Page 67 of Heartbreaker
“I’m sorry,” Amara says hesitantly, trying to gauge what kind of landmine she just stepped on. “I didn’t realize it was a secret.”
“It’s not your fault, it’s theirs,” Ari says, using two fingers to point at me and her brother as he returns from the kitchen.
“What’d I miss?” John asks, sitting beside me with two plates full of an array of sweets.
“Oh, nothing. I was telling Amara how unfortunate it is that I can’t tell her more about my trip to Cabo because you’re a stubborn ass.”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
John sets his fork on the table, not even getting the chance to cut into the first piece of pie. “Ariana, I’ve had enough of your shit. You’re acting like a spoiled little brat, and—”
“And you’re a self-righteous asshole! You’re being selfish and rude,” she quips. With each word, John’s jaw clenches a little tighter. I reach down into his lap, taking his hand in mine and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Dad apologized. He wants to make up for what he did, but you won’t let him. Why can’t you just let it go?”
A sharp, high-pitched crash echoes, and all heads turn toward the door where Debra stands, her hands frozen in front of her, the plate she’d been carrying now in pieces at her feet. Her children jump to their feet, but she flinches away from them. “What did you just say, Ariana?” Debra’s tone matches the blazing fury in her eyes. “You’ve been seeing your father?”
Ari gnaws on her bottom lip, hands folded in front of her, with her eyes glued to the floor.
“And you knew about this?” Debra turns to John.
“Mom, this isn’t his fault,” Ari defends. “He only went the one time because I—”
Debra scoffs, looking between them in disbelief. “You’ve been in touch with him? Well, I must say, that might be the hardest part to believe. After everything he put you through, John Brooks. You would dare give him the time of day? I bet it washeridea, wasn’t it?”
“Don’t do that.” John steps in front of me, blocking his mother’s glare. I watch the muscles in his back tighten beneath his Henley, and the muscles in his neck strain. “Don’t you dare drag her into this. You want to be mad at someone? Be mad at me. I don’t care. But you will not take this out on Savannah or her family, for that matter. They’ve been nothing but kind to you and—”
“Watch your tone, boy!”
“Whoa! What’s going on in here?” I hear my father’s voice, but John’s massive form still blocks my view of the scene.
“Oh my word, is everyone okay?” Mamá is next. No doubt she’s seen the shattered plate on the floor and is worried someone got hurt.
Finally, I glance around my boyfriend as Grandma Aggie walks in, clutching onto Crew’s arm. Her eyes dart around the room to each member of the Cabot family before settling on John. “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”
After a brief moment of silence, Debra looks at John, then Ari, and finally me. She chuckles softly, shaking her head, and says, “It would appear that my children inherited more than a last name from their father, after all.”
“Thanks, Noah,” I say, my thumb hovering over the red circle on the bottom of the phone screen.
Noah Callahan, the former show producer who caught the attention of Chelsea Rafferty and swept the Darling of Wrestling off her feet, was promoted to Chief Content Officer at the beginning of this year. I’m surprised they waited that long. Everyone was sure he’d move up the ladder not long after he and Chelsea got married two years ago, but he remained only a producer until recently. Not that it wasn’t deserved. Noah has been an integral part of some of the changes backstage and on screen, which have resulted in an uptick in views over the last six months. Needless to say, things are looking good for Noah Callahan, and I’m lucky enough to be on his radar when it comes to stacking the women’s division.
“This will be better,” he says, and I can imagine the way he’s nodding his head on the other side of the phone. Who he’s trying harder to convince right now, I’m not sure.
“Yeah, you’re right, this ismuchbetter.” A soft chuckle is his only reply. “I’ll see you on Sunday.”
“Sunday,” he agrees. “Oh, and Savannah? I really need you to sign that contract before then. Don’t forget.”
I toss my phone on the island and let my head fall into my hands. I can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the phone call I just had. Did he think I wouldn’t find out? Or at least put the pieces together? As soon as Noah told me Creative had decided to go a different direction with my upcoming storyline, I knew exactly what had transpired in the last forty-eight hours.
I had received two different calls on Wednesday morning—two days ago—following our return from Thanksgiving, where things hadn’t exactly gone to plan…Thank you, Debra.
I digress. John’s mother is just another thing to add to the list of things that have irritated me lately.
The first call I got on Wednesday morning was from Noah. He wanted to know if I had given any more thought to my future with the company. My contract was set to expire at the beginning of December—this coming Monday, actually. We’d been going back and forth for the last month, renegotiating, and it seemed that an agreement had finally been reached. I told him to send it over, and I’d take one final look at it before signing. It’s been sitting in my email ever since. The second call was from Brian, the new head of our Creative team, and Xander Collins, the head of Talent Relations. With confirmation from Noah that I’d be re-signing, they wanted to discuss a new storyline—alovestoryline—and with it came a new title opportunity.
“They want to put me back in the title picture,” I said, walking into the gym after the phone call.
“That’s great,” John said, straddling the weight bench, but his eyes were locked on whatever message he typed on his phone. I leaned against the wall, deciding how to approach the second part of the conversation. John wasn’t going to be happy, I knew that, but this was business, and if this was my chance to win another title, I was going to take it. “That’s all they had to say?” he asked, but still didn’t look up from his phone.
I took a deep breath. “No…They, uh, they want to put me in a new storyline…with Drake.”
