Love Him Free (On the Market #1) - E.M. Lindsey Page 0,67
that, but Rocco had let himself grow so self-absorbed, so contented with their life, he hadn’t considered that maybe Eric was unhappy.
Maybe Rocco was the one who was impossible to live with.
His gut clenched and he took a breath, resolving not to let that happen again. Not with Simon. Simon was too precious to him.
He stared down at James who was lying on his feet and he smiled. He felt at home here—even in the tiny little rental with two bedrooms and a kitchen he could barely turn around in. It felt like home because Simon was there with him, and their things had sort of mingled together in the corners of the space, and Rocco would have to work at it to pull them apart.
He wanted it to stay that way, even though he knew he needed to take it slow. For his sake, and for Simon’s.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to find Anthony’s name on the screen. Skype, two minutes.
Rocco wanted to tell him no, to tell him this was still his sanctuary and the chaos and coldness of his previous life—or his real one, he still wasn’t sure—wasn’t allowed in this bubble, but he knew he couldn’t do that.
Rocco padded back to the bedroom and fell onto his stomach, flipping open his laptop. James nipped at his heels until Rocco gathered him up, and sighed as the dog tucked himself under Rocco’s chin. The Skype screen sat blank and waiting, and Rocco buried his nose in James’ fur until the call lit up.
Anthony looked tired and frustrated, and he turned to the side and said something before a younger man wearing a white t-shirt with brown skin and a mouth turned down into a natural frown stepped behind him. He had the sort of Hollywood Hipster look Rocco hadn’t been missing—attractive and probably hired based on his headshot.
“I found an interpreter for the afternoon,” Anthony said, the man’s hands working through ASL almost flawlessly. “His name is Lemorris.”
Rocco’s stomach unclenched. ‘Great. Nice to meet you. Anthony, is this important?’
The man spoke haltingly after Rocco’s hands stilled, and then he waited patiently. Where was he when Rocco was losing his shit in Xander’s office? But that was unfair—and really—that moment had led directly to Rocco wanting to leave town and now he had Simon. There were no regrets.
“You just opened up a SinSity account,” Anthony said, and Rocco’s stomach plunged toward his knees.
‘Are you having my email accounts followed?’
Anthony gave him a flat look. “Xander still has access to your social media, Rocco. You opened up a poster account, not viewer. He’s trying to get a court order to collect.”
Rocco rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t have exclusivity with him for Rocco Moretti. I have exclusivity for Sylent, and Sylent doesn’t exist on SinSity. Besides, I have a signed contract with my co-star. I’m working P R O B O N O.’ He spelled the word out carefully, watching Lemorris’ lips curve over each letter.
Anthony’s face got redder. “That’s not going to fly.”
‘Then he can take me to court,’ Rocco said. ‘I’m not listed on the credits, though. And I fired him, so just because he can take money from me doesn’t mean he can log into my email.’ And really, that was his own fault. He’d been so caught up in all of this, he’d forgotten just how much Xander controlled. Not his finances, but every facet of his public face. It would be easy enough to fix, for now. He just wanted Simon to get paid, and he wasn’t going to let Xander ruin one more good thing.
“Why do you like making my life difficult?” Anthony asked, and Rocco wouldn’t have been surprised if it was said with a groan.
‘Because I pay you a ridiculous amount of money for it,’ Rocco answered, his face cheerful.
Anthony scowled, but Rocco didn’t care. Yes, this offered a new complication to the already messy situations he and Simon were both in, but it was worth it. At least, he knew Simon was worth it, and he could only hope Simon felt the same way.
Checking the clock, he saw that Simon would be in the middle of his afternoon rush—whatever sort of rush it was. Rocco had been respecting Simon’s space, but Simon had been free in admitting his business was in sorry shape over the last few years. He didn’t want to bother him, but he was feeling restless after ending the call with Anthony.