Page 124 of Bae

Did you hear that sound?

It was the sound of the nail in his coffin.

I laughed. And laughed some more. “You’re a fucking moron.”

“How did you get ahold of that?” he demanded. “Those records are sealed!”

“Not anymore, they’re not,” Drew drawled.

“Drop the story,” I intoned. “Or I swear to God, I will ruin you.”

“I’ll go to the press, tell them you threatened me! I’ll tell the police!”

I grabbed my cell, lit up the screen, and held it out. “Want me to dial the cops now? When they get here, I’ll tell them about your prior record and the fact you lured me here to try and blackmail me to keep you from telling your lies about my wife to the press.”

“They won’t believe you! Look at my face!” he yelled, blood splattering his chin from his busted lip.

“When Rome refused to pay your blackmail, you rushed him. He was just defending himself,” Braeden said.

“That’s what I saw.” Trent agreed.

“Ditto,” Drew replied.

“You gotta ask yourself: who they gonna believe? A guy with an arrest record that includes solicitation of a minor, or me, a quarterback at the top of his game, whose wife has been harassed relentlessly by the press and is now the victim of a sick stalker?”

“You’re an asshole,” Kane whined.

“I also make good on my promises.”

His head hung onto his chest.

“Call and cancel the interview,” I ordered.

He sat there debating for a long time. Well, it sure as fuck felt like a long time. Really, it was probably only minutes.

The silence was beginning to get to me. I was getting nervous he wasn’t going to cave under the weight of my argument. For some people, that kind of money was a once in a lifetime.

But so was my wife, and I wasn’t leaving here until he called it off.

“Dude, how many unpaid parking tickets do you have?” Drew asked, breaking the silence. “Did you know your driver’s license is suspended?”

He slumped a little farther. “Fine.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“I’ll call it off.”

“Do it now.”

He took his sweet ass time pulling out his cell and calling up a number. When he pressed the phone to his ear, I made a sound.

“Put it on speaker,” I demanded.

He did as he was told. He was learning.

“Hello?” a voice from the past answered.

“It’s Jonathan.”

---