Page 40 of Necessary Roughness

But before I could swipe my phone open and search, I noticed that I had four missed calls from my agent Jordan.

Shit.

Now I’d need to call him back before I could find out any information about Brett. If Jordan had called four times in a row, something big was going on.

“Luke!” he exclaimed as soon as he answered the phone. I could hear that he was obviously snacking on noisy chips. “You sitting down?”

I frowned. “Should I be?”

Looking around there was nowhere to sit in this tiny corner of the hotel where I’d hidden away. I wasn’t up for any games, and I wasnotin the mood to listen to Jordan chomp on chips.

“Just give it to me straight,” I said, not in the mood for mincing words.

Jordan laughed. “I just received a call from Ryder & Hawke.”

The luxury clothing company I had never been able to afford back when I was a rookie.

“Guess what?” Jordan continued. “They’re offering you a fifteen million dollar contract my friend!”

My heart skipped a beat.

And not just because of the money. Because of what it would mean for my career beyond the field. This could mark my transition from athlete to spokesperson.

This was my dream.

Jordan chuckled. “You there?”

“Uh huh.”

“Surprised?”

“Floored.”

“Well,” Jordan said, “you’re gonna have to send a thank you card to Mr. Brett Mercer.”

My heart skipped another beat. At this rate I was going to have a heart attack.

“What?” I asked, stunned.

“He’s the host of some podcast, I don’t know,” Jordan said, taking a bite of crunchy chips in the background. “The Pinnacle Postor something, I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it.”

I was shocked. “What did Brett say?”

“I don’t remember verbatim,” he answered, “but I do recall the word legend being throw around.”

11

BRETT

My phone dinged at exactly seven o’clock in the evening.

I assumed it was Claire, calling to not-so-subtly request another invite to my rented beach house. She absolutely loved rubbing it in my face that I only had a limited amount of time to stay here on the shores of Malibu, hob-knobbing with the rich and famous.

She acted as if I wanted to stay here.

I absolutely did not.

Being forced to be next to Luke had turned into torture.

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