Taming the Whirlwind

by L. M. Heidle

  “Sorry, I’m just a little on edge. Today is going to seriously suck.” Before I could continue complaining, there was a knock at the door. “I’ll see you tonight if I make it through this day,” I called over my shoulder on the way to the door. I opened the door expecting to see Tony, but instead saw Kade. “Wha…Wha… What are you doing here?”

  He gave me a lopsided grin in amusement. “I just wanted to make sure you followed directions.”

  I scowled at him. “Just so you know, I can make my own decisions.” I expected him to get angry, but he just smirked at me.

  “You’re adorable when you’re stubborn, but I’m still not letting you walk. There’re already photographers outside the door.”

  “Crap. I’m sure you showing up here isn’t going to help the rumors.”

  “I went through the back entrance like you’re supposed to.” I hated pictures in general, so having them all over New York didn’t excite me. “Fine, I cave. Let’s go.”

  He ushered me downstairs into the waiting SUV. He shocked me when he climbed in behind me. “What are you doing? I thought we were trying to avoid rumors.”

  “We are. No one can see in here and the back entrance at the Towers is secured.” As soon as he finished, my phone went off.

  “What’s up, Brent?” I felt Kade stiffen. I didn’t dare look at his face, although I’m pretty sure I could guess his look.

  “I’m sorry I’m already on my way to work. Thanks for the thought, though. I hope the photographers didn’t give you too much trouble. All right, I’ll see you tonight.”

  I chanced a look up at Kade when I hung up. Just as I thought, he was slightly glaring at me. “What did he want?” He said ‘he’ like it was a disgusting word.

  “He stopped by the apartment to make sure I got to work safely.”

  “I’m sure that was his intention. He probably wanted his picture in the paper.” I glared at him, but chose to keep my mouth shut.

  The rest of the ride was silent. I continued to look out the window and he continued to stare at me. To get to the back entrance, we had to drive in front of the Towers. I gasped when I saw all the photographers standing there. I snapped my head in his direction. “Seriously? This is all because of one dance?”

  “Did you think I was lying when I said it would be like this?” I looked at him then back at all the crazy people.

  Besides the questioning glances I got, the morning went by pretty uneventfully. As it got closer to lunch, I didn’t know what to do. For some stupid reason, I hadn’t thought ahead and packed my lunch. I was starving, but I didn’t want to deal with the paparazzi whom I’m sure were still there. I had my back turned to the door so when I felt someone tap my shoulder, I jumped. I turned around and saw Brent.

  I smacked his shoulder, “Would you stop doing that? I think you get some weird pleasure out of scaring the crap out of me.”

  He chuckled at me, “Sorry, when did you become so jumpy?”

  “Probably since I basically have to hide out.”

  “Stop hiding out. It’s fun having people taking your picture everywhere you go. You can’t even guess how many phone numbers I’ve got since those pictures. It’s insane.”

  “Of course, you would you use this to get phone numbers.” I twisted my face in disgust.

  “Yep, any man would. Did you want to go to lunch?”

  I looked at him in shock. “Have you seen all those photographers? I don’t feel like being followed right now.”

  “No sweat. There were hardly any here when I came in. I heard on the radio some socialite got into an argument with her rock star lover on the street. They were both getting arrested last I heard.”

  “Okay, maybe we can sneak in and out.” He grabbed my hand to pull me towards the door. I had a feeling this was a bad idea but my growling stomach outweighed the feeling.

  Brent was right. There were only a couple of photographers around the building and lucky for us, they were on a smoke break. We were able to sneak away without being noticed. “It feels like we just snuck out of our parent’s house.” He stared laughing.

  “Yeah, we did that enough times,” I replied.

  “Yeah, like every weekend.” We talked about all the times we successfully snuck out and all the times we got caught over lunch.

  “I think we got caught more than we were successful, but it still was a lot of fun trying.” He nodded in agreement. On the way back, Brent offered me his elbow. “I’m pretty impressed with you. You’ve become quite the gentleman.” He offered me a sheepish grin.

  I stopped so fast when I saw the Towers that I jerked him back. “What in the hell?” He muttered when he turned to face me. “Are you all right?” All I could do was point to the building. “Holy shit! Where did they all come from?”

  “I guess the socialite story is over. What in the hell are we going to do?” I said.

  “We are going to walk into that building. There’s no reason for us to be ashamed of anything. There’s no story here and once they figure that out they’ll move on.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to walk through that.”

  “Yep, we should do this. Let me look at you.” Look at me? “You look great. Wouldn’t want you to have a bad picture.” He winked at me and dragged me towards my impending doom.

  When they noticed us, it was like flies to honey. They swarmed around us, taking pictures and throwing questions out at us. Are you guys together? What about Mr. Parker? Are you dating each other? Brent wrapped his arm around my waist to try and pull me through them, but we didn’t make much progress. In fact we made no progress.

  I was temporarily blinded by all I the flashes of light. “Brent, this was a very bad idea.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would be this bad. Stay behind me. I’m going to start pushing people.” Brent tried to push people out of our way, but every inch we moved forward, we were pushed three back.

  All of a sudden, my elbow was jerked out of Brent’s hold and I was being dragged in a different direction. I tried to reach for Brent’s hand but I was being pulled away too fast. I tried to jerk my elbow free until I saw who had it. I looked up to see Kade. He looked at me briefly; that’s when I saw his glacier stare. My body had an involuntary tremor because of that look. He was seriously pissed. I had a strong feeling I was going to be on the end of his wrath this time. He jerked on my elbow again, bringing me to his chest. He tucked me under his arm, pulling me tight against his body then started to make his way through the paparazzi. He only had to push a few of them out of the way because once they saw his face, they moved on their own. Oddly, the bright lights stopped too. I must not have been the only one who was terrified of his look right now.

  When we finally got into the building, he didn’t start yelling at me right away, but I could feel the fury radiating off of him. I wondered if I would be safer outside. He took a couple deep breaths before he met my eyes. My stomach plummeted when I saw the look on his face. Yep, I would be safer outside. “What in the hell were you thinking? Didn’t I tell you this morning they could be dangerous?”

  “Well, I…um…I…was…I…wanted lunch,” I stammered. “When Brent and I left, there was only like two.” His whole body went rigid at the mention of Brent’s name.

  “I’m assuming that he talked you into going out for lunch. Where is he from again? Oh, that’s right. He’s from ‘Hicksville’ according to you! Do they even have reporters there? Why in the world would you listen to him? I’m the one that has dealt with these people before, but no, you can’t listen to me, like usual.”

  Truthfully, I wasn’t listening to him go on his tirade. I was looking around for Brent. “Where’s Brent?”

  “Did you hear anything I just said?”

  “Uh huh, where’s Brent?”

  “You’re seriously asking about the guy who led you into the lion’s den?” I nodded my head. “He’s probably still out there. He can deal with his own mess.”

  “He didn’t know
that was going to happen. Did you leave him out there?”

  “Like I said, let him clean up his own mess.”

  I had to get Brent out of there. I tentatively placed my arm on Kade. “You can yell at me all you want, but please get Brent out of there.”

  His face softened as he glanced down at my hand. As he looked into my eyes again, he muttered, “Tony, go get that idiot, please.” Tony nodded his head before walking out the front doors.

  “Thank you, Kade.” He sighed as he leaned his forehead against mine.

  Our moment was broken by Brent, much to Kade’s irritation. He was chuckling when he spoke, “Can you believe those crazy people? They’re like vultures.”

  “You are the biggest idiot I have ever met! Did you even think about her safety? If you had half of a brain, you would have...” Kade stopped talking when I put my hand on his arm. He looked down at me before he closed his eyes and pinched his nose. He sighed then opened his eyes. He looked at me first with worry in his eyes. When he looked back at Brent, his words came out just shy of being rude, “Brenton, this is a completely different world than where you’re from. These people won’t stop until they get what they want and right now, they want to make us a story. You just gave them fuel for the fire by having the three of us seen together again. The longer they’re around, the more danger she’s in.”

  I wasn’t surprised by Brent’s retort. “Listen up, jackass. You two aren’t together. If she needs protecting, I’ll do it.” He pushed Kade back a little.

  “Yeah, like you just protected her? You’re a joke.” He pushed Brent a little this time.

  I stepped between them to put a hand on each of their chests before punches were thrown for the third time. They both looked down at me with volatile expressions then back at each other. “Okay, that’s enough! Getting into a boxing match isn’t going to help the situation at all. It’ll just make it look like you’re fighting over me. Let’s move past what has already happened and figure out how we are going to fix it.”

  “What? Mr. Mogul can’t fix it? Guess you aren’t as powerful as you thought.” Kade grabbed my wrist to pull me out of the way as he moved forward.

  That was it! I was so tired of this damn pissing contest. I practically screamed, “OH MY GOSH! Both of you shut the hell up! I don’t give a rat’s rear end if you guys like each other or not, but stop acting like children!” They both turned towards me in surprise. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before I spoke. “Since you two idiots only want to fight, I’ll deal with this.”

  Before it registered to either one of them what I was doing, I was already out the doors. Kade got to me first, “What are you doing? Get back in here!” His voice may have been only a whisper, but that was an undeniable order. I shook my head at him. I sidestepped away from his hand as he tried to grab my elbow.

  “No, I’m dealing with this problem, so back off.” I jumped up on the ledge of small water fountain. He knew he couldn’t haul me back inside without causing more problems, so he just stood in front of me. Brent stood next to Kade in front of me. They looked like my own personal bodyguards.

  I put my hands on their shoulders for support. “Excuse me. I have a statement I would like to make.” The reporters wouldn’t stop asking questions, so I spoke a little louder, “If you guys would stop throwing questions at me, I would like to speak.” Surprisingly, they stopped talking. The only sound I heard was cameras going off.

  “I’d like to clear some things up for you so you can leave us alone. Yes, Brent and I dated in high school, but he’s just a friend now. We’re catching up while he is in New York but there is no romantic relationship going on.” Brent’s shoulders sagged a little. “Mr. Parker and I were introduced recently through work. We’re friendly acquaintances with a working relationship.” Now, his shoulders sagged. “I’m sure he is completely happy with Grazia. Just because we all happened to be at the same event doesn’t mean we have a love triangle going on. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. Instead of creating some absurd romantic theory, you guys could report on the wonderful charity. Furthermore, I will not answer any questions today, tomorrow, or anytime about my love life so kindly move on and find another story.”

  Regardless of my last statement, they started throwing questions at me. Brent tried to reach for me, but Kade had already grabbed me around the waist to help me down.

  Once we were inside and away from the windows, I turned to face them both. “See? Was that so hard to do? It may not keep them all away, but that was a lot more effective than you two idiots throwing punches. Brent, for now leave through the back entrance. I’m sure Tony won’t mind taking you home.” Kade looked at me, about to protest when I narrowed my eyes. He just nodded at Tony. “Now, I’m going to go back to work.” I turned on my heel and walked to the elevators.

  Kade was by my side in seconds. “Don’t you ever take a chance like that with your life again.”

  “Kade, I’m capable of taking care of myself. Thank you for the concern, though.” The elevator door opened. I walked in then turned to face him, “You can take the next car.” I pushed the close button. As soon as the doors closed, I sagged against the back handrail. I don’t know which was worse: the vultures outside or dealing with those two idiots.

  I rushed off the elevator, hoping Danny wouldn’t be mad at how late I was. To my surprise, he smiled at me and held his hands up when I started apologizing over and over. “Liz, its fine. We adjusted to make things work.” He jokingly said, “At least you were late for a good reason,” as he pointed to the TV. I looked over to the bank of TVs to find my face on every single one of them.

  “Wow. It’s already all over the news. They work fast.” I grumbled.

  “Hey, it’s New York! Gossip is king around here. If you want to take the rest of the day off, you can.”

  “Thanks, but this job is the only thing keeping me sane right now.” He nodded as I walked to the lockers to put my stuff up.

  The afternoon was hectic because I spent it trying to play catch-up. I was exhausted when Betty came in. “Hello, Liz. I see you’ve been busy.”

  “I’m surprised you buy into all that nonsense.” She was the first client to mention anything to me about it.

  “Honey, of course I do. The girls and I get together for brunch almost every morning to go over the tabloids. What else are a bunch of old ladies supposed to do?” I shook my head in disbelief. “You made me quite popular with the girls this morning because we especially love anything involving him.” She motioned to where Kade was walking in.

  “Well, I’m glad I made your morning.” Would this torture ever end?

  She placed a hand on my arm, “I know it must be horrible. It’ll eventually ease up. You just have to ride the wave. I’ll tell you that I was right, though.” I cocked my head to the side because I had no idea what she was talking about. She gave a little laugh. “About you two. You can deny it all you want but the picture of you two is obvious.”

  I was checking Betty out when Kade walked over. “How’s the rest of your day been?” I took a step back from him when all the clients looked our way. He followed my gaze around the room and understood.

  “It’s been hectic. How about yours?”

  “The same. My PR people aren’t big fans of yours. They’ve been fielding calls ever since your little speech at lunch.”

  “Great. What are they saying?”

  “Just what you wanted them to hear. If there’s any new gossip going around, it’s not from me but from Brenton.” He tried hard to keep the disdain from his voice, but he couldn’t hide the tightening of the skin around his eyes.

  “I’m not in the mood for that crap. Can’t you guys even talk about each other without wanting to fight? What the hell is it between you two? You guys barely know each other.”

  He looked at me hard for a minute, “I just don’t think he’s good for you is all.” The fact that I had heard that from Brent about him before had me biting back a laugh.

/>   I wasn’t going to argue in front of everyone so I simply replied, “Okay.”

  “I won’t take up any more of your time. Tony will be waiting at the back entrance for you when you’re ready.”

  The next few weeks flew by. The reporters finally found another story, which meant my life was almost back to normal. Kade and I only saw each other at his appointments. I saw Brent a couple of times a week. I was starting to enjoy life when Brent opened his big mouth.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Friday, October 4

  Brent, Derrick, Meg, and I were sitting around the TV, eating pizza and watching some crap movie after work. “Brent, you are never allowed to pick the movie again. I think this is the worst movie I have ever seen,” I stated.

  “At least I got the pizza right.”

  Meg threw her slice of pizza down, “Think again. This pizza is disgusting.”

  “Derrick, help a brother out. It’s not that bad.”

  “Man, I’m sorry. I have to agree with the girls. At least, you got the beer, right?”

  I started giggling, “That’s true. Although I’m the one who told him exactly what to get.” Meg started giggling too, which made me laugh harder. “Sorry Brent.” I tried to bite my lip to stop laughing, but it didn’t help. Meg and I laughed until our sides hurt.

  Derrick broke up our laugh fest. “Meg, we need to get going if we are going to make our movie.”

  “All right. Have fun, you two.” She winked at me before going to get her coat. I just rolled my eyes.

  Once they were out the door, Brent moved from the couch to the loveseat to sit by me. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. I let out a contented sigh. With everything that had happened over the last couple of months, it felt good to relax in his familiar arms.

  He leaned over to kiss my hair. “This feels good, doesn’t it? Relaxing with each other like old times.” I nodded as he pulled me closer. He lifted my chin so I had to look at him. He stared into my eyes as he murmured, “It feels natural.” Then, he leaned in to kiss me. He was right. It did feel natural. There was always chemistry between Brent and me. Maybe we could figure out how to make it work this time. He put a hand on my cheek the same time I started running my fingers through his hair. The kiss deepened as our tongues found each other.