“I don’t mind the truth.” I got up and walked over to the window by Jace, leaving Sienna and Ty sitting side by side. “I’m not active on social media and I don’t want to be. I know we can’t control what the fans or trolls say, but I don’t want to drag it out. Ty and I are together, it’s really that simple.”
“You are kidding, right?” Andrew scoffed.
“She’s not. You both saw to it that Ty went through a million spin cycles in the press.” Jace looked up from his tablet. “When you guys took over social, your PR plan was to make it seem like he was fucking someone new every night to set the table for an image rehab. I let it happen, and I’m pissed because it was wrong to do that to Ty.”
“The press we generated made LTZ famous. Plus, the songs don’t lie.” Andrew looked like steam was coming out of his ears.
“The videos don’t lie either.” Sienna sniffed, giving me a slight almost imperceptible smirk.
I looked over at Ty, who didn’t appear to have heard her because he was staring out the window deep in thought. Not sure how much I should or shouldn’t participate, the lawyer in me couldn’t help but want to gather more information to analyze and make a decision.
“What were you saying about the videos?” Ty asked, apparently hearing her after all.
“Dude.” Jace’s voice was sharp. He looked up from under his reading glasses and Ty stopped talking, something unspoken between them. I found it interesting, but now wasn’t the time to investigate.
“It was the music that made LTZ famous,” I stated unequivocally, looking at Andrew and then Sienna in succession.
Sienna’s expression was one that could only be described as murderous. Chills ran down my spine, and I tried to catch Ty’s eye, but unfortunately, he didn’t see what transpired.
“Okay, Zoey. How about a simple piece on how you met, what happened, and how you reunited? That would be very sweet and would make the stories of the songs even more relatable than they already are,” Sienna easily slipped into a cooperative mode when Jace looked over, her fingers tapping on her tablet. “We could still do a cool photoshoot, maybe get some quotes from your families—”
Andrew snapped his fingers, “I love this! God, unraveling the Z mystery is a publicist’s dream!”
“Ooh!” Sienna pointed at Andrew. “That’s the title of the story.”
“I’m right here, you can speak to me like a real person.” Nothing about any of this felt right. The energy in the room was weird, but I didn’t know why. The problem was, I didn’t have any context or experience. I was woefully out of my element.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Zoey.” Jace stopped tapping on his tablet. “Neither do you, Ty. When we made our own rules, we did just fine. I don’t like the vibe of how this is shaping up.”
My body literally sagged in relief. I was so grateful that Jace was with us but wondered why Ty didn’t seem to have an opinion.
“Jace, with all due respect, PR is not your profession,” Sienna snarled. She sat back on the couch and glared at him.
Only then did Ty’s deep voice permeate the room with a semblance of authority. “So far, no one knows Zoey’s name, which means no one can connect her to being Z. But it's only a matter of time. There are pap pictures of us in LA, so people know I have a girlfriend. There are only two things that are important to me. One, as far as my story goes, Zoey is my one and only true love. Two, I will not fucking stand for anyone to say a word against her.”
“Which is why if you just let it go, people will do their own digging and uncover who knows what. We won’t be able to control the narrative.” Sienna stood up and put her arm around me, which I shrugged off. She was undeterred. “Zoey. Trust me. If we get on top of it, people will believe what we put out there. We wouldn’t want to risk a trash piece that we don’t control, would we?”
“Who in the fuck would do a trash piece on Zoey?” Ty demanded.
“As of now, no one,” Jace rubbed his temples like he was getting a migraine. “Guys, if you publish a big, puffy story on Ty and Zoey, you are opening them up to a world of media scrutiny. That will lead to a swarm of media we can’t control. Which will lead to more work for you both—”
Both Sienna and Andrew exchanged glances, however briefly.
Bingo.
“Look, guys—this isn’t my thing. I don’t mean to tell you what to do. I’ll deal with whatever you think is best.” Remembering what Alex had advised, I directed my comment to Jace and Ty. “It’s important to remember that when I take over as CEO of the foundation, as much as it pains me to say this, we have to make sure whatever strategy we land on won’t hurt what Ty has so carefully built.”
“You’re the CEO of his foundation?” Sienna’s disdain for me was clear when she narrowed her eyes at both of us.
“Yes, I offered Zoey the job, and she accepted.” Ty stared Sienna down. “But we’re not making that public just yet.”
“And we’re just learning this now?” Andrew chastised. “Fuck, Tyson.”
“Well, this cements it, we will be doing an article.” Sienna snapped her fingers.
“No,” Ty bellowed. “Sienna, I do not like how you are talking to Zoey. If you have a beef with me, that’s fine. But she doesn’t deserve it. You need to back the fuck off of her.”
“God, you’re such a caveman.” Sienna got up and walked over to where we were standing, took Ty’s elbow, and looked him directly in the eye. “Babe, you need to let us do our jobs.”
Babe?
“Nah, we’re going to handle this.” Jace hovered his finger over his tablet. “Ty and Zoey let me know if this is okay.”
Jace showed us the post to go with the picture he had taken earlier.
She’s finally back in the family. Keep following to learn more. #z #moretothestory #tyloveszoey #zoeylovesty #family #LTZ #ultimatelovestory @tysonrainier @zanerocksseattle @jacedeveraux @connormcloughlinseattle @officialzoeypearson
“Zoey, I shut down your Instagram completely and created a new one,” Jace said. “I’ll work with you on it over the weekend.”
“I like it,” I said. “It’s simple.”
“I love it.” Ty bent down to kiss me. “This feels like us.”
Sienna and Andrew walked over to see it, and after giving each other more secret-squirrel looks. Sienna scoffed, “This is a mistake, Jace.”
“I’ll take the risk. From this point on you guys stick only to the movie coverage. Stay out of Ty and Zoey’s story.” Jace dismissed them, tossing his dark-blond hair over his shoulder, his green eyes flashing. “Andrew, can I get the updated movie press schedule for this weekend please?”
Andrew walked over to his desk and tapped into his laptop, and Jace’s tablet pinged a minute later. “There you go, it’s on the Google Drive.”
We shuffled out without waiting for Katherine to get out of her meeting. While waiting for the elevator, Jace texted our security detail to the driver, muttering under his breath, “Useless fucks.”
I grabbed his arm, and his startling green eyes looked back at me, surprised. “You saved me in there, Jace. Thank you.”
He just shrugged. “We got this. I can’t promise that shit won’t go down, but right now I just want to keep them out of your business.”
To no avail.
When the elevator opened to the lobby, about twenty million flashes went off. Sergey and three other burly security dudes shoved their way into the elevator and shielded us. It was a mob scene. I couldn’t believe how many people were there to catch a glimpse of Ty and Jace.
“Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.” Jace shook his head.
“Someone called the paps.” Ty’s face turned red with anger.
“Looks like it.” Jace read something on his tablet. “Zoey, it’s about to begin, stick close. If we get caught in a shitstorm, paste a pleasant grin on your face like nothing bugs you. Don’t say a word, no matter what horrible shit they yell at you. Ty won’t let you go.”
The e
levator door opened into a deserted floor that looked like it was a janitorial floor. Security led us through a long, sterile hallway into a small waiting area. A few minutes later, our black car squealed up, and Sergey ushered us into the vehicle. The driver took us through the loading dock and out into the street. Several more flashes were going off when the car emerged. Zooming off to the hotel, it didn’t appear that anyone followed us, but when I settled back into Ty’s arms, he looked down at me with concern etched on his features.
“I’m fine, babe,” I assured him, resting my hand on his knee.
“I know, Z. You’re very fine.” He covered my hand with his, but the smile on his gorgeous face didn’t quite reach his eyes. He turned and looked out the window, clearly troubled.
“Just be cool, guys. Looks like it’s just going to be one of those weekends.” Jace didn’t look up from his tablet. Contrasted with Ty’s expression, he looked bored. Like someone who had seen it all before.
I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the onslaught.
Chapter 26
TYSON
We managed to get through the side entrance with virtually no detection. Sergey escorted us to our suites without incident. Jace came over for a while to show Zoey her new Instagram page, where he had posted a different photo that he’d taken of us on the plane. In the picture, I had my arms fully wrapped around her, my hair hiding my face. She looked up at me, hazel eyes filled with a cross between desire and mischief, her hands gripped my wrists and her pink lips were slightly parted. He had cropped it tight, so our faces basically filled the entire screen. It read:
“I’m so happy we found each other again. #z #ty #moretothestory #tyloveszoey #zoeylovesty #family #LTZ #ultimatelovestory @tysonrainier @zanerocksseattle @jacedeveraux @connormcloughlinseattle @officialzoeypearson
“That’s the only post I want you to leave up for now,” Jace explained. “Do not turn comments on, I am managing all of this for now.”
“Fine by me.” Zoey shrugged. “It’s a cute picture.”
Jace raised one eyebrow at her but didn’t say anything.
“I’m booting you out,” I said to Jace and opened the door.
“Yeah, yeah. I just texted you the schedule for tomorrow.” Jace waved over his head and walked out.
Zoey watched me from her spot on the light-blue, velvet sofa, her expression unreadable. I crossed over the room to her. Now well past ten p.m., the day had been long and tomorrow the band had an early start. She reached her hand out to me as I got closer. I took it, sat down next to her and draped my arm around her shoulder.
“Is this a normal day for you?
I kissed her head and breathed her in. “Meh. This is a light day.”
“What’s tomorrow’s schedule? I’m not really in the loop. I didn’t want to say anything or be a pain in the ass.” She reached up to twirl her finger around a lock of my hair. “It’s making the control freak inside me lose my mind.”
I pulled up Jace’s text on my phone and listed out my obligations. “Photoshoot, a few hours of press, rehearsal, management meeting, food, shower, change, red carpet, movie premiere, show, appearance at a VIP event, possibly more press.”
“Wow, that’s a busy day.” She looked up at me, a cloud in her eyes. “I’m feeling super nervous about what my role in all of this is going to be, but I’m going to suck it up.”
“Yeah. At first this stuff is hard to get used to.” I rubbed my hand up and down her arm, hoping to soothe her. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it with Jace. Most of the day you can just chill here, go shopping or go to the spa. Sergey will be at your disposal until it’s time to leave for the premiere.”
“I’m so glad Jace stepped in. It didn’t seem like the publicists had our best interest in mind. I’m not sure what I did to Sienna, but she clearly has a problem with me.” I tried to keep my expression neutral, but her observation made me internally cringe.
Something about how Sienna was acting about Zoey was bothering me too. “I wish I had paid more attention to that stuff. I always allowed other people to handle my business. In some ways, I buried my head in the sand. Look how well that’s worked out. I’ve gotten so much bad press over the years.”
Too late now.
“I didn’t trust what they were trying to do.” Zoey rested her head on her hand, watching me. “I’m not going to interfere in your band business, don’t worry. No need for me to be a heartless bitch and a Yoko.”
“You’re not interfering in band business. It’s our business. I’ll talk to Jace, but it’s probably time to find another company to do our PR.”
Because I need to keep Sienna away from Zoey.
“Well, it was never fun to see you in the press back then.” Zoey stuck out her tongue and made a gagging sound. “I always knew it wasn’t really you.”
“Zoey, we both have to acknowledge that it was me for a while.” I frowned. “I know that’s hurtful to you but trying to pretend my past doesn’t exist isn’t going to help us move on together.”
Zoey’s expression was priceless, pursed lips and a cocked eyebrow.
“Z, I know I’ve been super defensive about it with you, but the press is going to dig all of that up again. Wait and see. You’ll get it thrown in your face, so I’ll suck it up too. I’d rather take the brunt of it to protect you. Us. I know how to handle it.” I wanted to remove her from the situation as much as possible, for so many reasons.
Zoey shut her eyes and sighed as if deep in thought, and we remained silent for a few minutes. “How this goes down is important to me, Ty. You don’t need to do this alone, I’ll be by your side no matter what.”
“Well, today was a shitshow so let’s put it behind us.” I enfolded her into my body. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We should get some sleep. Welcome to the glamorous world of LTZ.”
“This suite and the private jet were pretty fucking spectacular.” Zoey poked me playfully.
“Come here.” I caressed her face and rested my forehead against hers.
“Am I going to be a problem, Ty?” Zoey stroked the hair at the nape of my neck. “Tell me the truth.”
“Never. You’re my solution, not a problem.” I lightly gripped her head in both hands and pulled her lips to mine, losing myself in the deliciousness of my tongue sliding against hers. It was time to get lost in each other and forget about the outside world for a while.
“I’m exhausted.” Zoey stood and held her hand out to me. We moved into the bedroom to get ready for bed. Side by side in the big en suite bathroom, we brushed our teeth. I dug out a hairband from my shaving kit and handed it to her. She wound her hair in a top knot and rubbed cream on her face and neck, taking care to rub it in all over.
She caught me staring at her in the vanity mirror and flashed me a radiant smile. “What?”
“Ahh, butterfly. All of this is going to be okay. I love you so, so much.”
“Then show me.” Zoey danced out of the room. “Take me to bed, big guy.”
After I passionately demonstrated just how much I loved her, we snuggled in a cocoon of luxurious hotel linens and fluffy pillows. Soon, she was fast asleep, her arm wound around my waist, her legs tangled together with mine. I felt safe, satiated, and content in our hotel bubble, knowing that nothing would tear us apart if we stuck together.
By mid-morning the next day, after a quick band meeting focused on the production side of things, the four of us were headed to the venue where our photoshoot was set up. I’d been relieved that the paparazzi shots from the day before were fairly innocuous. You couldn’t really even see Zoey, it just looked like Jace and I were annoyed at being ambushed. Which was the truth, so no harm done.
The Instagram post? That was another story. Already we had over three million likes because the image had gone viral. The cat was out of the bag. Everyone knew who Zoey was. We’d turned off the comments on the post, but since all of our individual accounts were tagged, we began to get an idea of how the LTZ universe was taki
ng it. It was the usual mix of supportive fans and assholes. I decided to text my girl before I’d get sucked under with the photoshoot and interview chaos.
Ty: u up?
Zoey: just had breakfast
Ty: nice. Heads up our pic is at 3 million hits
Zoey: yeah and I have 300,000 followers holy shit
Ty: u ok?
Zoey: think I’ll stay inside today
Ty: thought u were shopping
Zoey: dunno
Ty: up to you, just make sure Sergey is with you
Zoey: I keep forgetting about him
Ty: just enjoy your day I’ll be back as soon as I can
Zoey: sounds good r u super busy
Ty: Y have photoshoot now
Zoey: the camera loves you, so do i
Ty: love you more
The car pulled into the service entrance and since none of us had the patience for hair and makeup, we headed straight to the studio. Jace clapped his hand on my shoulder. I stopped because he clearly wanted to hold me back from the others for a minute.
“Dude, level with me. Did you have something going with Sienna?”
“Fuck no.” I scowled at him.
He scrolled through his tablet and handed it to me. “Ty, I mean it. You need to let me know if something ever happened.” Jace gestured to a picture of me and Sienna on her Instagram that was a few years old. In it, I was clearly wasted. Our arms were slung over each other’s shoulders and I was licking her face.
“I don’t remember seeing this.” I hung my head. My skin crawled, and I felt like I was about to be sick. I hated seeing evidence of myself drunk and stupid.
“So, it’s possible you fucked her at some point?” Jace glowered at me.
I diverted my attention, unable to look him in the eye.
“Ty, look, I’m not judging. We’ve all fucked around, but I’m trying to get on top of something that I have no idea how to fix.” Jace sighed heavily. “If Sienna and Andrew go rogue, this is going to get out. What are you going to say to Zoey?”
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