Page 15 of Infinite

I stop. Leanne’s not looking good. The way she’s hunched over, I’m not sure if she’ll pee or puke.

“Becca!” New voice. New woman to please. I glance behind me. Callista, the manager for the cheer squad, races down the hall. She’s in better shape, so it doesn’t take her long to reach me. Fine by me. Leanne appears to need a moment.

I reach for my cell phone when it buzzes inside my giant hot pink purse. “Yes?” I say, when Callista reaches me, flipping through the eight texts I’ve already missed.

Callista sighs. “I wanted to talk with you before the conference. Since the girls were allowed to pose partially nude for this issue of theCougar Times, they’re upset that they can’t pose in the nude for other magazines.”

“They can if they want,” I say as I reply to the head coach’s text. “All they have to do is quit the team and they can pose for whomever they want and in whatever position they see fit.”

“Some have been offered six figures,” Callista presses, as if I didn’t hear her the first time.

“Have they?” I ask, making it clear I don’t care, all the while replying to another text.

“You’re not going to change your mind about this, are you?” Callista asks.

I stop typing, more than miffed. This isn’t the first time Callista and I have had to chat about her squad. “Here’s the deal. I didn’t want the partial nude shots. I didn’t want the lingerie shots. I didn’t even want the paint by numbers bathing suit shots, regardless of how you referred to them as art. I didn’t want any of it, knowing the ladies who chose to pose this way did so to launch their modeling careers. They want to be models. Wonderful. It’s their right. But, Callista, this has been a PR nightmare. Mothers Against Smut, the local churches, even the Girl Scouts lost their minds, which is why all proceeds are going to charity.”

“Becca—”

“Callista, do you know what it’s like to be woken at two in the morning by the former legal team of the Reverend Billy Graham? When you’ve only been asleep maybe twenty minutes? No. You don’t. If those ladies want to keep showing their bits, partially or otherwise, fine. They just need to leave the team to do so, or be slapped with a breach of contract lawsuit.”

Callista starts to interrupt again, but I’m not done. “One more thing. I know you’ve offered to manage these girls’ careers, just as I know you’re taking meetings with all the skin mags. If I find out you’re doing it on our time, you can leave, too. There are plenty of other folks who would just love to have your job.”

Callista regards me as if slapped, but she doesn’t respond. I take off, Leanne close onmy heels. I don’t have the authority to fire Callista, but the extremes I’ve gone through to repair this team’s reputation have bequeathed me the power to request her termination from the big boss.

“Miss Shields,” Leanne whimpers. “I still need to talk to you.”

I reply to another text. “Sorry, precious. You go right ahead now.”

“Denver, I mean, Mr. Singleton the Second, wants to know if you’re available for lunch?”

I try not to roll my eyes. It’s hard not to. If Leanne is referring to my pseudo-ex-fiancé by his first name that can only mean he’ll be taking a peek at her panties real soon. I huff. If he hasn’t already.

“That’s not happening,” I reply, lifting my chin when I push through the double doors leading out of the stadium. The brisk March breeze wafts the first trickle of blossoms into my nose. Ah, lovely. “Speaking of lunch, Mrs. Singleton’s auxiliary club would love a tour of the stadium following their luncheon with the governor’s wife. Be a dear and arrange that, will you, hon?”

“You’re saying no?” LeeAnn stumbles over her words. “I mean about lunch with Mr. Singleton?”

My driver holds open the door to my town car. I pause a few feet away, more because of the hopefulness in her tone than what she’s actually asking. “I always mean what I say, Leanne.” I drop my smile. “Especially now. For your own good, keep your distance from Denver.”

Her face burns a deep red. Just as I suspected. Denver’s already taken a peek. “I don’t know what you mean, ma’am.”

Oh. So, now it’s ma’am? “Yes, you do.” I push my hair away from my face when the wind intensifies. It’s still winter up north, but the very start of spring in Charlotte. “Regardless of what he’s promised in soft, sultry whispers, Denver Singleton is not a good man.”

I smile and slip into the car. “Take care of the ladies’ auxiliary club and show them a good time, won’t you?”

Leann’s dark hair shadows her face as she stares hard at the ground. “Yes, ma’am,” she answers.

Twain, my driver, shuts the door. He doesn’t say anything until he pulls away from the curb. “Careful what you say about the boss’s son, Miss Becca,” he warns.

I pull down the mirror and check my makeup, reaching for lip gloss when I realize how much the color has faded. “If you think I’m going to keep quiet, you’re wrong.”

“I’m not saying stay quiet. Learned a long time ago that’s useless advice when it comes to you, Miss Becca. I’m only remindin’ you that he’s the boss’s son. As much as Mr. Singleton likes you, he’s not going to take kindly to what you say about his boy.”

“The boss will take kindly to me keeping his brat son out of trouble.Again,” I remind Twain. I cap my lip gloss. “Mr. Singleton doesn’t want another bastard grandchild running around, whose mother he has to pay off to keep the kid hidden from the press. He’s got enough of those. His words. Not mine.”

I like Twain almost enough to call him a friend. He watches out for me. But if he was one of those rare jewels I could call a friend, I’d be able to trust him with more than I do. “The boss,” he refers to, this man of prestige and wealth, pinned me against the wall the first day I came to work for him.

I’d been beaten by my daddy weeks before and was still reeling from the trauma. My face remained bruised and it was clear I’d been through a lot. I suppose that’s why Mr. Singleton felt I was an easy target. And if it hadn’t been for the generosity of Trin and her family, I probably would have been at Mr. Singleton’s mercy. But the Summers didn’t just provide me with money to get settled in Charlotte. They armed me with love and support my own family never felt I deserved.

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