Page 22 of Wolfish Player
“Maybe we’ll make enough back to cover what she owes us on the first advance,” I say, relenting somewhat. “Look into securing the rights from her agent.”
“Even if we did, it would create an entirely different problem.” She moves closer to my desk. “Hence, the emergency.”
I set down my pen and look up.
“What could possibly be the problem, Theresa?”
“She never actually finished the series,” she says. “There are two books left, and the last one ends on a really brutal cliffhanger.”
“So, you want me to consider signing one of our most unreliable authors to a competitive two-book deal without any sense of a release date?” I arch a brow. “While we still don’t have a release date for the other book she owes us?”
She nods, shifting on her feet.
“The books have been sitting at number seven and number eight in the Kindle store for two weeks…” she says softly. “I think it’s worth the investment…”
“On a scale of one to ten, how brutal is the cliffhanger?”
“One hundred.”
THE AUTHOR
HEATHER
“Oh my god, you will never believe this!” Joanna bursts into my place Sunday night like she owns it. “I have some major book tea to share with you.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“It’s about you.” She smiles. “It’s amazing!”
“Can you just…save it for later, please?”
Her smile fades. “Even if it’s the best news in the world?”
“Yeah.” I let out a breath. “I can’t handle any author news or anything for a while.”
“Why?”
“Because after working at Grey Wolf, I’m really starting to see how I fell short of every deadline, every promise—everything,” I say. “I just…I just don’t want to talk about my career, okay?”
Joanna’s lips part like she wants to argue, but she catches herself. Slowly nodding, she lets out a soft sigh. “Okay.”
“Want to help me with some work I had to bring home?”
“Depends on how bad it is.”
“Stuffing envelopes from fans who think threatening the publisher will make certain authors faster.” I hold up one. “This person threatened to bomb the parking lot.”
“I’m totally down for that.”
“Thank you.”
THE CEO
ADRIAN
“Ipretend to be invested in the thriller in my hands, but my eyes betray me every time Heather drifts through my office. I should start one of her books—the ones readers won’t shut up about—but separating her fiction from the reality in front of me feels impossible.”
A knock sounds at my door when the killer is about to be revealed, so I ignore it.
