Bobby: Red, Hot & Blue, Book 6 by Cat Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

spoke while taping, seemed to be interviewing him. What the hell was going on?
    “That’s none of your goddamn business.” Bobby shoved his seat away from the table and stood so fast that the chair crashed to the floor.
    Fletch took a step back, banging into the screen door behind him.
    “It seems you have some issues to work through, so I’m just going to leave you alone for a little while.” He lowered the camera from his shoulder and flipped it off.
    Smart man.
    “Thank you.” Bobby made sure his voice did not convey thanks. “Have a good day.”
    “I have one thing to say. This is a tough business, man. And I don’t mean the long hours and the crap starting pay. I mean it’s cut-throat, especially for women who refuse to sleep their way into a job.”
    “What does any of this have to do with me?”
    “Mandy put her job on the line pushing for production of this show. Then Christy gave up that probably Emmy winning tape of Ryan to you. We are all, every one of us, scrambling to make this thing work.”
    Bobby, still feeling mean, asked, “You worried about your job, Fletch?”
    The cameraman shook his head. “Nope. They never fire the technical crew. It’s the heads that get chopped when a project fails.”
    It all came back to that damn tape. “I offered to give her the tape back.”
    Fletch shook his head. “Christy doesn’t want it. She’s got morals, which is why it took her twice as long as it should have to land this crap associate producer’s job. What I’m trying to say is, don’t take it out on Christy. She had nothing to do with any of what’s going on.”
    “And what is going on?” Bobby narrowed his eyes. There was more here than met the eye.
    Fletch shook his head and opened the screen door. “Just remember what I said. Cut her some slack.”
    Bobby crossed the kitchen in two strides and laid a hand on Fletch’s shoulder. “Tell me what’s up.”
    He watched the cameraman breathe in and out, looking torn. “You know her pretty well in spite of the fact that you spent the first few weeks we were here trying to avoid us. If she does anything that seems…out of character, maybe you should ask yourself why.”
    Fletch left, the screen door crashing shut behind him, leaving Bobby to wonder again what the hell was going on. He didn’t have any clue, and Fletch wasn’t offering up anything but riddles, but he bet he knew who might have some answers.
    Bobby got in his car and headed for Gordon Equine. No surprise, he found Jared taking inventory in the hay room again. Bobby poked him in the side.
    Jared woke with a start. “Hey. Quit poking me all the time.”
    “You been burning the midnight oil again with Mandy?”
    Jared waggled his eyebrows. “More like burning the midnight rubber. Ha. Get it? Rubber, as in condoms—”
    “Yeah. I get it. Thanks for that image.” Bobby held up a hand and groaned. He glanced around. “Hey, how’d you get away from your cameraman?”
    Jared grinned. “Sleeping with the producer has its benefits. Besides, I swore I wouldn’t do anything but nap until they got back. How’d you get away from yours?”
    “Scared ’em away. Seems I frighten city folk, especially since I knocked Cole on his ass.” He shrugged.
    Jared laughed and then rubbed his hands together like a kid whose parents had just left him alone for the first time. “So what do you want to do with our newfound freedom?”
    Bobby knew what he wanted—answers. “Does Mandy have something up her sleeve?”
    “Um, no? Why would you ask that?” Jared was a terrible liar.
    Bobby raised one eyebrow. “Jared, I know that poker game was staged last night. And now I’m starting to think other things might be as well.”
    Jared huffed out a breath and sat back down on a bale of hay. “I swear I didn’t know what Mandy was planning until after the game.”
    “And what was she planning?”
    “She made Christy go out on a date last night to stir up trouble for the cameras.”
    Bobby