The Baseball Star I Made Cheated with My Best Friend

My phone buzzed on the glass desk.

One new message from Chloe. Just a URL. No text.

"Hey, did you send this on purpose?" I texted back.

No reply.

I tapped the screen. A video player loaded, buffering for a split second before the image sharpened.

"Turn the ring light toward the bed." Chloe's voice echoed through my phone speaker.

My stomach dropped. The camera wobbled, then settled on a crumpled hotel duvet.

"Is it live?" A deep, familiar voice asked.

Ryan. My boyfriend. My star client.

"Yeah, baby. We're on." Chloe giggled.

She leaned into the frame. She wore one of Ryan’s oversized batting practice shirts. It barely covered her thighs. The hotel room behind them was a mess of discarded clothes and empty champagne bottles.

"Look at the viewer count," Ryan said.

He wrapped an arm around her waist.

I stared at the screen. My hands turned to ice.

Comments scrolled up the side of my screen in a furious blur.

*Wait, is that Ryan Cooper?*

*The rookie? The guy who just hit three homers against the Mets?*

*Who is the girl? Oh damn, it's the model from his energy drink ad.*

"They recognize you," Chloe teased. She tapped his nose.

"Of course they do." Ryan flashed his signature camera-ready smile. "I'm the best thing to happen to the league in ten years."

I couldn't look away. I watched my best friend press her lips against my boyfriend's jaw.

Just last month, I had negotiated the very ad campaign that introduced them. Chloe had begged me for the exposure. She wanted to break out of catalog modeling. She wanted a real platform.

"Don't do the cheap sexy angle, Chloe," I had told her last week over coffee.

"I'm tired of waiting, Scarlett," she had snapped back.

"Just trust me. We can build your brand the right way. You don't need a scandal."

She had stirred her latte. A sly smile crept onto her face. "I have a better plan, Scar. A much bigger splash."

"Like what?" I asked.

"You'll see. Will you support me? No matter what?"

"Whatever you want to do, I'll always support you," I had promised.

I gripped the edge of my desk until my knuckles turned white. This was her plan. She wasn't just using Ryan for clout. She was using my entire life.

"Are you going to get in trouble for this?" Chloe asked on the stream.

Ryan pulled her onto his lap. The camera angle was slightly off-center, but their faces were unmistakable. The neon sign from the street below cast a red glow over his sharp cheekbones.

"Trouble with who?" Ryan asked.

"With the team. With the press." Chloe traced the line of his collarbone. She looked directly at the camera lens. "What if Scarlett sees this?"

My pulse pounded in my ears. A sickening wave of heat rushed up my neck.

Ryan scoffed. He didn't even look at the lens. "What could she do?"

"She's your manager, Ryan. And your girlfriend."

"She's a glorified babysitter." His tone dripped with absolute arrogance. "And I'm her most important commodity."

"That's mean," Chloe pouted. Her eyes danced with triumph.

"It's the truth." He leaned in and kissed her neck. "Without me, she's nothing. She needs my paycheck way more than I need her."

"So you don't care if she watches?"

"Let her watch. She won't say a word. She likes her percentage too much."

I closed the app.

The screen went black. The silence in my office was deafening.

A single tear slid down my cheek. I wiped it away with the back of my hand. My skin felt burning hot, then freezing cold.

*Without me, she's nothing.*

I stood up. I walked to the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city. Ryan Cooper was a rookie sensation because I built him. I hid his temper tantrums. I smoothed over his missed curfews. I secured the endorsements that made him a household name before he even swung a bat in the majors.

And Chloe. I had paid her rent for six months when she first moved to the city. I had fed her. I had given her the very connections she was currently using to destroy me.

I turned back to my desk. I picked up the phone again.

I opened my contacts and scrolled past the agents, the PR reps, the brand managers. I stopped at a name I hadn't called in three years.

Damon Thorne.

I hit dial.

The line rang once. Twice.

"Scarlett."

A low voice answered. No surprise. No greeting. Just my name, spoken like a threat and a promise all at once.

"Damon." My voice didn't shake. "I need a favor."

"You haven't called in three years, Scarlett. A favor is a small word for a long silence."

"Are you going to hang up?"

"I'm listening."

I pressed the phone harder against my ear. "I want to make someone wish they were dead."

Silence stretched over the line. It wasn't an empty silence. It was heavy. Calculating.

"Someone?" Damon asked.

"Two people, actually."

"Give me names."

"Ryan Cooper. And Chloe Jenkins."

"The baseball player and the model." I heard the faint clink of ice against glass on his end. "I saw the news alerts. They're currently trending."

"You saw the stream."

"I see everything, Scarlett. You know that."

"Can you help me?" I asked.

"Destroying a rising star is complicated."

"I don't care how complicated it is." I paced the length of my office. "I want him ruined. I want her erased. I want them to lose everything they think they just won."

A soft, dark chuckle vibrated through the speaker.

"I built him, Damon," I said, my voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "I hid his messes. I got him the endorsements. He thinks I'm nothing without him."

"And now you want to tear him down."

"Piece by piece."

"I can do that," Damon said. "But my help comes with a price. You remember my terms."

"I remember."

"Are you willing to pay it?"

I looked down at the black screen of my phone. I pictured Ryan's arrogant smirk. I pictured Chloe's fake innocent pout.

"Name your time and place, Damon."

"My penthouse. Tonight at nine. Don't be late."

The line clicked dead.

I tossed the phone onto the desk. The tears were gone. The shock had evaporated, leaving only a cold, hard resolve in its wake.

Ryan thought I was nothing without him. He was about to find out exactly who I was when I stopped protecting him.