Then, it hit me. Brenda Locklear. Garrett’s long-time girlfriend. Or, ex-girlfriend, based on the tabloids. The breakup had started Garrett’s tailspin into drinking and out-of-control behavior. I hadn’t asked him about it, because I hadn’t thought it was any of my business.
I swallowed, and nodded. “Okay.” I didn’t really want to hear any of it. I just wanted her to leave. Wasn’t this place swarming with security? How had she gotten in?
Her eyes blazed again. “No, not ‘okay.’ Did you know I was pregnant with his child? I had to get an abortion.” Her voice caught on the last word and my eyes widened. “Yeah,” she continued, seeing my expression. “They didn’t write about that in the tabloids, did they? They just called me a whore and then went on to the next big story.”
“Did… did Garrett ask you to…” I hesitated. “To terminate the pregnancy?”
Please say no, please say no, please say no.
“He didn’t have to.” Her voice broke again, and then she took a deep breath and regained control over her features. Her eyes were blazing with anger.
“I don’t care who you are, but I’m telling you this. If you don’t stay away from him, they’ll write worse things about you than they did about me. I’m going to be very clear with you: Garrett does not play tonight at the Grammys. He doesn’t go on stage, he doesn’t have his big launch party. Otherwise that sexy little photo you sent him will be plastered on every front page of every newspaper and website in the country.”
My eyes widened as my heart started beating furiously. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. She looked at me with contempt dripping from every pore and brushed past me. I was breathless, shaking with emotion as I tried to understand what the hell was happening.
She knew about the photo. She’d seen it. How?!
With trembling hands, I pulled out my phone and dialed Garrett. He answered with a sexy growl.
“Miss me already, do you?”
“How the fuck did your ex-girlfriend get the photos I sent you? And why is she threatening me with them?”
Silence.
“Answer me! Did you send them to her?!”
A thousand questions swirled through my mind. I wanted to ask him about her pregnancy, and about their breakup, and a million other things. But right now, the only thing that mattered was the fact that my near-naked body was about to be plastered on the front page of every tabloid in the country.
“I didn’t send them to her,” he replied. His voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of anger. “She blindsided me.”
“She told me if you played the show tonight, she’d send the photos to every tabloid and website in the country. Do you understand what this means? If you don’t play, my career is over. Marcus will fire me and this whole PR campaign will be a disaster. Your launch will likely flop, so your career will take a hit as well. If you do play, those photos get leaked and my career is over. Either way, I lose.” Tears welled in my eyes and I wavered on my feet. “I should never have gotten involved with you.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“How, Garrett? How are you going to handle it? We have about two hours to deal with this.”
“I’ll call you back.”
The phone clicked, and I crumpled onto a chair. My breath came in short, staggered bursts and I struggled to regain control over my heartbeat.
My career was over. I should never have listened to Cassie, and I should never have given in to my damn body’s insatiable desires.
Garrett wasn’t who I thought he was, and now all he could tell me was that he would ‘handle it’. This was a disaster, and I had no idea how I could possibly come out the other side unscathed.
Chapter 17 - Garrett
Lacie was in the middle of giving my hair that perfectly undone look when I brushed her away. She inhaled sharply, and Maddox growled at me, but I ignored them.
“It’s fine,” I grunted. “I think I’m pretty enough now.”
Carter looked at me, frowning. “Who was that?”
“Morgan. We have a situation.”
Maddox’s aggressive glare turned to concern. “What do you need us to do?”
“Just get ready for the show. I’ll meet you there.”
I rushed out of the hotel that Morgan’s team had booked for us and jumped in the first cab I saw. I gave the driver Brenda’s address, hoping that she would be at home. With trembling hands, I looked through my phone.
How had Brenda gotten access to those photos? They’d stayed on my phone the whole time. I hadn’t sent them to anyone, obviously. I would never do that to Morgan. I’d never do it to any woman, but especially not her. I frowned, looking at every setting and every privacy feature until my eyes widened with surprise.
There was another device used to log in to my account on Wednesday, and then every day this week. The location was Los Angeles, when I had been in New York.
My stomach dropped.
Brenda knew my passwords. We’d dated for five years, how could she not? She must have logged into my account and seen the pictures and then went ballistic. But why would she care so much about the awards show? Why now?
Anger flooded through me. To do this to me was one thing. I’d been on a mission to self-destruct ever since she left me so suddenly, and she hadn’t seemed to care. But now? Now things were going well! And now, this affected Morgan too, and that I couldn’t handle.
The taxi snaked through the streets too slowly as my heart raced.
I pulled the brown envelope out of my pocket and pulled out the pictures. I turned the envelope over for any hint of where it had come from, but it was blank. Then I looked at the pictures one by one. Morgan had only sent me one photo, but I’d sent her five or six.
At least I looked good, as weak a consolation as that was.
I turned the papers over one by one, until my eye caught something on the back of the last photo. It was a letterhead.
I looked at it, frowning. Where had I seen that logo before? There was an address listed below the letterhead and I stared at it for a few moments.
Then, my eyes widened and I jumped. I leaned forward to catch the taxi driver’s attention.
“Hey, change of plans. We’re not going there. Take me to this address.” I read it out to him, and he grunted.
“I’m leaving the meter running.”
“Whatever, man,” I replied. “I’ll give you fifty extra bucks if you get me there in ten minutes.”
The cab driver looked at me in the rear-view mirror and raised his eyebrows, and then shrugged and pressed on the accelerator.
By the time we pulled up outside the nondescript office building in downtown Los Angeles, I was sweating. I checked the time—only an hour until the Grammys were set to start and I was supposed to be on the red carpet. I paid the driver and ran out of the car, bursting through the glass doors as the receptionist yelled after me.
I didn’t slow down until I got to the door marked ‘Marcus Flume: Managing Director’.
“What the fuck is your end game, here,” I said, opening the door to Marcus’ shocked face. He glanced behind me as I shut the door. “What are you trying to prove?”
“Mr. Wood, what are—”
“Don’t fucking ‘Mr. Wood’ me, you prick,” I growled, tenting my fingers on his desk as he leaned back in his chair. I could see the fear in his eyes and knew he wasn’t used to direct confrontation. “What are you doing helping my ex-girlfriend sabotage tonight’s show?”
His face twisted into an evil grin and he started laughing. “So it worked, did it?” He shook his head. “I didn’t think she had it in her. She’s nice to look at, that ex of yours, but she doesn’t exactly inspire confidence to get things done.”
“Trust me, when it comes to doing things to cause me pain, she’s unstoppable.” I leaned forward. “Now, pick up the phone and call her off.”
Marcus crossed his hairy arms over his pot-belly and grinned at me. “Or what?”
“Or I will m
ake sure you never have another client again.”
“And how are you going to do that?”
The rage inside me was all-consuming. It burned hotter when I realized he was right. How would I bring his agency to the ground? I swept my arms over his desk, sending papers and pens and bits of stationary crashing to the ground. Marcus flinched, but he stayed seated.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” he said calmly. “Otherwise I’ll have to call security.”
I let out a yell, bringing my fist down on the desk. “Why Morgan? Leave her out of it, and then I don’t care what pictures you fucking release. But why bring her down too?”
Marcus’ face changed and I saw the resentment burning in his eyes. “She’s getting too much attention from my boss. I don’t like the way he’s talking about her while looking at me like I’m on my way out.”
“So you’re taking her out instead?”
“I’m ending her career, whether you like it or not.”
My blood boiled in my veins. All I wanted to do was smash my fist against his weaselly little face, but I clamped my arms by my side and stalked out of his office. A short, portly woman stopped me as I made for the front door. She had deep blue eyes that were wrinkled with laugh lines, and her hair was streaked with grey. She slipped something into my hand.
“The CEO’s phone number. I’ll back up your story,” she said. “You have grounds to fire this agency, and then Marcus’ head will be the one that rolls.”
I looked at the slip of paper she’d given me, and then back at her.
“What’s your name?”
“Linda.” Her eyes softened. “For what it’s worth, I think you and Morgan make a beautiful couple. She hasn’t been this happy for as long as I’ve known her. I think she needed a bit of rock n’ roll in her life.” Linda swayed her hips from side to side as if she was doing the twist and winked at me.
I chuckled and then shook my head. “Even if I fire you guys and tell the CEO, Marcus will still release that photo of Morgan. He’s vindictive. And where will that leave her?”
Linda took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders. “I do know that your ex wouldn’t give Marcus a copy of the pictures. She said she didn’t trust anyone else to handle them. Use that rock star charm of yours to get them back.” She patted my arm and I grinned.
“You know a lot of what happens around here,” I remarked.
She tapped the side of her nose. “No one notices the administrator, but I’m always here.” She winked. “Now go figure this mess out, Mr. Wood. Morgan deserves it.”
My heart squeezed at her words, and I nodded. All I could do was to try to find Brenda and fix this shitstorm. I got in another cab.
“Where would you like to go, sir?” the driver asked. I chewed my lip. He glanced at me in the rear-view mirror, waiting. “Sir?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “That’s the problem.”
Finally, I took a deep breath. Brenda would want to see me fail. She wouldn’t be hiding at home, or anywhere else. She’d be right there at the show. Brenda would be watching the performance to make sure we wouldn’t go on.
“Take me to the Staples Center.”
“You going to the Grammys?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I am.”
Chapter 18 - Morgan
I paced up and down the dressing room, knowing that the stadium was filling up with guests and celebrities and performers. Soon, The Mondays would arrive, and my fate would be decided. I’d either go down publicly or privately, but either way I’d end up unemployed and dishonored.
If the band didn’t play tonight, I’d have the private shame of having failed my assignment. Marcus would have my head on a stake and I’d be fired, that was certain. If the band did play, my future was even bleaker. My photo would be posted and shared and retweeted everywhere, forever. I’d never escape it.
Tired of pacing, I slumped onto a chair. I pulled out my phone just as Garrett burst through the dressing room door.
I looked up, surprised. He swept his arms around me and held me to his chest, crushing his lips against mine. He kissed me fiercely, never letting me go. I melted into him as tears streamed down my face from the stress and the tension of my afternoon. His hands held me close, and it wasn’t until I stopped trembling that he pulled away. He wiped the tears from my cheeks and held my face in his hands.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Brenda logged into my account while I was in New York. I saw the log-in on my security settings on my phone.”
“She knew your password?”
He sighed. “I’ve changed it now, so it should be okay. Changing my passwords is be the last thing I would have thought of when we broke up.”
“She still has those photos, though.”
Garrett nodded. “Your boss…”
“Marcus was involved?” It all made sense. I’d seen her at our offices. I knew he was trying to make me fail.
But this? This was a new low.
Garrett laid a soft kiss on my lips, still holding my face between his strong, gentle hands. “I won’t play tonight.”
My eyes widened. “But that’ll kill your album launch! If you guys don’t play tonight, you won’t get the exposure you need to rebuild your reputation.”
Garrett chuckled, and I frowned in confusion. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I don’t care. I don’t know how this happened, but I don’t care about any of it. I told you, you’re mine. All I care about is you. I won’t let anyone drag your name through the mud like that.”
“How do you know they won’t release the photos, even if you don’t play? What about the rest of the band?”
“Garrett called us on the way over,” Carter said as he stepped through the door, followed by Maddox, Lacie and Veronica. “You’re one of us, now, Morgan. We won’t let you go through that.”
Tears welled in my eyes again. “You guys would throw away this chance to play at the Grammys just for me? I barely know you!”
“But we know Garrett,” Maddox replied. “And he knows you. We won’t play.”
I opened and closed my mouth like a fish out of water. I shook my head. Would they really do this for me? Garrett looked at his band members, and then at me.
“We are in the market for a new PR company,” he said, a grin sweeping up his lips. “And it looks like you might be in the market for a new job.”
My cheeks flushed and my eyes widened. I shook my head. “How could I…? I wouldn’t have any of the connections, I couldn’t—”
“I see the way people react to you, Morgan. They like you, not the name of the company you represent. And with the biggest rock band in the country as your first client, how could you fail?”
“I have a non-compete agreement. I wouldn’t be able to work for you!”
My heart was racing. Could this work out? Could all my fears be unfounded?
Garrett wrapped his arms around me and laid a soft kiss on my lips. “I have your CEO’s phone number. Something tells me that when I let him know that his Managing Director hacked into my private accounts and tried to blackmail me, he’ll wave the non-compete.”
My heart exploded in my chest. I still couldn’t believe that everything might work out. Garrett kissed me again, and my whole body soared. I melted into him, letting the happiness and relief spread through my chest.
Then, I heard a strange sound, like someone applauding.
Clap… clap… clap…
It was slow and mocking, even just by the sound of it. I turned to see Brenda in the doorway. Her lips were pressed in a thin line and her eyes shot daggers at all of us.
“Congratulations, Garrett, you could win an Oscar for that performance. Have you considered getting into acting? You might be attending the wrong awards ceremony tonight.”
“Brenda,” he snarled. “Aren’t you done trying to ruin my life? What’s in it for you?”
My heart jumped as I felt him stiffen beside me. Brenda straightened herself up, swinging her e
yes from Garrett to me. She shook her head.
“You’re a fool,” she said with pity. My blood turned cold and my stomach sank.
What if she was right? Hadn’t she told me that Garrett had made her terminate her pregnancy? I’d only known him a week! He couldn’t possibly care this much about me!
But… I knew I cared about him. I knew this feeling in my chest was special, and that it was worth nurturing.
Brenda scoffed. “You’re exactly the same man that broke my heart, Garrett. You haven’t changed a bit. Now, you’re going to break this poor girl’s heart too.”
Garrett roared. “I broke your heart?! You left me, remember? Are you delusional?”
“I had no choice!” Her shrill scream made me jump, and Garrett’s hand tightened around my waist. I could feel his pulse racing, and the anger in his eyes burned hotter.
Brenda trembled in the doorway, not letting her eyes drop from Garrett. She lifted her long arm and pointed her long nail at Garrett.
“You made me get rid of my unborn child, Garrett! I’ll never forgive you for that. Ever!”
Garrett’s body went slack. I looked at his face and saw his jaw drop open. He frowned, and took a step forward.
“What?”
“Oh don’t pretend that you didn’t know! Right after I took the pregnancy test, you went in the bathroom and by the time you came back out, you wouldn’t even touch me. I got the message loud and clear.”
Garrett shook his head. “How…? What?”
“You’re a pig.”
“Brenda,” he said softly, shaking his head. “I’ve had a vasectomy.”
Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. Garrett stiffened, his hands balling into fists. “I know you were sleeping with what’s-his-face for months before you broke up with me. I saw the messages. You might have noticed the screenshots of them in my account when you were snooping around. Unless my vasectomy magically undid itself, the baby wasn’t mine, and I never even knew about it.”
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