working on it,” I made myself continue.
“Oh yes. Say, Kade, how many more followers do you think you’d get if you were to make an appearance onStar Gaze?”
I couldn’t say anything for a moment, mouth dry.Star Gazewas big time. If I could talk about my YouTube channel on that show, my follower count wouldexplode. “You could really get me on that show?”
“Would I be talking about it if I couldn’t? Kade, they’ve actually requested your presence there, imagine that.”
“Did they really?” Yes, I sounded disbelieving butholy shit!
Michelle laughed. “So you want to give it a go?”
“Like I could turn this down.”
“You know what’s going to happen, though, right?” A cautious note entered her voice.
I licked my lips. For a second, I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then I realized. “You think they’re going to grill me about the sex tape scandal.” Of course. Why else would a show that big want me to make an appearance? Unconsciously, I ground my teeth together. This wouldneverdie down, would it?
“They’ll grill you hard,” Michelle confirmed. “Are you prepared for that?”
I swallowed, feeling queasy. Last time this had happened? I hadn’t been prepared for it.At all. I’d seen it coming. I’d practiced. And still. When the time came, and the cameras were on me… I froze. It wasn’tjustthe scandal that derailed my career. It was also how I reacted to it. How I dealt with it—or rather, how Ididn’tdeal with it. “I will be,” I said.
If I couldn’t do this, I would never have my comeback.
“Good, then I need you to—”
Before she could finish her sentence, I dropped the phone and ran to the bathroom.
God damn it. I knew that was rude as hell, but I couldn’t keep it in any longer; I had to throw up—and I really didn’t want her to hear me retch through the phone. The bathroom was next door, though, and of course, she heard anyway.
“Kade?” she asked when I slunk back to the phone. “Are you all right?”
“Of course I am.”
“So I didn’t just hear you throw up?”
“Yeah, you kind of did. I’m sorry.” I still had an awful taste in my mouth, too.
