Page 43 of Keeper
“Pyramid scheme? C’mon—I’d never. You know me better than that.”
The air grew tense and the mood serious as she stared into my eyes. Dread churned in my stomach as I awaited her business proposal.
“As you can see, I’m having alotof success right now, Ainsley. But I can barely keep up with all the work that needs to be done. Travel arrangements need to be made, shoots with photographers need to be scheduled, collabs need to be arranged, photos need post-processing, and, of course, social media content needs to be generated and posted virtually nonstop. I know it doesn’tsoundlike much, but influencing really is a twenty-four seven job.”
“No, it definitelysounds like a lot,” I croaked, my throat chalky.
“I’ll cut to the chase, Ainsley. You’re an amazing photographer and I’d love to hire you full-time. I think it’d make sense for us both. With all the money I throw at the pros, it makes perfect business sense for me to retain a photographer of my very own. For you—an aspiring photographer—it’s an even better deal. Obviously, you’ll be getting some practical real-world experience that canonlyopen doors for you in the future.”
There were a million reasons why this was a bad idea.
“Wow,” I stammered. “I don’t know what to say. Maybe if you’re still looking for someone when I’m done with school, then—”
“Hold on. Hear me out,” she said, holding up her finger. “Unlike the college degree that you’re currently going into debt for, you’ll actually be gettingpaidwhile you learnmarketable skills and gain valuable experience. How’s forty grand a year sound?”
Forty grand was a very big number to me, yes—but was it big enough to potentially make ahugemistake by dropping out of school?
“I’d love to make that much,” I said. “But I’m in school, Marta. I can’t drop out.”
“Can’tyou?” she asked. “Because it seems pretty easy to me—all you have to do is just stop going to class. Voila, done. And hey, you could always go back if you wanted. It’d be even easier to afford tuition with the money you’ve saved while working for me.”
She had a point. Besides, I’d probably be luckyto findanyjob that paid me forty grand after I graduated, let alone a job in my chosen field. Still, I wasn’t convinced it was a great idea for us to work together. We were still ignoring the elephant in the room: the reason our friendship ended in the first place. We hadn’t even danced around the subject yet.
“Not that the potneedsanymore sweetening,” Marta continued, “but if you agreed, your room and board would be paid.”
That forty grand suddenly became alotmore appealing.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Sure am. With my old roommate moving out, the timing is perfect. Why not have you move in? Besides, how much fun would it be?! Remember back in high school when we’d always talk about how we were going to live together in college?”
I nodded uneasily.
Yeah … that was our plan, but then you went behind my back with Brendan.
“I don’t need an answer right now,” she said. “It’s just something to think about, okay? Let’s see how tomorrow goes first. Now, if you’ll excuse me”—she placed the laptop back on her belly and opened the lid—“I needto get some work done or I’ll fall behind.”
“I’ll leave you be, then.” I stood and made for the door. “I think I’ll go for a walk and think things over.”
“Good idea. Maybe swing by that rich guy’s penthouse while you’re out?” she asked with a wink. “Just think. In the span of a single weekend, you could have a great job in an amazing city and a hot, new boyfriend.”
“Yeah.” I forced a smile. “Wouldn’t that be crazy?”
15
Tanner
I was always the first Devil to arrive at the rink, but tonight I arrived hours earlier than normal. A massage from the trainer helped loosen my back. I put an extra hour into my pregame stretching routine, too. As for the ache between my legs? I’d like to say it was gone … but that whole region was still pretty tender.
Besides the bag of ice I kept against my balls, the rest of my pregame ritual went exactly the same: I meditated in a quiet corner, away from my teammates, visualizing all the saves I needed to make tonight. Or, rather, Itriedto. Try as I might, all I could see when I closed my eyes was Ainsley.
Fuck. Not good.
I could barely move and, worse, all I could think about was a girl that I knew I wasn’t going to see again.
You know what happened last time you got like this.
Get her out of your head—now.
