Page 82 of Treat

“Um. It’s okay,” Brynn managed, wiping at the front of her shirt.

“And who says bone?” Esme asked, exasperated.

“I do. I say bone,” Tuck said and turned avid brown eyes on Brynn. “So, did you?”

Esme whacked him with the candy bar again, and Brynn began to laugh.

“Don’t encourage him,” Esme grumbled, but she was smiling.

“Yes,” Brynn finally managed to say. “We boned.”

Tuck sent his wife a smug look. “Told ya.”

“Behave,” she admonished him and turned to Brynn. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Brynn said, surprised at both the question and the concern in Esme’s expression.

“I only ask because…well, you seemed upset when you got here. And not just about Scooby-Doo.”

“Scooby-Doo?” Tuck echoed.

“Yeah, well, that’s because Jude’s agent is…”

“Is what?” Esme asked when she trailed off.

“Not in favor of us being together,” Brynn finished.

Esme and Tuck exchanged a look. “Does he get a vote?” Tuck wanted to know.

“No,” Brynn admitted. “But he sure has an opinion about it.”

“The boss/assistant thing, I assume?” Esme asked.

Brynn nodded. “He’s going to try to convince him to dump me, fire me, or both.”

Tuck snorted. “Good luck to that guy.”

Brynn stared. “What?”

“You ever tried to convince Jude to do something he doesn’t want to?”

“All the time,” Brynn answered, perplexed. “I’m his assistant.”

“Yeah? What’s the last thing you convinced him to do?”

“To let me take pictures and video of him at practice and in the gym for social media,” Brynn replied.

“Yeah, I bet he hated that,” Tuck mused, then waved a hand. “But he knows that kind of thing is part of the gig. He was probably always going to agree, he just wanted you to work for it.”

Brynn blinked.Work for it?

“I think what Tuck is trying to say,” Esme interjected, “is that we’ve known Jude a long time?—”

“That’s not what I was saying at all,” Tuck protested.

Esme patted his arm. “I know, baby, but you were fumbling it.”

“Was not,” Tuck muttered.

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