Page 69 of Courting Trouble

Despite the situation, that made her smile. She rolled over to face Cassie. She looked oddly… warm in the cheeks?

‘AreyouOK?’ Delilah asked, wiping her cheeks.

Cassie chuckled. ‘Me? Yeah. Just came from getting Petra fired, so I’m dandy.’

Delilah climbed out of the bunk. ‘What?’

‘She leaked that footage. I mean, obviously.’

Delilah blinked. ‘You know, I really hadn’t thought about that part of it.’ Her brain caught up. ‘Wait, you got her fired?’

Cassie shrugged. ‘I mean, not yet. But eventually, I think. The guy who owns this place, Robert Gallo? He’s a very angry little billionaire who fucking loves tennis but can’t play for toffee. So he bought his way into the tennis world with this camp, and he takes its reputation very seriously because it’shisreputation. When he catches wind that Petra’s turning it into a joke by violating players’ privacy forlols on the internet, he’ll go absolutely nuts.’

‘And you called him?’

‘I called someone who can call someone who can call him,’ Cassie explained.

‘That’s… oddly sexy,’ Delilah said, feeling a surprising smile form on her own face.

Cassie looked briefly bashful but shook it off. ‘We should probably get out of here before she sends security or something.’

Delilah nodded and stood, starting to pack quickly. Cassie did the same.

‘Can I ask…’ Cassie said, stuffing socks into her bag.

Delilah paused. ‘What?’

Cassie took a deep breath, pausing sock packing. ‘What did your agent say?’

‘Oh,’ Delilah breathed. ‘That.’

Cassie bit the inside of her mouth. ‘It’s bad?’

‘Yep. It’s the filmmakers.’ She took a deep breath. ‘They wanted to invite me to something called The Beckett Invitational this weekend.’

Cassie wasn’t seeing the problem. ‘OK, that sounds… fine?’

‘My agent said it was a thingto support youth tennis. Something about exhibition matches,’ Delilah explained further.

‘Yeah, I know it. Big players squeezing money out of wealthy tennis donors to run programmes for kids who can’t afford private lessons. I benefited from The Beckett Foundation myself a million years ago,’ Cassie said.

‘And?’ Delilah asked.

Cassie frowned, still not following the breadcrumb trail. ‘They do exhibition matches, there’s a dinner…’ She finally found a crumb. ‘Oh… wait.’

‘Yeah. My agent mentioned, oh so casually, that they often have “a few relaxed rallies between guests.”’

Cassie nodded. ‘I see.’

‘It’s clear what this is about. They’ve seen the video, and this is my only chance to show them I’m not totally uncoordinated. If I fuck this up, they can still recast me without fucking up their schedule. They’re probably already looking.’

‘But they haven’tsaidthat.’

‘No, they’re trying to make it seem casual, so they don’t ruin the professional relationship before the shoot starts, I guess, just in case they don’t actually need to fire me. But I know. And they knowIknow. And I know they know Iknow. Andtheyknow—’

Cassie reached over and squeezed her hand, breaking the loop. ‘Look, I’m not worried about your playing. But we can keep going right up to the minute, if it’s what you need. We can move your skills up a notch or two, even in this short a time.’

‘But not here?’