“She’s alright.” It was a lie. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I could feel Ariel pulling away from me. She was distant lately. I knew she was worried.
And she had good reason to be. Despite my best efforts to sour things with Ursula, she was still doing her best to hold on to me. I was starting to think that she even really wanted to marry me. The Prince name did carry a lot of weight in Hollywood, I suppose. But nobody gets married because of blackmail. There was nothing that could convince me to cross that bridge. I didn’t want EGOTs that badly. I wasn’t willing to go that far if it meant I might jeopardize anything with Ariel.
There was a choice on the horizon for me. I could feel it coming. Even though I told Elaine that I wasn’t willing to choose between my career and the woman I loved, it might come down to that. At least I knew what I would choose if it did.
Ariel all the way.
It wasn’t actually a very hard choice, either. As I saw Ariel becoming more and more unhappy, I knew that my choice would be a simple one. I’d throw away everything if it meant seeing her smiling and joyful again. Because watching us both become bitter and suspicious as this awful thing with Ursula stretched on was impossible.
But Ursula was not going down without a fight. My attempts to take her on the world’s worst dates weren’t even making an impact. She took a motion sickness pill and powered through the fishing trip. She rode the horses even though I think she wanted them all turned into glue. I hadn’t managed to schedule the reptile rescue yet, but I’m sure she’d figure out a way to suffer through that as well. She seemed totally committed to the fake relationship. If she were half as committed to having a real relationship with someone as she was to her job pretending with me, she might be engaged for real right now.
“You two should get out of town for a while,” Peter suggested. “Take a trip.”
I blinked. That wasn’t a bad idea. “Maybe we should.” Ursula and I had a little practice planned for the tour with a local LA audience scheduled for tomorrow, but after that, I had a break. I could take Ariel out of the country. We could go somewhere exotic. Somewhere Meg Butler couldn’t follow.
“Just make sure you don’t go anywhere that Meg Butler can follow you,” Peter said, reading my mind. “The last thing you need is for everything to explode before you can defuse it.” As the king of action heroes, Peter was always good for a bomb-related metaphor.
“I’ll do my best.”
As I left, daydreaming about the various vacation spots where I could spend time with Ariel unmolested, I forgot to pay attention to my current one. I found Meg Butler was waiting for me at my house.
42
Derek
I was in absolutely no mood, although between the two I’d rather come home to find Meg than Ursula on my doorstep. I hated Ursula that much. Still…
“You have thirty seconds before I call the cops,” I told her. I didn’t need any more drama in my evening.
Meg looked unimpressed. “Oooh scary. Newsflash, I’m standing on the sidewalk. It’s public property.”
“You’re harassing me.”
She shrugged her shoulders and flipped her hair. “That’s fair. But they’ll take ten minutes to arrive. At least. And I’m buddies with dispatch. I bring them donuts every Tuesday. They’ll make it an even fifteen if I text them.”
Of course, she was buddies with dispatch. I ground my teeth.
“What do you want?” I snapped.
“Maybe I just dropped by to talk.” Her expression was suddenly tired.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Then talk faster.”
“Fine,” she said. “I came to give you a warning.”
“What are you here to threaten me with now?” I asked, exasperated. I was so done being blackmailed.
She shook her head. “Nothing like that,” she said. “Really. I come in peace. I’m actually here to warn you.”
“You’re here to help me?” I asked, incredulous. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Then don’t believe me. But you should hear me out before you call the cops.”
It was then that I noticed Meg didn’t look her usual polished self. Although her car was a piece of junk, her clothes, hair, and makeup were always perfect. Not today. She had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was a mess. She was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt.
“What is it?”
“The story about you and Ariel is about to hit the internet. And her pictures. The ones of her in your pool…”
“You can’t do that!”
“I’m not doing it,” Meg told me. “I have nothing to do with it.” Her voice was frustrated.
“What do you mean?” I asked, too dumbstruck to be properly angry. “We had a deal.”
“I know we did,” Meg said. “I’m sorry. I never wanted this.”
“What are you talking about? This blackmail was your idea.”
She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t. It was Ursula’s idea. She came to me. After you left Estrella, she came up to me and said that she thought you were headed to meet some other woman. She told me to follow you. She said there would be a good story in it for me. And then the photos of Ariel in your pool? That was her too. She hired her own people to tail you. I don’t have any drones. I don’t even have rent money.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Ursula’s the one who’s been behind every bit of blackmail. She’s been pulling the strings, keeping you in line. And now she’s done.”
I stared at her. This couldn’t be true. “So, you’re innocent? You can’t honestly think that I’d buy that.”
“Innocent? I’m not innocent. I’m complicit.” She actually looked like she felt bad. I didn’t know what to think. She swallowed hard before continuing. “I’ve been going along with her plan because my boss told me to. Ursula wanted a bad guy, and I was perfect for the role. But that’s all it was. An act. I know that’s still not the greatest thing, but believe it or not, I’m not exactly rolling in the dough. I’m barely keeping myself afloat, and to make it worse, I’m in massive debt to my employer. So, when he told me to go along with Ursula’s plan, I didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter.”
“Why would she release the story on me?” I asked. “It’ll hurt the movie.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s just tired of you and Ariel?”
I frowned. Or maybe her agent told her that mine was doing her damndest to get me out of this mess, and it was obvious that I would eventually get myself out from under her thumb. Maybe she knew she was losing, and she was just that vindictive.
“I doubt it.”
“So, do I,” Meg said. “I think she just really hates you.” She blinked. “She really hates you both.”
“How do I know you aren’t lying to me?” I asked Meg.
“I know that Ariel is doing Ursula’s singing part in that movie and I haven’t told a soul. If I really wanted a good story, I’d have released that a long time ago.”
I froze. “What?”
Meg nodded. “Thanks for confirming it.”
“I didn’t!”
“Your face just did.”
Shit. I’m sure it had.
She shrugged. “Don’t worry, Derek. I won’t tell. I’m not a monster.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. I wasn’t sure.
She paused. “No,” she admitted. The moment stretched out into an uncomfortable silence. “But I like Ariel,” Meg said eventually. “Unlike most of the assholes in Hollywood, she’s got real talent. I’ve been to that karaoke bar before. Sebastian’s. You probably know that, huh? Anyway, I’ve heard Ariel sing. She’s incredible. There’s no way it’s a coincidence that Ursula, a woman with no previous singing experience, could be that good. Especially when Ariel, a woman with no previous acting experience but a world-class voice, ends up with a silent chorus girl role on the same movie. Ursula’s using Ariel. It explains why she hates Ariel so much.”
Damn. M
eg was smart. Also, now that we weren’t on opposite sides, I almost liked her a little bit. A very little bit.
“Why is Ursula doing this now?”
Meg shook her head. “That I don’t know. The story is going to hit the day after tomorrow.”
“Can’t you stop it?”
“No,” Meg said angrily. “Ursula went above my head. She went to my boss. I’m here telling you this now because I think it’s shitty. I mean, the whole thing is shitty, but especially this part. You’ve done everything that Ursula wanted. Mostly.”
“It doesn’t make sense that she’d do this,” I told Meg. “It doesn’t benefit Ursula. At least to this point she’s been consistent.”
“It must benefit her somehow, because she’s doing it.”
I didn’t care what happened to me. I’d be fine. But Ariel? She would not be fine.
I felt like I could punch through a wall. I was so frustrated I couldn’t stand it. Ariel’s entire life was going to be upended. She was innocent and now she’d be humiliated and slandered. And for what? Nothing.
An instant migraine headache came out of nowhere and slammed into my left temple. I wanted to crawl into the back of my closet and wait it out in total darkness. It hurt less in the dark. But I couldn’t, because Meg was still talking.
“There’s one other thing,” Meg said. “I’m sorry but some of the photos that Meg has of Ariel… well they’re…”
I gulped. “Naked?”
I figured.
Meg nodded. “Yeah. I’m really sorry. I swear I didn’t take them.” She genuinely looked horrified. “I know you probably think I’m a terrible person but releasing pictures of someone’s naked girlfriend crosses a line for me. I’m not that horrible.”
After years of it being my primary profession, I’ve learned a thing or two about acting. I can tell when people are lying. Meg wasn’t lying.
I sighed. This was the worst-case scenario.
This was going to crush Ariel. I’d thought I could keep this from her. And now, I’d failed.
“Can you do me one favor?” I asked Meg.
“I told you I can’t stop the story,” Meg said. She shook her head. “Really. I already tried.”
“Not that,” I told her. “Can you find out why Ursula’s doing all this?”
Meg nodded. “Way ahead of you. I’m working on it.” She bit her lip. “Maybe if it’s good enough it’ll be enough to get me out.”
“Out?” I asked.
“Out of debt. Out of this life. I’m so tired of this,” she told me. “I hate ruining people’s lives. This was never supposed to be like this…” she trailed off weakly.
Meg clearly had problems of her own. At the moment I had no patience for them.
“Then maybe we can help each other out,” I told her. “Or at least understand what we’re really up against. But in the meantime, I’d better get started on damage control.”
Meg nodded. “That’s why I came to warn you. Tell Ariel I’m sorry.”
Ariel. God. This would not be a pleasant conversation, but I needed to tell her. Immediately.
43
Derek
“What do you mean the story is releasing the day after tomorrow?” Ariel asked me. I’d sped over to her apartment after Meg and I finished talking. I was still wearing my tuxedo, and it felt wildly formal for her tiny, studio apartment.
“I’m sorry.”
Ariel looked up at me, obviously miserable. “Our relationship is going to make you look like a cheater and me look like a homewrecker the day after tomorrow?” she repeated, holding on to my hand. She looked one second from bursting into tears.
“Yes.”
My heart was beating at a rate that couldn’t be healthy for anyone. I felt woozy from worry.
“She can’t do this,” Ariel said. “You two had a deal.”
“I don’t think that matters now,” I told her. “We have to prepare.”
The first tears escaped Ariel’s big blue eyes.
Seeing Ariel scared and crying made me want to hurt someone. She was balled up on her bed, sitting cross-legged with her arms wrapped around herself. She looked tiny, vulnerable, and alone. And I felt completely powerless to fix it.
“But Meg has been getting all these exclusives,” Ariel sputtered. “You agreed that she would be the first one to know about any appearances... You did just what she wanted.”
“It’s not Meg. It never was. It’s Ursula. She’s up to something. I don’t know exactly what, but...”
I trailed off. I was a fool. Why did I ever think that she would honor any agreement made with me? I should have seen through her long ago.
“Ursula?”
“Yes,” I told Ariel. “She’s the one who’s been behind all of this. The whole time. It was never Meg. It was Ursula.”
Ariel blinked through confused tears. “I don’t understand.”
I sat down, feeling deflated and stretched thin. I knew I needed to tell Ariel the worst part—the part about her naked pictures hitting the internet—but I couldn’t tell her that without the context. I explained Ursula’s manipulation of Meg in a few halting, rushed sentences. I saw understanding dawn on Ariel’s features, but it wasn’t the pleasant kind. She nodded bleakly.
“Well, I wish I could say I was surprised,” she said eventually. “But I guess we both should have seen this coming… Ursula is tricky. Trickier than I think we realized.”
I hung my head. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” Ariel answered. She was still crying. “This is going to be bad, isn’t it?”
I nodded and scooped her into my arms. We were in her apartment, and it was a depressing place even without the bad news. This was the first time I’d ever been here, and it made me realize just exactly how close to the poverty line she was living. Although I never doubted her about her money troubles—LA is a notoriously high cost of living city—seeing her reality was very different than just hearing about it. She needed to get out of this situation and fast. I saw the rat traps in the kitchen, the peeling wallpaper, and the leaking faucets and fully understood for the first time how much Ariel needed things to change. It was no wonder she was thinking about moving back to Sacramento.
“This isn’t your fault,” I told her, rocking her back and forth and trying to comfort her. This situation was hard for me, but it was a hundred times harder for Ariel. I think sometimes I let myself forget that. I needed to stop being so selfish.
Ariel shook her head. She hugged me back, but when she pulled away her expression was resolute. “This is going to be okay, right?” She took a deep but shaky breath. “I mean, it’ll be unpleasant for a while, but it’ll blow over.”
I gulped. “Actually, there’s something else you need to know.”
Ariel’s eyes were huge. She must have seen the sinking horror on my face. “What?”
“Ursula’s got pictures of you. From when you went swimming at my house.”
Ariel’s eyes went huge. “She has naked pictures of me?” she whispered.
I nodded.
Ariel’s skin was always fair. At the moment it was almost green. “How? How’d she get them?”
“Drones, apparently. She hired some people to get the pictures. I initially thought it was Meg, obviously. That’s what Ursula and Meg told me initially, but…”
Ariel blinked. “Wait. You knew?” she asked. “How long did you know she had naked pictures of me?”
It would do no good to lie to her. “A few weeks.”
Ariel’s mouth dropped open. “Weeks?”
“I thought I could contain all of this,” I said weakly. “I thought you never needed to know.”
Ariel looked away. “Why would I?”
“Ariel?”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.” The look on her face made me think that Ariel viewed this as a betrayal. Which, in hindsight, it was. I’d only been meaning to protect her. “I thought we promised that even if there were secrets a
round us, there wouldn’t be any between us.”
Frustration and guilt mixed with the desperation I was already feeling, and when I spoke, my voice sounded angry. “It wasn’t like that. I just didn’t want you to worry.”
“I should have been worried.” Her eyes were wide. “I should have known.”
“What good would it have done for you to worry?” My voice was sharper than I intended, but my temper was starting to spiral out of control. It was my frustration with myself that had me going, but she couldn’t know that.
“Maybe I could have done something,” she snapped back. “Now we’ll never know, will we?”
“What?”
Ariel sniffled. “I don’t know, but something!” Her sadness was beginning to turn into something that looked a lot more like anger. “You should have told me! This is going to destroy my life, and in case you hadn’t noticed, it wasn’t going so great before.”
Ariel pushed herself off my lap. This was the first time we’d ever argued, and I tried to remind myself not to lose my temper while she did, but it was hard. This was the nightmare scenario. The film was about to release. If I came off looking like a two-timing jackass, all the work we’d put in would be for nothing. I’d have been engaged to Ursula Jones, for weeks, for nothing. But that was nothing compared to what Ariel would have to deal with. She was right. Her life would be wrecked.
We stared at each other, lost in our own worries. The frustration we were both feeling stretched and simmered. It turned ugly.
“What does this mean?” she said eventually. She was staring at me with wide eyes and I didn’t know how to stop my frustration from becoming anger at the next nearest person, Ariel.
“I don’t know,” I snapped.
“I’m so angry at you,” she said. “You should have told me.”
“I’m sorry!” I said, losing the last of the battle with my self-control. I stood up. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It would have made no difference, but I’m still sorry. Are you happy?”
“Do I look happy?” Ariel asked scathingly. Her confusion and sadness had melted away and now she looked as angry as I felt. She was rising to the occasion. If I wanted to get into a stupid fight, apparently, she was willing. “You think I want some story published that makes me look like the evil other woman?” she hissed. “Is that something I would want?”
The Little Barmaid Page 20