Page 10 of Forgive You

Kayla, the youngest member of our friend group, instantly narrows her doll eyes as she scans the situation around me. “Oh boy, tea, a hoodie, and a box of doughnuts. Rough day?”

I bring my mug to my lips, enjoying the warm liquid melting a little bit of the tension inside my organs before I give my friend an accusing eye. “I hate you.”

She winces dramatically, a hand over her heart. “Me?!”

“Yes,you.”

Her wavy brown hair sways around her cheeks as she shakes her head like she’s in a shampoo commercial. “Sorry, but no. I’m like the last kitten of the litter, the baby of the bunch, all tiny, fuzzy and cute. It’s impossible to hate me.”

“Yet I still hate you.” I press my lips firmly together to prevent them from curling up at her dramatics.

“Sooo, this is a bad time to ask for some new NVS sneakers? Bodi heard rumors about some special editions.”

I just blink at her boldness.

“Fine. Humor me. Why do you hate me?”

She nestles herself into her white couch, getting comfortable until my words enter her ears.

“You couldn’t warn me that Jason is Ford Larson’s agent?”

She freezes for a nanosecond, then puts on a surprised look, probably thinking the guilt isn’t still dancing in her eyes.

“Oh my god! No way! What a coincidence!”

“Ugh!” I grunt. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

A sheepish grin comes my way. “Because I forgot?”

“Kayla!”

She rolls her eyes as her chest deflates. “Look, I’m not going to tell you I’m sorry because I’m not. You told me that signing Ford would help you get a permanent contract with North Viking Sports. The way I see it, who his agent is and whether you did or did not sleep with said agent and may have hit a rough patch in whatever secret relationship you two—”

“We are not in a secret relationship!” I interrupt.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

“Except for the fact that I now have to work withhim. Starting with the NVS gala I have to attend tonight.”

I’m seriously regretting agreeing to the terms of my probation period.

It didn’t seem hard when we discussed it.

Produce Ford Larson into an asset for the brand and make him sign a multi-million deal to tie him to NVS for at least two years.

An outstanding athlete with the bad boy appearance and the heart of the perfect son-in-law. That’s what they want. That’s what I need to make him look like. All I have to do is make sure he keeps his reputation in check for the next couple of weeks and close the deal.

Easy peasy.Or so I thought.

Finding out Jason is his agent is going to make this a lot harder, because an angry Jason is like a hand grenade missing the pin. You know it’s gonna explode at some point, and when it does…it will blow you to pieces when you least expect it.

“All I heard was that you’re going to a party that you get to dress up for, and Jason will be there too. I don’t see the issue.”

Easy for her to say. She’s not on his shitlist. Nor has she been around long enough to know how stubborn he is when he’s angry. Which, in my case, is a fucking understatement. Jason Spencer is not angry with me.

He’s fucking livid, and it’s been making my stomach knot for days.

I take a chocolate frosted doughnut from the box and sink my teeth into it, a little disgusted with myself that I chose half a dozen doughnuts to be my dinner.

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