The Hating Season (Seasons #2) - K.A.Linde Page 0,28

get any bigger?”

I snorted. “Now, that is something I know. It cannot.”

“Is this why you’ve been avoiding me then?”

“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve been busy.”

“Another lie, Anna.”

I took a deep breath and let it out. “Look, you might have a lot of one-night stands. You probably fucked around the whole time you were with Jane. From what I hear, you two weren’t even that serious. This is all your MO. I get it. But this isn’t me,” I said with a shrug.

Court took a step back. Something in his face shuttered. As if my words had hit home, and his fun, lighthearted, drunken persona evaporated.

“Okay. Yeah, fine. Don’t want to compromise your integrity,” he drawled. Somehow, he’d reverted into that Upper East Side prick I’d first met.

“I… yeah,” I said, off guard.

“No problem.”

“Court, are you taking this seriously?”

“If that’s what you want, English,” he said, a bite on my name, “then fine. We can be professional.”

And suddenly, I felt as if I wasn’t on solid footing. I didn’t like the way he’d said my name. I didn’t like the way he’d somehow flipped it around. As if I was the person doing something wrong.

But before I could say anything, he wrenched the door open and walked through it. Leaving me alone in the green room, wondering what the fuck had just happened.

10

English

I still had no clue what had happened that day in the green room. But I must have gotten through to Court because he’d been nothing if not professional from that moment on. Stiff and unyielding like he’d never been before that. I’d take that over the possibility of sleeping with him again.

We were on a schedule now. I’d agreed to help Winnie out with any of her New York City clients if she needed them. And thankfully, that kept me busier now that Court was mostly out of the water. We still had events planned in the upcoming months, but I’d taken a step back. The press had worked in our favor. Moving too fast wouldn’t garner more favor. It would just look desperate.

Kind of like this fucking shark in front of me.

“Hour’s up,” I ground out as my alarm went off.

“I feel like we just got started,” Mandy said with a grin.

I hated that I’d had to agree to do this interview to get that picture of me and Court taken down. Of course, the picture of us together had run for less than an hour and had gone viral. Because nothing was ever much removed from the internet.

I pressed the button on her recorder. I knew all the tricks. I’d employed them myself.

“Have a good day,” I said, standing and reaching for my purse.

“I’m surprised, you know.”

I frowned and ignored her. I wouldn’t rise to the bait.

“That you’re sleeping with Court. That he’s just a ‘client.’ ” Mandy put quotes around the word.

I glanced down, wondering where the second recorder was. I glared back at her. “I said, one hour. We talked about Josh. We’re through.”

She laughed and held her hands up. “Can’t blame me for trying.”

“Can’t I?” I asked.

“Nice doing business with you.”

I gritted my teeth as I ventured out of her office and out onto the Manhattan streets. I hailed a cab and felt like I hadn’t breathed the entire time I was inside. The interview had gone well. Well enough at least.

I knew how to control the situation, but I wasn’t used to being the one answering questions. At least, not unless I answered them for clients. I’d almost thought that I should have Winnie out here for this. But it felt ridiculous. I was more than capable. I just wasn’t… objective about Josh like I was about the douchebags who fucked around on my clients or vice versa.

I probably should have told Josh that I was doing the interview. It’d have been the considerate thing to do. Speaking to the press was taboo. I doubted he ever considered that I’d do it. But… it hadn’t actually been for me. It was to protect Court. He was a client, and that picture could do lasting damage to the campaign, which was the whole reason I’d been hired.

I needed to shake the interview off. I had another one planned in Greenwich Village. And unfortunately, it was going to be even worse than the one with Mandy.

This one was with my sister.

Taylor English sat with her back to the rest of the coffee shop. Not smart or anything I’d ever do, but I could