Page 24 of Masters of the Game: Colton

“Calm down, Kelly. All I’m saying is that you need to hear Colton’s side of things.”

“Calm down?” Kelly snapped as she paced the floor of her hotel room.

“Monica, how can you tell me to calm down? You know how much time and energy I put into KP Consulting to make it what it is today. Now, because of Colton, my company could lose all credibility. I earned every contract I’ve ever gotten and never slept with anyone to get it. ”

“And you didn’t sleep with Colton before you were hired.”

“But if he made sure I was hired just so he’d have the chance to sleep with me, that’s even worse.”

“But didn’t he say that whatever the two of you did after hours was nobody’s business? And for the record, he’s right.”

“You’re missing the point, Monica. His employees assume the only reason my agency was hired was because he wanted to get me into bed. Stupid me, I thought it was because my agency was the best one for the job.”

“And it was. Why are you allowing two gossiping women to upset you so much?”

Kelly dropped down on the sofa. “Because I love him, Monica, and it hurts knowing I might have been nothing more than a pawn in some game he was playing. Colton made it clear from the first that he wanted more than a one-night stand with me. I told him I didn’t have the time for more, so what does he do?

He manipulates things to make sure I have time for more. ”

“You don’t know that he did that, Kelly. The two of you need to talk and straighten this out.”

Before Kelly could respond, there was a knock on the hotel room door. She had a feeling it was Colton. He was due to return from Orlando this evening, which made the timing about right. She had known every time he’d called and had refused to answer it.

Standing, she said, “I think Colton’s at the door.”

“Please give him the chance to explain, Kelly.”

Unsure of whether or not she would follow her sister’s advice, she simply said, “I’ll talk to you later, Monica.”

**

Colton knew something was wrong the moment Kelly opened the door. She seemed angry about something. “Kelly? What’s wrong?” he asked.

Instead of answering, she moved aside to let him in and then closed the door behind him.

“Did you receive another call from your dad?” he asked.

When she didn’t say anything, but just stood there with her back against the door, he reached out to pull her into his arms, but stopped when she snapped, “Don’t touch me, Colton.”

Taken by surprise by her words and the tone in which she’d said them, he stepped back. The look on her face went from angry to furious. “I want to know what’s wrong, Kelly.”

She moved away from the door and around him as if to put distance between them. “What’s wrong is that your employees are spreading lies about me and discrediting my agency.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I overheard two women in the breakroom claiming that the only reason my agency got the contract was that it had been handpicked by you because you wanted me in your bed. They said that Lake had wanted another agency but he gave in to what you wanted.”

“That’s not true and you know it.”

“Do I?”

“You should.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Just what are you accusing me of?”

“I’m not accusing you of anything. But if it’s true, it certainly gave you the opportunity to spend time with me in New York and LA.”

“And I told you it was Lake’s idea that we work closely together.”

She glared at him. “Yes, you did say that, didn’t you?”

He glared back. “Are you saying you don’t believe me?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know what to believe. All I know is that you knew how hard I’ve worked over the past two years to make a success of my agency. And now my company’s reputation could be ruined.”

“And you think I’d deliberately do something like that?”

She rubbed her temple. “Someone saw us together at Coney Island and are putting their own salacious spin on things. The fact that people think I only got that contract because of you isn’t good.” She sighed. “I can’t deal with this right now.”

“Am I not allowed to say anything in my defense?”

“I honestly don’t want to hear what you have to say, Colton. I need to be alone.”

Uncrossing his arms, he stared at her for a long moment before he walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

**

Sherelle knew she couldn’t put it off any longer since the workday ended in an hour.

Picking up the envelope off her desk, she walked out of her office and crossed the spacious and beautifully decorated lobby that connected to the office of the CEO.

His administrative assistant looked up and smiled. “Hello, Ms. Telfair, can I help you?”

“Hello, Yvette, I’d like to see Lake.”

“Certainly. Let me see if he’s free now. He was on a business call earlier.”

Moments later, Yvette looked at her, smiled again and said, “He said for you to go right in.”

Sherelle nodded. She moved toward Lake’s office when Yvette called out to her. “Ms. Telfair, are you okay? You look so sad today, and for the past week, you’ve been so happy.”

There was no way she could tell the older woman that she’d believed she had a man in her life who loved her. Only now, that wasn’t the case. She had no man, and soon, she’d have no job. “I’m fine, Yvette. Thanks for asking.”

When she reached Lake’s door, she knocked.

“Come on in, Sherelle,” he called out.

When she entered, she saw him sitting at his desk with his sleeves rolled up. He looked up and smiled. “I was just about to call you with some good news. The next location of our office will be New York. The PR Department will prepare a press release for Monday.”

“That’s wonderful.”

Evidently, her words didn’t have the enthusiasm he’d expected, so he tilted his head and stared at her. “Are you all right?”

Instead of answering him, she handed him the envelope. He took it and looked back at her. “What’s this?”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she said, “My resignation.”

Surprise showed in his features. “You’re resigning?”

She swallowed again. “I think it’s best to resign now, because once you find out what I did, I’ll get fired.”

Lake looked at her questioningly and then said, “Please have a seat, Sherelle, and tell me what this is about.”

**

Typically, Colton didn’t go to the fitness center in the evenings, but he knew of no other way to work off his anger and frustration.

How dare Kelly accuse him of sabotaging her business, deliberately or otherwise?

And so what if they had been seen together at Coney Island?

Hadn’t they agreed that what they did after hours was their business?

What riled him more than anything was her belief that he’d orchestrated the entire thing─her agency being selected and the two of them traveling to New York and LA together─ just to sleep with her. How in the hell could she even think such a thing?

A couple of hours later, he had returned to his penthouse, taken another shower and was standing at the window, sipping a beer and looking out at the harbor.

When his cell phone sounded, he knew from the ring tone it was Lake.

Chances were he was calling to remind him that the Brothers Four would be flying to Philly tomorrow to pick up Hayes.

Personally, he couldn’t wait to meet the kid and welcome him to the Masters family that he probably hadn’t known about.

It had to hard on him losing both parents, and it would be important that he felt wanted and loved.

Moving from the window, he picked up his phone from the table. “Yes, Lake?”

“Colton, Sherelle just left my office, and she shared something with me that I think you should know.”

“What?”

It didn’t take Lake long to tell Colton everything, and he had withheld any comments and questions until the end. “Now I know where Kelly’s accusations came from,” he finally said.

“She’s heard about it already?” Lake asked.

“Yes. She heard two women talking in the breakroom and lit into me when I went to see her a few hours ago,” Colton said.

“She believed it?”

“Yes, she believed it.” Knowing Lake wouldn’t understand, he said, “She believes it because before she was hired by Masters Unlimited, our relationship couldn’t go anywhere because we wanted different things out of it.

Believing I was the one who chose her for the location contract, she sees that as me manipulating things my way. ”

“But you didn’t choose her. I did. You weren’t even a part of the decision. Why didn’t you tell her that?” Lake asked.

“She didn’t give me the chance. Now in a way, I’m glad she didn’t.”

“Why?”

“She should not have believed that gossip in the first place, Lake. Knowing that she did, proves she doesn’t trust me. You know of the problem I have with anyone questioning my integrity.”

“Yes, I know. We all do. But what that girl accused you of when you were in high school shouldn’t have any bearing on your relationships with women now, Colton. That was over fifteen years ago.”

“It doesn’t have any bearing on my affairs now. Unlike Cobra, I have no problem sharing a serious relationship with a woman.”

“Until they question your honesty and moral principles.”

“Yes, until then,” Colton admitted.

Lake didn’t say anything for a minute, then added, “I’ll notify Cortez.

As our company’s attorney, he’ll know what to do.

Thanks to Sherelle, we know Venters Consulting Agency is behind it.

In the meantime, I’ll inform my executive team to remind everyone that although we promote positive interactions among our employees, we have a zero-tolerance policy for gossip. ”

**

Wiping tears from her eyes, Kelly reached for the phone when she heard her brother Hansen’s ring tone. “Hi Hansen.”

“Do we need to talk, Kel?”

She rolled her teary eyes. Evidently, Monica had called him. “No.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Then maybe you ought to listen for a while, instead.”

“I don’t want to do that right now, either,” she said. “All I want to do is go home. My flight leaves first thing in the morning.”