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Alix
“What the hell did you do?”
I blinked. “Have we progressed past civilized greetings now, Jean?”
Her voice didn’t soften any. “When you do exactly the opposite of what I ask you to do, yes, I move past being civilized.”
I was thoroughly confused, but I took a moment to watch the town car disappear around the corner before turning away from the window.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I picked up the wine glasses and carried them to the sink while I waited for an explanation.
“You have no idea why I got a call from your assistant slash model telling me that you’ll need a new assistant, and that she doesn’t plan to sign the release papers for the photos you’ve already taken?”
I frowned. “What?”
“That’s exactly what I said.”
Her words ran through my brain again, but I didn’t understand them anymore this time than I had the first time.
“I’m serious, Jean. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I’d intended to clear the table while I was on the phone, but now all I could think was that something had gone terribly wrong.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” I suggested.
Jean let out a huff of air. “Sine McNiven. The assistant you didn’t want. The one I told you to behave yourself with. The one you decided to turn into a half-naked model.”
“I know who she is,” I snapped.
“Good,” Jean snapped right back, “because I was starting to wonder if you’d hit your head or been on drugs or something.”
A little flare of panic went off. Jean had always been tough, and she’d never put up with any shit from me, but I’d never heard her like this before. She was genuinely pissed at me.
“What happened to Sine?” I found my fingers tightening on my phone.
“She called me about twenty minutes ago and said that she wouldn’t be able to work for you anymore, that she was sorry, but you would need to find a new assistant. When I asked her why, she said that she realized it’s not a good fit.”
Not a good fit? What the hell did thatmean?
“Then she said that she had second thoughts about posing for you, that her religious mother would have a heart attack if she ever found out about it.”
“And you just let her hang up after that?”
Silence.
I backpedaled. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”
“Yes, it was.”
“This is all just catching me off-guard,” I admitted. “I wasn’t in the studio today, and she called in sick yesterday.”
“Where were you today?”
“My parents came to the city to surprise me.” I ran my hand through my hair. Was it possible that less than fifteen minutes ago, I’d seen them off? It seemed like a lifetime had passed. “I put a note on the studio door. I figured that Sine would appreciate another day off since she wasn’t feeling well.”
“So, you didn’t do anything to piss her off?”
