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Chapter 27 ~ Press Release

As soon as he'd seen Lisa off with her mother back to California, Elvis knew he had to get started on his press statement. Shouldn't take that long, he thought to himself as he headed up the stairs and towards his office.

He strode through his office doors ready to get to work. "Alrigh—" His breath caught.

"Oh, hi," Red smirked. "We were just getting started without you."

"Decided to get out of bed today I see," the Col. remarked cooly from the other side of the room.

Vernon chuckled lightly, "Good morning to you too."

Silenced settled in the room as Elvis stood quietly in the doorway in a state of shock, rage and astonishment.

Looking down at his watch then back at the paper in front of him, Red swiveled the chair from behind Elvis' desk and stood up. He motioned towards the chair, "Please, take a seat."

As he watched Red get up from behind his desk, shock quickly turned into rage. That son of a bitch. Gritting his teeth, he cursed under his breath as he hesitantly made his way over to Red. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Vernon, the Col., and two other men who could only be some type of publicity agents or on the job here with Red. Silence in the room was deafening as five pairs of eyes followed him across the room. The look on Red's face mocked him, begging him to lose control.

Elvis clenched his jaw and slid the paper around to read. His eyes scanned the few measly sentences scribbled on the sheet and nodded. The statement was brief, no details, no explanations, just to the point. He could feel his temper rising and knew he had to get out of there fast before he blew his fuse. "It's fine." He mumbled flinging the paper at Red. They locked eyes. "I need a few words with you. Outside."

Red smiled fakely, "Yeah, yeah, sure." He nodded as he began following Elvis out of the room. "Give me ten minutes, meet me at the car," he motioned to the two men in the corner of the room.

Elvis jogged down the stairs, practically blowing smoke from his ears, and steamed out the back door of the house. Red followed suit close behind him.

When they reached the back patio, Elvis spun around and slammed his fist into the side of Red's face knocking him off his feet. "You're fired! You son of a bitch!" He exploded standing over him.

Holding the side of his face as he picked himself up off the ground, Red groaned. "Okay, I may have had that one coming."

"I don't EVER want to see you around here again! You're done, you hear me!? Done!"

"Easy there, big man," Red smirked dusting himself off. "I'll be here for the press statement in the morning, and that'll be the last you'll see of me."

Elvis huffed.

"That is, if everything goes smoothly."

"Get out."

"I'll be listening."

"I said, GET OUT."

Red smirked again and nodded before maneuvering around Elvis and making his way around the side of the house.

Elvis stood holding his bruised knuckles huffing at the remaining anger that he still held. He took a deep breath after he'd watched Red round the side of the house and tried to calm himself down.

It was nearly sundown. He hadn't even noticed how late it had gotten. Sighing, he dragged himself back into the house to see what Mary had cooked for dinner.

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The rapid buzzing of his bedside alarm woke Elvis the next morning. Rolling over to turn it off he sighed, "Nine o'clock." The unwelcome noise had interrupted a really good dream. He and Ana were on vacation in Europe and— Ana. He slapped his hand against his forehead, "Shit." With all of his concentration focused on Red the night before, he had forgotten to call Ana. Ugh. Too late to call her now, she'll already be at work. He thought to himself. Better to just focus on the press conference and get that out of the way. I bet the Col. and Red have the press is already lining up outside.