Sure, she loved to cook, and she’d done damn well in culinary school, but that wasn’t going to pay the bills anytime soon. Not here in Las Vegas, at least. Not to mention the fact that leaving the family business—which would essentially mean leaving her brother—would be seen as abandoning the family. Plus, she had a contract with the show.
Leaving just wasn’t an option in the Gray family.
You do for family. It was the family motto, and if they had a crest, that was what it would say.
Josie picked up the phone and dialed her brother’s number. “Hey, Xav.”
Xavier Gray nearly burst through the phone, he was so loud. “Where the hell are you, Josie? It’s nearly time for the press junket. You know I need you by my side for this. Plus, filming started hours ago. Aston is furious.”
Aston was their producer and the man who’d helped launch her family into the public spotlight.
“I’m here! I’m at the hotel. I’ll be there in less than five minutes.” And that was the goddamn truth. The luck of the dice that Callan was staying at the same hotel that Xavier’s press junket was at was astronomical. She couldn’t believe it when he’d told her last night, and she had been thrilled at the coincidence.
“Thank fucking Christ,” Xavier said through the phone. “Listen, I need a water and a breakfast sandwich. Can you hook your brother up?”
“Not a problem,” she assured him, stepping off the elevator and heading toward a breakfast cart in the lobby. “Grabbing it now.”
“You’re the best, Jos.” He hung up the phone without saying goodbye. His usual style.
Josie grabbed a few breakfast sandwiches—she knew the drill; everyone in the family was going to want one—and some waters from the breakfast cart and then headed to the conference room where the press junket was going to be held.
Her family was in a smaller conference room behind the main one, waiting to be introduced and led out onto the stage.
“Josie!” Xavier called out to her, waving her over to the waiting area where he was seated with their younger brother, Marcus, and their mother, Shondra. A crew of cameramen, sound men, and production assistants bustled around them.
Their father, Xavier Sr., wasn’t in attendance today, which was fairly normal for him. He got anxious in large crowds, not being a people person. He rarely came to large events—or any, really—and the family had gotten accustomed to that.
Marcus immediately grabbed two breakfast sandwiches from her for himself. Typical.
“You could say thank you, you know,” Josie reminded him, giving him every bit of attitude he deserved as she let the production assistant begin putting a microphone on her.
“Thank you,” he said, or something like that. She could hardly tell because he was talking with a mouth full of egg and cheese biscuit.
Josie just rolled her eyes as she passed out the remaining biscuits to Xavier and her mother and waited for the sound guy to finish setting her up with a microphone for the cameras. A makeup artist rushed over to her and quickly began fixing her face as well, which she was grateful for because she didn’t really want to be on camera looking like she’d just rolled out of some stranger’s bed.
“Thanks, baby girl,” Shondra said, squeezing her shoulder. “Is this a new dress? You look stunning, darling.”
“It is,” she confirmed. “Just wanted to do a little something special for the junket. I know what a big deal this is to Xavier.”
Xavier nodded his approval. “Okay, let’s go over what the topics are. Remind me?”
“You’re more than prepared for this, but yeah, let’s do a quick recap,” Josie agreed. “They’re going to ask you how you feel coming out of your last win in the fight against Yoel Romero. They’re going to ask if you’re prepped and ready for the fight against Walsh next week. They’re going to ask you about your training regimen and what strategies you plan to use in the octagon against Walsh, especially being that Walsh hasn’t lost a match yet.”
“He’s going to lose against me,” Xavier said with a confident grin, pounding a fist against his chest. “Motherfucker is going to get his ass kicked all around that cage.”
Her brother had quickly become one of the best UFC fighters in the league over the last five years, and he was on par to become the best. He was short and stocky and absolutely bulked to the max with muscles. He was like a brick wall in the octagon when an opponent came at him. It made him difficult to beat, and he had won fight after fight until he found himself making millions off a single event.
Hence, why he’d hired Josie to be his assistant. Hell, he had two other assistants on top of her, so it wasn’t like he even needed her, but he relied on her for personal things. Plus, she was part of the show. She was his sister, after all.
It was a blessing, to be honest. The money he’d earned had brought their parents out of lower-middle class and put them into a beautiful home, where they never had to work again. It paid for her younger brother’s college and had paid for her culinary school. She was so grateful to her brother for that and for the way he took care of all of their family.
The problem was, there was this invisible debt owed to him that she just could never seem to pay back. Except she was paying it back…with her life and service. Being a public figure came with a responsibility she just couldn’t turn away from, as much as she wanted to sometimes.
“Gray… Ready?” a production assistant called into the back conference room, motioning for them to join the main conference room.
“Ready to put your game face on?” Josie asked. “Remember, this is your first time meeting Walsh. You’ve got to be intimidating. Strong.”
“Show no fear.” Xavier let out a growl and clenched his fists, looking angrier and angrier by the second. “I’m fucking pumped! Let’s do this damn thing!”
He stormed into the next room with Josie a few steps behind. The back conference room gave access to one side of the platform where they’d be facing the reporters. They rounded the corner at the same time Walsh rounded the corner from the other side, looking just as angry, looking just like…
What the hell?
Josie’s jaw dropped as she paused in her tracks and stared at the man storming toward them from the other side of the stage.
Walsh was…Callan.
Chapter Seven
Callan faltered in his step, pausing for a moment as he marched onto the stage. What the fuck is Josie doing here? Panic immediately set in—had this all been a setup?
His opponent for next week’s match, Xavier Gray, saw him hesitate slightly. A wicked grin split wide across his face like the smug bastard knew then and there that he had Callan beat.
Shit.
He couldn’t afford the distraction. He couldn’t afford that recognition in his opponent’s eyes. One moment of weakness—even now, before they ever entered the cage—could signal the end of the fight if his enemy smelled it on him.
Shoving the image of her gorgeous fucking body in that white dress waltzing toward him to the back of his mind, Callan decided to pretend she didn’t exist. She was a problem for another moment, but right now? No. He couldn’t handle the thought process of wondering why she was here or how she looked so damn good even on so little sleep.