Read A Boy Worth Choosing (The Worthy Series Book 2) for Free Online

for you, don’t you think?”
    “Hey, don’t hate on me because I’m black and have the genetics that give me a better game than you.” He holds his hands in the air like he’s God’s gift to basketball.
    “If that’s what you have to tell yourself. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” I pick up my bag, shaking my head, and make a bee-line for the door before he can throw any more insults my way. I pull out my phone to shoot Jess a quick message.
    I’m getting ready to head your way. Would you like some lunch?
    I toss my bag in the trunk and am buckling up when my phone buzzes.
    I had to run a quick errand and am picking up lunch now. I’ll meet you back at the studio. Thank you again.
    Anything for you ;) I message her back and start my car, relishing the purr of the engine as I pull out and into traffic.
    ***
    I drop the thank you coffee I promised Daphne for supplying me with information on Jessie while they were in Mexico off at her desk. I earn a gracious wink from her as I make my way back to Jessie’s office. I walk in and find a pregnant woman I’ve never met before hunched over Jess’s computer.
    “Hello,” I say, clearly shocked.
    “Hello,” the woman purrs back at me. I’m getting a little uncomfortable with the stare down I’m getting when my girl whirls into her office, all in a frenzy.
    “Hey.” She dashes past me to set food on her desk for her pregnant friend.
    “Hey,” I scoff at the brush off. She stops and her face softens as she looks back at me. She comes back and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. “Thank you for coming. Stephen, this is Shaina. Shaina, Stephen.”
    I nod at Shaina, who gives me a too appreciative look.
    “Oh,” she says suggestively. I decide I should probably keep my distance. “Jess, I approve,” she fake whispers behind her hand, as Jess joins me on the couch with her lunch.
    “So…what’s up?” I ask timidly.
    “So, we got a call from a loyal customer who was told about a review for us on Pictureperfect.com. Turns out these oh-so-unkind reviews are from Caleb or an accomplice of his. We’ve found four questionable reviews so far,” she starts, getting down to business.
    I want to be a little hurt she isn’t more excited to see me, but see this is plainly stressing her out, so I reel my focus back in.
    “We think there might be a problem with pinning them on him specifically though,” she continues. “All reviews are left with a username and not real names. But I can verify if the validity of the content is true or not. For instance, one review states our new clientele forms require ethnicity to be listed. There isn’t a document in this building that requests, let alone requires, a client to list their ethnicity.”
    “Hmm. Okay. How many cancellations have you had so far?” I ask, trying to determine the scale of his influence at this time.
    “Nine so far, two of which were from this morning. But the cancellation dates coincide with the dates that the first reviews were posted,” Shaina says raising a list of what I assume are the cancellation details.
    “Make that ten.” Daphne comes in with a sticky note and adds the information to Shaina’s list.  “They were hotter than a hippo out of water in July, but I was able to confirm it was due to a review they saw. I tried everything, Jess, but they wouldn’t reschedule. I’m sorry.”
    Jessie sighs and rubs the back of her neck as she tries to keep her composure. I place my hand on her knee, careful not to touch her bare leg. She’s in distress and I want nothing more than to scoop her up and shield her from the world, but she clearly doesn’t need any distractions right now.
    “Jess, we’re going to figure this out. I promise. Everything will be okay.”
    She jumps up and starts pacing the little space between the coffee table and her desk.
    “It just pisses me off that he would attack my business, my baby. He’s not just hurting me, he’s hurting my business partner,” she