Page 111 of Bad Reputation

If anyone needed to be careful here, it wasn’t Cole. “Why?”

“The Vincent Minna thing.” Drew said this as if it were the beginning, middle, and end of an argument, all packed into one tight phrase.

Which, well, Cole knew that for him, it was.

Drew, clearly realizing that Cole didn’t get it, looked to Brett and Quinn for support. When neither said anything, he went on. “I know that it wasn’t your fault, but your fingerprints are on it.”

“ByVincent Minna thing, do you mean supporting Tasha while she revealed a predator to the world?”

“There’s no need to accept that framing. That’s what those feminists on social media would say. The ones who talk so much about ‘accountability.’”

Cole almost laughed because Drew was about to get a first-class lesson in accountability. But the implication underneath Drew’s words was gross. “The industry could use a lot more accountability. Vincent Minna hurt my friend and a lot of other people.” Cole said it as evenly as he could, given that he wanted to scream it at the top of his lungs. “I watched him bully half of Hollywood, and I feel like an utter ass that I never called him on it. Of course my fingerprints are on it. I had to make things right. I’ll frame it however I want to.” Cole didn’t like feeling anger, the pulsing in his gut, the bitterness in his mouth. But he liked even less how Drew saw Cole and his career.

The worst part was that this conversation was goddamn familiar because they’d played some version of it a dozen times. As they’d gotten ready for this meeting, it had been all too easy for Cole to remember the times Drew had steamrolled him. The conversations in Drew’s office, on a film set, once in the hallway at a crowded party. The details had changed, and the stakes had never been this high, but the flow was the same. Cole was naive. Cole was messing up. Drew was going to steer him right.

Every other time, Cole had gone Drew’s way. But today—today was different.

Across the conference table, Drew’s expression was one of pure pity, and it made Cole want to charge over there and knock that smirk off his face. “Well, a lot of people are pissed.”

“Worried. You mean that a lot of people areworried.”

“Your problem is that you’ve always had the soul of an elementary school crossing guard. You gotta grow up about this business.”

“You think I’m too nice?”

“Yup.”

Cole shot a look at Brett. It was time. “You’re wrong, and I’ll prove it.”

“How?” Drew asked, his skepticism thick as the icing on a birthday cake and every bit as sickly sweet.

Drew was going to relive this moment a hundred times in the next few months, wondering how he’d missed what was about to happen. At least Cole would have this as consolation. He was going to live rent-free in Drew’s head for forever.

“I know about Hope Acosta.”

“The entertainment reporter? What about her?” Drew didn’t so much as blink. He had no idea the trap was closing around him.

“The jig is up. We have your email,” Brett said.

Drew, who’d been smiling slickly at Cole, whipped his head toward the PR guy. “Excuse me?”

Brett pushed a piece of paper across the table. “She reached out to ask for comment on a story about Cole, a story similar to the oneBoulevard Babbleran. But unlike those turds, she didn’t think it was worth running. She was mostly trying to give me a heads-up.”

A sheen of sweat had appeared on Drew’s upper lip. “I didn’t email Hope. I haven’t talked to her in months, and—”

“You’ve emailed me from that address before,” Brett interrupted. “When you were on vacation. It’s not your official one, sure, but I know it’s you.”

“You’re speculating because you want to give Cole an answer, and this is—it’s dangerous.”

Quinn spoke up for the first time. “You’re in breach of your agency agreement with Cole.” He opened the manila folder he had with him—and honestly, nothing good ever came out of a manila folder.

Drew ought to make a rule about that.

“I am not. You can’t even prove that I emailed Hope, and—”

“I’m going to step out now and let Quinn handle the legal details. But Drew? I’m firing you. I don’t want you on my team.”

For an instant, Drew’s poise crumbled. A wave of surprise and anger washed over his face. For the first time in their almost-twenty-year relationship, he was shocked.

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