Extremely Famous

by Heather Leigh

  Probably because there’s no reason for me to miss it and he knows it.

  “Calm down.” I take his balled up hands in mine and thread our fingers together. “I told you, I’m not hiding anymore. I want to rebuild my relationship with my father and he asked me to go. It means a lot to him and to me. Please, let’s not fight about this.”

  His furrowed, stressed out face falls and he presses his lips into a tight line. “Fine. We’ll go. But we’re bringing the guys.”

  The “guys” he’s referring to are the three massive former Navy SEALS that he hired to protect us after the attack at the theater. I hate having a shadow everywhere I go, but they do make a difference when I go out. Just one intimidating look from them causes most people to think twice before approaching.

  “That’s fine babe. I figured we would.” I wrap my arms around his waist and stand on my toes to kiss him. “Thanks for today,” I murmur against his lips.

  “Anything for you Syd.” he says right before he scoops me up and brings me to the bedroom.

  Such a caveman!

  CHAPTER 2

  How in the heck am I in this situation again? You would think I would have learned by now but apparently I’m impaired in that department.

  “What about this one?” Leah asks, holding up a canary yellow Zac Posen gown.

  “Yellow? You must be joking.”

  I’m standing in the luxurious private dressing room at Barney’s on Madison Avenue trying on dresses for my dad’s premiere, which is only five days away. I’m not sure what I was thinking agreeing to go on such short notice. It will be just about impossible to find a gown and get it tailored in such a short amount of time.

  Leah makes a face and puts the gown back on the rack. “You don’t have to be so mean.”

  “I know, I’m sorry. I’m just nervous.”

  Leah has been my best friend since I was uprooted from L.A. and brought to New York City by my mother when I was twelve. The scandals surrounding my parents and me didn’t stop her from approaching me my first day at her school and we’ve been inseparable ever since.

  Shopping with Leah, however, is an act that should win me an award for sainthood. She runs around the different departments like a chicken with its head cut off and it takes her forever to make a decision. Yet for some reason, I keep subjecting myself to the pain and asked her to help me find a gown for the premiere.

  “I know you are, but it’s going to be fine. You’ve been waiting to see your dad for twelve years. This is going to be great,” she says in a cheery voice.

  I grab a black gown off of the rack and pull it on, tying the halter behind my neck.

  “Oh my God, that’s the one!” Leah squeals, bursting my eardrum as she jumps around behind me, clapping.

  I check out my reflection in the mirror, turning side to side to see the black dress. It’s a gorgeous floor length, silk, Grecian-style Juan Carlos Obando with a brass grid detail on the waist.

  “Sydney, it doesn’t even need to be altered!”

  “You’re right, it’s perfect.” I smile at her in the mirror and am thankful that we can get out of here.

  My joy is short-lived as Leah drags me to the shoe department, telling me that I have to have new heels to go with the dress. She ignores my suggestion that I wear one of the ten or so other pairs of black or gold stilettos sitting in my closet that would match the gown perfectly.

  Damn, just damn.

  Two agonizing hours later, Leah and I have Bruce drop us off in front of the Village Coffee Bar, a little café that Leah used to own. She sold it to her cousin and a friend from culinary school so she could have more free time and decide on her next crazy venture. We’ve been trying to come here at least once or twice a week now that we’re both back in New York.

  “I’ll walk home later Bruce,” I say to the kind man who’s been driving Drew around for several years. Drew insists that I let Bruce drive me everywhere since walking is ‘not safe’ according to him.

  “But …” Bruce starts to argue, no doubt under strict orders from Drew not to let me out of his sight.

  Frustrated, I snap. “Bruce, it’s a ten minute walk. I’m not a baby!” I spin on my heel and follow Leah into the café, leaving a bewildered Bruce standing next to the car.

  “What was that?” Leah asks as I storm past her and up to the counter.

  “I was just telling Bruce he could go.” I look over my shoulder to make sure he actually left. I’m shocked to see that he did. Hopefully, he doesn’t call Drew and rat me out. That would be just what I need, Angry Drew storming into the café and freaking the fuck out in front of all of the customers. Customers who are now staring at me and whispering. Wonderful.

  “You have to admit,” Leah says, “The whole overprotective, alpha male thing is kind of hot.”

  I stare at Leah in disbelief. “Having someone dictate my actions is hot?”

  “No dummy, having someone care so much about you that they go to extreme lengths to make sure that nothing will ever happen to you. That’s hot.”

  When she puts it that way. “Yeah, I guess it kind of is. He does mean well, it’s just frustrating sometimes.”

  “And you are totally stubborn sometimes,” she throws back at me.

  “What? I am not!”

  Am I?

  “Sydney, you can’t even admit that you’re too recognizable to just walk down the street by yourself. Of course you’re stubborn.” I hear a nearby patron whisper my name and cringe.

  “It’s not that far!” I yell. Leah raises an eyebrow and smirks, knowing she busted me. “Whatever, you guys suck.” At least my arguments are mature, right?

  “Hey Ben,” Leah says to her old employee.

  “What’s up ladies? Besides me now that you’re here.” He suggestively waggles his eyebrows as he hands us each a giant Kona coffee. Leah gives him a fake sneer. Ever since she sold the café, he’s taken great joy in making lewd comments to her. His excuse is that he wasn’t allowed to before because she was his boss, but now that there’s nothing stopping him he needs to make up for lost time.

  “You guys are nuts,” I mumble as I head to my usual table. I flop down in a seat and Leah takes the one next to me.

  “So, what’s next for you guys?” she asks.

  “What’s next?”

  “With work, you know, what are your plans? What are Drew’s plans? What about the,” Leah looks around the room to make sure no one can hear us, “the wedding.”

  When Drew proposed to me in July, we decided to keep it a secret from everyone but immediate family. I may be stubborn, and I may be stronger than I used to be, but in no way am I stupid enough to think that announcing our engagement would be anything but a media circus. That is one thing I cannot handle.

  I look down at my left hand, where my massive diamond Harry Winston engagement ring sits, turned backwards with the diamond on my palm so that no one will see it.

  “No plans yet for the event. Right now, Drew is dealing with the fact that A Soldier’s Burden has been released to theaters worldwide and has become a runaway hit. They’re saying it may end up being the highest-grossing independent film of all time.”

  “Wow, that’s great.”

  “It is. I’m happy for him. He’s brilliant in it and he financed most of it himself.” I can’t stop grinning as I talk about Drew’s movie. “Then the press tour for Mind of the Enemy will start up next month and after that Drew mentioned a movie filming here in town. Then the press tour for,” I hesitate, hating to even have to think about the movie he filmed while we were in Vancouver this past spring, “Downtrodden Masses just before the Christmas release date. So there’s really not a lot of time for much else.”

  “Is that bitch Kiera Radcliff going to be on the press tour?” Leah snarls.

  “Yes. They never found proof that she helped to record our conversations and manipulating the media to make her and Drew look like a couple isn’t illegal.” Scowling, I take a sip of my coffee.


  “So she just gets away with it?”

  “Who gets away with what?” I hear a sexy male voice behind us.

  “Holy crap!” Leah squeals and jumps from her seat.

  No, it can’t be. Karma really can’t hate me this much. It’s just not possible.

  I turn around and see Leah hugging and bouncing all over Adam Reynolds, gorgeous musical superstar and perpetual thorn in my side.

  “Hello Sydney!” he says, coming toward my seat with his usual sexy swagger.

  “Adam!” I exclaim. “What are you doing here?” Having no choice, I get up and we exchange a friendly hug.

  “I’m in town with the band to record the Quantum Stranger album. I came here last week and found out that Leah sold the café. What gives?” He throws Leah a pretend side-eye and scowls at her.

  “Hey!” She holds up her hands in defense. “I just wanted to have a life again.”

  Adam joins us at our table, his lean body falling effortlessly into the rigid wooden chair.

  “And might this life include a certain thespian?” he teases, his British accent making the words sound even naughtier than they are.

  “It might. Oh, who am I kidding? We’re still together and I know for a fact that you already know this because Ry told me that he spoke to you last week.”

  I’m gonna kill her!

  I give Leah an exasperated look and she ignores me. She knew Adam was going to be in the city and never said a word. What kind of friends do I have anyway?

  “Right, he told me,” Adam admits with a sly grin. “So Syd, what’s new with you? I missed you at the party for Vertigo back in July.” He fixes his smoldering hazel eyes on me and I freeze.

  I feel the hot rush of blood in my neck and cheeks, a bright beacon signaling my discomfort. “Uh, yeah, I didn’t go. I had some other, ummm, commitments. And pretty much I uh, just didn’t really want to repeat the last party.” I let my incoherent thoughts taper off.

  As if there was any way that I would go to another dreadful nightclub launch after what happened at Verve in March. Plus, being stuck in a room with Drew, Adam, Oliver Clarke, and that jerk Jeff Talley would have sent me over the edge into testosterone hell.

  “It’s okay, I’m just teasing you. I didn’t expect to see you there.” He smiles and sips his coffee. “I do expect to see you on Thursday night though.”

  I feel the blood that flooded my face rush down into my feet, leaving me slightly dizzy. “What? Thursday?”

  “At the premiere for Anti-Hero of course. The guys and I were invited to the premiere. I assumed you’d be there since the star is your dad and all.” Adam seems unsure of himself. Losing confidence when he sees the panicked look on my face.

  A sharp kick from Leah under the table wakes me up. “Oh, yeah. I’m sure I’ll see you there.” I put my hands in my lap and nervously twist my engagement ring.

  “Brilliant! I’m looking forward to introducing you to my mates.”

  I don’t get it. How can he sit there smiling at me and acting like everything is normal when absolutely nothing about this situation is anywhere near normal? He knows I’m with Drew, a man who would gladly turn him into a stain on the sidewalk if he so much as looks at me wrong, his psycho ex-girlfriend tried to fake an affair with my boyfriend in order to break us up, and he doesn’t think there’s anything weird about coincidentally bumping into me in a city of eight million people and going to my father’s movie premiere?

  What. The. Fuck.

  I pretend to glance at my watch and bolt out of my chair. “Leah, I’ll talk to you later. I have to get home. Bye Adam.” I pivot and head out the door.

  “Sydney, wait!” Adam calls out, catching me by the hand on the busy sidewalk.

  “Are you nuts?” I hiss, yanking my arm from his grip and turning to look into his perfect face. “You can’t seriously want to chase me down a busy New York street with us both being so, so … recognizable?”

  “Relax, I’m wearing a hat and shades and I’m clean shaven for the first time in forever. No one will recognize me.” Adam gives me an annoyingly handsome smirk. “You on the other hand,” he looks me up and down from behind those damn sunglasses, “are sticking out like a gorgeous sore thumb.”

  “Don’t say things like that to me,” I spit out, storming off down the sidewalk towards my loft.

  Damn, he’s keeping up with me!

  “You know I’m just kidding Syd, what’s the problem? I thought we were friends.” His sweet voice makes me feel like an ass.

  I slow down to speak to him. “You’re right Adam. We were friends, we are friends. It’s just that my life the last eight months or so has been a complete clusterfuck and now that it’s going well, I just can’t do anything to rock the boat.”

  “How is being my friend going to rock your boat?” He puts his large hand on my lower back to guide me around a guy on the sidewalk strumming a tune, his guitar case open to catch tips.

  “I just don’t want to be seen with anyone that the media can twist around to make it seem like there’s something that there’s not. Do you understand me?”

  Again, he grabs my wrist, making me stop to face him. “So, your boyfriend won’t let you have any male friends because he’s not secure enough to ignore the bullshit printed in the daily rags?” Adam says venomously, narrowing his eyes at me.

  “It’s not like that Adam.” I turn and shake off his hand. “You’re not the one whose relationship was sabotaged by someone who wanted to sell tickets to a damn movie! I refuse to be used like that again.”

  Anger crosses Adam’s normally happy face. “You don’t think shit like that hasn’t happened to me? It fucking happens all the time! Remember Sydney, it was my sodding girlfriend that dumped me in order to get your boyfriend!”

  “We shouldn’t be discussing this on the street, Adam. It’s inappropriate.” I spin on my heel and continue walking home.

  “You’re right, we should be discussing it in private like adults,” he snaps back at me, still relentlessly following me.

  “Why Adam? Why do we need to discuss this? What’s it to you?”

  I catch sight of Adams gorgeous face as it falls, a look of uncharacteristic sadness displayed.

  “My life fell apart too Sydney. I lost my girlfriend. My good friend was attacked by a psycho and in hospital. Untruths about me were printed in magazines regarding my friend and our relationship. My ex-girlfriend turned out to be the biggest trollop and liar I’ve ever met,” he pauses, “but you’re right, there’s probably no need to talk.”

  I stop in front of my building and sigh, staring up at the cloudless August sky for a moment, then back at Adam. He’s right. I’m not the only one who was affected by all of the shit that went down.

  “Fine, we’ll talk. One hour Adam, then I really do have stuff to get done.” I wait for his reaction.

  His miserable expression brightens and he gladly follows me into my building.

  This is probably the worst idea ever, I think to myself as I greet Richard, my doorman.

  CHAPTER 3

  Could anyone be luckier than me right now? Currently, I’m watching my fiancé, shirtless and wearing only a pair of camouflage pants and army boots, as he has his picture taken for the cover of some entertainment magazine. His tan torso is rippling under the bright studio lights, every mouth-watering muscle perfectly defined for my viewing pleasure.

  God he’s so fucking hot.

  Everyone here knows it too. There aren’t that many people in the Midtown studio, but those that are, can’t take their eyes off of Drew. The runaway success of A Soldier’s Burden has led to a lot of late and unexpected press for the tiny independent film.

  When Drew sneaks a look over at me and smiles, my heart sputters in my chest. I swear, if you could hear a woman swoon, this room would be so loud right now we would need earplugs. And all of the dreamy eyes are watching him flirt with me. I curl my left hand into a fist and feel the giant diamond pressing into my palm. I hold my hand up fo
r Drew to see, so he knows that I’m thinking about us. I get a wink in return.

  Jesus, I’m going to combust.

  I feel unbelievably guilty about letting Adam come over earlier today. He only stayed about thirty minutes before I hustled him out, not wanting to give him a reason to think I was leading him on or anything. Talking about everything did make me feel better, knowing that he went through some bad shit because of Kiera as well. Plus, it was nice just hanging out with a friend.

  Unfortunately, I met Drew here at the photographer’s studio, so I haven’t had a chance to tell him about Adam yet. He’s going to blow a freaking gasket when I tell him. I’ve never seen Adam act anything other than polite, maybe a little flirty, but that’s it. The way Drew tells it, Adam is the biggest douche on the planet. I’m not eager to let him know that the ‘giant fuckwad’ as Drew colorfully describes him, was in my loft today.

  We’re going from here straight to an industry party a few blocks over. I would rather do anything other than go to this thing, but Drew said he has to make an appearance and begged me to go with him so he wouldn’t be bored out of his skull. It’s a 50th anniversary party for some screenwriters something or other, and one of his favorite writers is being honored.

  So here I am, waiting for Drew to finish taking sexy soldier shots and making women’s panties combust. The good thing is that he sweet-talked the makeup and hair people for the shoot into getting me ready, so all I have to do is slip my dress on when he’s done.

  “Hey gorgeous, are you ready?” Drew startles me by whispering in my ear. I was too busy thinking of ways to tell him that I saw Adam today and didn’t notice that Drew was standing right next to me.

  Burning heat rushes to my face in what I’m certain is an obvious blush, the result of feeling guilty for where my mind was. When Drew slips his arms around me and pulls me up against his naked torso, everything I wanted to say flies right out of my head.