13
“Hold on, someone’s here,” Corey said and muted the mic attached to his ear so the other players wouldn’t hear.
He opened his door, and there in the hallway outside his apartment stood his former agent, looking uncomfortable. Corey crossed his arms and glared down at him.
“Whatcha doing here?” he asked.
“Official business,” Sean explained. “I tried to go through your agent, but apparently you don’t have one.”
Corey had to get around to dealing with that. It had been well over a month. He’d signed the Sideline agreement without representation, which was always a bad idea. He just didn’t know who to sign with. He’d only ever been with Hot Shots, and he’d gotten bad vibes from the five agents he’d interviewed.
He stood there not knowing what to say to Sean but not really wanting to invite him in either. Finally, Sean sighed.
“First, there’s an article coming out about one of my clients this week, and it needs your official okay before it can go to print,” Sean explained.
Corey narrowed his eyes. What the hell was that about? The voice from the game he was ignoring got louder in his ear, and he glanced back at the television.
“Is this a bad time?” Sean no longer looked uncomfortable as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Corey shook his head. “Come in but make it quick.”
He headed straight for the coffee table and grabbed the PS4 remote. He hit some buttons to keep him and his partner from getting killed while he dealt with whatever this was.
Sean dropped two sets of papers on the table, along with a pen, and sat on the couch.
“I’m surprised you have time for that shit during the season,” Sean said, nodding at the television.
Normally he didn’t, but he was making time. However, that was not Sean’s business; it’d probably lead to another fight he didn’t want to have.
“What’s the article about, and why does it need my okay?” Corey wondered if this was some attempt to get him to re-sign with them.
“Clayton, and although a half-assed contract written on the back of a car registration doesn’t seem likely to hold up in court, Ms. Murphy insisted I get a formal okay from you.”
Corey chuckled and scratched his head. “Girl’s got integrity. Don’t see that too often with reporters.”
Sean grunted a non-reply. “Can you just read it?”
“Don’t need to. Beth said it was good to go.” Corey picked up the pen and signed the papers.
Sean’s long sigh had Corey turning his way. He was sitting with his eyes pinched shut, squeezing the bridge of his nose with two fingers and looking about as unhappy as he’d ever seen his former agent. “Did you read it before you signed it?”
“Why? Are you trying to pull something on me?”
Sean’s huff was followed by a frustrated statement. “Matthews, I know you hate reading, but you need an agent.”
Corey didn’t disagree, but he just shrugged.
“Is every one of us against you dating the ‘In Case You Didn’t Know’ queen?” Sean asked, frowning at him.
“Believe it or not, not everyone thinks I’m such a loser.” Corey glared. What the hell? His reputation wasn’t bad. He wasn’t a heartbreaker, nor a playboy, by any means.
“What?” Sean demanded.
“Most people don’t have issues with me. I’m not known as a douche bag.”
“I never had an issue with you dating. I had an issue with my incredibly media shy client casually dating a gossip reporter, even if he thinks she has integrity,” Sean replied, clearly a bit exasperated.
“Oh.” Corey hadn’t really considered that viewpoint. He might want to revisit the firing, although he wasn’t craving crow at the moment, and he’d have to eat a bit of it to get Sean back.
“So, are you going to read this or not?” Sean asked. “Because I highly suggest you read what you signed.”
“Nah,” Corey said. He hated paperwork. Just dealing with texts was hard enough, he didn’t need to read a multi-page contract that said the article about Clayton could go to print. He hadn’t even read the Sideline contract. He’d given it to Marc and Beth to look at for him.
“Fine,” Sean said and picked up the papers. “I’ll let myself out.”
Corey waited until the door shut and then unmuted his mic. “You almost killed us. It’s a good thing I was near the television.”
“You walked away in the middle of a battle!” The female voice growled in his ear, and he smiled. That voice was the entire reason he was making time to play. And hell, playing this game had made up the best moments of his last two weeks.