Bad Boy (Invertary 5)

Matt shook his head slowly. Disgusted. Disappointed. He turned to Abby, who still stared at the iPad. “Call Mitch,” he said. “He’ll know what to do. He’s an entertainment lawyer as well as Josh’s manager.”

Big brown eyes, the colour of melted chocolate, peered up at Matt. “I can’t afford Mitch.”

Matt’s lips thinned. “He’ll probably do it for free, but if there are costs, Flynn will pay.” His tone assured her there would be no argument on Flynn’s part. Flynn wisely kept his mouth closed.

Jena handed Abby the phone.

“It’s too late to call,” Abby said.

“Now isn’t the time to be polite, honey.” Jena dialled then placed the phone in Abby’s hand.

Slowly Abby raised the phone to her ear. As she spoke, her eyes focused on Flynn.

“Hi, Mitch, I’m sorry to bother you so late,” she said. “I have a problem. A big problem, and I need your help.”

Aye, Flynn didn’t need a neon sign over his head to know he was the problem. With a sigh, he flopped down into the armchair behind him. His leg hurt. His head ached and he knew the night was just going to get worse.

“Got any beer?” he asked Matt.

His answer was a set of three identical glares.

3

"I'd been ill and hadn't trained for a week, and I'd been out of the team for three weeks before that, so I wasn't sharp. I got cramp before halftime as well. But I'm not one to make excuses."

Clinton Morrison, Exeter City player

“You didn’t have to sit on the naughty step. I don’t think that’s fair.”

Flynn opened the door of his RV to find Katy on his front step. After Mitch had turned up at Abby’s house the night before and told everyone the best he could do was make sure the camera crew didn’t film the kid, it had become clear Flynn was persona non grata in his hometown. Apparently nothing could be done to stop Abby being filmed. Nothing except keep her away from Flynn. Which suited him fine.

“Are you listening to me?” the tiny terrorist demanded. “I said it isn’t fair you don’t have to sit on the naughty step.”

Flynn let out a heavy sigh as he walked out into his field. Why wouldn’t people just leave him alone? He looked down at her. People and their spawn, he amended.

“Go away. I’m busy here.” The last thing he needed was for Abby to come storming over to retrieve the kid. “Shoo!” He waved her away with his hands.

She frowned. “When I’m naughty, I have to sit on the step.”

Flynn let out a longsuffering sigh. “Don’t you have something to do, kid? Play with dolls? Nap? Snack? Watch Mickey Mouse? Shouldn’t you be with your mother? Doesn’t she have a leash for you?”

She rolled her eyes with mega drama. “I’m too old for naps.”

“Look, kid, your mum is going to be seriously cheesed off when she finds out you’re over here. Do you want to upset her?”

“She’s in a meeting. She won’t know I’m gone.”

Flynn tuned her out, because there was little else he could do. With the camera crew hovering at the edge of his property waiting for something to happen, he didn’t want to attract attention. The weasel would love to lure his sexy neighbour from her house.

“This place is a pigsty.” The kid folded her arms and shook her head.

She wasn’t wrong. The Babes had gone shopping in Glasgow and his ex-teammates had headed back to London, leaving a field of debris in their wake. There was no way he could get down to the ground to pick up all the crap. It felt like a knife spiked through his knee every time he bent his leg. Crouching would probably knock him out entirely. There was nothing he could do but wait until the Babes got back to clean the place up. Unless...

He eyed the kid. “Want a job?”

“Cleaning?”

“Yeah.”