Page 120 of The Baller

Closing my eyes, I took a breath. The adrenaline had settled, my heart rate was normal, the anxiety which spiked when I first saw Ellington had retreated to nothing. Lux was still staring at me with his brows furrowed until I smoothed them out with my spare hand.

“I’m sure. I feel good. Truly.” I smiled wide, feeling it warm me from the inside. It was the same rush I’d had coming out of the gym to meet Millie, like I’d won. “Are you okay?”

He nodded slowly and finally,finallysmiled. “My girlfriend’s badass. Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Do you think anyone saw?”

“We’ll find out soon. I’m just going to see if there’s any Band-Aids or antiseptic so I can clean this cut.”

Ethan was still on his cell in one corner, Jake was on his cell in the other corner, both of them looking out of the vast window and along Pennsylvania Avenue; at the end of which my mom would be in her office.

A tiny flicker kicked up in my belly. There’s no way she wouldn’t find out about this. I just hoped I’d be able to tell her at dinner… or at least be present when she was informed. Maybe even with Lux. There wasn’t much to tell; it’s not like I was taken hostage or anything…

Bottom line – I was fine, Lux was fine. It would all be fine.

I was still running over my worst-case scenarios when Jake turned around and shut off his cell, just as Lux returned from the bathroom with a hotel medical kit.

“I have good news, and I have some less good news.”

“Start with the good news…”

“From what we can gather, there were no witnesses. It was quiet when we were down there, except for a couple of guests checking in, but we weren’t in their eyeline, and they’ve been discounted. Meg thinks you scared that dickhead, Ellington, enough that he won’t repeat what happened. At least not for the moment.” He took a deep breath. “Ava and Meg have removed him from the premises, and they’re with hotel management right now for any security footage.”

That all sounded positive, almost too positive. “What’s the less good news?”

“Ethan’s radioed it in, the director of the presidential detail has been informed, and,” he paused, though it might have just been a wince, “your mom knows. She wants you back at base, right now.”

I closed my eyes, letting out a groan. “That didn’t take long.”

Lux peered up at me, his face soft and searching mine. “Let me finish cleaning up your hand, then we’ll go.”

“Actually, Lux…” The pair of us stared at Jake. He’d never called Lux by his first name. We were about to go from less good to worse… “It’s Radley only. You need to stay here.”

TWENTY-FOUR

RADLEY

There are onlya handful of people who know what it’s like to be summoned to the Oval Office. Let me tell you, it’s not fun.

Even though I knew why I was being summoned, and I knew I’d done nothing wrong, I still couldn’t stop the cold flush of fear churning through me that I was about to be put through the wringer. Being called to the Oval Office meant I was seeingThe President,not my mom.

If I was seeing my mom, I’d have gone straight to the Residence, taken a Diet Coke out of the fridge, and pulled up one of the kitchen chairs. Or maybe taken my time, going via my bedroom and changing into sweats and hanging out with Mr. Snuggles first.

I wouldn’t have entered via the West Wing lobby, passed by the two giant Christmas trees and the Roosevelt Room, and stopped at the outer Office of the President.

“Hey, Michael.”

My mom’s executive secretary looked up from the filing cabinet, and smiled. “Radley, how are you? You can go in, The President’s waiting.”

“How’s her mood?”

“She’s always in a good mood when she sees you.”

Michael never failed to make me laugh. “You should play poker with those lying skills.”

My hand paused on the doorknob. I’d spent the entire journey – all fifteen minutes of it – going over and over how I expected our conversation to go. I was ninety-nine percent sure I knew what my mom was going to say, and over my dead body was it going to happen.

I’d spent the last month doing more to reclaim my independence than I had in the last two years. It was not going to be taken from me.

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