Page 37 of Sebastian's Baby

The conversation moves on, and it’s about fifteen minutes after Ariana has left when Harrison’s phone starts ringing, and he stiffens. “It’s Cooper.”

I exchange glances with Gabriel as Harrison answers the phone.

“Hi, Cooper.” He’s silent for a few seconds before he looks up at us. “Guilty, guys.”

“Oh my god, yes,” I say.

I didn’t realize until right now how much I was certain the guy was going to get off on some kind of technicality. Harrison has pulled Heather into his arms, but he’s still talking to Cooper.

“No, we’re all at Sebastian’s at the mom—uh, sure, I guess.” He holds the phone out toward me, and I cringe as Harrison says, “Cooper wants to talk to you.”

“I bet he does.” I walk over and take the phone off Harrison to face the music. “Yes, Coop?”

“Did you get a hold of that woman?”

I bristle at him referring to her in the third person. “Her name is Lita, and yes, I did.”

“Well? Did you get her pregnant?”

I don’t see any reason to hide the truth since it’s going to come out soon, anyway. “Yes, I did.”

“For fuck’s sake. What are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to Seattle next weekend to talk about what’s going to happen.”

“I’m coming with you,” he informs me, and I laugh.

“I don’t fucking think so, but thanks for the offer.”

There’s no way that I want him to come to Seattle with me. The last thing I want to do is to try and deal with this shit with him there.

“I know you think that I treat you like a child, but you have to remember that this is myjob, Sebastian. How many dramas like this have I gotten you out of? I just want to be able to help you plan how to proceed from here, and I need to be in the know so that I can spin anything that comes our way over it.”

He makes a good point, and I realize with horror that this will be amazing tabloid fodder if they catch wind of it. Having Cooper come to Seattle to work out how we deal with this in regard to the mediadoesmake sense.

“Okay, but I don’t think Lita will appreciate you being there.”

“She’ll have to get over it. We need to make a plan for how to handle this, and as your manager, it’s my job to help you with shit like this…apparently.”

As much as I hate him, Cooperisgood at his job. Fingers crossed, he has some magic way of smoothing this over and keeping Lita from being torn apart by the media.

Commencement of the Game

Once the balls are racked, the starting player will commence the game. Each player will take turns back and forth and will attempt to pocket a ball legally. If a ball, or balls, are legally pocketed, this entitles the player to one additional shot.

Travel back and forth around the table is to be expected. Consider the skills of your opponent. Beware that they don’t snooker you when they take their turn, or you may find yourself in an unexpectedly uncomfortable situation.

8

LEVEL 8.5 – A Proposal

Cooperand I arrive at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with little fanfare, but by the time we’re getting our luggage from the baggage carousel, I’m getting notifications on my phone with tags on social media because pictures have been uploaded of me here.

The flight here wasn’t too bad. I put on headphones and ignored Cooper’s dirty looks. He’s been making subtle jabs at me for this situation since the day we found out. So I’ve been more than happy to ignore him.

When we get to the hotel, I’m grateful that there are no paparazzi here. We make our way to the desk to check-in, and I’m put in room 732.

“I need to leave the spare key for someone called ‘Lolita Ciccone,’” I tell the man behind the desk. “Can I borrow a pen?”

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