Page 41 of Their After Hours Playbook

“Don’t you think you should first speak to Tom? Make sure he isn’t up to something?”

He shook his head in dismay. “You just always think the worst of him, don’t you?”

“Hey. That’s not fair. I have more than enough history with Tom to justify my opinion of him. And if you think the story is wrong, then why did Alexis’s mom just tell me that she was instructed not to speak to me if I called her?”

Zach’s eyes doubled in size. “Seriously? Have you spoken to Alexis?”

“No. She didn’t answer when I called.”

Zach stepped over to the weight bench where he’d left his phone. “I have two missed calls from a number I don’t recognize.”

“Reporters, maybe?”

“You really think this is real?”

“Yes, Zach. I do. At the very least, I think we need to find out.”

“Okay. Yeah. Let me call Tom right now.” He dragged his finger along the screen. “I’ll straighten this out. Don’t worry about it.”

Paige was still processing, but things were starting to feel real now. She tried to imagine what was ahead for her and Zach, but she couldn’t see a thing. Logic said that this was the beginning of the end. She’d known this moment would eventually come, but she’d had no idea it would be today. “Let me know what he says.”

“Do you want to stay?”

“For your conversation with Tom? No.” Yes, she was supposed to be stronger than this, but she didn’t have the courage to actually witness the moment when everything truly fell apart.

“Paige. Come on.” Zach’s tone was so plaintive. It was hard not to infer that no matter the outcome, he expected her to be a good sport about this. She couldn’t imagine that. Not at all.

“I’ll be getting ready for work if you find anything out.”

As Zach watched Paige walk away, he could not believe what was happening. It had to be wrong. It simply didn’t make sense. Which was why he wasted no time calling Tom.

“Morning,” Tom said when he answered. “How are you? Is everything okay? It’s not like you to call so early in the day.”

Zach glanced at the time on the clock on the wall. It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet. “Did I wake you? I hope not. I know you still need your rest.”

“Oh, no. I’m up. Having coffee with your mom in the breakfast room right now. What can I do for you?”

Zach cleared his throat. “A reporter at one of the sports networks is about to break a story that we’re signing Alexis Simmons. They claim to have an inside source. I’m trying to figure out what this is all about. Do you have any thoughts?”

“Oh, no. Really?”

An intense wave of relief washed over Zach. Tom wasn’t involved. He didn’t know about it, either. “Right? It doesn’t make any sense. The reporter must have some bad intel. That’s all I can think.”

“No. Zach,” Tom said. “That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what?”

Tom sighed heavily. “I didn’t want this to get out now. Especially not to you. You weren’t supposed to know. Not yet.”

“Know what? You have to tell me what’s going on. This is my ass on the line.” And my heart. Zach had such a bad feeling about this. His pulse was speeding up and slowing down. His entire body was filled with unease.

“I didn’t want you to find out until it was a done deal. I don’t know who decided to talk, but I have a pretty good feeling it was Derek. He’s hungry, but he’s very young. I should’ve known better than to keep him in the loop. That was my bad. I fully own it.”

Zach was in such shock that it was hard to breathe. “What are you saying? It’s true? You’ve signed Alexis to a contract with our agency?”

“Yes, Zach. It’s true. The preliminary agreement is complete and we’re hammering out the details now. It should be done by the end of the day. I was hoping we could announce it next week.”

“Why in the world did you do this? And without telling me?”

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