Release Me

by Farrah Rochon

  Toby laughed. “Why don’t we call it a tie and go find some dessert. You feel like a little peach cobbler from Mother’s Restaurant?”

  “With ice cream?”

  Toby nodded, still rubbing his hands up and down her back. “Anything you want.”

  “That’s a dangerous offer.” Sienna chuckled through another sniff. “I could wipe you out.”

  “I wouldn’t mind. It would serve me right for being so stupid.”

  “Not stupid, just blind,” Sienna told him.

  He raised her chin, staring into brown eyes made luminous by barely shed tears. “Not anymore.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sienna knew something was wrong the minute she walked through the doors of Mulholland, Davis and French. The instant silence and heads turning were a dead giveaway. The pained look on Allen Mulholland’s face as he waited at her office door started the bells to ringing in her head like she’d won the top prize at a carnival.

  “What’s going on, Allen?” she asked as she unlocked her office door.

  “What’s going on?” He did not wait to be invited in. “How do you plan to clean up this mess, Sienna?”

  Uh, if she knew what mess he was talking about maybe she could provide him with an intelligent answer. Sienna had a feeling it was something she should have known, and since she had no idea, she kept quiet.

  She found out just what had Allen so riled up when he plopped a copy of the Gulf Coast Reporter on her desk. Dead center on the front page was a picture of Aria with her skirt hiked up and her legs wrapped around someone who looked extremely familiar.

  The headline read: Rising Star Gets More Practice.

  Sienna read the first line of the story, and her stomach dropped.

  Local singing sensation, Aria Jordan, gets a firsthand taste of how it feels to live the highlife as she spends the night partying with NBA Superstar Isaac Payton.

  Oh, God. Toby’s going to kill him.

  “Sienna,” Allen said, irritation lacing his voice.

  Her cell phone rang.

  “One minute.” She raised a solitary finger. “Hello,” she answered.

  “I’m gonna kill him.”

  Sienna closed her eyes. “Good morning, Toby.”

  “Did you see the paper? I’m gonna kill that bastard.”

  “Toby, my boss is in my office. I’ll call you as soon as we’re done,” she said, and hung up.

  “I’m sorry, Sienna, but you are done,” Allen said.

  “Wait.”

  Allen sliced his hand through the air, silencing her. “I gave you a chance, but the damage control it’s going to take to clean up this mess is way over your head. I cannot allow you to throw away what can be the biggest account this company has ever seen.”

  “But—”

  “It isn’t fair, I know,” Allen continued, his tone softening. “You never know what these music industry types are going to do, but that’s the nature of the business. You’ve got to anticipate things like this happening and have a quick way to counteract.”

  “Then give me the chance to counteract. We don’t even know what the fall out is yet.”

  “Yes, we do. One of the sponsors has already called to pull out. You weren’t even here to field the call, and even if you were, apparently you wouldn’t have known what to do about it because you had no idea something was amiss until I showed you the paper.”

  Sienna felt things spiraling out of control so quickly the whirlwind was giving her a headache. She had guaranteed her damn job! She had to figure out a way to save it.

  “Allen, you cannot take me off this account. No one knows it as well as I do.” He was shaking his head. “Allen!” she screamed.

  The look on her boss’s face told Sienna she’d gone too far.

  “You’ve had your chance, Sienna,” was all he said before he turned and walked out of her office.

  Sienna grabbed the penholder on her desk and sent it flying across the room. She was ready to murder Isaac Payton, and Aria, too, for that matter. What had that girl been thinking?

  She so deserved a minute to wallow in self-pity, but she didn’t have the time. Armed with her internet-compatible Palm Pilot, Sienna closed up her office and hoped to God the locks wouldn’t be changed when she came back later today.

  ***

  Ivana jerked her hand from the antique gold handle and raked it through her hair. She made another attempt to open the door, clenching her teeth as her palm once again refused to squeeze the handle.

  All she wanted to do was defend herself. After the way Jonathan hurled his accusations about her having ulterior motives, she needed to set the record straight. How dare he question why she did the work she performed for the community! He knew nothing about her. He had no idea how many countless days she’d spent tending the sick, helping the poor and disenfranchised. She’d never asked for anything in return, and not because she wanted to play the martyr. She’d worked all these years out of the kindness of her heart.

  Of course she felt good about herself after a particularly grueling day at the soup kitchen, or pounding the steps of City Hall to get some poor family’s electricity bill wiped clean. Didn’t she deserve to feel a little satisfaction for all her sacrifice? What gave him the right to judge her?

  Ivana faltered as she reached for the door handle again, another thought occurring to her.

  What if he was right?

  Would she be so enthusiastic to help if she did not receive the accolades her fellow sisters in the struggle showered upon her? She prided herself on never turning away a weary soul who was in need of assistance, either spiritual or physical. But didn’t she always make sure her fellow Voodoo sisters heard about every unfortunate family she helped to save? What did that say about her?

  Nothing, that’s what!

  She had never questioned her motives before. It was only after Jonathan had flung his accusations that she had begun to question herself.

  He did things to her, scary things. Things that made her ponder the path she’d chosen in life. She’d spent most of the night thinking about the pleasures of life she was missing out on, like a family and children.

  Ivana closed her eyes as the familiar warmth washed over her whenever she pictured holding her own child in her arms. She’d had those dreams once, had always imagined she would have the chance to treat a child the right way, a way that was totally opposite from how her mother had treated her.

  When her ex-husband left, he’d crushed her heart and obliterated those dreams. Ivana had found her satisfaction through her work with helping to save the people of this city.

  Now, because of Jonathan Campbell, she was questioning just how true her intentions were.

  Damn him!

  Before she could talk herself out of it, Ivana gripped the door handle and pushed—and fell straight into a set of strong arms.

  “Whoa.” Jonathan captured her under her arm. Ivana quickly extricated herself from his hold, righting her blouse and smoothing her hair.

  “What are you doing here?” Jonathan asked.

  She stood straighter. “I have something I need to say to you.” She jutted her chin forward. “You had no right to throw out those accusations last night. You don’t know me. You don’t know the sacrifices I’ve made, or why I make them. To insinuate that I have any motives other than giving my whole heart to my work is going way over the line. You need to—”

  Jonathan grabbed her face and crashed his mouth to hers. The moment his strong lips touched her, Ivana went up in flames. His mouth was scorching; intense and full of purpose. A torrent of confusing emotions cascaded through her body. Anger, bafflement, desire. Yes, there was desire. And lust. Lust like she’d never experienced in her life.

  After what seemed like a lifetime—yet not nearly long enough—Jonathan released her lips from his sensual prison and took a step back.

  He looked just as blown away by the kiss as Ivana felt, but he was much quicker on the recovery. Straightening himself
and tugging at his perfectly knotted tie, he said, “I’m sorry, but that was the only way I could think to shut you up.”

  As if it were an extension of her body she had no control over, Ivana looked in awe as her hand rose and slapped Jonathan across the face.

  He hardly flinched. “Doesn’t hurt so much when you’re expecting it,” he said with a shrug.

  Ivana went to slap him again, but he caught her by the wrist.

  “However, I don’t think that paltry kiss deserves two wallops. You pack quite a punch for such a delicate little thing.” With the wrist he still held, he pulled her in close. “I really wish we could continue this, but I need to be in court in a few minutes. I’ll meet you at your booth in the French Market tonight. You can knock me around as much as you want.”

  He placed a hard, quick kiss on her lips and headed for his car.

  Ivana had no idea how long she remained on that porch debating whether or not to show up for work today, or just pack everything and leave town. Permanently.

  ***

  He definitely deserved an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Messed Up Situation. It took calling on patience Toby didn’t realize he possessed to maintain his composure as Aria sat on the sofa in his apartment. He wanted to throw the freaking cameramen and their equipment over the balcony, but then having an assault charge brought against him would just add to the troubles of the day.

  “So, you decided to celebrate last night?” Toby asked Aria.

  She nodded, looking as if she’d been caught snatching an Oreo from the cookie jar. She should feel guilty, she’d just robbed them both of the chance of a lifetime by fouling up this show. Once again, his dreams were crushed by no fault of his own.

  Toby’s fists clenched.

  “You realize this is going to look really bad, right? We’ve built this image of you as a sweet, innocent girl next door, but after last night, that’s shot to hell.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry, Toby. I wasn’t thinking about how it would look in front of the cameras.”

  Toby couldn’t keep up this sunshine and roses façade, not when he was ready to put his fist through the nearest wall.

  “Why don’t you guys let me have a few minutes off camera with Aria?” Toby asked the cameraman.

  The guy shook his head. “Against the rules.”

  “Forget the rules!” He shot up from the sofa.

  “That’s good,” the cameraman said, moving around so he could get a better angle. “Let us see more of that anger.”

  “Why don’t I let you see how far I can shove that camera up your ass?”

  “That’s it. Get mad, man. That’s what the American people want to see.”

  Toby took a deep breath and made an effort to ignore the cameraman. He would not be the token erratic manager.

  “Toby, I am so sorry,” Aria said with a hiccupping sob.

  He reclaimed his seat on the sofa and somehow managed to come up with what he hoped was a convincing smile. He would show the cameras exactly what they didn’t want to see.

  He gripped Aria’s hand and patted her on the knee. “Hey, you need to get used to the paparazzi getting in your business if you’re going to be a real celebrity.” Toby noticed the two cameramen exchange disappointed looks, and tasted a small drop of victory. Show that to the American people, you drama-hungry sons of bitches.

  “But what if this hurts my chance of winning the show?” Aria asked.

  Now she thinks about how her actions would affect the show?

  Toby commanded the smile stay on his lips. “Let this be a lesson learned. You’ll have to be more careful with what you do in public if you don’t want your name splattered across the papers.”

  “You’re not mad?” Aria asked, still fidgeting.

  Telling her he wasn’t mad wouldn’t be an outright lie. Mad didn’t begin to describe what he was feeling right now.

  Murderous? Yeah, that seemed about right.

  “Will you be at the sound check?” Her voice trembled so badly Toby almost felt sorry for her. Almost. If she’d just used a little common sense, they wouldn’t be in this mess right now.

  He answered with a curt nod.

  Aria rose from the couch. “Again, I’m really, really sorry, Toby.”

  He waved her off. One of the cameramen followed Aria to the penthouse’s elevator bank, but the other stayed behind.

  “I’ve never seen someone do such a good job of keeping their cool. Just promise me you’ll let us know if you go after Isaac Payton. I could lose my job if I miss getting something like that on camera.”

  “Your job is to follow around Aria Jordan, not me.”

  The cameraman gave him a wry look.

  “I’m not going after Payton,” Toby lied.

  “Whatever you say,” the cameraman said. He hefted the camera bag over his shoulder and looped wires around his arm as he made his way to the door.

  That had been one of the hardest, most frustrating hours of his life. When he’d first saw this morning’s paper, he had been ready to strangle Aria. If those cameramen hadn’t been around, he probably would have.

  Was it too much to hope that for once he could have a shot at happiness? What the hell had he done to deserve this agony of being so close to attaining his dreams, just to have them snatched away? How much more penance did he have to pay?

  Toby heard a buzz and saw his vibrating cell phone dance across the marble countertop in the kitchen.

  “Hello?”

  “Don’t you go doing anything stupid.”

  “Stay out of this, Alex.”

  “I mean it, Toby. It’s bad enough Aria has this blemish on her name. You’d better not do anything to bring even more negative attention to your camp.”

  “I’m not letting him get away with this.”

  “I’ll beat the crap out of Payton if you want me to, but you stay away from him.”

  Toby laughed despite himself. “Fine. I need to figure out how to fix this mess Aria’s gotten herself into. After that interview on Katie LeBlanc’s show and this stuff with Payton, we sure as hell can’t portray her as the Mary Poppins of Pop Music.”

  “Between you and Sienna, y’all will come up with something,” Alex said. “I’ll holler at you later, man. I’ve got a meeting with the Downtown Development District.”

  “Give Jazzy a kiss for me.”

  Toby disconnected and slipped the phone into his pocket. He walked over to the sliding glass doors, opened them and stepped out onto the balcony. The morning was sweltering, but a slight breeze made its way under his collar. Toby rested his arms across the wrought iron balcony and looked out over the city. It was thriving once again after being brought to its knees by Katrina, but other than a few horns blowing, the city was relatively quite for a Thursday morning.

  Despite annoyance at his brother’s intrusion, he was grateful for Alex’s call. It gave him the extra moments he’d needed to calm down. Toby didn’t know what he had planned to do to Payton, and anything he did would have gotten him in trouble. He was tired of messing up his life because of that asshole. And Toby had no doubt that’s exactly why Payton had done this.

  His phone rang again. He pulled it out of his pocket and recognized Sienna’s number on the Caller ID.

  “Toby, why didn’t you call me as soon as you heard about this?” she barked into the phone.

  He knew better than to expect a gentle hello. “I’m sorry. I should have called.”

  “You think? My boss just chewed my ass out. He says I’m off the account.”

  Toby stood up straight. “He can’t do that.”

  “Yes, he can. He’s the managing partner, he can do whatever he wants, and he wants me off this account. I told you about the potential deal with Cardinal Studios. My handling of Aria’s account has been under close scrutiny, Toby, and having Aria get caught with her legs wrapped around Isaac Payton did not sit well with my boss. It makes everything we’ve been saying about Aria look like total bull.”

 
; “I know. What in the hell made her do this?”

  “I know what made her…this. You!”

  “Me?”

  “Yes. If…hadn’t…she would…and this…happened.”

  “Wait. Wait. You’re phone is breaking up, Sienna. What did you just say?”

  “We’ll…bout…later.”

  “Sienna!”

  The phone disconnected. Toby stared at it as if it could explain what had just happened.

  How was this his fault?

  Toby cursed. His plate was full today, but he needed to add one more thing to his list. He had to talk to Sienna’s boss. She’d put her job on the line, and he would not allow Isaac Payton to ruin her future, too.

  ***

  “I couldn’t sell you ice water in hell,” Sienna muttered as she left the Pan American building on Poydras Street. She’d tried every marketing tool in her power to convince Baker Cosmetics not to pull their sponsorship, but nothing worked. Someone who got caught with their pants around their ankles, so to speak, was not their ideal spokesperson.

  Sienna slammed her car door shut, the shock of it reverberating through her arm. “Damn it.” She banged the steering wheel, and felt like an idiot when a sharp pain shot up her arm from the impact. All she needed to do was break her hand trying to release her frustration over this debacle.

  She was going to lose her job, and all because Aria Jordan had decided to explore her inner sex kitten.

  Sienna pulled from the curb and out into traffic. She got caught at a red light and cursed that too. A city bus passed and Sienna rolled her eyes at the picture plastered against its side: a trumped up model with barely any clothes covering her generously displayed assets. It took her a second before she realize the sign was an advertisement for shaving cream.

  Men were such amoebas. You could sell them anything as long as you used a hot woman to advertise it.

  You could sell them…anything. Anything!

  A thought formed, and instantly, ideas began sprouting like wildflowers. Her pulse quickened, a smile drawing across her face. Sienna popped opened the compartment between the front seats, digging around for the tiny memo tablet she kept in there. She had to get this down.