“I can’t do that,” I groaned, my eyes shifting to the indentations of muscle that disappeared into his basketball shorts.
I should have been too exhausted to even think about sex, but it was hard not to when my boyfriend looked like he did.
“Yes, you can,” Van said, keeping the conversation on track when my mind started drifting to naughtier things. “Tell her to fuck off, and then quit.”
“And do what?” I asked, shifting my gaze to the intense expression in his blue eyes. This wasn’t the first time we’d had this conversation, so I knew I had to see it through.
He shrugged. “Who cares. Not this. She’s treating you like shit.”
“I know, but I’m not going to let her win.”
Van eyed me knowingly. “Is it really winning when you’re so unhappy?”
“I’m not unhappy,” I lied. “I love working for you guys.”
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Okay, fine,” I relented. “I loved working for you guys – past tense. It’s not so fun anymore. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to bail. I’m going to see this through until the tour’s over. Besides, I love being here with you. It’s going to suck when we’re separated.”
“We’ll be fine,” he assured me.
“I know. Although I guess from your perspective it won’t be that different considering we haven’t really seen each other a lot lately.”
“You’ve been busy,” he reminded me, but I could hear a tinge of irritation in his voice. We both missed the way things had been. “And being separated won’t be anywhere close to the same as it is now. I won’t get to wake up next to you as often as I do now, and I love that more than anything.”
I sighed, feeling the tension of the situation weighing on me.
“I’m sure she’ll let up soon,” I assured Van, almost as much as I was assuring myself. “And if she doesn’t, she will when I’m back working for Sydney. She pretty much ignored me for years before this, so I’m sure when I’m not in her line of sight any longer, it’ll be fine.”
“She doesn’t deserve to have you working for any of her clients,” he told me.
“I suppose, but in all honesty, I don’t think about it as working for her. I’m working for my friends, the people I care about, and I’d do anything for them.”
Van smiled, probably knowing it was the one thing that would suck me in. With a sigh, I got up from the desk chair and went to lie next to him on the bed. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close as I rested my head on his chest, his body heat and familiar scent comforting me more than he probably knew.
“Just rest,” he said softly, even though I was sure he wanted more. I wanted more, but I was too tired to even lift my head to kiss him.
“I have to work,” I grumbled.
“You need to sleep.”
“I know. But I can’t.”
He sighed. “Okay, here’s what you’re going to do. Set your alarm for seven. You can get a few hours of sleep and then get up and work until you have to meet Katherine. What time is she getting here?”
“Nine.”
“Okay, good. That works. You’re exhausted, Lis.”
“I know,” I said, already feeling my eyes start to close. My eyelids were so heavy.
“I’ll set an alarm,” I heard Van say, right before I drifted off. “I’ll even order you room service in the morning.”
I smiled. “That sounds nice.”
“It will be,” he promised, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Now get some sleep.”
“I love you,” I mumbled.
“I love you too,” he said, snuggling me closer as I fell headlong into a sweet oblivion.
* * *
Chugging coffee by the gallon seemed to be my only reprieve these days, and I was on my fifth cup as I paced backstage, double-checking my list. The benefit was set to start in five minutes. Everything seemed to be in order, and I was praying that I wasn’t missing anything. Katherine would be all over me if I was, but after talking with Monique, our event planner, and having a quick status with my team, I was feeling confident that I’d done everything I could to make the night a success. My team knew how everything should flow, the venue was packed with enthusiastic fans, and as long as nothing crazy happened, the night would go exactly as we’d planned.
The guys from Westside were playing the role of hosts for most of the evening and would close out the show with a five song performance. They were standing near the entrance to the stage, laughing and joking with each other as they waited for their cue to go on, and they couldn't have looked more relaxed. It was amazing, considering the kind of pressure I knew they were under. I’d been there when Katherine had laid into them about this being their chance to redeem themselves for their actions as of late. Even with that kind of weight on their shoulders, each guy looked effortlessly cool and comfortable, ready to wow the audience like they did every night.
I wished I could do that, but I had a feeling the top knot I’d scraped my hair into that morning, my minimal make-up and casual sundress weren’t going to be winning me any awards for the most put-together member of Westside’s team. Not that it mattered, because no one was looking at me, but I knew I had dark circles under my eyes and my exhaustion was showing through in how I carried myself. I needed a break, but that was probably the last thing I was going to get.
I’d had hope that things might let up when the benefit was over, but I already knew I’d been wrong to assume that. Katherine and I had met earlier in the day, and not only had we gone over the details of the event and the agenda ad nauseam, but she’d also laid out her vision for the additional sponsorships and partnerships she wanted me to look into over the next few weeks. Based on what she wanted, I had a feeling things were only going to get worse.
I hadn’t told Van yet. I was dreading it, in fact, because he’d been so patient and supportive, but I also knew he was hoping Katherine’s reign of terror was going to end. Because of that I was going to hold off as long as I could. After hearing that things were only going to get worse, a part of me wanted to do what Van had said and tell Katherine to go fuck herself, but I hated the idea of leaving the guys and my team in the lurch. I couldn’t do it – at least not now.
What sucked was that most of what she wanted me to do was busy work. The guys wouldn’t sign on to three quarters of the sponsorships she wanted me to look into, and we might end up doing one partnership with a brand, but most of it would be research that would get tossed after the idea was shot down. It was just her way being spiteful and creating work for me to do in an effort to drive me crazy. And it was working.
I was watching Van when he suddenly looked up from his conversation with Phillip and caught my eye, pausing for a few seconds to smile, his gaze locked on mine. A calm feeling washed over me as he mouthed ‘Love you’, and I smiled back at him, returning the sentiment and adding a ‘Good luck’. He smirked at me, which only made me want to run over and throw my arms around his neck.
“Did I or did I not ask you to be discrete about your relationship?” Katherine suddenly hissed in my ear, breaking the spell between Van and me.
I jumped, having had no idea she was standing anywhere near me.
“I am being discrete.”
“Nice try,” she said sarcastically. “I’d do my best to be more careful next time. Remember what we talked about. And considering that you’re walking a fine line at this point in even performing your job duties to my satisfaction, you really don’t need anything else distracting you.”
As soon as she finished speaking, I turned and glared at her. She only smiled, but it wasn’t genuine or sincere in any way, shape, or form.
“I have done everything you’ve asked of me,” I reminded her. “And I know I’ve done it well.”
“’Well’ is more of a subjective description of your performance in my opinion. You’ve been getting by.”
“No, I haven’t,” I hissed, doing what I could to keep my voice down.<
br />
Too many people were backstage, and this conversation was the last thing I wanted anyone to hear. Of course now that the concert was starting and Westside had taken the stage to introduce the first band, everyone was paying attention to them. I could hear them talking to the audience and wished I was watching with everyone else.
“Katherine, what else do you want me to do?”
“I want you to be a professional and do the things I ask you to do. I want you to be one hundred percent focused on your work. As it is, you’re barely getting done the things I’ve asked you to do.”
“That’s because you’ve given me three times as much work as the average person.”
“Are you saying you can’t handle your responsibilities, Elisa?”
“No,” I said quickly. “Not at all.”
Katherine smirked. “Good. Because if you were saying that, I’d remind you that you’re working in promotions for one of the hottest bands in the world. Listen to the audience scream for them. Westside is beloved, and our job is to make sure they stay that way. All I ask is that you do your part, and if you can’t do that, then maybe this isn’t the right field for you.”
I wanted to smack her. I wanted to reach up and slap my hand across her Botoxed cheek just to wipe the smirk off her face. She was such a bitch, and it took everything in me not to do exactly that.
I had no idea how my dad had worked with her for so many years. Maybe she’d been different back then, not so bitter. That had to have been it, because there was no way in hell he’d allow her to speak to the people on his team the way she was speaking to me now. That was the only reason I hadn’t told him how she’d been treating me.
He’d interfere, and not just because I was his daughter, but because he was a decent person who prided himself on how he treated those who worked for him. He never tolerated anyone who talked down to their employees, and he made a habit of not doing it himself. He’d be appalled at how Katherine had been speaking to me for the past month.
“Do you want me to quit?” I asked Katherine. “Is that what this is about? Because I thought you needed me too much.”
I might have been throwing her words back in her face with the touch of sarcasm I’d inserted into my tone, but I couldn’t help it.
“I never need anyone too much,” she said haughtily. “It’s been a month since we talked about the terms of your employment. Several competent people have surfaced since then, and any one of them could easily do your job.”
“So fire me,” I challenged her. “Fire me, and hire one of them, but you’ll have to be the one to pull the plug, because I’m not quitting.”
“Maybe I will,” Katherine said smugly, like she knew more than I did.
And hell, she probably did. But I was going to stay true to my word. She’d have to fire me. I wasn’t going to leave on my own.
Without saying another word, she turned on her heel and walked away.
Feeling like my heart was going to pound out of my chest with the amount of adrenaline pumping through my veins, I took a few deep breaths. Then I walked to one of the entrances of the stage where Westside was still talking to the audience, warming them up, going over the line-up for the night and reminding everyone to donate what they could to help the hurricane victims.
The event was televised, so their message was going out to millions of people, and already I could see the donations pouring in. We had a monitor backstage that showed us the live feed of the TV coverage, and the amount raised in the upper righthand corner was growing by the second.
For just a moment I let that sink in. I let myself feel proud of my team and the guys and how hard we’d all worked to pull this off. No matter what Katherine said, she couldn't take away that moment and that feeling of success away from me. We’d done an amazing thing, and we were going to help a lot of people as a result.
“You don’t have to let her treat you that way,” I heard someone say to my left.
I looked over in confusion, not recognizing the voice.
“Sabrina?” I questioned, taking in the appearance of a very different looking Sabrina Tyler from the girl I’d met at my dad’s studio. “Hi.”
She smiled as she reached forward to hug me. “It’s good to see you again, Elisa.”
“You look different,” I told her.
She smiled. “Stage make-up, highlights, hair extensions, new duds,” she said with a shrug. “I clean up well, I suppose.”
“I thought you looked pretty great the day we met,” I told her, figuring she’d appreciate the ego stroke.
“I liked that look better,” she said around a laugh, “but my stylist felt this was the way to go. It is my first show after all.”
“Really?”
“Well, it’s the first show I’ve done in years, and it’s the first one I’ve done since that whole messy rehab situation. It’s sort of important. I figure looking my best can’t hurt.”
I was surprised at how easily she joked about what she’d been through, considering she’d been famous for taking off her top in public, humping speakers on stage at her concerts, flipping off the media, driving drunk, flashing her business when she got out of cars too many times to count, and generally going a little nuts for a few months. Considering all that, she seemed like a surprisingly well-adjusted individual.
“You look really amazing,” I told her, because she did.
She curtsied playfully. “Thank you, darling. Now back to what I was saying before. Why do you let Katherine Baker talk to you like you’re her property?”
I sighed. “It’s a long story.”
She grinned. “Well, I don’t go on for an hour and a half, so why don’t you humor me.”
At that moment, Westside introduced the first band and then filtered off-stage. I’d known which side Van and Phillip would exit, so I’d strategically chosen to stand there. When he saw me, Van smiled and winked. Then he moved to stand beside me as the first band started to play.
“You did great,” I told him.
“Thank you. I wasn’t sure how jokey I should be considering the reason we’re here, but it seemed like the audience was cool with it.”
“I think you were just jokey enough.”
Van smiled, and I felt the backs of his fingers graze mine, teasing them playfully. It was his way of holding my hand when he couldn’t actually hold it, and I’d grown to love the gesture in the past few weeks. I wished we could be close in public. I wished he could thread his arms around my waist and pull me back against his chest as we listened to the music, but that was a wish that wouldn’t be fulfilled anytime soon. I’d have to settle for brief touches that sent a thrilling fire through me and promised more to come later. I lived for later these days, and I knew he did too.
When the first band’s set was over, Van reached over and briefly squeezed my hand as he got ready to go back on stage. “Wish me luck,” he said over his shoulder.
“You don’t need it,” I told him, making him laugh.
“So that’s it,” Sabrina said, once Van was back on stage.
She’d been silent throughout the first set, and I wondered if that had been because Van and Phillip had been nearby. Now that we weren’t surrounded by anyone I knew, she seemed to want to talk again.
“What’s it?” I asked her.
“You’re dating Van Salvatore.”
“Uh,” I said, buying time. “What makes you think that?”
She smiled. “It’s the way he looks at you. I’m really good at reading people, and he’s into you.”
“We’re just friends,” I told her, hating the lie.
“Okay, if that’s what you’re telling people.”
“It is,” I said in a hushed tone, hoping she’d take the hint.
She nodded. “That actually makes sense. Now I get why Katherine was giving you a hard time.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “She was my publicist a few years ago. She excused herself from the job when I took a wrong turn and en
ded up in jail for the third time, but I knew she didn’t like working for me anyway, so there wasn’t any lost love.”
“Why didn’t she like working for you?”
“I was sleeping with her son.”
I couldn't hide my surprise. “Katherine has a son?”
Considering all the years I’d known Katherine, that was one thing I hadn’t expected to hear. I’d never heard her talk about having a family, and I’d never seen a picture of anyone on her desk who could have been her son. In fact she had no pictures in her office at all. To say I was shocked was kind of an understatement.
“She did,” Sabrina confirmed. “She doesn’t really talk about him, since he was never really an exemplary individual in her eyes, but I thought he was a pretty great guy. We dated for a year and a half, and she hated it. She accused me of dragging him down, but what she didn’t know was that I met him when we shared a few lines at a club. I had no idea who he was until much later. That whole time in my life is kind of a blur, and Jason was right there beside me. We had fun, we partied, and we didn’t really think about the consequences of our actions.”
“What happened to him?” I asked, having heard her use of multiple past tense verbs.
“He was high and was racing his car out in the desert a few years ago. He lost control and went end over end a few times before the car landed upside down. The paramedics said he was likely dead before the car finished flipping. It was really sad. We weren’t together at the time, but it kind of tore me apart. Not many people know that his death was what finally made me go to rehab. I didn’t want to end up like him, and I easily could have.”
“Wow. I’m sorry, Sabrina.”
“It’s the life I chose, and those were the consequences. But I didn’t tell you that so you could feel sorry for me. I’ve dealt with my demons over the past few years, and I’m not looking for sympathy. It is what it is. I just know what you’re going through. I’m sure Katherine isn’t happy about you dating Van, and I’m sure she’s making no qualms about letting you know that.”
“That’s sort of exactly what’s happening.”
Sabrina nodded. “I figured. I’m sorry to hear that. She’s such a bitch.”
Westside Series Box Set Page 76