by Rye Hart
“He touched you?”
He sounded just like Duncan, but I wasn’t expecting him to freak out in quite the same way. “He kissed me. When I refused, he threatened my job and my reputation.”
“What an asshole, no wonder you left. You should have told me right away.” He crossed his arms and shook his head. “What is he going to do? You work for yourself, and as far as reputations go, this is Hollywood, no one gives a fuck about reputation or morals, and they’ll hire you just to hear your side of the drama. You’re safe.” He had a point, but I still wasn’t convinced.
“Yeah, I’m not really worried about it, turns out it’s not him Harris is interested in anyway, it’s his father who foots the bill that he’s got his eyes on. I’m more concerned about me and Duncan. We had an awful fight about it.” I wrapped my arms around myself and stared at the floor.
“What does he have to say? I bet he wasn’t thrilled with Brock Reed one bit.”
“No, he wasn’t. I’m sure he’s still plotting the guy’s death, but when I told him I was worried about what would happen, he totally turned into my father. He acts like if it’s going to be a problem then I should just say fuck it and walk away from my job and let him take care of me.”
“On no, he didn’t.” Jeffery let out a long breath and rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, he did. Can you believe that?”
Suddenly Jeffery’s demeanor changed, and he bobbed his head back and forth as if seeing both sides. “I can see why he’d react that way. He loves you and wants to be the one to take care of you.”
“You mean he wants to force me into an apron and have me fix him a sandwich.” I huffed. “It’s kind of insulting to suggest I just up and quit.”
“I don’t think he was saying that at all, I think he was just trying to say he has your back, and that it was something you didn’t have to dwell on or worry about.”
I stopped and let the words process and let loose a sound of frustration.
“Then why not say that instead of acting like my career means nothing.”
“Again, I’m not sure that was his intent. He just wanted to be your champion. Can’t blame a man for that, it should be in his nature.”
But then I realized that jumping to conclusions wasn’t all I’d done.
“Oh, Jeffery, it was much worse than that.” I covered my mouth and held my palm flat against my chest. Jeffery stepped forward and pulled me into his arms.
“You’ll work it out.”
“I threw our past in his face on his way out. I was angry, and he wasn’t telling me what I wanted to hear. It was like arguing with my father all over again, and I didn’t want him to leave. I haven’t seen him since. I think he’s done with me and I’m not sure I blame him.”
“Then you need to go to him and make it right, and you will. I’m sure he’s missing you as much as you’re missing him.”
I hoped he was right. I couldn’t live without him again. All those years, all that time I’d put my entire life and soul into my work, I was just a shell of myself, empty without him.
Jeffery left me alone with my thoughts a moment, and then I returned to work waiting to see Duncan, but he never showed.
By lunchtime, when he wouldn’t pick up his phone, I was beginning to worry, and I went out to see if Rocky knew where he was. When he shrugged and said he had no idea, I began to sweat. Maybe he was done with me and the job.
Panic coursed through me as I dialed Shauna. His sister surely knew what was up with him.
“I was wondering when you’d call,” she said instead of hello.
“Then why didn’t you call me?”
“Because I had enough of it listening to my brother.” She sounded bored, and I was a little taken aback by how unfazed she was while I was there worried sick.
“So, you know where he is? He didn’t show up for work.”
She stifled a laugh. “Yeah, he said he’d do that. He’s at the office. He said he’d rather not go in today and watch you kiss Brock’s ass.”
“Nice.” I raked my hand through my hair and relaxed, but only a little. “Is he done with me?”
“Done? With you?” She seemed to think that was funny and her laughter belted through the phone, blasting my ear. “He’s never going to be done with you, silly! No, he’s giving you space to figure it out and giving himself time to cool down, though he wasn’t impressed by your final words to him. You know, Rach, if you’re going to have a relationship with him, you really should forgive him and let the past go. He’s been living in the guilt of it all for ten years and you throwing it in his face all over again just opens up old wounds. He left you, yes, but he’s here now. Move forward.”
I knew she was right about that part. “I was so angry about the career thing.”
“I know, and don’t think I didn’t chew his ass for that. He left you to build that career, but he insists he never meant to belittle your work. You two need to talk. If you want to find him, you can go down to his office. I’ll text you the address.”
I agreed that I should go talk to him and ended the call. And as I waited for her to send the address, a commotion happened at the door. Rocky was fending off a man with a camera as Star walked in with Brock. The two were looking rather casual and chummy and headed right for me.
“There she is,” said Brock. I wondered what he’d said to Star as she smirked, eyeing me from head to toe.
“Good, let’s go over everything and see if it’s any better than my last visit.” Star turned her nose up and spun around, and as I heard my phone buzz with Duncan’s office address, I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to go to him anytime soon.
Shit.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - DUNCAN
I’d managed to refrain from going down to the set all day and instead tidied up my office and organize my client books. I had a few men that were slacking without my watchful eye, and I checked on them as well.
I had noticed about halfway through the day that my phone had been turned off, and there was a missed call from Rachel that came in half an hour ago, but when I tried to call her back, she didn’t answer. I left her a text and told her what happened.
So, when my phone rang about four o’clock, I assumed it was her, tired from a long day’s work and ready to make amends. I was ready for that myself.
But it wasn’t her. “Hello, Sis. How’s your day been?”
“Better than yours, as always. So, did you two lovebirds get everything worked out?”
“I haven’t talked to Rachel all day. She never called me back.”
“Well, that’s curious because she was supposed to come by your office, I texted her the address.”
“Maybe she changed her mind about me. She thinks I’m some chauvinistic asshole, I’m sure.” She’d said as much comparing me to her father.
She gave me a sound of frustration. “Not true. And she feels bad. You need to go to her. Maybe something’s holding her up.”
“Or someone. I’m sure she and Brock are as chummy as ever. I’m sure he’s loving it.” I knew I sounded bitter, but it wasn’t like I was ever going to care for her working for that man ever again.
“Now, now, don’t pout just because she won’t let you do anything to him.”
“Technically, the only thing she said I couldn’t do is to pound his face and kill him, but lucky for me, I can be a bit more creative.” I’d spent the last two hours after sorting out my guys going over every scrap of information I could on Brock Reed.
“What are you saying? You’ve got something else cooking?” She gave a nervous laugh, but then made a sound of disapproval. “Please tell me you won’t make things worse.”
“No, I’m going to even the playing field is all. He said he’ll ruin Rachel, so I’m going to dig up some fresh dirt on him, something he wouldn’t want anyone knowing, especially Harris or his father.”
“I didn’t tell you the tidbit so you could use it against him. I told you and Rachel so you’d stop worrying a
bout him.”
“I’m not worried, but I’m also not so sure Rachel wasn’t right. He could pull some influence considering who he’s worked with in the past, but that road goes both ways. If I can dig up something on him, then that will be our insurance.”
“You sure you’re not going to make things worse? Rachel won’t like this. I do, but she won’t.”
“I’ll worry about that later.” I wasn’t going to keep it from her, but I damned sure wasn’t going to let that little shit get away with anything.
“What exactly do you have in mind and how can I help?”
“Well, unless you want to get into a compromising situation yourself, you better stay out of it. But I appreciate the offer, and I’ll keep it in mind. I do know that he and Star have worked together before, on her first and third videos, and they’ve known each other for a while, clear back to when she first hit the scene when she was only seventeen. She’s a pet of his or maybe vice versa. I’d like to find out why, especially since their other relationships line up along the same timelines of their projects.”
“You think they were sleeping with one another?”
“Something like that. But the two of them messing around has never gone public, and I have a feeling there’s a reason for it.” I’d figure it out whatever it was.
We ended our conversation minutes later with me promising to give Rachel another call, which I tried to do on my way home without any answer. I wanted her to know that I would be home in case she was still going to drop by the office.
I’d only been home an hour, still with no word back from Rachel when there was a knock at my door. I glanced out the window to see her standing there with her eyes closed and mouthing something like a prayer.
She met me with a weary smile when she opened the door, and I pulled her into a tight embrace. I’d missed her like crazy and hated that there was tension between us.
She melted against me and then threw her head back and met my eyes. “I needed that. Today was terrible.”
“Want to tell me all about it?” I wasn’t sure she would be so open to explain considering what had happened, but she let out a sigh, sinking further against me and gave me a nod.
“What didn’t happen, would be a hell of a lot easier to explain.” She took my hand, and I led her inside, offering her a seat on the couch.
She took a seat, glancing around at my place. “This isn’t what I expected. Remember how messy your bedroom used to be?”
“The military changed many things.” I sat down beside her, and she stroked my goatee and then ran her hand down my chest and across my arms.
“It certainly did.” She slid her gaze down my body, and her cheeks reddened.
“You’re stalling, what happened that was so terrible?”
“I’ll tell you everything Duncan, but first I want you to tell you something. I spoke to my father – about us I mean.”
She caught me off guard. I knew that I’d eventually have to meet the old man, but it’d be lying if I said I truly didn’t give a damn about this approval. I knew how close Rachel and her father were, and the last thing I wanted was to come in between them. It may take a miracle, but I damn well would do my best to get that from him.
“What did your dad say?”
“He was extremely upset that I hadn’t told him about you sooner. When I’d asked him about meeting you, he told me he didn’t think it was such a good idea because it would only lead to a fight.” Then she looked deeply into my eyes, “Duncan, you know I’ll stand by us through thick and thin, so if I have to make a choice then it will be you. I’ve already lost ten years with you, I won’t lose any more. But you also know my relationship with my dad means so much. I’m praying that things can work out between the two of you. So, I had an idea and I wanted to get your blessing first. I want to plan a surprise dinner with my dad and you. I honestly think that once he sees you after so many years and learns about how hard you’ve worked to get to where you are in life that he’ll see he was wrong about you all along. Promise me that you’ll meet with him, even if he’s not willing to meet with you.”
Not only did I have Brook Reid to stress about, but now I had the added pressure of preparing myself for Rachel’s old man. This should be fun.
“You have my word that I’ll be there to meet with him and let him know how much I love his daughter. Now that we have that out of the way, tell me about your day.”
“Okay. Our charming producer was in a terrible mood, and he brought his sidekick along for the torture. Star Summers has got to be the biggest brat on the planet. First, I changed everything to fit her massive heels, and now that I have, she’s decided she’d be sexier barefoot for the video. Of course, Brock agreed in a way that made me think he has some erotic foot fetish, and now I have to recalibrate all the major props to line up in the shot again. My team is about ready to walk after she dragged them on a tirade and oh, you might need to tell your man to keep his eyes on the door, and not Star’s ass.”
“Rocky? What happened with him?”
“Well, other than Jeffery claiming he’s been staring him down since he arrived, which could just be the fact that Jeffery thinks all men are staring him down, Rocky was a bit taken by the pop diva. So much that he let one of her crazy fans slip in. Then he—”
“What? He let someone slip in?” My temper flared as confusion set in. It was hard to believe he’d made such an error.
“Yeah, a pair of teens, they had some stuff they wanted Star to sign. She went ahead and took care of them, giving them pictures and so on.”
“I bet she was pissed. How come no one called the office to complain?”
“I’m sure she and Rocky worked it out over lunch.”
“Lunch?” I’d only stepped away with Star and her manager as a courtesy knowing I had a backup, but Rocky doing so was not part of his job nor standard procedure.
“Oh yeah, and she was gushing over him way more than she did you.” She gave me a teasing grin.
“He’s never been one to be so unprofessional, but then again he’s never worked with any of the famous clients before, especially one so—”
“Sexy? Beautiful?” She leveled her stare as if daring me to finish my sentence.
“I was going to say flirty and manipulative, but since you mentioned it, yeah, she’s not hard on the eyes. Maybe that whole tooth thing, but—”
She nudged me playfully, and I cupped her face and pulled her toward me, kissing her deep. I broke away and met her eyes, resting my forehead on hers. “You’re sexy and beautiful. I wanted to say I’m sorry about what happened and that I got angry.”
“I’m sorry too. I flew off the handle.” She raked her hand through my hair and kissed me, inching herself closer.
“Well, was that it?”
“Not by a longshot. Brock sabotaged me at every turn, making it impossible to get any work done around all the things that needed to be changed and of course, Star left for her dressing room, completely pissed. He followed after telling me that there might not be a video now and if I ruined things with my incompetence, he wasn’t going to pay me.”
“He went to her dressing room?”
“Yes, and they were still in there when I left. I sent everyone home. I know they deserved an early day after that circus.”
“You deserve better too.” I pulled her into my lap and stroked her back as our mouths mingled and I was more certain than ever I’d get something on Brock Reed if it was the last thing I’d do.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - RACHEL
The nightmare continued on set when I returned the day after Star and Brock’s tantrums and apparently whatever they did to work things out it hadn’t worked.
The music from her video was blaring as she did a walk-through of the scene and since Brock was also directing the two were snapping each other’s heads off. But that wasn’t the worst thing that happened.
Once they got back into filming and things were finally going well, Star threw a ring into the
air, and it hit the fake stone façade and set off a chain reaction that ended with chunks of plaster falling into her blue-tipped hair.
Her scream ripped through the music, and the sound man turned it off. “Are you fucking for real? This is my hair, dammit! It takes hours.” She stomped her bare feet around the stage, and I waited for her to fling herself to the floor and beat her fists, she was so pissed off.
I hurried onto the stage and surveyed the damage, but she wasn’t done bitching. She waved her arms and Brock hurried to her side along with the makeup artist who was picking little flecks of plaster from her hair and face.
Brock shot daggers in my direction. “How long is that going to take to fix? If it sends me over-budget, I’m taking the cost out of your sweet little ass.”
My temper flared, but before I could speak, Brock turned and started in on Star. “And you, get your shit together and let’s not worry about our fucking hair.”
I glanced down to see Rocky, the stand in bodyguard, was stiff as if he didn’t like the tone Brock was taking with Star. She walked over to where he was, and the two exchanged a smile. At that moment, something flashed in Star’s eyes and she and Brock exchanged a quick glance. It was as if there was something happening right before my nose, but I wasn’t privy to it. Like some secret that only the two of them knew, but then she turned back to Rocky and gave him a wink as she straightened the corset of her costume.
I called my team together and put them to work on the patch job and went to the back hoping to find that we still had the paint we needed. A few of the team members, including Jeffery, were mumbling under their breaths, but I didn’t have time for it. I made sure I was right in the middle of the repairs, taking full responsibility as needed.
Fifteen minutes later, things were back in place, and Star was on her mark. The music was blaring, and she was dancing around the set. When it came time to toss the damned prop again, I held my breath, but this time it was her catching ability that stopped things. Brock even went so far to call her a clumsy bitch under his breath within my earshot. Finally, after five takes, she caught the damned hoop.