Is she saying what I think she is? That my job is on the line here? I grit my teeth until my jaw aches, finally biting out, “Thanks, Lori. I appreciate your advice.”
“Just promise me you’ll remember what I said. Jake is a player. Don’t let yourself be fooled.”
I hang up, mulling over everything she said. Now I’m really in a mess. On the one hand, I’m doubting everything I’m doing with the investigation. But on the other, I really like my job and want to keep it.
And she’s wrong about Jake. Isn’t she? She has to be. There’s no way he can be playing me. Right?
Layla
I head into Jake’s office a little later, surprised that I slept most of the morning away and it’s already the afternoon. Guess a night full of the best fucking you’ve ever had can do that to a girl. You know what I’m talking about.
Right now, I wish I could be back in that frame of mind, but I’m too pissed. I can’t believe the attorneys went public with this before I even made my decision.
How does that make me look? Really fucking bad, that’s what. I gave Jake my word that I would be fair. I’ve been working my ass off to make sure that I give him one hundred percent effort in this investigation. But now he might doubt me. What if he thinks I’ve been playing him all along, trying to get more dirt? He might not trust me at all anymore. All because those fucking lawyers—puppets of the network heads, no doubt—couldn’t just wait it out.
With no clue what I’m walking into, I knock on Jake’s door and push it open when he calls out, “It’s open.”
The minute I step foot in his office, he stands up. I guess it’s written all over my face, because he rushes up to me and pulls me against his chest. “Layla, what’s wrong?”
I realize he doesn’t know. Huffing out a breath, I look up at him, wondering how he’ll react.
“The news of the investigation has gone public. It’s all over the news that the FCC is trying to shut down America’s favorite late night talk show.” I bite my lip. “God, Jake, I’m so sorry. I hope you know I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
Jake leans back, studying my face, while his own is almost a caricature of shock. “Are you serious?”
I nod miserably.
“Layla, no. I’m the one who’s sorry. You have nothing to apologize for. I told the lawyers that you hadn’t made your decision yet. I never intended for them to go public like this. It was always my goal to let you have your time to make a fair evaluation of the show. I’ll admit I hoped you’d come around to my way of seeing things, but I truly wanted to give you a chance to get the full picture and create a fair report.”
He pulls me back against his chest, and I clutch his shirt in my hands, so frustrated yet immensely received at the same time.
“So you don’t think that I was lying to you all along?”
He chuckles in disbelief. “You’re joking, right?” Then he tilts my chin up and stares down into my eyes, looking about as sincere as it gets. “I trust you, Layla. I know you weren’t trying to screw me. Well, not when it comes to my show,” he adds with a sexy arch of his brow and a smirk curving his lips.
Striding back to his desk, he picks up his phone and punches a few buttons. “I’m going to set them straight right now.”
A few minutes later, the two lawyers are back in Jake’s office, even more smug and arrogant than the day before.
“What the fuck are you playing at?” he asks, getting right up in the asshole lawyer’s face. “Didn’t I tell you that she hadn’t even made her decision?”
The guy shrugs and glances at Adam, his partner in crime. “You flat out refused to scale back on the obscenity, Jake. What were we supposed to do? Just let you pile up fine after fine and bankrupt the entire network?”
“I told you I’d handle it,” he says between gritted teeth, angrier than I’ve ever seen him. In fact, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen him angry. “Even if it means I have to pay every fucking fine myself.”
My jaw drops. Jake is seriously willing to pay all the fines that he could be slapped with? Why? The only reason I can come up with is that he really does believe in what he’s doing. I mean, I know he said it over and over, but seeing this drives it home even more. This guy is so different than I ever expected when I took this job. It’s making my decision easier every day.
“You need to let the lady do her job,” Jake continues. “Nothing is final. The show may continue on as always as far as you know. You were the ones concerned about bad publicity. Yet now you’ve gone and angered a shit ton of fans.”
“You’re a wild card these days, Jake.” The lawyer laughs, sounding like some evil villain from a low budget film. “You’re going soft. No one knows what you’re going to do anymore. Not now that she’s in the picture. Falling in love doesn’t suit you.”
Before I can even process what the asshole has said, Jake pulls his arm back and lets his fist fly, sending the guy stumbling back until he trips over a chair. He does a complete backflip over the chair as he loses his balance, then sprawls on the floor. I think Jake may have actually knocked him out.
Setting his jaw, he levels a stare at Adam, the other lawyer. “You can take that back to the network heads as a message. If you think you’re going to manipulate me, you don’t know who you’re fucking with.”
Then he walks toward me and wraps an arm around me, tucking me close to his side, and guides me out of the office.
“I’m sorry. I just got so pissed. They should have let you do your job.”