Under Contract - Joe Jonas

Chapter 36: The Contract

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—Eva's POV—

I feel Joe's hand squeeze mine under the table as we sit in front of our managers, "Don't tell me you two have fallen for each other?" His manager says.

Mr. Hues looks at me shocked, "We aren't here to talk about if they or if they aren't. Is the picture real?" He asks.

"Of course it's real," she says sounding annoyed. His body tenses beside me as he leans back in his chair waiting for his manager to say something, "We have already sent out a statement on your behalf that the photo isn't real though," She states looking at Joe.

"How are we going to turn this around?" I ask hearing my voice betray me.

She lifts an eyebrow in my direction making me feel smaller than I did the first time I met her, "We aren't. This is good publicity. Why do you think I sent the photographer in the first place?" She says making Joe immediately sit up.

"You did what?" He asks with a harsh tone to his voice.

"You knew the deal was for publicity. We needed magazine cover-type stories. I took things into my own hands," she says casually. He stands up dropping my hand as Hues and I stand back and watch.

"Logan? Is his blackmail a part of your plan too?" He asks.

She gives him a confused smile, "You can't be serious. Of course it is. Everything is working out perfectly. We have the pictures of them kissing and then we are going to come out and say she broke your heart," she explains.

"What about our company?" Hues asks making me scoff as he ignores me.

"We are still giving you the money and then I figured she would just wash out into the background. But you shouldn't care about that because all you care about is helping people...right? Or is the fame important to you too?" She asks as she flattens her skirt.

"This is ridiculous. Why didn't you tell us the plan? He's extorting her and you're helping him," Joe raises his voice.

"This is a win-win for everyone and sooner or later you two know this whole playing house thing isn't going to work," she says bored of our questions.

"I'm not going through with this," he says putting his foot down.

She pulls out two contracts from her bag and shows us what we signed, "You have to. I own you and your brothers for the next two years and I fully intend to keep getting us more money," she tells him.

"Hues?" I ask looking at him for help. He hasn't always been the best boss but I thought he at least respected me enough to stop this.

"We need the money, Eva," he decides. The two of us stand there like kids being scolded by their parents. What is happening?

Joe walks around the table to stand in front of Hues, "You're a piece of shit. You know how much she's put into this company. This isn't over and when we come back you'll both be out of jobs," he says as I walk around the table. Stella looks at me worried as the two of us walk out not saying a word.

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"How can they do this?" Kevin asks as Joe reads over the contract, "Call the lawyer they can find a loophole," he adds. Nick nods his head and walks out of the room to make the call.

"I can't believe your boss would do that," Kara says as I sit on the couch next to her, "I hate the power money has," she states. 

"All we learned today is that there's no point in giving Logan money cause most likely they would post the pictures anyways," I say with an incredulous laugh.

"Joe send him a copy to his email. He's out of town but he says he will take a look at it," Nick says walking back into the room. I get off the couch to grab his laptop as he continues reading through. I hand it to him and he pulls me down to sit.

"How are you feeling?" He whispers with his lips pressed against the back of my head.

"Better knowing you're here for me," I whisper as I scoot over for him to see the screen. Danielle gets off the floor when the doorbell rings. She grabs the two pizzas we ordered and brings it to everyone. Kara grabbed the plates and napkins, while Kevin grabbed the drinks.

"I feel like we are in Criminal Minds trying to solve a crime," Kara jokes sending a wave of laughter through everyone.

"This is so ridiculous. We have an evil manager working with your boss and we are pretty much fucked," Joe laughs.

"This is not real life," Kevin says.

"I hate that we have to leave for our show tomorrow. This is the Christmas week I've ever had," Nick says. Christmas Eve is tomorrow and I forgot because of all of this.

"What time are your flights tomorrow?" Kara asks.

I lean into Joe's side as he sits back after sending the email, "flight takes off at 7 pm," he says, "I can see if I can cancel to stay," he whispers in my ear. I turn to him when the others start talking about the tour.

"Absolutely not. You're not canceling on your fans cause of this," I tell him, "I'll be fine," I assure him. I'm surprised when he leans in kissing me. Normally when we kiss it's a quick peck or it leads to...but this one. There's something different about it. It's the kiss you give to someone when you're so deeply in love that it hurts to be away from them. When he pulls away I swear he takes my breath with him. I'm at a loss for words until Kara knocks my foot with hers and tells us to eat.

I turn to them and have two plates handing him one as we both play this off like nothing happened, but my heart can't stop beating out of my chest.