Page 109 of Heartbreaker
“I had a meeting with…Halle.” His agent, whom he picked up years ago. She has been trying to convince him to branch out of EWE for as long as I’ve known her. She has always wanted him to do more than just a television guest spot here and there, but it was hard for John. EWE is home, and he’d always had a hard time considering stepping away to do other things. “Then I met up with Brody before I had to meet with Xander and Brian when I got here.”
“Xander and Brian?” Head of Talent Relations and Head of Creative.
“There is a very real possibility that you’re looking at the next Cade Jennings,” he says. I gasp, and a slow smile spreads across his lips.
Cade Jennings?
Cade Jennings is the beloved character of a cult classic show calledRock Ridge, about a small town in the Great Plains run by outlaws that keeps all criminal activities out…minus their own. The show ended over twenty years ago, on a cliffhanger due to the studio being shut down before it could be renewed, and the end of the story is one people have been begging for ever since. In the final moments of the show, Cade Jennings had just become the new leader of the group, one he had secretly devised to dismantle from within, given the chance.
“They’re rebooting the show?” I ask.
“A movie.” John smiles. “They approached me first, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it.” His smile is infectious as he tells me how the directors reached out to Halle once the script officially got picked up. They knew they wanted him to come in and read for the role, but there hadn’t been much word since he left the office, until now. John used to watchRock Ridgeat least once a year, and each time the unexpected finale would come back around, he’d shake his head and murmur that someone should finish it. And now, he has a chance to be part of that…Who am I to stand in the way?
“So, what does this mean?”
“Well, Hal received the official offer last night. That’s why she wanted to meet today. To tell me in person. The company is willing to make it work, keep me on televised shows only. I won’t be doing any other events until I’m finished shooting.” Which means if I sign a contract with EWE, I won’t see him much for the next year or longer. “Have you decided what you’re going to do about your contract?”
I take a step back and wrap my arms around my torso. “Had you asked me ten minutes ago, I would’ve told you that I was going to sign it, but now—”
“You still can, Sav.”
“And then, I’ll never see you.”
John sighs, untangling my arms from my midsection and pulling me to him again. He drapes them over his shoulders, and my fingers intertwine at the base of his skull. His hands rest on my hips, thumbs lazily tracing over my skin just above the waistband of my leggings. “I just got you back, Savannah, and the last thing I want to do is push you away, but I know you want this,” he says, motioning to the world around us.
Tears prick my eyes, and my shoulders lift in a small shrug. I do want this, and I miss it, but I want him more. I didn’t come back looking for anything—not a contract, and certainly not him—but if I had to choose between the two, I’d pick him every time.
“I won’t sign the contract,” I say like it’s the easiest thing in the world. “It’s okay. I’ll come back next year. I’ll—”
“I don’t want you to do that,” he argues. “We can make this work, and I want to, or…” His smile falters ever so slightly, and he rolls his lips between his teeth.
“Or?”
“Or we wait. We’ve waited this long. We can go another year, right?”
“You mean take a break from being together. Wow, that comeback didn’t even last twenty-four hours. That must be a record of some kind.”
John chuckles and kisses my forehead. “I’ll do whatever you want, Sweetheart. This isn’t…I’m not here to push you one way or another, because I don’t want to go another day without you in it, but I don’t want to hold you back, either.” John pushes a few stray hairs from my eye, letting his fingers trail down the side of my face to lift my chin. He kisses me, but his lips are gone too quickly for my liking, and I stick my bottom lip out in a pout. “Anna will have my head if I mess up your makeup. She told me as much before I found you.” The image of the five-foot-two dirty blonde woman staring up at him as she threatens him makes me laugh. “You don’t have to give me an answer right now. Let’s get through this match and see how you feel then. Deal?”
“Can you believe what we just witnessed? It’s going to be hard to follow that match,” Scott says. “Wolf Bennett and Brody Wilder just successfully unseated the Sanchez brothers to become the new tag team champions in a brutal match.”
“Yes, but we’re going to try. Up next is our main event here at Wrestlefest XXXVII. Mixed tag team action with the EWE Championship on the line. Brooks Taylor and Savvy Skye will face current EWE Champion Spencer Austin and his wife, Viviana Austin. That’s right, Spencer is so confident they’ll be able to beat Taylor and Skye that he put his title up for grabs.”
“That’s a new one, Jude!”
“Indeed. It’s not often we see the EWE Championship on the line in a tag-team match, let alone a mixed tag match.”
“Kind of a risky move if you ask me, especially considering this is a No Disqualifications match. Anything goes!”
“I agree, especially after that confrontation between the two couples this past Thursday when Viviana slapped Brooks Taylor.”
Scott chuckles. “What were you thinking when that happened?”
“I was thinking she’s lucky Savvy Skye isn’t out here right now.”
“That didn’t last long!”
“No, Skye was quick to make her presence known, sending Spencer and Viviana running.”
