Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“Oh, wow, that was lucky. Can you swing by my office? Like, now?”
“Yeah, I’m on my way,” he said just as the line went dead. He redirected his car down the busy streets of New York to Brendan’s office, but he considered calling Wells. He didn’t want to worry him, though. It might not even be anything that bad. No reason to get him all riled up like Matty was. It was probably not a big deal, maybe a money issue or something with his contract, but even Matty knew it couldn’t be that. His shit was sound, which was why Brendan was his agent.
But something wasn’t right.
When Matty arrived at Brendan’s building, the receptionist got up as soon as she saw him, ushering him into Brendan’s office, opening the door for him.
Yeah, everything was just fucking fine, he thought as the door shut behind him. Brendan looked up at him. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Matty said, slowly walking toward Brendan’s desk as he stood, buttoning his jacket. Brendan was a good-looking man, tall, broad shoulders—add in the fact that he was a retired Red Wing, and it was easy to say that Matty hired him for his smarts in the business.
“Have a seat,” Brendan said, which made Matty’s brow quirk. He wasn’t looking forward to a hug or anything, but usually, they embraced like the friends they were.
Yeah. Something was really wrong here.
With his heart in his throat, his stomach turning with uneasiness, Matty watched as Brendan shuffled files in silence before he glanced up, meeting Matty’s gaze.
“So, um…” Brendan struggled with his words, his edginess apparent, which made Matty even more uneasy.
“What the hell, Brend? Give it to me straight. What the fuck is going on?” he snapped. Looking back down, Brendan reached for a file that had Matty’s name on it before handing it over to him. Taking the folder, Matty asked, “What is this?”
“Just open it.”
Swallowing hard, he did as instructed, but when a picture of him and Wells embracing on the beach looked back up at him, his stomach dropped.
Oh. Fuck.
Nineteen
Matty could hardly breathe as he leafed through the pieces of paper containing the images on them. There were nine. Nine fucking pictures of him and Wells together, getting it on on the beach, holding each other, and looking every bit like the lovers they were.
“There are others, but they don’t show your face. Or Wells Lemiere’s. So, according to the guy who sent them to me, they mean nothing to him. But these do.”
Matty’s throat was dry. His heart, fuck, it was aching in his chest from beating so hard against his ribs. The images were beautiful, the two of them looked perfect, and hell, he loved Wells’s ass, but he couldn’t even admire that. He felt violated. Yeah, he was in the public eye, and shit like this happened sometimes, but when he was on a private beach? It obviously wasn’t that private if this fucker could have gotten a shot like this. Such an intimate moment.
Fuck.
Matty couldn’t even look at Brendan, he just kept flipping through the images, his heart in his throat. He couldn’t believe this. It wasn’t how he wanted anyone to find out, in the media. He could hear Brendan moving around, and when he cleared his throat, Matty closed the file, finally looking up. He went to say something, but Brendan started first.
“With your father being the commissioner, everyone would know if you were gay or bisexual since you would be involved with the gay pride events the NHL does. Since you’re not, and since no one ever sees your dad at those events and he’s gotten backlash for that, this guy is banking on the fact that no one knows. I didn’t know about your sexual orientation, and it’s none of my business anyway. And now, I don’t know how you want me to proceed.”
Matty swallowed, tapping his fingers against the edge of the file. “He’s banking on it?”
Brendan’s face changed, his brown eyes darkening. “That’s all you’re going to say?” he exclaimed, shaking his head. “Matt, I’ve known you for five years, and I never knew this about you. Never suspected it.”
Matty couldn’t look at him. “It’s no one’s business who I am with.”
“It’s about to be, and if I had known, I would have known how to handle this fucker instead of stammering and being completely shocked on the phone when he called. I could have told him to fuck off, I could have been prepared, but since I wasn’t, I basically gave him more ammunition.”
“And I apologize for that, but again, I didn’t think anyone needed to know.”
“So your dad doesn’t know?”
He looked away. He didn’t want to do this, but then, he did trust Brendan. “No, he does not.”
Brendan exhaled loudly, shaking his head before running his fingers through his hair. “Wow. Wow. Okay.”