“What the fuck is going on, Foster? I pay you to make sure this shit doesn’t happen!” Ricky came storming into my office and he was seething.
“Ricky, I can’t control the paparazzi.” I stood up and glared at him. “What in the bloody hell were you thinking? Marshall’s wife?”
“I didn’t fuck Emily! I would never do that…” He walked over to the liquor cabinet where I kept a few bottles for clients. “I need a fucking drink.”
“Tell me what happened.” I sat down and waited for Ricky to finish pouring his drink.
“It was totally innocent.” He sipped his drink and sat down across from me. “We were—we were planning Marshall’s birthday party. It was supposed to be a surprise.”
“Don’t feed me that bullshit.” I scoffed at him. “She got in your limousine—the same limousine that was spotted in front of the Ritz-Carlton a few hours later…”
“I was at the Ritz-Carlton, but I wasn’t with Emily. I dropped her off and then I got a call from someone else.” He took a gulp of his drink. “I need you to fix this…”
“Okay.” I nodded quickly. “If you’re telling me the truth, this should be easy to clear up, but—we might have to spoil your plans for Marshall’s birthday party.”
“That’s fine…” He sighed and shook his head. “I’d rather save his marriage than his fucking birthday surprise at this point.”
Ricky left my office and I started making calls. It was a damn good thing most people were so enamored by Ricky’s bad boy reputation that they were willing to take my call. They wanted dirt and were certainly unhappy to learn that I wasn’t calling with any. Ricky’s reputation was so bad that they expected him to just own the affair and give his teammate two middle fingers if he didn’t like it. I finally got a call from Marshall Smith’s agent around lunchtime and he confirmed that Emily told him the same story Ricky told me. Marshall was—suspicious, but willing to sit down with Ricky and try to clear the air. It felt like a small victory at least. I just hoped they were telling the truth.
“The tabloids are picking up your version of the story.” Lauren walked to the door of my office. “I guess Marshall Smith’s agent is feeding them the same one.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “It seems like Ricky might be innocent—this time.”
I was at the office until nearly seven o’clock dealing with the fallout of Ricky’s evening excursion with Emily Smith. Things seemed to be settled. Ricky and Marshall sat down to talk and hugged when it was over. I hoped that was the end of it and they would be able to work together on the football field. If they had a good game and won, then people would forget about the story. There was a good chance that Ricky would do something else to land himself in the headlines—and odds were that he wouldn’t be innocent the next time around. I had done my job and definitely earned my paycheck for the day. It was time to go home…
At least everything I had to deal with today kept my mind off Chrissy.
I was doing my best to be the Daddy that Chrissy needed and keep the door in my head permanently closed. My lust was under control—my desire was contained—but something else had started to toy with my thoughts. I was starting to actually like Chrissy. It was more than just attraction drawing me to her like a moth to a flame. I was watching her grow and become the woman she wanted to be—it was an amazing transformation. It made her even more beautiful in my eyes. She embraced what she needed and when she made mistakes, she understood that discipline was what she had always lacked—a firm dose of it reinforced every lesson. It might have started as something playful, but that need was always simmering beneath the surface.
“Sorry I’m late…” I walked upstairs when I arrived home and found Chrissy in her room.
“Are you?” She looked at her clock. “Oh wow, I was distracted by the assignment I’ve been working on.”
“You didn’t eat dinner?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “I figured you would have fixed something.”
“No.” She shook her head back and forth.
“Well, it’s a little late to call the chef. How about pizza—delivery.” I chuckled under my breath.
“Yeah, that sounds good.” She nodded. “I’ll keep working until it gets here.”
“Okay.” I couldn’t help but feel admiration as I watched her turn back to her computer and continue where she left off.
She’s definitely taking it seriously now…
I ordered pizza and it arrived about thirty minutes later. We ate it downstairs and Chrissy seemed eager to go back upstairs, but I could see the exhaustion in her eyes. I decided that she had put in enough work for one evening and suggested that we watch a movie. She was actually hesitant—like she couldn’t spare a couple of hours—so I had to insist. I wanted her to stay focused on school, but I didn’t want her to burn out before the semester was over. We popped some popcorn and ate it while we watched a comedy that had been out for a couple of weeks. It wasn’t very amusing to me, but I liked hearing Chrissy laugh. That was better than the movie to me.
“Alright, I guess I should go to bed.” Chrissy yawned and put her hand up to cover her mouth.
“One more day.” I looked over at her. “Any plans for the weekend?”
“Plans?” She raised an eyeb
row. “I planned to work on my assignments…”
“You haven’t made any friends at school?” I tilted my head slightly.
“I’ve met a few people.” She nodded. “But you said I needed to stay focused on my assignments.”