“No. No fucking way.” A snarl tore out of me and I clenched my fists. “I did not drop eighty thousand dollars on your education so you could become a rent boy for some snobby rich chick…”

“Oh, right, bring up the fact that you paid my way. Again.” He glared at me with hurt in his eyes.

“Because I did!” I ran a hand through my hair and grabbed the short ends. I was liable to tear it out at this point. “I put every cent I had left into this gym and you. I was happy to do it. Thrilled.” It had been the least I could do; Dean needed direction, an education, a way out. “I’ll be damned if my efforts are flushed down the toilet because of the whims of some vapid, brainless…”

“Hey, Parker is wicked smart. Look at this.” He shoved his phone in my face. “She went to MIT…”

I snorted. “Figures.”

“And her family is on dozens of different charity boards.”

“Which means dick all to me.” I took the phone—it was that or have it pushed up my nose—and studied the article he had open. A sweetly pretty girl, about the size of my thumb, with big brown eyes under severely straight brows smiled back at me. It was a strained smile, nothing like the beaming, happy grins the older couple next to her wore. The couple were obviously her parents, and they were all standing on a rolling lawn overlooking the ocean, a massive Cape Cod-style mansion in the background.

“Jesus,” I muttered. “They’re New Yorkers, Dean.”

“So?” He laughed. “What do you have against New Yorkers?”

“The rich ones are assholes.”

The article said something about how Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brown were “summering” on the Cape and fundraising for a children’s literacy campaign. Which was nice, but it didn’t mean they were nice people.

“Didn’t peg you for a snob, brother.”

I curled my hand around the phone. “Do you know how many of these types I met when I was on the circuit? They’re all about wanting to give back to the little people, wanting to be your friend. In reality, they view people like us as fresh meat. We’re amusing at best. And when we fail to entertain them any longer, we’re gone.”

Just ask all the so-called friends who disappeared when Jake died and I’d quit the business.

“Parker isn’t like that. She’s sweet. Shy, really.” Dean’s chin kicked up. “And if she wants to use me as her personal pretty-boy puppet in exchange for a boatload of money, I’m going to let her.”

“Dean…”

“I told you because I thought… never mind what I thought. Point is, this is my life and my business. I’m going to pay you back my way.”