Page 23 of A Very Titan Christmas
Bryce pulled up Jared’s contact information on his screen and held his breath as he placed the call. Jared wasn’t a warm and fuzzy guy, but he was smart and would understand the situation. He would see how they could use the fake relationship to their advantage. At least, Bryce hoped he would.
“What?” Boss Man answered.
“Well, hey there—”
“Unless someone is dead or dying, I need you to say what you need to say in five seconds or less.”
Bryce hesitated.
“You need a countdown clock or something?”
“I agreed to be in a fake relationship with Rachel Porter to give her some breathing room with her mother, who was asking for grandchildren.” There was probably a better explanation, but that would have required more than five seconds to butter Jared up. His pulse hammered in his head as he waited for Jared’s explosion. The silence unsettled Bryce more. “Did you hear—”
“Yeah, I heard you. I’m just trying to figure out if I heard you correctly.”
Bryce pinched the bridge of his nose and tipped his head back into the cold afternoon sun. “You probably did.”
“Then you mind telling me how in the hell that happened?”
“You want the short version or the long version?”
“I want to kill you right now, so tell me whatever you need to so I don’t fly up to Vermont to take a look at how you fucked up an easy-as-Christmas-fucking-pie assignment,” Jared grumbled. “Damn it, Bryce. All you had to do was keep an eye on the significant other.”
“And her daughter.”
“There’s a hell of a security headache in Silverberry Ridge in two weeks, and we don’t have time for you to play footsie with the daughter of a senator.”
“We’re not playing anything except pretend. It’s fake. Her mother was giving her a hard time. Rachel said something that I think we all regret—”
“That you’re dating?”
“Yeah.”
“It just, whoopsie, came out of her mouth? ‘I’m dating that guy over there.’”
“Well…” Bryce cleared his throat. “We dated a long time ago.”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, man. Did you forget to tell me something?”
Bryce paced the outskirts of the vendor area. “I didn’t know Rachel would be here. I haven’t talked to her in years.”
“You didn’t say anything.”
“You asked me if I was familiar with Senator Porter and his wife. I am.”
Jared growled.
“I know you’re pissed, but I couldn’t leave Rachel hanging when she’d thrown a Hail Mary pass. She was in trouble.”
“With her mother? Give me a break.”
“I thought you were familiar with Mrs. Porter.”
Jared grumbled again but sounded as though he could understand how Eloise Porter could be hard to ignore. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
“What’s done is done. We’ll write that into the security plan. But no playing house. You hear me on this? No distractions.”
