by Claire Adams
"Don't be so sure about that. Being in a relationship can be even harder than getting into one," I said, only half joking as Sam handed me the drink loser-boy had just bought for her. I swallowed it down with gusto, making Sam blink with surprise. She handed me the Mai Tai the previous loser had bought for her, too.
Normally, I wasn't much of a drinker, so I knew I had to be careful how much I consumed or I would get sick. Today had been such a strain, however, I was willing to throw caution to the wind and downed the fruity beverage in just a couple of gulps.
"What's the matter? You and Mick have a fight?" Sam leaned closer on her barstool, intrigued. She loved gossip, especially of the romantic nature.
"Not so much me and Mick, as Mick and my boss." I told her the whole story about how I went to the studio for Speed Magazine that morning ready to work, only to find the building locked. "There was no note, nothing. So, I went home and found out that my cell had been shut off by the phone company. So, if the cover shoot had been rescheduled, I wouldn't even have known about it. Mick and I were arguing about it, when suddenly my psycho boss Ethan breaks down our apartment door and punches Mick right in the face. Ethan tells me that the cover shoot was rescheduled for Friday and he wanted to tell me personally, which instantly had Mick suspicious. So, he got Ethan to confess that he's obsessed with me. He's been stalking me for the past week."
"Oh my God," Sam gasped as another loser with slicked back hair and a low-cut shirt bought us another round of Mai Tais. "So what did you do?"
"I kicked him out and locked the door. I haven't heard from him since." I sipped my drink slowly, already feeling the room start to spin. This was more to drink than I'd had in a month, let alone an hour.
"What's going to happen with the job? Are you still going to do it on Friday?"
"Well, Mick and I have been talking about that all day. He thinks I should still do it. After all, why should I lose a huge modeling contract just because the CEO is a stalker? Plus, Mick thinks I could even pressure him into paying me more money to keep what happened quiet."
"You probably could. The owner of a huge company like that wouldn't want the negative publicity, and if you sued him, you could get a fortune."
"I don't feel right doing that. It feels sleazy, like blackmail. I'd rather just do the modeling job I was contracted for and earn the money I'd been promised legally and honestly. Besides, I love the work and this could be the big break that launches my career up to a whole new level — if I even still have the job."
"Do you think Ethan would fire you over what happened?"
"He may. The whole thing got pretty ugly. I told him he was a sicko and that if I ever saw him again, I would call the police. Then, I pushed him in the chest over and over until I shoved him right out the door. I don't see how he couldn't fire me."
"Well, until you get it in actual writing, just act like the job is yours and go to the shoot on Friday. You earned that cover spot, and you might as well do it. I have to ask, though, what on earth caused Ethan to punch Mick in the first place?"
"Mick and I were having an argument over money. I guess it got pretty loud. When Ethan came to see me, he heard it and literally broke the door down. Mick had his hands on my shoulders, and Ethan pulled him off me and punched him in the face. I guess he was protecting me. Mick can be pretty intense when he's angry, but Ethan was calm and in control. It was pretty impressive the way he burst in and knocked Mick flat on his ass, and for a moment, I was relieved to see him.
“Then, when I found out Ethan had come over because he'd been obsessing over me, I felt scared. The things he said were really intense, and I could see from the look in his eyes that he meant them. No one has ever thought about me that much, not even Mick or my own family, so why would this stranger? It scared me, and I suddenly wanted to get as far away from him as I could. I wanted to get back to what I used to. To what was normal."
"What's that? Being utterly ignored?" Sam was joking, but her words hit the mark a little too accurately. In my drunken state, I started to feel sick and little sad.
"Mick doesn't ignore me." I sounded sullen in my defensiveness. "He loves me. We're going to get married just as soon as we get the money."
"I know you are. Mick's a great guy. He's really supportive of your career, at least, a lot more than most guys would be. I wish I had a guy like that."
"I know. He takes care of my money for me. He always tries to get me the best deals for my contracts. He's the best."
In that moment, I couldn't help but think about how Mick was always pushing me to do things I didn't want to do, like get naked for photoshoots, or even trade sex for money. He had even been willing to prostitute me to Ethan earlier that day. Normally, the thought of being treated like a whore made me shiver, but in Ethan's case, he had so much charisma, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Oh, shit. Now I knew I'd had too much to drink. Sam had been handing me all the alcoholic beverages men had been buying for her that evening, and I'd been drinking them. Now the room was spinning in circles and it was clearly time for me to go home.
"Listen, I have to get back to the apartment. Mick will be waiting for me. He hates being left home alone. He needs me to do all the cooking, cleaning, and make all the money to pay our bills. He'd be lost without me, and that's why we're perfect for each other," I said, hearing the slur in my own words as I clutched at the bar, trying to keep upright.
"I'll have the bartender call you a cab," Sam said. "I want to stay a little longer and see if I can meet my prince charming."
"You will. There's a prince for you out there, too. Someone handsome, rich, and brave, with a sexy smile and stormy eyes. Someone who will take care of you, who worries about your safety, and doesn't drive too fast or leave you alone. Someone who makes you feel alive, beautiful, and free. Someone who is patient and kind, and allows you to learn at the pace that's comfortable for you, while still encouraging you to push the limits and try new things.
“Someone who takes the time to want to know everything about you, even memorizing your résumé and the lines of your portfolio. Someone who will fight his way through a locked door if he thinks you're in danger. Someone who will drive all the way across town just to make sure you get an important message and is truly disappointed if he thinks he won't get to see you. Someone whose every thought is of you."
I didn't realize what I was even talking about anymore, just that Ethan's face was in my mind as Sam helped me to a cab and gave the driver my address. When I got home, I saw that Mick had repaired our apartment door and was sleeping on the couch, surrounded by beer cans. I crashed into bed alone, dreaming of motorcycles and princes, and someone I never knew I wanted.
Chapter Seven
Ethan
"Are you alone? I had hoped you would bring a date." My Mother peered around me as if she expected someone else to be standing on the front porch beside me.
I bit my tongue and refused to make the retort that was burning the inside of my mouth. If my father hadn't been standing beside her, I would have said it: “No, Mother; having dates over has always been your thing, not mine.” But the cruel reminder of her many infidelities would have hurt my Dad too much, and she had already done that enough. I never understood why he took her back after she abandoned us, but I wanted to support him in any decisions he made, so even after all these years, I kept silent.
"Welcome home, son." Dad hugged me warmly, and I returned the embrace. He was thin now, gaunt from the sick liver he'd gotten from being an alcoholic. A lot of people said I should stop trying to fix him, that it was up to him to heal himself, but I always blamed my Mother. If she hadn't broken his heart all those years ago, the rest of his organs wouldn't have followed suit.
Now he had liver damage, just one kidney, and his eyes were failing him. Soon, I'd have to pay for him to have around the clock care, and Mom would be free to have her lovers over in broad daylight without him even knowing. It was just another reminder why I was determined
to stay single: marriage killed, it was a plain and simple fact. I was never going to let a woman have my heart and destroy me like my father had let my mother do — even someone as mesmerizing as Kayla Brandt.
"Dinner is ready. We were wondering if we should start without you, since you're late again as usual," my mother chided as we entered the dining room of the house I bought for them and sat down at the elegantly laid table.
"Sorry, I had a problem at work that required my attention."
Mother looked vaguely concerned as the maid served our plates. "Nothing wrong with the new motorcycle line, I hope. What are you calling it? U.S.A?"
"The All-American." My father knew the answer. He and I were still very close and talked almost every day. He was my sounding board for any major decisions I made on the bikes. He was the one who originally taught me how to ride, which is how I got assigned to the motorcycle division at Krueger to begin with.
Shaking my head, I said to them, "No, the new line of the All-American is perfect. We've already got a hundred thousand coming off the factory lines and ready to be sent to the dealers. This had to do with marketing. We're going to feature it on the cover of next month's Speed Magazine, and I want the perfect model to showcase the bike and give readers that all-American feeling I want them to have when they see it. It's the image of the whole line, and very important. So, any little hiccup and I need to give it my full attention."
"So what was the hiccup?" Mother's keen intuition sensed it involved something more than just accounting figures or scheduling conflicts.
"The model we hired for the cover shoot. We couldn't get a hold of her to tell her it had been rescheduled."
"Well, that's easy enough to resolve. Just hire someone else. If this girl can't be reliable enough to keep in contact with you, then fire her." Mother's cold and callous attitude made my blood boil, but I kept my anger in check.
"It's not as easy as that. This girl is the one I want for the cover; no one else even comes close to having her beauty, innocence, and appeal. She is a natural blonde, not one of those bad bleach jobs, and everything else about her is natural, too. She has the most enormous blue eyes, the color of a tropical bay, and her face is like an angel’s. I never saw anybody convey such sweetness and have such a wholesome girl-next-door vibe, while still being sexy as hell. Every guy out there is going to want her and every girl is going to want to be her. The whole world is going to love her."
"It sounds like you already do," Mom said knowingly. "You must be tired of going home to that empty mansion of yours in Beverly Hills and not have anyone to talk you every morning at the breakfast table. Don't you want a wife to share your life with, to take vacations with, and to share the joys of your success with? Stop playing the field with a different date at every party. I want to see my son fall in love and get married. You deserve it."
"Don't start with me and the whole falling in love and getting married thing." We'd had this fight a million times and I was already out of patience for the topic. "I'm interested in Kayla purely on a business level. It will be good for the company if she is the cover girl for our next issue of Speed Magazine, and if readers associate her with our new bike, sales will go through the stratosphere. It's all about money."
"I don't know, son. I think your mother was onto something," my father chimed in. Usually he was so quiet at these dinners, and I was the one trying to get him to join the conversation. Now, I was suddenly hoping he'd butt out. "I saw the way your eyes lit up when you talk about that girl. It's the same way I feel when I talk about your mother."
"Yeah, but Kayla is nothing like Mom. She's loyal to a fault. This boyfriend of hers is a complete asshole, and she's been sticking by him for five years now. You should see the way he treats her. I had to punch the son-of-a-bitch out, and even when he treated like a whore, she still chose him over me. I guess in that one way she is like Mom: she was always willing to pick any guy over me, too."
"That's enough, son," my father stood up from the table in a rage, and I knew I'd gone too far. "I won't have you talking about your mother that way. Sure, we had our rough times when you were growing up, but all couples do. We worked our problems out and I forgave her. One day, you'll have to forgive her, too."
"Maybe then you'll settle down with a girl and get married. I so much want to have grandchildren before I die," my mother chimed in, but it was more than I could take.
"Forget it. I'm never going to expose an innocent child to that kind of misery. Love is a farce, and marriage never ends in happily ever after. It's the one lesson I learned from you two that I don't need to repeat on my own. I've lost my appetite. Goodbye."
I strode from the table, nearly running into the maid and knocking her over as I stormed out of the house. I was furious because they had come so close to the mark.
I had been feeling lately like I was tired of living alone, and I did feel something special for Kayla. Was it love? Was I willing to consider settling down with someone, or at least having a relationship? With Kayla, I thought maybe I was and that, more than anything my parents had said, struck at the very heart of me. I was nervous, scared, and that made me angry. More than that, I was happy, excited, and full of hope.
This Friday, I would get to see Kayla again when she came to the studio for the cover shoot. It would be my one chance to win her over and get her to see that I wasn't a crazy stalker, just a man who wanted to be with her. I just hoped she didn't quit after everything had happened.
If she did, I would leave the company to go searching for her. I would give up my career, my money, everything. I suddenly understood my father so much more than I ever had, and why he was willing to stand by my mother through anything. I already felt that way about Kayla after just one afternoon together. I didn't want to admit it even to myself, but I was already too far gone to ever give her up.
Chapter Eight
Kayla
"Welcome, Miss Brandt. They're waiting for you in hair and make-up whenever you're ready. We'll save fitting you into wardrobe for last. I’m Margie, and I'll be your personal assistant."
The young intern was fresh faced and perky with her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing a cheap suit comprised of black polyester. At first, I had been nervous about coming to the studio that morning. Was it really a good idea to go through with the modeling job and risk seeing Ethan again? Did I even still have a job? But seeing how empty my checking account had become and knowing that rent was right around the corner prompted me to go through with it. Not to mention, Mick's gentle urgings.
"Do it, baby. We need the cash, and if that asshole bothers you again, just let me know and I'll kick his ass," he had said as I stood in front of my bedroom mirror fussing about what to wear and if I should even go at all.
The thought of Mick beating up Ethan had made me laugh. If my memory served correctly, the ass kicking had gone the other way around the last time, but it would have hurt Mick's pride to say so aloud, so I kept thought to myself.
"Does that mean you're coming to the cover shoot with me?" I asked hopefully.
Mick had gone to my couple modeling jobs. He'd sit in the back, smiling at me encouragingly, and make sure I was being treated right. He'd fetch me water when I got thirsty and hand me a robe between changes in lighting and set design. He made me feel special and it gave me the confidence boost I needed to make it through the shoot.
Lately though, he didn't seem that interested. In fact, a lot of times he didn't even bother to drive me there or pick me up and I had to take the city bus. Mick claimed he needed the car in case he got called in for a job interview, but I never understood why he couldn't just leave from the studio if necessary. Still, I hated to argue with him, so I didn't say anything.
"I'd love to go with you, baby, but I think I got an in on a job this afternoon. That friend of yours Samantha said they're looking for a bar-back at the club where she dances. I'm meeting her when her shift gets off and she's going to introduce me to the owner. This wil
l be solid money for us, baby."
"That's great. Congratulations," I kissed him happily. "So I guess I should just take the bus to work."
"Yeah, I guess so. You don't mind, do you, baby?"
"Of course not." I smiled at him like I always did when I was disappointed, and somehow, he always believed I was happy.
When I got to the studio, I half expected it to be locked again, but they were open and the place was bustling with activity inside. Everything looked high-end and everyone seemed so professional, unlike most of my modeling jobs for Mick's business partners. I wasn't sure if I was relieved or even more anxious because of it.
Then, Margie greeted me and my fears melted away. She was so friendly and accommodating, she made me feel like a star. Plus, Ethan was nowhere in sight.
"Can I get you anything? Sparkling water, a latte, or something to eat? Do you want me to read you the L.A. Times while you're in the salon chair?" Margie talked fast and moved even faster.
"Just some flat water would be great, and perhaps some music to listen to. Something upbeat," I said, and within moments, my desires were granted. It was an amazing feeling to be so indulged and I reveled in it. The studio hairdresser styled my long, blonde tresses into fabulously thick waves that curled around my face, framing it perfectly. Somehow she managed to give my normally thin strands endless volume, making my hair sexy and lush, while still appearing soft and having the lightness to flow in the wind. It was amazing.
The make-up artist gave me a smoky-eye look in more natural shades of dark brown that was quite alluring, while keeping my lips such a soft shade of pink they appeared natural with just a hint of glossy shine. The overall affect was sexy without being slutty, intimate without being intimidating.
"What do you think, Mr. Colson?" I heard Margie ask. I looked up into the mirror to see Ethan standing in the back of the room.