CHP 8

Chase’s POV

“This is bad!” Jonathan’s voice almost deafened my eardrums as he slammed the magazine on my table.

It was too early for this, and I knew that I shouldn’t have opened the door to my apartment this early, and worse, I hadn’t had coffee or my early morning run.

“She knows better than to do this,” he added.

“You are the head of my team, Jonathan,” I stated indifferently. “You should know better what to do,” I added.

“You are always in charge of firing them, not me,” Jonathan countered.

“What is the essence of this tantrum this early in the morning?” I asked him.

He huffed in annoyance, his cheeks swelling as though they would burst out, but I wasn’t bothered by his reaction. In the game, I had witnessed more woes than a mere bad publicity, and I already knew that huffing and puffing around wouldn’t solve the problem.

“This is your career we are talking about, Chase, not mine,” Jonathan reminded me as though I had forgotten. “If it has come out in the City Magazine this early, then be rest assured that before the end of the day, other bloggers would be talking about it,” he continued. “She was meant to keep your career intact, not shatter it!” He added angrily.

“No one can shatter my career, Jonathan. I have come too far for that,” I said, my voice dangerously calm.

Jonathan threw me a look and then looked away.

It wasn’t entirely true, because I knew that in the blink of an eye, my career could go careening down the cliff, but then again, I didn’t want to act like Jonathan and begin to raise my voice or worry or complain without solutions. This was one of the reasons I kept firing the other managers that were given to me; they always didn’t know what to do.

My phone rang; it was Terry, but I ignored it.

A part of me knew that he was calling because of this, but I didn’t take his call because I didn’t want too many noises in my head. I was already angry with Carmen for allowing this to happen. She had been working with me for long enough, even though it was only a month, and I had really come to get used to having her around even though I rarely or never showed it, but then again, I didn’t want to go ballistic just yet.

Especially after that kiss…

“Why don’t you want to pick his call?” Jonathan asked me.

“My choice,” I shrugged and said.

Just then, Jonathan’s cell phone began to ring and I already knew that it was Terry even before he said a word.

“Now, you will have me dealing with him instead,” Jonathan grumbled.

“Or you could simply ignore him too,” I stated.

But Jonathan picked up the call, and had the balls to place it on speaker. He knew that I detested so much noise around me. Everyone who knew this knew me. The only time I could accommodate the noise was when I was in the pitch, and even at that, I still kept my full focus on the game rather than the cheers coming from the spectators.

“Is Chase there?” Terry asked urgently the moment the call connected.

“You bet he is,” Jonathan answered.

“Why isn’t he taking his damn calls?” Terry was livid, and I understood why. “I just got off the phone with the City Magazine head of publishers, and I almost chopped his head off for putting out the story without speaking to me or even Chase first,” he added angrily.

“It’s a horrible story,” Jonathan agreed.

It was, actually.

I wasn’t against Carmen going to a club even though I never pegged her as someone who enjoyed going to the club, but then again, having her boyfriend announce to everyone that she was working for me and spilling some things that I had never even mentioned to her was absurd.

It was upsetting and embarrassing, especially with how well Carmen knew that I liked to keep my personal life private.

And then he had to go right ahead and speak about my eyes and things he had no clue about.

Of course, Carmen must have fed him with information about me, which was just downright unprofessional on her part, and in all honesty, I was very disappointed in her. Usually, by now, I would have not only fired Carmen, I would have had her locked up for a long time, but instead, I was thinking more about why she would do that, rather than making her face the consequences of her actions.

“It cannot go out,” Terry stated firmly.

The City Magazine was a gossip monger. At times when I had allowed my mind to indulge in thoughts that weren’t my career-oriented, I wondered how they always got the news that fast. Something could have happened at 4 am, and at 6 am, they would have published it already. Every morning, at 6, they always had their first batch of news published for the day, and the moment the other hungry bloggers got a hold of it, it would spread like wildfire and wreck the damage that scandals usually did.

“Which is why I have been speaking to their head of publication,” Terry said angrily over the phone. “The bastard is already saying there are three bloggers willing to buy the story from them to publish,” he added painfully.

“I have a copy here with me,” Jonathan informed Terry.

“How did you get it?” Terry asked.

“Someone I know works there, but it wasn’t without some palm-greasing,” Jonathan answered.

“Well, that wouldn’t be enough, Jonathan,” Terry said.

“So, what is the outcome of the conversation you had with the head of publication?” Jonathan asked.

I simply sat there, listening to the back and forth conversation. I didn’t act curious or eager, but I wanted to know, because this was my career.

My life.

“They want some money to make the news disappear,” Terry stated.

Jonathan threw me another look before he asked, “How much are they demanding?” 

“Twenty thousand dollars,” Terry answered.

Jonathan’s eyes almost fell off their sockets in shock.