Page 83 of Sweetheart: Part One

I leaned back in my seat. “Way I see it, it can’t get any worse.”

My best friend he might be, but Rook was hotheaded and spoiled. Of all of us, he’d grown up under the most pressure. Members of his parent pack were bigger stars than we were—which was exactly why I knew the Dragon Hunters franchise was so important to him. It would push us into stardom even his parents hadn’t seen. But he was a nightmare to manage. In the last movie we’d done, he’d started a pack brawl that had ended up in set damages totalling over 100K.

Then there was Ebony, good as he was at up keeping masks, he needed extra provisions for the long days surrounded by people. The few times he cracked, it caused me more trouble than all of Rook’s antics put together.

We didn’t need another repeat of the fucking Rogan incident. That nightmare had surfaced again last year; the Rogan brother Ebony had targeted all those years ago, was found dead from an OD. Our lawyers had their work cut out for them, even if it had been a few years since the initial incident. There was nothing directly tying Ebony’s actions to the death, and we’d set up NDAs with everyone involved. The problem was, upholding an NDA required a certain amount of rational thinking which grief didn’t always lend itself to. I’d been worried the truth would get out anyway.

Still, Ebony had never told me why he’d done what he did. Usually there was a reason. Not a reason I’d ever admit to anyone else, but I needed the comfort of knowing that there was some kind of goddamned rationale to his actions. Instead, when I’d demanded he tell me, he’d just shrugged.

“Honestly? Was curious if I really had it in me to push an alpha that far.”

Drake was the only one who didn’t give me a headache. I was still hoping he’d get just as much from Vex, though. If she could balance Ebony and Rookandoffer the companionship Drake needed, I’d triple her pay without blinking—and give her anything else she asked for.

I hadn’t thought someone could doanyof those things, yet Vex was primed for possibly all of them. Rook was interested in her—enough to fight Drake, and I’d never seen him interested in anyone. He liked to be chased; he enjoyed the attention and worship that fame brought him, but he’d never returned any amount of that passion.

The only real issue Vex posed was to me. I had to avoid her as much as I could. For her to offer balance to Ebony, there could be nothing between us or he would leverage her right back at me.

It was just tricky because I found it hard to keep my eyes off of her when she was around. She’d already found me to tell me she was visiting tonight, and thanked me for signing the contract.

I’d told her not to come, and endured watching the obvious hurt on her face when I’d said it. Small price, though, and I’d paid much more to keep this pack together.

“I’m not engaging with her just because you gave her a signature,” Ebony growled.

“You certainly fucking will.”

Ebony leaned back on his seat, fixing me with an arrogant‘fuck you’look that told me he wouldn’t be doing shit without leverage. I’d give him one chance to listen, then he was in for a shock if he didn’t think I had it. “You seemed adequately interested in her last night.”

He tilted his head, regarding me with a calculating look as if he wasn’t sure how much I knew.

“You know what’s going to happen if you try to force me to spend time with her?” Ebony asked.

I fixed him with my most unimpressed gaze. “I’m sure you’ll make her regret the day she decided to become a Sweetheart.” I rolled my eyes. “Be more predictable.” I wasn’t fucking having it. “She’s your Sweetheart, and you’re going to take her out.”

EBONY

Vex was staying.

She’d turned into a battleground, and not by any merit of her own. She was nothing more than the woman caught in a fluke intersection. I wanted her gone so we could go back to wars over legitimately challenging things.

Love, it seemed, had other ideas.

Again, I felt that faint and unusual nagging in my mind, demanding to know why I’d reacted to her like I had.

Love and Drake had left the moment the meeting was over, but Rook was still lounging on his armchair, looking thoughtful.

Had I caught that right? He’d tried to sign her in last night?

“You lost to Drake?” I prodded. “She got you in the nuts that night harder than I thought, then?”

Rook wrinkled his nose. “Have you ever been around Drake’s aura? It’s not a fucking joke.”

I grinned. Even the mental image of Drake grounding Rook was enough to bring me a little peace. “I’m surprised you want her to stay when she made such a fucking idiot out of you,” I said.

“What can I say?” Rook shrugged, tongue pressing against his canine as he fixed me with his most arrogant look. “I love watching her get under your skin.”

Was that all, though?

Drake was the only person in the world I didn’t have to keep tabs on, since both Rook and Love were prone to fucking me over if I let my guard down around them. Love, because of his misguided belief that he was helping me, and Rook because he enjoyed any leverage he could get. I didn’t blame him. He was pathetic, hormonal and weak, and living with me did nothing but bring that into constant and stark contrast. Thus, he liked to see me fail. He’d pounce on anything to knock me off balance, even if that meant signing a Sweetheart.

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