Page 133 of Down & Dirty

Her silence felt heavy, and when she spoke again there was warning in her voice. “I’m not sure what the hell is going on with you right now, but as your friend, I’m telling you, you need to calm down. This is Sky’s choice. Support her on this, Cory.”

I shook my head, the same anger that had fueled me to walk the streets all night surging back to life. Being exhausted and raw wasn’t enough to beat back the wave of it.

“I can’t. I won’t. She has dreams for her life. The whole point of all of this was to help her go after them. Not to sink her into some fucking circus ring of model shoots and spokesman deals. She’s too fucking good for this. Kill the deal, Cass.”

“She’s too good? I’m going to cut you slack for the last time here, because I know you’re not shitting all over me and the work I do. Work I’ve done for your sorry ass more times than I can count.”

“This isn’t about you.”

“You’re right. This is aboutyou. You have your head stuck up your ass if you think killing this deal is going to do anything but hurt her.”

Nothing in this world would make me hurt Sky. She mattered more to me than anything. Which is why I refused to let her go down this path. Not if I had any way to stop it.

“Kill the deal, or we’re done.”

Out of the two of us, I was better for Cass’s bottom line than anything Sky could ever offer. It wasn’t fair, but it was reality. And Cass was a business woman at the end of the day. If our friendship wasn’t enough to get her to do this for me, then I’d talk to her in cold hard numbers.

She blew out another long breath, making me wait.

“This is epically fucked up. You get that right?”

No more fucked up than Skylar getting tangled up in the modeling scene. Taking shit jobs with asshole men groping her, and molding her. Telling her to lose weight and push up her tits. I’d been on too many sets to ever want her near that life. Whatever this was, this idea she had in her head of how this would play out, she was wrong. And I refused to stand by and watch it happen.

“I get that after we hang up, you’re going to terminate that contract and we’re never going to talk about this again.”

“Fuck . . . Fine.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t fucking thank me. You’re being an asshole and not just to your wife. Don’t ever shit on me and my work again, or it’ll be you looking for a new goddamn partner.”

I winced. I hadn’t meant to take this out on Cass—even if I was pissed she’d gone behind my back with my wife. I knew she was doing what she thought was the helpful thing. That’s who she was. A big heart and good intentions.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

“Yes, you did. True colors are hard to hide, Cory. But you have to know that I’m not the only relationship you’re risking here.”

Whatever relief I felt for getting Skylar out of this was quickly replaced by dread. Because Cass was right. I knew Sky would be pissed. But there was something else going on here, something pushing her into this madness. She’d never expressed any interest in going down this road. If anything, she’d spent most of our time together mocking it and vilifying the whole industry.

“She’ll understand.”

Cass laughed, the sound of it out of place in the dark mood of the morning. “You really are a dreamer. I’m going back to bed. Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

The line went dead and I slipped my phone back into my pocket, lifting my eyes to the pale blue above me. The stillness butted up against the agitation teaming inside me. Everything felt tilted, sideways. Skylar had become the ballast of my ship, and now, with this, I was pitched off to one side. I felt lost. With no way to get back to my home.

“Jesus, you look like shit,” Billy said, a touch louder than I would have liked around the rest of the guys. He was packing up the bike to bring it back to the shop and I’d opted to come join him rather than go back to the hotel. “Are those yesterday’s clothes?”

Looking down, I plucked at the dress shirt I still wore. Being around the bikes and mechanics in anything but my race gear made me feel even more out of place.

“Yeah.” I sagged into one of the chairs they hadn’t packed yet and let my head fall into my hand. Exhaustion was hitting, but the thought of moving to my bed was more than I could manage.

“What’s going on?” Billy asked, putting down the straps in his hand.

“Nothing.” I wasn’t ready to get into it.

“He’s probably as pissed as I am about my sister signing up to be a model.”

Both of us whipped up to find Ronnie standing with a smile on his face and a massive cup of coffee in his hands.

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