“Hey,” she said, groggy. “What time is it?”
I checked her clock. “Almost six.”
“Seriously? Wow. We slept for a while.”
I smiled as I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes. “Yeah, we did.”
She propped herself up on one elbow, looking at me through her hair. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m good.”
I stood up and stretched.
“You’re not going to rush off and murder anyone?” she asked.
“Not right now, no.”
She nodded. “Good.”
I looked at her seriously. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” she said simply.
“I don’t know what happened.”
“I don’t blame you, really.”
“I just lost it.”
“Cole, it’s fine. Really.”
“Listen to me. You don’t have to ever be afraid of me.”
She looked surprised and nodded slowly. “I know that.”
“Good.”
We were quiet for a second. “So, what now?” she asked.
“I have to make a phone call.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but I was already out the door. I headed downstairs and into the basement. I cringed when I saw the mess I had made, and I promised that I’d clean it up as soon as I was finished.
I found my phone in my bag and pulled it out. It took me a minute to find Trent’s manager’s number. I hit dial and let it ring.
“Hello?” he answered.
“This is Cole Redson,” I said. “I want to talk to you and your client.”
He was silent for a second. “Okay, Cole. What’s up?”
“Add Trent to this call. Then I’ll tell you.”
“Okay,” he said awkwardly. “Sure. I can’t promise he’ll answer. Are you sure we can’t figure this out between us?”
“Call him.”
“Okay.” I heard some clicks and leaned up against the wall, waiting. The phone began to ring again.
“Still there?” he asked me.
“Yep.”
After four rings, I was ready to give up when Trent answered.
“Dave,” he said. “What do you want?”
I felt another wave of anger, but I took deep breaths and kept myself under control. It wouldn’t help if I lost my shit again, not right then. I needed to keep myself centered.
“Trent, I have Cole Redson on the line.”
“Hi, Trent,” I grunted.
There was a surprised silence. “Well, uh, this is unexpected. What do you want, Cole?”
“Cole called me and set this up. I actually don’t know what’s happening. What can we do for you, Cole?” Dave added.
I could hear the worry in the manager’s voice, which didn’t surprise me.
“This is about the blackmail,” I said.
There was silence from the other two guys.
“What blackmail?” the manager said finally.
“Trent, we know it’s you. Stop the shit,” I said.
For a second, Trent didn’t respond. Dave started to say something but was cut off when Trent finally started to laugh.
That pissed me off. I had to lower the phone and close my eyes, working hard not to rage hard again.
“—such a mistake,” Trent was saying as I brought the phone back to my ear.
“Maybe I shouldn’t be here for this,” his manager said.
“Stay,” I grunted. “Trent, we need to finish this now.”
“What the fuck are you thinking, Cole? This is embarrassing. What are you even talking about, blackmail?”
“I have a deal for you,” I said.
He was silent for a second. “I’m listening.”
“If I win the match, you destroy every copy of those pictures you have and forget about your blackmail shit.”
“Why would I do any of that? Assuming I know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“Because if you win our match, I will quit fighting forever.”
There was more silence on the line. “That’s interesting,” he said.
“You’ll have destroyed me. You win the match and I’m fucking finished. You have the pictures and my fucking career in the palm of your hand.”
“Trent—” Dave the manager said.
“How do I know you’ll follow through?” Trent said, cutting him off.
“Dave is our witness. He’ll draw up contracts, do whatever legal shit he needs to do to make it real.” I paused for a second. “But I give you my word as a man that I’ll follow through.”
Trent was quiet for a second.
“I don’t think this is legal, like, at all,” Dave said.
“Shut up, Dave,” Trent said. “You serious about this, Cole?”
“Serious.”