The Chase (21 page)

“As soon as your ass touches down in Charlotte. Drive straight to the office. Let me know when you land and I’ll meet you there.”

Evan reached over and took Kendall’s hand in his own. He squeezed her soft fingers and tried not to sigh. Reality was back. Big-time.

“Alright. Talk to you later.”

As he hung up his phone, he leaned forward and said to the driver, “Can you swing through a drive-thru for a coffee? I’ll give you an extra ten bucks.”

“Sure, buddy, no problem.”

“What’s up?” Kendall asked Evan.

“Carl has requested a meeting with me today. Eve says it isn’t good.”

“That’s interesting,” Frankie said, glancing up from her BlackBerry. “Carl wants to have a meeting with Kendall as well.”

“Maybe he just wants to tell us how cool we are.” Evan tried to smile, but he suddenly felt a little nervous. “What time is Kendall’s meeting?”

“Tomorrow morning at nine A.M.”

Kendall gave him a worried look that he was certain reflected his. “When’s yours?”

“I believe the phrasing was ‘as soon as your ass touches down in Charlotte.’”

Her eyebrows shot up, but she covered her look of horror quickly. “I’m sure it’s no big deal. Your sister is overdramatic, your mother even says so. Don’t worry.” She leaned over and kissed him. “And I’m here if you need to talk . . . or anything.”

Which made the potential end of his career suddenly seem not very important at all.

 

 

WHEN
Kendall turned her phone back on after landing in Charlotte, it immediately buzzed with a text message from Tuesday.

 

U & Evan???? Call me.

 

Kendall frowned at the screen on her phone. What did that mean?

“I need to take a cab straight to the office,” Evan told her. “Did you drive here or take a cab?”

“I drove. Are you sure you don’t want me to give you a ride?”

“No, it’s out of your way, and something tells me it would raise eyebrows if you dropped me off.”

Kendall shifted her carry-on bag on her shoulder. “We’re not keeping this relationship a secret, are we? I don’t want to take out a billboard ad or anything, but I’d kind of like to be able to go out in public from time to time.”

“Of course it’s not a secret.” He winked. “I just may take out a billboard ad. ‘Kendall is Hot.’ That’s what it will say.”

“Very romantic.”

“I thought so.” Evan leaned in and gave her a kiss. “See? Public display of affection. Trust me, if you’re cool with it, I will tell anyone and everyone that we’re an item.”

Which kind of made her heart swell in an embarrassingly girly fashion. “That’s not necessary. Let’s just be normal.”

“Normal. Got it. Now I’m off to face the chair. Be careful going home and call me later, okay?”

“Okay. Good luck. Let me know what happens.”

He gave her a cheerful wave as he stepped into the taxi queue, and Kendall kept walking to the parking garage. Sometimes she wished she could be more relaxed, like Evan was. He took so much more in stride than she did. She was worried sick over this meeting in the morning.

Yet not worried enough to suck all the glow off her sex-filled night. She and Evan were dating. How insane was that? Yet she was so freaking giddy, goofy, shout-it-out-loud happy.

Feeling the need to share it, she called Tuesday.

“Thank God you called, I totally need to talk to you.”

“I need to talk to you, too. I slept with Evan again and it’s so—”

Tuesday cut her off mid-gush. “I know. You know I’m on the gossip sites every day, hell, every hour practically, for news to write my blog. Well, there are pics of you and Evan coming out of the hotel in LA together.”

Kendall frowned at her surroundings, the parking garage huge and dark. Where the hell had she parked? “So? We saw the paparazzi. They were camped out waiting for real celebs and they caught us.”

“Yeah, but they seem to have the impression that the two of you are dating. A couple.”

“We are.” And she couldn’t help but grin in the sea of parked cars as she said those words out loud.

“You are? I thought you just had sex. Big difference, sister.”

“I know that! I’m not sixteen. We’ve talked, and we want to try this . . . being together, that is.”

Though they hadn’t really defined exactly what that meant. But Kendall didn’t care at the moment.

“Oh. Really? Are you sure about this?”

“Yes,” she said in annoyance. “Don’t be a killjoy. Just be happy for me. And I’d rather the press think Evan and I are dating than randomly shagging.”

“But you’ve done both.”

“So? No one needs to know my business, but if they’re going to know my business, I’d rather it be that we’re dating than just hooking up.” Starting down a row she thought looked vaguely familiar Kendall felt her pleasant mood slipping away. “Why does it feel like you’re not on board with the idea of me with Evan?”

“I don’t know you and Evan as a couple. I’ll reserve my opinion until I see the two of you together.”

“Or you could just trust that I’m not a total moron and can make decisions on who to date all by myself, and they might actually be good choices. Imagine that.”

“Don’t be upset. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound bitchy, it’s just I worry about you. You guys have a history and, well, a very complicated working relationship. I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

“I’m fine. And this has nothing to do with our careers. It will all be fine.”

But even as she spoke the words, she wondered if she was deluding herself just a tiny bit.

 

 

EVAN
stared at Carl, equal parts outraged and appalled. “Excuse me?”

“I am strongly advising you against dating Kendall Holbrook.”

It took Evan a second to swallow his anger, then he said carefully, “I don’t believe it’s anyone’s business but my own who I’m dating.”

He wanted to glance over at Eve and see how his sister was digesting this bullshit, but he didn’t want to break eye contact with Carl. He understood the game, realized that everyone’s money was on the line every week, but this was ridiculous. They owned his car, not him.

“If you were dating a cute blonde waitressing down at the sushi joint or a lawyer or a teacher, I’d agree with you. But another driver? Think about it.”

“I don’t see what difference it makes.”

“Which shows me your judgment is already compromised.” Carl leaned forward on his desk. “Just take your dick or your heart or whatever body part is involved out of it and see it from my perspective. You offended a whole set of fans last year by accidentally taking a potshot at a dead driver. You’re having your worst season in the cup series ever. You did better as a rookie, for Christ’s sake. We lost a major sponsor. Just this past Sunday you got into it with your own brother, and you came off sounding like a spoiled brat.”

Evan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. When put that way . . . “I’m trying to win again, Carl. That’s why I got into it with Elec.”

“I doubt you’d have gunned that hard for him if he hadn’t been your brother. Which proves my point about dating Kendall. So let’s say the two of you have a fight. You’re going to take that out onto the track.”

“I’d never go after Kendall on the track.”

“No? But what about the distraction? You’re upset, you can’t concentrate. Or you’ve just spent all night doing the horizontal shuffle and you’re both a wreck waiting to happen out there.”

“I think that everyone runs that risk, regardless of who they’re dating or who they’re married to. Everyone out there has sex, I would assume, and everybody’s had a fight with a loved one if they’re human. And I think I’ve proven that my personal life has no bearing on what happens on the track.” Frankly, he was offended that Carl thought otherwise.

“Yeah, but I hear that Kendall was the only woman who’s ever really got under your skin. I heard about the rough breakup when you dated before.”

Now he was just pissed. “That was ten years ago. We were kids. And again, nobody’s business but my own.”

“You’re skating on thin ice, Evan. I’m just again advising you to think long and hard about dating Kendall and the impact that might have on your career.”

Evan finally glanced at Eve. She was just sitting there, her lips pursed together, hands gripping the arms of the chair.

“I thank you for your concern. I’ll take everything you’ve said into consideration.”

Then completely disregard it.

“By the way, how did you even know we were in any way involved with each other?”

Carl shrugged. “It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. It’s not like it’s been a secret.”

Evan knew exactly who wouldn’t have kept it a secret—Eve.

“I see.” He saw exactly what he needed to do.

 

 

“I
look like crap in this picture.” Kendall stared at the shot on her computer screen, of her and Evan exiting the hotel in LA.

Tuesday was over at Kendall’s and she had showed her the picture on a popular gossip site. “You don’t look like crap. You’re not even facing the camera in this shot.”

Tapping her finger on the computer screen, Tuesday indicated the picture that had Kendall turned almost entirely around, craning her neck to see back into the hotel lobby. Evan looked hot, smiling and lifting his hand in greeting to the paparazzi.

“I do so look like crap. My hair is practically still wet from my shower and I have no makeup on.”

“When do you ever really wear makeup?” Tuesday asked, perching on the corner of the desk, wearing makeup.

Her friend had a point. “I know, but still. If I had known I was having my picture taken, I would have calmed down the hair frizz and slapped on some mascara. And this other shot is even worse. It looks like Evan is posing with a middle school–aged fan. I look twelve!”

“You’re exaggerating. You look at least eighteen. It’s the big boobs.”

“Thanks.”

Tuesday grinned. “Come on, don’t worry about it. These are not bad shots. I’ve seen really awful shots. Cellulite butt hanging out, panty-less crotch flashes, breasts popping out, nose picking, the walk of shame shots, wedgie digging . . . it’s all out there. Though for some weird reason my personal favorites are the spray tan screwup pictures. You know where some celebrity has either a horrid orange tan or it looks great everywhere but then you see their armpits are lily white, or they have streaks on their fingers. For some reason, those make me laugh.”

Kendall just stared at her friend. She had no interest in giggling over a woman’s spray tan gone bad. “You’re right. That is weird.”

Her phone started ringing and she glanced at the screen. “Oh, this is Evan. I need to answer this and see what happened with his meeting.”

Tuesday made kissy-kissy sounds, which actually made Kendall laugh. “Very mature.”

“Don’t take forever. We have Chinese food arriving any minute now and I don’t want to eat it alone.”

“I won’t be long.” She hit answer on her phone. “Hello?”

“Hey, gorgeous. How’s it going?”

“Fine. What happened with Carl?”

“Well . . .” There was rustling, like Evan was readjusting his phone next to his ear. “Carl suggested that you and I becoming involved with each other was a particularly bad idea.”

“What?” Kendall popped up off the computer chair and started pacing. “How would he even know about us?”

“I think Eve might have said something. Or maybe he saw the pictures online. I don’t know. But the bottom line is, he told me not to date you.”

She needed a second to pick her jaw up off the floor. “What did you say to him?”

“I told him to go fuck himself, though much more politely. It’s none of his business who I’m seeing in my personal life. And his arguments were all ridiculous.”

“Great. This is just great.” She was going to have a heart attack. Why was nothing ever easy?

“Don’t worry about it. Just nod and agree with him and then we’ll just ignore his so-called advice.”

“Evan . . .” That didn’t seem like a good idea. None of it seemed like a good idea.

“Come on, it’s no big deal. Can I see you tomorrow night? I want to see your beautiful face and touch your amazing body.”

Even as she bit her fingernail in worry and indecision, she was nodding. “Okay. Sure, of course. I’d like that.”

She had just found Evan again.

She really didn’t want to lose him before she really had him.

 

 

“WHAT?”
Eve shouted at Evan.

“You’re fired.”

God, that look on her face was priceless, worth every bit of hell he was going to catch for this one.

“You can’t fire me,” she sputtered, feet on her coffee table.

Evan figured he deserved points for being considerate enough to come to her apartment to fire her, instead of making her drive to him. “Yes, I can. And considering that you have been going behind my back feeding information to Carl I don’t see how you expect me not to fire you.”

“I’ve been working in your best interest.”

“You kept the sponsorship deal a secret from me. And running off and telling him I’m dating Kendall Holbrook was not in my best interest. All you did was contribute to the shit storm. He’s going to be watching both of us like a hawk.”

She folded her arms over her chest belligerently. “I do what I consider is best for you and your career. Dating Kendall isn’t best for you.”

“That’s not for you to decide!” Evan stared at his sister in disbelief. “Look, you’re my sister. I love you, most of the time. But I’m going to kill you if I have to keep working with you.”

“Dad will freak out when he finds out.”

“I can handle it. I’m not doing this anymore.” Evan pulled his keys out of his pocket. “You’re fired. That’s final. And I think you need to evaluate your true motives.”