The Little Barmaid

by Holloway, Taylor

  I swallowed hard. Ariel was staring at me. Her expression was confused and betrayed.

  “No comment from me,” I said.

  Meg turned to Ariel. “How about you, sweetheart?” she asked. “Anything to say about this?”

  Ariel was standing at my side and she shook her head, looking lost. Her look toward me was full of questions.

  “Are you sure?” Meg asked.

  “She has no comment either,” I insisted. “Leave her alone.”

  “Not a chance,” Meg said. She looked back at me. “Toodaloo!” She took off toward the exit.

  My brain was starting to come back to reality. The pieces came together slower than I wanted them to, but when they did, it wasn’t pretty. Not at all. I had a problem.

  Meg Butler had a picture of me almost kissing a woman that was not Ursula. She’d just been at Estrella. The studio had tipped her off that we were dating. Because she was a lot smarter than the average gossipmonger, I’m sure she had captured pictures of me looking less than enthused about seeing Ursula, rather than just the shot of her kissing me. That gave her a story—Derek the two-timing asshole who went out with two women in one night. It was right out of her playbook to smear the innocent for personal profit.

  Crap. I really needed to clean this up fast.

  “Wait,” I said, following her. Meg took one look over her shoulder and started walking faster. “Wait,” I repeated. “I need a word with you.”

  “No.”

  “Are you really going to ruin that girl’s life in there?”

  Meg looked over her shoulder at me. For a second I thought I saw guilt. “Not my problem.”

  “She didn’t do anything. She’s innocent,” I told Meg. “Your story here isn’t true, but she’ll lose her job working on a movie if you publish that photo and Ursula retaliates against her.”

  “Not my problem. She has a job here. She won’t starve.”

  “Wait,” I said, overtaking her and getting between her and her car. “I have one other question.”

  She blinked and turned around. We were in the parking lot now. Meg was about to climb into a car that looked like it was one pothole away from giving up the ghost. Apparently, the sleazy gossip business wasn’t a particularly well-paid venture. That felt like justice to me.

  “You can’t stop me from publishing this,” she told me, gesturing down at her camera. “You were in a bar. It’s a public place and you’re a public figure. There’s no expectation of privacy in a bar.”

  I didn’t need a refresher course on privacy practices in the state of California. I certainly didn’t need a lecture from Meg Butler.

  I felt myself glaring at her. “I’m not trying to stop you,” I snapped. “Just listen to me for a moment, will you?”

  “Why?” she asked. “You’ve come up with a comment?”

  “Better,” I bit out, thinking quickly. “I’ve come up with a deal.”

  Meg blinked at me and then her eyes narrowed. “What kind of a deal?”

  I took a deep breath. I already regretted what I was about to say, and I hadn’t even said it aloud yet. “What if I can offer you something that’s more valuable than this stupid photo? Would you be interested?” I felt ill.

  Her mouth fell open in surprise and then closed into a thin line. “My photo isn’t stupid,” she insisted. “I can sell this,” she said, and I wondered if she wasn’t trying to convince herself. “I’ve got a story.”

  “Do you want to hear the deal or not?” I asked Meg, feeling like I was selling something that didn’t belong to me.

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m listening.”

  “You’ve heard about my uncle Connor’s, um, big news?”

  I felt like a bad person for even bringing it up. But I had to. This secret was about to be out soon anyway. I knew it was circulating. We could either control the narrative or suffer the consequences. Poor Connor. He was a drama magnet.

  Meg’s eyes went huge. “It’s true?”

  “I can’t tell you that myself,” I said carefully, “But, if it were, what if I could get you a sit down?”

  She swallowed hard. I could see the idea become amenable to her. Her focus narrowed and her face became eager rather than skeptical. “Exclusive?”

  “Naturally.”

  “With everyone involved?” she asked. Her eyes were wide, and she was listening eagerly.

  “Yes.”

  I was a bad person.

  “Can we have the baby there, too?”

  “Very unlikely,” I replied. “And there’s nothing I can do about that.”

  God, this was going to be such a hard sell for my uncle. He hated Meg. But he was family. He’d help me.

  “I guess I can live with that,” Meg said. “I wouldn’t want my kid out there either, I suppose.” The idea of Meg caring for a child was a bit terrifying. She shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near children. Too unethical.

  “Are you interested?” I asked.

  “Of course, I’m interested,” she said. I could see the wheels turning in her head. The woman was a snake, but she wasn’t a stupid snake. She was the dangerous kind. The smart kind. “But I need assurances.”

  “What?” I asked warily. I didn’t have anything to offer her now except my word.

  “Paperwork. I’ll hold this photo for three days,” Meg said. “But if I don’t get paperwork for an exclusive before then, this will hit. We must negotiate the whole thing by then. You should call your lawyer right now.”

  “Deal,” I stuck out my hand.

  She stared at it warily and then shook her head. “It’s not a deal until we have a deal. Right now, all you have is a temporary reprieve.”

  “Fine.” I sighed. “Thank you for the reprieve. I really do appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome.” She blinked at me. Just for a second, I thought a saw a conscience peeking through her steely exterior. Then she sneered. “But put up or shut up, Derek Prince. I’m not here to make friends.”

  She took off then, climbing into her tiny, shitty car and starting it up. The engine turned over so many times I thought it might not start. The battery must be going. But eventually it worked, sputtering to life reluctantly and making a horrible screeching noise as she drove away. It looked like it was rusting away too, not that I cared. The sooner Meg Butler ended up on public transportation where it would be harder for her to stalk me, the better.

  I had to get on with my lawyer then, and after that my uncle Connor, and then my lawyer again. None of these were pleasant conversations, and before I knew it, hours had gone by. When I walked back inside, Ariel’s expression was surprised. She must have thought I took off. Her face was full of questions and skepticism, and I don’t doubt that mine was full of guilt. The night was pretty well ruined now. I walked over to the bar and ordered a beer from her.

  16

  Ariel

  “Here’s your beer,” I said, sliding it across the bar and wondering what the hell was going on. My mind was swimming, and I’d now been simmering for hours. Somehow, I’d managed to avoid sending him a weird desperate text. “I didn’t think you’d be back tonight.”

  “I’m sorry, I had to make a few calls,” he said, looking genuinely contrite. “I never left. I didn’t mean to leave you waiting though.”

  I shrugged my shoulders, pretending that I hadn’t been obsessing for hours. “I had plenty of work to do. But now if you don’t mind, I would really like an explanation.”

  I was mostly confused, but also a bit irked. He said he wasn’t dating Ursula. That didn’t appear to be totally true. And now people were taking pictures of me? This was not a good ending to an already weird, long, difficult day. The only tiny silver lining was that it was so late now that the bar had mostly emptied out enough that we could actually talk.

  “That woman that was in here—” Derek started.

  “Meg Butler?” I interrupted. This was not my first encounter with the beautiful, frightening little brunette.
>
  Derek’s eyebrows shot up. “You know her?”

  I nodded reluctantly. “She rented this space a while back while shooting a reality show. She seems mean.”

  Derek blinked. “Right. That’s right. She would have been involved in that trashy show Beauty Queens Go West that my brother’s girlfriend got all mixed up in.” He paused. “And mean might not be the right word...exactly. She’s just doing what she does for a living. That’s like saying a shark is mean. A shark is a shark.”

  “Well, I think sharks are awful and I think she’s awful for skulking around and taking pictures of us,” I said, feeling like this situation was already out of control, and I hadn’t even kissed the man yet. Frustration bubbled up in me like someone was shaking a bottle of champagne. Much more and I’d blow my top. “How do you know her?”

  “Unfortunately, most everyone famous in this town has had at least a few run-ins with her. She seems to have taken a special interest in my family.” He looked unhappy about the situation.

  “Hmm.” I wasn’t particularly happy either. “I see.”

  “I’m not seeing Ursula,” Derek promised me, looking at my face and then leaning forward to grab my hand. “I really, truly, am not.”

  I frowned, looking down at our joined hands and feeling like I would be foolish to believe him. I pulled my hand away reluctantly. “You say that, but Ursula says you are, and Meg says you are...” I sighed. “I don’t want to be in the middle of something. I don’t want to be on the news, either. You know that Ursula could get me fired in two seconds, or worse. I can’t take this kind of risk with my career. I’m just getting started.”

  “You won’t be on the news,” Derek promised. “I took care of that.”

  “She agreed to destroy the picture?” I asked.

  “Sort of.” He rubbed his temples like he was developing a headache. I knew the feeling. My head was bothering me too, and my feet were on fire.

  “What do you mean sort of?” I asked. “Did she delete half the picture or something?”

  He looked at me and his expression was the definition of frustrated. I felt like there was something he wasn’t telling me and that made me feel even worse. “I promise you that picture won’t get published or back to Ursula,” he said eventually.

  We stared at one another for a moment and I got the feeling he was hoping I was going to drop it. I wasn’t going to drop it.

  “But I don’t understand,” I told him. “What does it matter if it did get back to her? If you aren’t seeing her then it doesn’t matter. None of this makes any sense.”

  Derek sighed. “The movie studio wants Ursula and me to be a couple for publicity reasons.”

  I blinked. “Okay, well that’s not that complicated. And what about her? She wants the two of you to be a couple for personal reasons?”

  “Right.”

  “And you were just out on a date with her?” I probed. This was the part of the conversation that was the most troubling to me. Derek told me his plans fell through.

  “No. I wasn’t.” Derek ran a hand through his hair in obvious annoyance. “I was set up on a date with her without my knowledge or consent. I had a meeting with someone from the studio, but he didn’t show up. Instead, his personal assistant showed up with Ursula and dropped her off at the table with me like it was some kind of blind date. He’d even taken the extra step of summoning the press to come witness us out together. Apparently, movies perform a lot better when the romantic costars appear to be genuinely in love. As if we can’t just, you know, act.”

  I nibbled on my bottom lip. “So, you just ditched her to come here?”

  He laughed. “That’s exactly what I did.” Then his expression turned serious. “I was annoyed at being manipulated. But I did not think to consider the possibility that Meg might follow me and then get snap-happy with her camera to create some kind of story about me two-timing Ursula with you.”

  I took a deep breath. He ditched a fake date with Ursula that she wanted to be a real date to come see me. That felt pretty good. Great actually. It meant that what Ursula said about Derek forgetting I exist when she’s there wasn’t true. But there was a larger problem.

  “Ursula isn’t going to give up that easily. Neither is the studio. Neither is Meg.”

  “I’m giving Meg something else shiny to chase after.” He seemed less than enthused about the prospect.

  I stared at him. “What could be juicier than a movie star spending his nights slumming it with some dumb chorus girl? Or walking out on his A-list costar?”

  “You aren’t some dumb chorus girl.”

  “Sure I am.” I shook my head. “I would have to be if I believed a thing that you’re telling me.” I wouldn’t be made a fool, not even if it bought me moments alone with Derek. My pride just couldn’t take it. “You don’t want to be seen in public with me.”

  “It’s not that.”

  “Of course, it is.” I swallowed. “At least partially. Look, I’ll make it easy for you. It’s fine. Don’t feel like you have to explain. I’ll see you around.”

  He blinked at me. “I—”

  I shook my head. “No. It’s better if we just be friends. Or friendly acquaintances. Not… anything else.”

  He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. “You don’t believe me.”

  He was damn right I didn’t. There were things he wasn’t telling me. I wasn’t born yesterday. I knew there was more to this story. “I just need to protect myself. It’s clearly not the right time.” I swallowed. “You should go.”

  I wanted to believe that there was a way for us to, I don’t know, date. To see if all this chemistry was anything more than chemical. But it was too risky. I was on the verge of something. I’d traded my voice for a chance at show business. Getting distracted by a guy like Derek Prince was probably a huge mistake. And Derek Prince clearly had issues of his own. He was trying to satisfy the studio and his pushy costar.

  My body was telling me to run into his arms, but my brain was screaming to run the other direction. Fear, attraction, and self-doubt fought for supremacy. The push and pull on my libido were ripping me apart.

  Ultimately, rationality won out. I didn’t want either one of us to end up regretting anything.

  Only the look on Derek’s face made me regret it already.

  “Really,” I told him. “You should go home. We’re closing soon.”

  Derek shook his head and laid some cash on the bar. “Okay, Ariel. I’ll see you around.”

  As he got up and gathered his things, my stupid heart got the best of me.

  “I really liked the song,” I told him, unable to stop myself from saying it. “It was amazing.”

  His smile was sad. “I’m sorry it wasn’t enough to win you over.”

  My heart panged against my ribs. It was. It definitely was. But I couldn’t say that. I didn’t say anything, and he walked away. I poured myself a drink when he was gone. The liquor did nothing to make me feel better, but it did make me feel less. That was something, I supposed.

  I wouldn’t be able to keep him. And how could anybody lose him and not lose their mind too? I needed my mind if I was going to survive in this town. It was better to avoid temptation.

  17

  Derek

  Ariel stayed the hell away from me on set the next day, darting around corners and looking over warily when she thought I wasn’t paying attention, but Ursula adhered to me like she was my shadow. I couldn’t shake her. She cornered me as soon as she could and handed me a very familiar looking picture. It was the one of Ariel and me from the night before. I felt my mouth drop open.

  How?

  “Don’t worry. I took care of it,” she told me, taking me by the elbow and pulling me into a corner. I went along willingly for once. I couldn’t find the wherewithal to resist.

  I stared at the picture, enraptured by it. It was a legitimately beautiful picture. The kind that deserved to be on a magazine cover. Meg had an artistic eye. Aside
from the subject matter, me almost kissing Ariel like both our lives depended on it, the color and composition of the shot were great. Ariel was so damn beautiful. Seeing the picture made me want to kiss her all over again, although of course I couldn’t, because I was face to face with Ursula.

  I blinked at her, confused. “What?”

  “Meg Butler called me,” Ursula explained. Her expression was pitying. “She said your lawyers were giving her the runaround. I guess she got cold feet because she reached out to me instead of honoring her deal with you.”

  I winced. Meg was no fool. My uncle Connor had balked at the prospect of using a sit down with Meg Butler as the way to expose his news. I got where he was coming from, but it created a real problem for me. The negotiations had gotten heated and I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that Meg would hedge her bets with Ursula. The more people she had at the end of a string, the stronger her negotiating position.

  “What did Meg ask you to do?” I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

  Ursula shook her head pityingly at me.

  “Does it really matter? The point is that I took care of it,” she said. “But you owe me now. I won’t be humiliated in the press. I spoke to the studio and we’ve come to an arrangement. We’re going to give Meg Butler what she wants.”

  “What did you do?”

  She frowned. “I just promised her an exclusive of my own.”

  “An exclusive of what?”

  “Us. At a party tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. You’re going to be my arm candy for the rest of this production.”

  I swallowed. “I don’t want to go to a party, Ursula. I don’t want to be blunt but--”

  “Be blunt,” she suggested. “I am and I find it works really well.”

  “Fine,” I told her. “I don’t want to be with you. I don’t want to date you. You aren’t my type. How’s that for blunt?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I get it. I’ve been getting it for weeks. But you haven’t been getting what everyone around you has been trying to impress on you, either. We’re better off together than apart. I’ve tried to be nice and ease you into the idea. I’ve tried to be charming and sweet. I’ve tried to make this pleasant. But you clearly don’t want me. For whatever reason, you like that silly chorus girl more than me. You have terrible taste. But the studio and I agree that it’s best for everyone’s career, including hers, for you to be seen publicly with me. You went and created a media problem for us last night. Now you’re going to get to clean it up.”