Page 148 of The Stud

“They wantyoufor a slot.”

Nearly choking on my chicken can’t be helped. “Wh-”One cough becomes two more. “What?” Bear nudges my leg in question prompting me to reassure, “I’m fine. Promise.”

He angles his head to one side.

“Swear that Grandpaw isn’t trying to kill me.”

My dog huffs and slowly lowers his head back to my lap.

“But is he fucking with me right now?” my head rolls back to him. “Because that’s thelastshit I need.”

“Nope.” Dad maintains a serious expression. “He’s admired your work for quite some time, and your bitch fit-”

“Goditwassuchabitchfit.”

“-actually landed quite well with out of league viewers. That clip has garnered over a million views – and counting-”

“Ohmygod,” gets muffled behind more meat.

“Plus, it sent an unexpected surge of traffic to the leagues website, social media pages, and the Dragons sales page.”

“No…”

“People like drama.”

“I don’t like drama!”

“Consumerslike drama,” Dad corrects in a snarky tone and reaches for the remainder of his fry. “Helps them connect to what they’re consuming better. According to Thunder, STN believes you could play a key role in transitioning part time fans to full time ones by exposing the harsh reality of the sport by mixing the mini docu shit you did with Frosky with the raw outbursts you had at LMC. Like a sports reality T.V. thing.” He chunks in the tiny bit. “Someone from his office should be calling Monday to set up an interview.”

Disbelief drops onto my shoulders buckling me slightly forward.

Seriously?

Is my network dream about to come true?!

“Speaking of calling,” he waits until he has my full attention again, “has thenot notboyfriend?”

I guiltily nod.

“Texted?”

Repeating the action is instant.

“Come by?”

“Only the night of. He’s been on the roadskie ever since.”

“And you didn’t answer?”

“I deadbolted the door.”

You know in spite of Bear’s unhappy barking.

“And you haven’t answered the others either?”

“Why the fuck would I answer?” seeps free in a displeased murmur. “What the fuck am I supposed to say?”

“What do youwannasay?”

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