Page 19 of Down & Dirty

Even though it was entirely unrelated, the word ‘arrangement’ reminded me of the one I had with Tommy, and how it had taken a nose dive just a couple of hours ago. Letting it slip my mind had felt good. But now that I’d been reminded, the sour taste was back in my mouth and it had nothing to do with my drink.

“Did you haveyoursin writing?” I muttered bitterly before Icould stop myself. I was starting to think tequila was actually kind of dangerous.

Cory caught my tone, his head tilting to the side as he regarded me. “Something on your mind, boss?”

I ground my teeth. His mockery of my position was almost as irritating as how little regard my brother had for it. The only reason I was even talking to Cory was because I’d had to thank him for stopping Ronnie from tanking his first big break. A big break that came with a pay raise for both of us, thatstillwasn’t going to be enough to keep my head above water once I started paying Tommy.

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Oh, come on now. At this point you’ve made it pretty clear you don’t think me capable of the kind of emotional maturity necessary to worry about anything. So, why not get it off your chest and then we’ll both feel better?”

I didn’t understand why he was pushing this. Morbid curiosity was one option, but he was looking at me as if he was actually interested. It set me off balance, and I didn’t like it.

“It’s not a big deal. I just wish sometimes I’d made smarter choices.”

He blew a raspberry with his lips, as his eyes drifted up to the ceiling. “Damn, don’t we all.”

“Well, didn’t you say she was the one that made the mess? What do you have to regret about it, then?”

The softness in Cory’s eyes when they found me again nudged at something in my gut. It was like he was still scrutinizing me, but he wasn’t looking just for flaws this time.

“I guess I wasn’t limiting my inventory of bad choices to only the most recent fuck up.”

My eyebrows rose. “So, the golden boy has made mistakes in the past, eh?”

A more lighthearted chuckle tumbled out of him, low and gravelly. “No one has ever called me a ‘golden boy.’”

“Given your success and skill, they should have.”

The words had slipped out before I could stop myself and I grimaced. Cory’s face, on the other hand, lit up like a sparkler on the Fourth of July. His beaming grin was brighter than I’d ever seen it, and fresh humor danced in his eyes.

“Look at you. Was that a compliment?”

“Never. I don’t compliment egomaniacs.”

“Don’t try to take it back now. I needed that little pick me up.”

I could feel myself blushing and hated it. It was the stupid tequila, but I knew it would only feed his ego even more.

“Please. The last thing you need is a confidence boost. God only knows what you’d do with it.” I paused, turning away from him and all his smiling. “All you need is a bigger celebrity scandal to elbow you out of the top spot and buy you time to sign up some new arm candy. You’ll be fine.”

“I wish it was that simple,” Cory said, tapping his fingers on the bar.

With the kind of money he had to be making, it was a challenge to see how the solution for someone in his position wouldn’t be that simple. But by the look on his face, there must have been something I was missing.

And against my better judgment, I was just tipsy—ahem,curious—enough to want to find out.

CHAPTER 9

CORY

At this point I wasn’t sure what was worse; the situation I was in with my sponsors or the way Skylar was glaring at me trying to sort me out.

It shouldn’t have mattered how much of a jerk she took me for, but I’d been a little too eager to set her straight when she’d called me out for dropping Nicki. I never should have told her about my arrangement with Cass’s girls, but it was too late now.

“Why isn’t it that simple?”

Skylar’s drink was giving her cheeks a rosy glow that was working some kind of magic. The woman looked friendly and kind for the first time since I’d met her. It was so out of character for her that for a second, I thoughtIwas the one getting buzzed.

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