One of the four of us in our booth, huddled together and laughing. One is of Adam and me sitting and staring at each other, obviously having a conversation but cropped to make it look intimate. One is of all of us dancing in a huge crowd of people. And the last one, of course, is a picture of Adam and me leaving the club, his hand on my lower back as he guides me through a throng of people on the sidewalk that were only there because someone Tweeted Ryker’s location.
“But, that’s not… it didn’t.” Crap, I can’t gather my thoughts. “You know what?” I say belligerently. “I don’t care. They can put what they want in there. I know that it’s not true. I can’t control what they print so who really cares?” I thrust the page back at Jeff and cross my arms defiantly.
Wow, New Sydney is really coming along. Punching guys in clubs and telling off my boss!
Violet smiles at me from her seat and nods along in agreement with my outburst. Jeff just sits there openmouthed, being an ass as usual. Oliver, I can’t get a read on. He sits quietly and strokes his handsome chin while staring at me, as if I’m a rare species that he’s trying to figure out.
“And before you can suggest it, Jeff, I’m telling you now that I’m not going as anyone’s fake date to the launch party for Vertigo. So don’t bother asking. I will see if Adam or Ryker wants to go if they’re in town, but that’s where my involvement with the party ends. I’m not asking Drew or my parents to show up.”
“I wasn’t going…” he sputters. “And who’s Drew?”
“Andrew Forrester, or whatever you want to call him. I don’t see what this article has to do with remodeling a nightclub. Did you hire me for my ability as a designer or for my associations with tabloid fodder?” I ask calmly.
It’s game time. I’m not letting him use me for my connections.
“Obviously dear, we want your ability,” Violet says from the end of the table, a genuine smile on her lovely face.
“Jeff?” I direct my gaze at the flustered executive.
“Of course, Sydney. Verve turned out great, beyond expectations actually. Ben Walton requested you personally, I told you that.”
I finally move to Oliver and meet his steely gray eyes. I don’t know him from Adam’s house cat, so I pretty much don’t care what he says, but I don’t want to leave him out of the discussion.
“I could care less about your friends.” He shrugs, then resumes rubbing his hand across his chin.
Good.
“Then we’re in agreement. I’ll start sketching and pulling colors and textures and we can meet back on Thursday?”
Everyone agrees and I stand, shake everyone’s hands and say goodbye, leaving Jeff Talley silent and stunned in conference room six of the Warren Hotel, London.
Chapter 16
“No way!” Leah exclaims as I recount the events of the meeting I just left. “I cannot believe you told him off! It’s about time.”
“I know,” I respond as I pop another sushi roll in my mouth.
Leah wanted to meet out for lunch at her favorite sushi bar near Kensington Gardens. I have to admit, it’s really good.
“So, what are you going to do about the article?”
Okay, I’m confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, when Drew sees you out with Adam Reynolds, he’s going to go apeshit.”
“I … I guess I hadn’t thought about it.” All of a sudden my stomach hurts too much to eat. I push my food away and start freaking out. Shit! I’m so freaking stupid. Me and my damn denial! Drew is going to think I left him and jumped into bed with Adam. A man he told me that he wants to beat to a pulp.
“Syd, you don’t look well.” Leah’s brows pinch together in concern.
“What time is it in Vancouver?” I ask, my voice cracking from stress.
Don’t cry. New Sydney doesn’t cry over stupid shit like tabloids.
“Ummm, it’s 1pm here, so I think that makes it 3am? Why?”
I pull out my phone. “I need to text Jane. Do you think it’s too early? Or is this an emergency?”
Leah puts her hand on mine. “Put that away. Let’s go back to the hotel, order up some margaritas, and figure this out. Okay?”
Shaking, I nod and throw my phone back into my bag. Leah slaps a pile of British pounds down on the table and we hurry out of the restaurant. I flag down a black cab and tell the driver to take us to the Warren.
We decide to go to my suite instead of Leah’s so we can have privacy. Ryker is on set today, but there’s always a chance he’ll wrap early or God forbid, Adam might stop by.
Leah grabs the hotel phone and orders a pitcher of margaritas, a plate of cheese and fruit and “to soak up the alcohol” she mouths to me, a piece of chocolate lava cake. She slams down the phone and sits next to me on the couch.
“Okay, what’s the plan?” she asks me.
My eyes bug out in disbelief. “What? I thought you had an idea? You’re the one who made me put my phone away! My plan was to text Jane and ask her what her plan is!” I shriek at Leah, now in a complete panic.
“That’s your entire plan?” She sounds as if she thinks I’m the dumbest person on earth.
“This is your fault!” I jump up and point at her. “You ambushed me with Adam Reynolds! You know how much trouble he caused me and Drew! How the hell does he even know Ryker?”
“Sydney, it wasn’t an ambush! He’s a friend of yours, or he was a friend. I knew you were sad and going through a hard time. I thought you’d want to see another friendly face. I didn’t think it would end up in the tabloids!”
“Everything I do ends up in the tabloids. Hell, Leah, everything Ryker and Adam do probably ends up in the tabloids! We should have thought of this. It’s actually the one thing that we could have guaranteed would happen! So why was Adam there?”
“Adam knows Ryker from the movie. His band is doing the soundtrack so he’s been on set to get inspiration to write the songs. He didn’t even know you were coming here. He was shocked just to see me at the studio since he had no idea I was dating Ryker. Damn, I’m sorry Syd.”
A sharp rap on the door lets us know that room service is here. I stalk over to let them in, then remember how Drew yelled at me for not being careful enough. I step back and peer through the peephole to confirm who it is. Seeing the black and white hotel uniform, I open the door. See, I’m learning.
The young man pushes in a huge silver cart with a crisp white tablecloth draped over it. Our enormous pitcher of margaritas is in the center, with the food on either side.
“Jesus, Leah. That’s a huge fucking pitcher.”
She looks at me funny and we both burst out laughing. The hotel employee just stands there, unsure what to do next. I hand him some money and let the poor guy leave.
“Let’s drink,” Leah says.
“To New Sydney,” I say, holding up my glass. “She doesn’t give a shit what the tabloids write.”
We clink glasses and I let the delicious salty-sweet lime flavor fill me up. The only problem is that I do care what the tabloids write… if Drew is going to see it.
I reach into my purse and pull out my iPhone. There’s a text from Jane. Shit! I had my phone on silent for my meeting this morning. I check the time, it was sent at 1:30pm our time, 3:30am in Vancouver. My heart does a slow, tumbling dive into my stomach. That can only mean that Drew saw the tabloid.
I slide my finger across the notification and read the text.
Jane
“Leah, Jane texted me at 3:30am Vancouver time. I think he knows. Leah, he saw the article!” I start panicking. I jump up and hurry over to the window, flinging open the curtains and pressing my forehead to the cool glass. Okay, maybe New Sydney does still need this.
Breathe, Sydney. Breathe.
“Sydney, call Jane. For all you know you could be overreacting. Anyway, you left him to come here, remember? And none of this should matter, he knows damn well that the tabloids exaggerate everything.” The tone of her voice defies her rat
ional words. She knows that it’s indisputable evidence.
“There are photos of me with Adam, Leah. You can say that I wasn’t ‘getting cozy’ or whatever crap they wrote but I can’t deny that I was out at that club with him last night.” Leah doesn’t know how much Drew despises Adam.
“I was there too! He’ll see that. Just make the fucking call Sydney!” She’s assuming Drew is reasonable, and when it comes to me and Adam Reynolds, he’s the exact opposite of reasonable.
I steel myself and pull up Jane’s contact info and press call.
“Sydney!” Jane answers on the first ring.
“Jane,” my voice wavers on the verge of tears yet again. “Did he see it?”
“Not yet.” The breath I had been holding comes out in a huge rush.
“Thank God.” Leah is looking more hopeful than before.
“But he will. I have you as a Google Alert in my phone, and Drew too. It went nuts in the middle of the night. What the heck is going on? I thought I was supposed to be helping you Sydney? But you have to help yourself too.” Shame washes over me as Jane scolds me.
Great, now I feel even worse, as if that were possible.
“I know it looks bad, Jane. But all I did was go out with Leah and her boyfriend Ryker Bancroft. Adam Reynolds is friends with Ryker because he’s writing the soundtrack for the movie that’s being filmed here. I didn’t even know he was going to be there.” I shoot Leah an ugly look and she wilts from my hostility.
I hear Jane sigh on the other end. “I hate to ask this Sydney, but did you hook up with him?”
“No! Never. I would never do that.”
“I know you wouldn’t, but you know I have to ask. He’s going to ask me. Now, what about these men you supposedly knocked out?” she asks, humor in her voice.
“Uhhh, that’s actually true.”
“Get the heck out of here! You took down two men on the dance floor of a London nightclub?”
“Yes.” I proceed to tell her what happened and how I took them down with my brutal moves.
Laughing, she finally catches her breath. “That’s unreal Sydney. You’ve come a long way from the timid little thing I met in New York three months ago.”
“I know. Will Drew still want the new me though?”
“Sydney, he’ll take any you that he can get. But I’d bet he’ll be proud of you standing up for yourself like that.”
“How is he, Jane?”
“He’s been better. He misses you, Syd. He flipped out when he realized you were gone. And you didn’t take Evan or Sal with you.”
“I miss him too. And I don’t want him to worry, Jane. Plus, bringing bodyguards defeats the purpose of learning to live on my own.”
“I know Sydney. I better go. I have to get all of my ducks in a row to talk to him before he gets on set and someone else tells him. Like that horrible Kiera Radcliff.”
Ha! If Jane doesn’t like her, she must be acting horrendous because Jane likes everyone.
“Okay Jane. Keep me updated please. I’ll do whatever I can. I’ve just had my first meeting with the people at the Warren this morning so I have a little more free time now than I will once the renovation starts.”
We say good bye and hang up. I flop dramatically back onto the soft couch cushions, beyond exhausted.
“She’s going to tell him when he gets up. She only knew because she has Drew and me on Google Alerts and her phone blew up when the article hit. In fact, I’m going to set that up on my phone too, so I don’t get any more surprises in business meetings.” I fumble with my phone until I get the alerts in place.
“That makes sense,” Leah says. “Now, let’s have some of this awesome chocolate cake and drink ourselves silly.”
“I’ll toast that.” We clink glasses and I throw back the rest of my margarita.
Chapter 17
beep beep beep beep
What the heck? I fumble around in the dark hotel room, trying to figure out what the hell is making that noise.
Ouch! Dammit!
I clutch my foot, having stubbed my toe on a piece of furniture. Armoire maybe?
Limping out into the living area, the blue glow of my iPhone lets me know where the noise is coming from.
beep beep beep beep
Has the thing lost its ever-loving mind? After Leah left yesterday afternoon, I passed out on the couch for a few hours, then did some work on my laptop for Vertigo. Stupid jetlag kept me awake until almost 3am, and now it’s only… I check the time on my phone, 5am. Wonderful, two whole hours of sleep.
I snatch the phone off of the table and focus on the screen.
Google Alert – Sydney Tannen
Google Alert – Andrew Forrester
I freeze in place. What can it be? I didn’t go anywhere or do anything yesterday. Only to work and then lunch with Leah, which we didn’t even finish.
I should just go back to bed and look later. The thought of what could be on there makes me physically ill. I walk back to the bedroom with the phone and flop down onto the huge bed. I know I won’t be able to fall back asleep either way, so I may as well get it over with. New Sydney doesn’t care, right?
I click the link on my own name first and wait for the browser to connect. I see the name of the website and start freaking out. It’s the scary accurate one. The maybe-they’re-spying-on-me website. I swallow and click the link.
CelebCast- www.celebcast.com – Tannen/Sydney
Sydney Tannen Doesn’t Want Andrew Forrester to know about Nightclub Tryst with Adam Reynolds
CelebCast has the exclusive inside story of the Sydney Tannen/ Andrew Forrester/ Adam Reynolds love triangle. A source in their inner circle tells us that Tannen is extremely upset that Forrester will react badly when he sees the photos of her and Reynolds together at club Low Rent in London the other night. She was frantically attempting to do middle of the night damage control with Forrester’s people to prevent him from getting the idea that she and Reynolds are a couple, which she adamantly denies.
Tannen claims she didn’t know that Reynolds was going to be at the club that night. Her good friend is dating actor Ryker Bancroft and Bancroft is supposedly the one who invited Reynolds to join them at Low Rent. Reynolds is currently writing the soundtrack for the second installment in Bancroft’s Quantum Stranger trilogy that is being filmed in London, which is how the two met.
The insider also tells CelebCast that Tannen is the one who decided to take time off from her and Forrester’s tumultuous relationship to try to adjust to life in the public eye after having remained out of sight for the last twelve years. His hot temper in the aftermath of the attempt on her life coupled with the extreme panic attacks that Tannen had been experiencing proved to be too much for her to handle.
We also know that Tannen will be in London for several months to head the remodel and relaunch of the Warren Hotel chain’s London nightclub. Tannen was the lead designer for the redesign of the hotel’s flagship location in New York City, where she created the impressive look for the new Verve nightclub. Vertigo, the sister location in London, is the next design venture for the young Sydney Tannen. Hopefully, the launch party for Vertigo goes better than the one for Verve. Although if things continue as they are, we can expect to see some interesting exchanges that night.
I’m speechless. I think I’m actually going to die of speechlessness. Is that possible? If it is then dig my grave and roll me in.
I’m being spied on. There’s no doubt in my mind anymore. Someone at this website is monitoring me. How else would they know so many accurate private details? Leah wouldn’t tell them, and she wasn’t even present for any of the conversations that I had with Drew that they got information from.
I look at my phone. Can they put a bug on my phone? I don’t know anything about any of this secret agent crap. I pry off the battery cover and pull it out. I don’t see any pieces that don’t belong. Shoving it back together I get out of bed and throw on some running clothes, a hat and my iPod. Two hou
rs of sleep or not, I need to think and this is the only way I know how.
Drew would have a coronary if he knew I was going running by myself in a strange city at 5am. Come to think of it, he’s probably so mad at me right now; he wouldn’t give a crap if I fell into the Thames and floated out to the Atlantic Ocean.
I grab my keycard and slam the door behind me, eager to get the hell out of the confines of the room.
An hour later and I’m no closer to figuring anything out, so here I am at 6:30 in the morning, standing outside movie star Ryker Bancroft’s hotel suite like an idiot, pounding on the door with my fist. I don’t dare call Leah on my possibly tainted phone, so they don’t know that I’m the one making the racket.
An exhausted looking Leah opens the door and I shove her out of the way and shut it, flipping the locks and pulling the chain in place.
“What the heck?” she says sleepily.
“I’m being spied on, Leah. Like for real, honest to goodness listening device in my phone spied on.” I begin pacing the dark room like a maniac.
“Who’s being spied on?” Ryker says from the bedroom door, wearing only a pair of tight blue boxer briefs.
I feel the heat stain my cheeks at his semi-nakedness and turn back to Leah. “Give me your phone,” I demand.
She looks a little freaked out, so she hurries past Ryker and returns quickly with her phone. I type in the CelebCast website and show it to her.
Leah pales, her eyes widening in surprise. Her mouth falls open and I can see her mind attempting to find a logical explanation for the article.
“Holy shit,” she whispers.
Ryker comes stalking over, his usually playful eyes darkening. “Tell me what the hell is happening. Leah, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He turns his sharp gaze to me. “And Syd, you look like shit. What are you looking at on the phone?”
Leah can barely make the sounds loud enough to hear. “Someone is monitoring Sydney’s conversations and putting them on the internet.”
Absolutely Famous (Famous Series) Page 9