by Vera Roberts
“I don’t want his money,” Sydney defended.
“Then don’t keep it when you take it!” Sarah mocked. “Give it to charity. Set up an art school, do whatever you want with it. It doesn’t matter. You need to let Dean know your emotions are not to be played with.”
“You have a point,” Sydney sipped her wine.
“Have you seen the pictures?” Sarah asked. “You might as well if there’s a chance everyone else is going to see them.”
Sydney motioned to the kitchen countertop. “Right over there.”
“You had those pictures out the moment I came in and now you’re telling me?” Sarah hurried up and rushed over to the manila envelope. “Bitch, I could slap you.”
Sydney followed her best friend, watched Sarah pull out the pictures, and studied them as if she were examining a specimen in science class. “That’s definitely Dean, all right.” She looked closely at another photo. “And that’s definitely Rebecca’s cottage cheese dusty ass.”
“Cottage cheese?” Sydney studied the photo of Rebecca on top of Dean. In hi-definition clarity, was a perfect picture of her dimpled ass. “Oh my God.”
“Yeah, baby got Knudsen with her SpongeBob SquarePants ass,” Sarah rolled her eyes, “she hired someone to take these pictures thinking she can put one over on you with her dirty sock-built ass. Fake-ass titties makes me think she was holding Professor X hostage with her helium balloon-built ass.” Sarah turned back to Sydney. “You’re threatened by this?”
“She had Dean for a week,” Sydney’s breathy voice was small, “what am I supposed to think?”
“And you have him for life, Sydney,” Sarah put the rest of the pictures away, “Rebecca and her salty-ass tears with her dry-ass non-dick sucking lips will have to deal. Now, when is your art show taking place?”
“In a few weeks,” Sydney replied, “if this doesn’t work, her photos are going to ruin us.”
“But if your art show is successful,” Sarah’s eyes twinkled, “you’re about to catapult into superstardom. Have you heard of Caleb Kelly?”
Sydney shrugged. “The football player that’s protesting?”
“Yeah, him,” Sarah nodded, “I have an idea you could use for your show.”
~~~~~
“Thank you for meeting with me today,” Samuel began as Dean entered his Downtown L.A. office. “I heard back from Sydney’s lawyer and she had some amendments to the prenuptial agreement.”
“Oh?” Dean sat down in front of Samuel’s desk. “What is she asking for?”
“Five thousand a month for shopping; a million for each year you are married; whatever she brought into the marriage remains hers and same for you; whatever you two make together will be put in a joint trust fund for whatever children you should have, adopted or otherwise. Whatever gifts you give to Sydney during your marriage will be hers to keep, including the engagement ring. And finally,” Samuel slid the document over to Dean, “should you cheat on her, it will cost you five million dollars for each offense. Should she cheat on you, the prenuptial agreement becomes null and void and she won’t be entitled to anything other than child support, should you have children together.”
Dean was surprised by the language in the prenup and knew it had more to do with Sydney’s anger than covering her potential losses. He briefly wondered if it was Sydney’s insistence on the prenuptial terms or if Ian once again whispered in her ear.
Still, the fact she wanted to be with Dean wasn’t lost on him. He would give her everything and more. “Give her whatever she wants,” Dean repeated, “if that’s what my girl wants, that’s what she’ll have.”
~~~~~
Elissa Rodriguez had seen more than her fair share of scandal in her fifty-plus years on Earth.
If she tried hard enough, she couldn’t think of one that was truly scandalous. The Bible-quoting football player who had a penchant for gay twink sex? Maybe. The Congressman who couldn’t stop sending dick picks to every woman, legal and underage? That was a close.
She could think of the celebrity mom who siphoned a hundred thousand dollars from the local PTA because she wanted her child to have a nice birthday party? Or maybe it was the professional athlete who missed out on a children’s charity function because he was enjoying group sex with porn stars?
Maybe. But one that topped them all? Elissa really couldn’t think of it. They all involved sex, lust, and politics in some form and watching the news at night proved to be better than some of the trashy romance novels she read during her lunch break.
It wasn’t a surprise to her when the PR and advertising firm she worked for, McCormick, Reed, and Sheppard, were assigned to deal with a potential scandal involving star athlete Dean Winchester and reality bitch Rebecca MacDonald. As Elissa perused the pictures, she shook her head. Rebecca, for her shitty attitude, had a killer bod and Elissa could see why she wanted the pictures released. They even made Elissa want to join a gym.
She could do without the dimpled butt Rebecca had. That wasn’t flattering at all. “What do you think?” She asked her boss.
Scott Reed scoured through the pictures and shrugged. “Desperate times call for desperate actions.”
“You can’t even bring yourself to give her a compliment?” Elissa prodded. “She does have a nice body, you have to admit.”
“Too skinny,” the Southerner replied, “and not really my type.”
“Oh, I’m very aware of who your type is,” Elissa smiled and Scott matched hers with his own. “Speaking of your type, where is the wifey today?”
“Business meeting in Atlanta followed by dinner with my family,” Scott’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Oh, that should be very entertaining considering the last one,” Elissa grinned.
“I’ll expect my phone to ring off the hook from all sides tonight,” he grumbled, “but this is important first. Is everyone here?”
“They’re all here,” Elissa replied, “they’re in the Scandal room.”
“Appropriate room for this,” Scott got up and grabbed his note pad and coffee, “this should be entertaining. Come with. You might like this.”
“I couldn’t think of anything else I would rather do.”
Scott and Elissa went to the Scandal conference room where they met by Ian, Dean, Sydney, Sydney’s lawyer, and Samuel. “Thank you, everyone, for meeting with me on such short notice. I’ll get straight to the point here. Obviously, we have a bit of an issue on our hands here and we need to placate this before it gets out in the open. Dean, does Rebecca know you’ve seen the pictures?”
“She has no clue,” he shook his head.
“Does she know you have a copy of said pictures?” Scott asked and Dean shook his head. “Has she been in contact with you at all?”
“She’s attempted but I’ve ignored her phone calls,” Dean squeezed Sydney’s hand, “I’ve made it clear I want nothing to do with her.”
“Okay,” Scott paused as he thought about a possible solution, “Sydney, when’s your art show?”
“October 10th,” she answered, “it’s coming up very soon.”
“It is and that brings me to my next point. I’m going to suggest something I’ve never suggested to any client and I certainly hope this is the first and last request of it.” Scott said.
Sydney and Dean glanced at each other before their attention back to Scott. “We’re all ears, man,” Dean replied, “we’re willing to listen to anything at this point.”
Scott leaned back in his leather chair and casually folded his hands in front of his waist. “Have you two considered a sex tape?”
“Say what?” Dean asked.
“It won’t be a porn tape if that’s what you’re thinking,” Scott clarified, “it’ll be something that’s sexy and won’t be confused for a sex tape.”
“Like a performance art piece?” Ian asked.
“That’s exactly what I had in mind,” Scott replied, “the focus will be entirely on Sydney, though you will be featured in some shots
as well, Dean.”
“What would I be doing?” Sydney asked.
“We’re going to tape you doing your art. What inspires you, what motivates you, and what thrills you. We’ll record the good and bad so everyone can see you’re human, even though you’re magical. It’ll be an introductory piece leading up to your art show opening night.”
“The guest list is quite impressive, already.” Ian added. “Many heavy hitters from the art world as well as a lot of celebrity A-listers will be there. We only have a few tickets left.”
“A few tickets?” Sydney turned to him. “Out of how many?”
“Oh, I say a thousand, easily.” Ian shrugged.
“A thousand?” Sydney’s eyes widened like small child in a toy store.
“I don’t know about this,” Dean rubbed his beard, “I just signed that huge deal with Nike and I don’t think they’re going to like this.”
“If it’s a sex tape, they’ll frown upon it but they’re not dropping you. If they can stand by Kobe and his rape allegations and Tiger with his numerous porn whores, they’ll stand by you.” Scott replied. “But time is running out. I need an answer about this within the next 24 hours so I can make the proper arrangements.”
Dean felt more was on the line instead of his reputation and endorsements. If this idea didn’t work, he would lose the only thing important to him – Sydney. “Let’s do it, then.”
Seventeen
What do you see when you look at me?
Do you see a man who’s on path to being the greatest hockey athlete of all time?
Do you see a man who’s won several championships in a row for his team?
Do you see a man who gives back to his community?
Three Stanley Cups.
Four MVP awards.
Or do you see a pretty boy?
Is your only focus on my hair and not what I do on the ice?
Tell me…what do you see?
Rebecca turned off the TV as Dean’s ad went off the air. She’d watched it no less than twenty times already. As predicted, the Internet went nuts over Dean’s new look with a mixed reaction from some hardcore fan girls who complained Dean ruined their real-life Thor fantasy.
Dean was gorgeous. The different look gave him a darker and sexier feel. There was a bit more of an edge to him now. He encapsulated the ultimate bad boy fantasy that resided in so many women’s minds. It didn’t hurt he was mostly shirtless in the ad, with the camera angle hinting he might have been naked.
As Rebecca scoured the web to search for updates on Dean, she found nothing. Even his precious Sydney was unusually quiet. Good. Maybe it meant they were finally done. Maybe Sydney just kept Dean’s bed warm for Rebecca before she could return.
It didn’t matter. Rebecca knew a sure-fire way to get Dean’s attention again. As she geared up for her season premiere in a few weeks, she knew it was going to coincide with Dean’s season opener with the Kings.
And what better promotion for herself than to see everyone how she took Dean in bed?
Of course, she couldn’t do it on her own. The pictures would have to be leaked somehow. What was the best way to get the pictures leaked and without someone else’s assistance?
The idea struck Rebecca like a lightning bolt – the Cloud. She would claim it was stolen from her Cloud service and people would believe her because stuff gets stolen from there all of the time.
It was a brilliant plan and rather failsafe. No one would be able to trace the leak back to her and she would be in the clear.
Rebecca looked at the time and gathered her things. If she was going to show her body off to the world, it was time get it in at the gym.
~~~~~
Mariana Harlow entered her boyfriend/boss’s office at McCormick, Reed, and Sheppard. He stood in front of his windows that revealed a spectacular sight of Los Angeles. His hands were in his pockets as he took in the sights and some sounds of L.A.
Mariana knew whenever Scott faced the windows, he was always in deep thought and it was best to leave him be until he spoke. She never knew if his thoughts were about work, sports, or what deviant sexual act he wanted to experiment on her that night. After a few days’ break, Mariana really hoped it was the last one.
“I called you in to talk to you as your boss,” Scott paused, “and potentially as your boyfriend.”
Mariana’s eyebrows shot up. Whenever Scott said something like that, it meant he was about to do a campaign that would make her jealousy go into full swing. “Oh?”
Scott blew out a quiet breath before he turned to face her. “I’ve been given the task to jump ahead on a story before it gets messy.”
“Who does it concern?” She asked.
“Dean Winchester and his fiancée, Sydney Walker.” He replied. “And I suggested to Dean and Sydney we do something to take the potential messiness out.”
Mariana tried to read Scott’s eyes but there weren’t telling anything. “What did you suggest?”
“A sex tape,” he spoke as if she asked what time it was, “so, I was wondering from a female perspective if you want to be on set when the performance art takes place?”
Mariana’s mouth dropped open. “I get to watch Dean Winchester have sex?” Her smile was wide and showed all of her teeth.
Scott was a bit uncomfortable with how excited his girlfriend was seeing another man naked. It was a soft blow to his ego. “Now, you don’t have to be there…”
“I get to watch them fuck!” Mariana shot out of her chair and bounced in her Manolo Blahniks. “Oh my gosh! I get to see it in person! I get to see him in person!” She paced Scott’s office. “I wonder if the legend of his cock is true?”
“Okay, you know I’m still right here?” Scott watched her.
Mariana laid down on the sofa and bounced in it. “I get to see my fantasy in person! This is so exciting!”
Scott crinkled his eyes and briefly pointed to himself before he relaxed his stance. “What?”
“Oh, I see you all the time!” Mariana brushed him off. “Dean is like Thor!”
Scott swallowed his pride and joined his girlfriend on the sofa. “So, would you be interested? It won’t be like a play party. You’ll have to be very professional. You’ll be Sydney’s liaison. Bobby is going to direct it. I’m thinking about calling Nick and Zerrin to get their input as well. We need to make this look like a performance art piece and not a sex tape. It has the potential of making a lot of money and taking Sydney to heights above and beyond.” He watched Mariana’s face. She still seemed like she was in a daze. “So, are you in?”
Mariana sat up with wide eyes and a wider smile. “I get to watch Thor fuck!”
“I take that as a yes.”
~~~~~
“Have you ever been up here?” Dean snuggled his fiancée from behind.
“No,” Sydney looked around at the Griffith Observatory. She saw all of Los Angeles and was amazed by the sight. They had a tour of the solar system before watching a small film on the big bang theory. Now they were alone, observing nature. “This is so wonderful.”
“I thought you would like it and maybe it’ll inspire you.” Dean kissed Sydney’s neck. She smelled like peaches and strawberries and suddenly he was hungry for them. “How are you feeling?”
“I think you’re right. Coming up here has helped me a lot,” she sniffled, “it’s definitely helped with my summer cold.”
“I mean about the other stuff,” he added, “I know things have been crazy between us.”
“I wasn’t happy at first. To be perfectly honest, I was hella pissed.” Sydney paused for a moment. “And then I realized this will benefit both of us as long as we stopped her.”
“I don’t love her, Syd,” Dean’s voice came out as pleading, “I didn’t even like her half the time. I kept her around because I felt obligated after everything she’d done for me. Now I realize she just used me.”
“It’s not even that that makes me upset.” Sydney shook her head. “I just…I just
don’t want to look like a fool in front of the world. I don’t want to go online and see people talk about how you’re with some chick in Atlanta or some hoodrat in Detroit while I’m here in L.A painting away like nothing’s a matter. I don’t want to look like boo-boo the fool.”
“And you won’t,” Dean turned her to face him, “Sydney, I have never wanted another woman since we’ve been together. And it’s crazy because I was never that type to be tied down to just one. Not even in high school. And yet, here am I, willing to give up everything – my cars, my homes, my fortune – just so I can be with you.
“I’ve thought about us and everything we’ve gone through in the almost-year we’ve been together and I finally realized you’re my first love. You’re my true love. I never said I love you to another woman before I met you because I wanted it to be honest and with someone I was passionate about. I don’t take those three little words lightly and I don’t think anyone should for that matter.
“I’m completely raw and naked with you, Syd. I’m willing to embarrass myself in front of the universe to be in solidarity with you,” Dean kissed her forehead, “and I know that last proposal was shitty on epic proportions so here’s a better one.” He kneeled down on one knee and glanced up at his fiancée. “You’re the moon and my stars. You’re my hopes and dreams. Every day with you is like Christmas morning. I would be honored, for the rest of my life, if I were your husband. Sydney Rose, would you marry me?”
Sydney’s eyes watered and she quickly blinked as they fell down her cheeks. “I will! Now and forever!”
Dean stood up, hugged her, and kissed her temple. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too, baby.” Sydney whispered back. “But I don’t want to wait.” She glanced up at Dean. “The prenup is signed, and we can have a big fancy wedding next year.”
“What are you saying?” He asked. “You want to get married soon?”
“No,” Sydney shook her head, “I want to get married tonight.”